Glossary
Entity
An entity is a distinct thing that search and AI systems recognise and store attributes about: a company, product, person, place or concept. Engines answer brand questions from entity understanding, so if your attributes are inconsistent across the web the engine's picture of you is inconsistent too.
In plain terms
The engine holds a record of who you are. Your job is to make sure that record is right and says the same thing everywhere.
Why it matters
Recommendation depends on the engine being confident about what you do and who you serve. Ambiguous entity data is a common, invisible reason a brand gets cited for facts but never suggested as an option.
How to apply it
- State the core facts — what you do, who for, where, what it costs — plainly on your own site.
- Keep name, description and category consistent across profiles and directories.
- Use structured data that matches the visible text.
Example
An AI engine correctly answers "what does Acme Robotics do" by describing warehouse automation hardware, because Acme's website, LinkedIn page and industry directory listings all state the same category, founding year and headquarters consistently, letting the engine treat those facts as a settled entity record rather than conflicting claims.
Related terms
Back to the full glossary (75 terms).
Ranking is no longer enough
You need to be cited, mentioned, and recommended.
Being cited, mentioned, and recommended are three different outcomes, and most brands only ever achieve the first one. Ranking is no longer enough because AI engines answer buyers directly and name only a short list of vendors as the recommendation — everyone else is cited in passing, if at all. Get a free AI Visibility Report to see exactly where your brand appears today across ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Gemini, Perplexity, and Copilot, where competitors are winning the recommendation instead, and what's keeping you from moving up the shortlist.