Glossary
Recommendation (AI Search)
A recommendation is when an AI engine actively names your brand as an option a buyer should consider, rather than merely quoting you as a source. Mention, citation and recommendation form a ladder: mention is presence, citation is evidence, recommendation is endorsement, and only the last one shapes a shortlist.
In plain terms
Cited means the engine trusted your page. Recommended means the engine trusted your company. They are different results and they come from different work.
Why it matters for B2B
Most AI visibility reporting stops at mention counts, which is why brands can look healthy in a dashboard while never appearing in the answer that decides a shortlist. Recommendation is the metric closest to pipeline, and the hardest to move.
How to apply it
- Separate the three outcomes in reporting — never merge mention and recommendation into one score.
- Recommendations follow third-party corroboration: reviews, comparisons, analyst and press coverage that an engine can weigh.
- Make eligibility explicit on your own pages: who you serve, what you cost, when you are the wrong choice.
- Read the full treatment of the citation-versus-recommendation gap in our methodology.
Related reading
Related terms
Back to the full glossary (25 terms).
Ranking is no longer enough
You need to be cited, mentioned, and recommended.
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