Glossary
Source Inclusion Rate
Source inclusion rate is how often a domain or page appears in the set of sources retrieved or cited for a defined group of AI answers. It measures evidence visibility rather than brand endorsement and should identify the engine, prompt set and collection period.
In plain terms
It shows how often your content makes the engine’s evidence list.
Why it matters
A page cannot be cited or shape a grounded response if it never enters the source set.
How to apply it
- Track domains and individual URLs.
- Segment inclusion by prompt cluster and engine.
- Compare inclusion with actual citation and recommendation outcomes.
Example
A research report appears among Perplexity’s sources in 14 of 40 runs, even when the company itself is not named in the final answer.
Sources
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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.