The AI visibility glossary.

The category of search behavior where someone queries an AI system (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Google AI Overview, or Google AI Mode) and receives a generated answer rather than a list of links. The system synthesizes a response from content it has crawled, indexed, and assigned credibility to. The brands cited in those responses occupy a category of visibility that operates independently of traditional search rankings.

The percentage of tracked AI responses in a category that include a specific brand mention. Measured across a defined set of prompts relevant to the brand's products, AI presence is the most direct indicator of how often a brand is being recommended. A brand with 3.7% AI presence appears in roughly 37 of every 1,000 tracked responses in its category. It is influenced by content depth, crawlability, and third-party citation volume, not by ad spend or search ranking.

A specific instance of an AI system referencing or recommending a brand, product, or piece of content inside a generated response. Citations are the currency of AI visibility. AI systems build citation patterns over time based on which sources they encounter consistently. A brand earning citations across multiple platforms for the same category of query is building durable visibility.

The degree to which AI systems can access, read, and parse a brand's web content. A page that is dynamically rendered, meaning its content loads in the browser rather than being served as static HTML, may look fine to a human visitor while being nearly invisible to an AI crawler. Crawlability is a prerequisite: content that cannot be read cannot be cited, however good it is.

The practice of optimizing a brand's web presence, content, and authority signals to improve visibility and citation frequency in AI-generated responses. GEO applies the same foundational principles as SEO, meaning technical accessibility, content depth, and third-party authority, but directs them toward the requirements of AI retrieval systems rather than keyword ranking algorithms. Position 0 treats GEO as the next layer of the same discipline, not a replacement for SEO.

Used interchangeably with GEO in most of the market. Where a distinction is drawn, AEO emphasizes being selected as the answer to a specific question, while GEO emphasizes presence across generated responses more broadly. Position 0 uses both terms on the website because buyers search for both, but neither appears in a product name.

Originally the featured snippet above the first organic result in Google search. Position Zero now refers to a broader idea: being the brand an AI system recommends first, before the buyer clicks, compares, or scrolls. In AI search there is no page two. The brands AI defaults to hold a form of visibility that compounds as systems reinforce their own citation patterns.

A group of semantically related prompts and queries AI systems associate with a subject area. AI tracks which brands appear consistently across a whole cluster, not just a single query. A brand cited across ten related prompts in a category has stronger visibility there than a brand appearing in one prompt at high frequency.

The full set of questions buyers actually ask AI systems in a brand's category, mapped and tracked as a group. The prompt universe defines what gets measured in an engagement, and it is structured into topics so that coverage can be judged by area rather than by individual query.

Position 0's methodology for getting brands to Position Zero in AI systems. A structured, repeatable, auditable system: three pillars installed by four actions, measured by a single 100-point P0 Score. A score is recorded at the start of an engagement and again at the close of each quarterly term, and the delta between them is the proof document. P0 Protocol is what Position 0 delivers. The two are distinct and never conflated.

Pillar 01. AI can find, parse, and understand what the brand does. Covers technical access, meaning crawler permissions, rendering, schema, and entity data, plus the foundational content coverage that lets AI place the brand in a category. Installed by the Foundation action. Worth 40 of 100 points.

Pillar 02. AI has a reason to quote the brand's own content directly. Buying guides, comparison assets, structured answers, product and category pages, and proprietary data on a domain the brand owns. Installed by the Content action. Worth 40 of 100 points.

Pillar 03. Authoritative third parties transfer credibility so AI references the brand indirectly. Publications, best-of lists, affiliate editorial, comparison articles, Reddit, creators and YouTube, customer reviews, retailers, and third-party product databases. Installed by the Authority action. Worth 20 of 100 points.

If content lives on a URL the brand owns, it is on-site work and counts toward Discoverable and Quotable. If it lives on any URL the brand does not own, it is off-site work and counts toward Credible. The author does not matter. The platform does. The same line divides the product ladder.

Action 01. The diagnostic across all three pillars. Produces the P0 Score, findings per dimension, the stage classification, and a prioritized roadmap. Runs first on every engagement.

Action 02. Installs Discoverable. Technical access work plus foundational content coverage: crawler permissions, rendering, schema, entity and identity data, feed hygiene, and the core category and product pages. Front-loaded in month one.

Action 03. Installs Quotable. Citation-worthy content on the brand's own domain: buying guides, comparison and recommendation assets, structured answers, category and product pages, and original research. Continuous from month two.

Action 04. Installs Credible. Third-party placement across publications, best-of lists, affiliate editorial, creators, community surfaces, review and retailer surfaces. Continuous from month two, and executed by Position 0 only at the Partnership tier.

The operational layer inside the Authority action that produces and places third-party content across the channels AI weighs most for a brand's category. The mix is selected per brand rather than sold as a package. It is not a tiered press release product and there is no pay-to-play list.

The strategic classification assigned in the AI Visibility Audit. It is not derived from the score. It is assigned from the findings, it sets the play for the engagement, and the roadmap is built against it. The five are Market Entrant, Market Emerging, Market Established, Market Competitor, and Market Leader. Stage names always carry the Market prefix. Score bands never do.

Stage 01. AI does not yet reliably know who the brand is, either returning nothing or returning the brand and describing it wrong. The play is teaching AI the basics: who you are, what you do, who you serve, through schema, entity building, site structure, and baseline technical work. The outcome is AI describing the brand accurately and consistently.

Stage 02. AI knows the brand but surfaces it only on branded prompts, not in the category conversations where buyers discover options. The play is building the proof points AI uses in competitive answers: best-of and gift-guide placements, editorial comparison roundups, category reviews on retailer and marketplace listings, creator and YouTube coverage, and category discussion on Reddit.

Stage 03. The brand is in the conversation, appearing in category prompts, some competitive prompts, and comparisons. The play is concentrating visibility in the topics and prompts driving actual revenue rather than broad awareness.

Stage 04. Visibility is established and working. The play turns offensive, targeting prompts where competitors are cited and the brand is not, with content, PR, and source influence built for citation displacement.

Stage 05. Broad, deep visibility across primary, secondary, and adjacent topic clusters. The play is defensive and expansive: protecting the position, monitoring for narrative drift and rising Stage 3 and 4 players, and expanding selectively into adjacent territory.

The 100-point measurement at the center of P0 Protocol. Three categories, each measured at two levels: AI Discoverability (40), AI Quotability (40), and AI Credibility (20). A score is recorded at the start of an engagement and again at the close of each quarterly term. The P0 Score measures one brand. It is the official score, distinct from the directional AI Visibility Score produced by the free Snapshot.

Score category worth 40 points, tracking the Discoverable pillar. Splits into AI Search Visibility (20), meaning whether AI systems surface the brand across tracked prompts, and AI Competitive Position (20), meaning how the brand sits against the competitors AI names alongside it.

Score category worth 40 points, tracking the Quotable pillar. Splits into Content Coverage and Structure (20), meaning whether the right content exists in the right format, and Technical Optimization (20), meaning whether AI can extract it cleanly. Previously named AI Retrievability.

Score category worth 20 points, tracking the Credible pillar. Splits into Third-Party Citation Presence (10) and Review and Social Proof Presence (10). It carries the smallest weight because it moves slowest, not because it matters least. Previously named AI Authority.

The label assigned to a P0 Score based on its range. The five bands are Weak (0 to 34), Emerging (35 to 54), Competitive (55 to 69), Strong (70 to 84), and Leader (85 to 100). Bands answer how a brand measures today. Stages answer where it is and what it should do next. Neither is a version of the other.

The same scoring framework applied across a vertical, category, or niche to show how a set of brands stands relative to one another. Brands are included regardless of whether they are clients, and scoring one requires no client access. The Index exists for published research, data findings, outbound, and content marketing. The P0 Score measures one brand; the P0 Index measures a category.

The directional score produced by the free AI Visibility Snapshot. Marketing-grade rather than official. It answers whether AI knows who you are, what you do, and who you serve. It is not the P0 Score, which is produced only by the AI Visibility Audit across all six dimensions.

The volume and distribution of external sources referencing a brand across the web, measured through distinct referring domains and mention counts. AI treats citation presence as a trust signal. It cannot be improved through on-site work alone; it requires active third-party outreach and placement.

The degree to which a brand's name, category positioning, and core claims are described consistently across its own content and across third-party sources. AI builds a probabilistic model of what a brand is from everything it can find. Inconsistent signals, such as different category labels across pages or conflicting product descriptions, reduce the confidence with which AI will recommend the brand for any specific query.

The record of what moved during an engagement. Pairs the P0 Score delta with three numbers drawn from outside the score: AI crawler demand, AI referral traffic from citations, and brand mentions across tracked queries. Movement has to be visible in more than one place before it is called progress. Position 0 does not offer a score-movement guarantee.

The free diagnostic that opens every relationship. Answers three questions with real data: does AI know who you are, does it know what you do, and does it know who you serve. Directional and marketing-grade, delivered in one to two business days.

The full diagnosis, and the required first step before any recurring engagement. Produces the official P0 Score across all six dimensions, the stage classification, written findings, the citation and source landscape, and a roadmap split into quick wins and program work. $2,000, with a full satisfaction guarantee.

The half of the Audit roadmap covering template-level items that are cheap to fix and move Discoverable immediately: crawler access, robots, rendering, schema on the templates that matter, entity and identity data, and feed hygiene. One template fix usually resolves hundreds of symptoms.

The half of the Audit roadmap covering everything that needs a content, product, or authority program behind it. Moves the score further, but over quarters rather than weeks.

The recurring tier where Position 0 measures and directs and the client's teams execute. Monthly reporting and strategy session, quarterly P0 Score, a prioritized plan, and a shared Slack channel. Position 0 never opens a CMS, publishes content, or contacts a publication inside an Advisory retainer. From $1,500 per month.

The recurring tier where Position 0 produces everything that belongs on domains the brand owns: content, product and category pages, and the technical and schema specifications behind them. The client's team ships and approves. Off-site work is measured and advised, not executed. $6,000 per month on quarterly prepay, $7,000 billed monthly.

The recurring tier that adds off-domain execution to Management: citation-source targeting, digital PR and outreach, publication and best-of placement, affiliate and editorial strategy, creator and review presence, and vendor coordination. From $10,000 per month on quarterly prepay, from $11,500 billed monthly.

The $2,000 Audit fee credited at retail toward implementation work, on Management and Partnership engagements started within two weeks of Audit delivery. Never credited against a retainer month, and never available on Advisory. A client is free to take the roadmap elsewhere; the credit is what makes doing it with Position 0 the cheaper path.

How content production is allocated at the executing tiers. Every asset carries a credit weight based on what it takes to produce, and the monthly allocation is spent however the month calls for it, rather than against a fixed deliverable list. Weights and allocation are set in the agreement.