Question 1

What is AI Visibility?

Accepted Answer

AI Visibility is the degree to which a brand, person, or organization is accurately discovered, correctly interpreted, and actively cited by AI systems — including ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude, and Grok. It is distinct from search rankings and is measured by citation frequency, entity clarity, and answer inclusion rate.

Question 2

What is the difference between GEO and AEO?

Accepted Answer

GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) optimizes for inclusion in AI-generated answers broadly — across all generative platforms and query types. AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) optimizes for selection as the direct answer to a specific question. GEO is the broader authority-building discipline; AEO is the structured-content layer that targets specific question-answer surfaces.

Question 3

What is Entity Engineering?

Accepted Answer

Entity Engineering is the practice of defining a brand, person, or organization as a structured, machine-readable entity that AI systems can recognize, classify, and cite with confidence. It encompasses canonical entity definition, JSON-LD schema architecture, knowledge graph alignment, and cross-platform corroboration. BackTier coined the term and developed the Entity Lock Protocol as its deployment system.

Question 4

What is the AIV Framework?

Accepted Answer

The AIV Framework is BackTier's proprietary four-layer, 11-point scoring system for measuring and building AI Visibility Infrastructure. It scores Entity Foundation, Answer Dominance, Memory Reinforcement, and Agent Presence — producing a single AIV Score that benchmarks current AI Visibility and guides infrastructure investment.

Question 5

What is llms.txt?

Accepted Answer

llms.txt is a machine-readable file placed at the root of a website that tells AI crawlers, large language models, and agentic search systems how to understand and cite the site's entities. It is the AI-era equivalent of robots.txt — an instruction file that defines what a brand is, who leads it, and which pages contain the most authoritative information.

AI Visibility Glossary

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