GLOSSARY
Prompt
One sentence of definition, and how it differs from the concepts it gets confused with. The definition is written to be quoted as it stands.
DEFINITION
A prompt is the question or instruction a user enters into an AI. Even for the same intent, a different paraphrase can change the answer and the brands that appear, so AEO measurement has to repeat across several phrasings.
Easily confused with
It is not a search query
A search query is a key that looks up an index; a prompt is an instruction to generate an answer. In practice answer engines do not search the prompt verbatim — they rewrite it into one or more queries. Which is why repeating the user's sentence on a page does not work.
One result is not evidence
Answer generation is probabilistic. The same prompt can produce different results by moment, session and settings, so one screen is one sample rather than proof of performance.
In practice
- Set the measurement unit as engine × question × paraphrase × run × date. Drop one and it cannot be reproduced.
- Once the question wording is settled, do not change it mid-measurement. If it must change, record the date and the reason.
Related terms
Where this leads
- Measurement methodology The protocol fixing observation unit, metric, denominator and limits
- How do you measure AEO and GEO performance? Mention rate, citation rate, recommendation share How to measure how far a brand is found in AI search across ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity — the definitions and calculations for mention rate, citation rate, recommendation appearance and share of voice, plus question set design and the repeated-measurement principle.
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