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Imagine a customer asks:
Which help desk tools work well for an online store?
An AI assistant may search the web, read relevant pages, and use them to recommend options.

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From question to answer

  1. The customer asks a question. This is the prompt.
  2. AI looks for information. It might search for comparisons, reviews, or integration details.
  3. AI writes an answer. It may recommend a brand such as Acme and link to a comparison article as a source.
Naming Acme is a brand mention. Linking to the article is a citation. They are different: AI can cite a page without naming the company that published it. No. It can also answer using information it already learned. The behavior depends on the question and the engine. When it does search, it may turn the customer’s question into several searches—for example, “help desk Shopify integration” and “support tools for small ecommerce teams.” Gauge calls these fanouts.

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What does Gauge show you?

Gauge tracks your questions so you can read the answers, see which brands appear, and inspect the cited pages. That gives you concrete examples of the information AI uses when buyers research products. See Prompt Runs for how Gauge collects answers from each engine.

Next: Core AEO metrics

Measure mentions, citations, and visits.