Definition
An answer produced after a live web search, as opposed to one written from the model's training data. The report scores both but says which is which.
In the report
The report asks every engine with search on, so every scored answer is grounded. When an engine returned no grounded answer (Google showed no AI Overview, or an API failed), the question is dropped from that engine's denominator and the header says how many were.
Worked example
Perplexity's answer to 'best Middle East food delivery and cloud kitchen platform' listed its sources under the text: LinkedIn, Computer Weekly, Caterer Middle East, and the two rivals' own sites. Every claim in the answer can be traced to one of them, which is what grounded means. The report keeps those sources per answer, so the company could see not only that Talabat was named but which five pages the engine read to name it.
How to move it
A grounded answer is written from fetched pages, so it can be changed by changing the pages. That is the whole premise of the work.
Where it shows up
What is AI visibility? How often AI answer engines name a company when a buyer asks who to consider in its category, and whether they cite its own pages when they do. It is measured as a share of recorded answers, weighted by position in the list and by citation, across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google AI Overviews.
What is AEO (answer engine optimisation)? The work of being named and cited in the answers of engines like ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google's AI Overviews. It has two halves: making your own site readable and quotable (crawler access, structured data, plain statements of price and scope), and being present on the third-party pages the engines read before they answer.
See grounded answer measured on your site
Your website, region and work email. The score appears in about three minutes, and the report is a link you keep.