What is an answer engine?
An answer engine is a search system that responds to a question with written answer text instead of a list of links. Examples are ChatGPT with web search, Perplexity, Microsoft Copilot and the AI features of Google Search. Sources appear as references inside or below the answer.
Technically, most answer engines combine a language model with retrieval of web content. The system writes search queries, reads the pages it finds and composes an answer from them. Which pages get read depends on the search index the system uses and on whether the pages are reachable for its crawler.
For businesses this changes the question. In a classic result list, the position of a link counts. In an answer, what counts is whether the brand appears in the text, in what context, and whether its page is linked as a source. A user who reads the answer often no longer clicks a link.
Answer engines differ a lot in how many sources they show and how they name brands. An observation on one system does not simply carry over to another.
What it means for your website
To see how an answer engine talks about your offer, ask it the question a customer would ask and record the answer word for word. Note mentions in the text and linked sources separately. Because answers vary, ask the same question several times and in several systems.
Related terms
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Sources
This entry contains no figures and relies on generally documented terms.
Terms help you understand. Whether AI crawlers can reach your site is something you measure.
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