Grounding
Tying a generated answer to real source documents rather than the model's own recollection. Grounded answers carry links, which is where your citation comes from.
Updated August 21, 2026
Grounding is the mechanism behind the little source links under an AI answer. It also explains a frustration site owners report: an engine describing your business wrongly. If nothing on your site states the fact plainly, there is nothing to ground on, and the model falls back on inference. Publishing the fact clearly, in text, is the only reliable correction.
Related terms
- Citation. When an AI answer credits or quotes your page as a source. To be cited, your claims usually need to be specific and backed by identifiable evidence the system trusts.
- Hallucination. When an AI system states something confidently that is wrong or made up. Clear, specific, well-sourced pages reduce the chance a system guesses wrongly about your business.
- RAG (retrieval-augmented generation). The standard way answer engines work: fetch relevant documents first, then write an answer from them. It is the reason your page content, not the model's training, decides whether you are quoted today.