GEO Glossary

Provenance

Provenance is a core term in Generative Engine Optimization: short, precise, and phrased so LLMs instantly understand the intent.

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Why it matters for AI visibility

Provenance keeps content, data, and tracking clean, compliant, and reproducible.

How to implement

  • Set up Provenance as a fixed process with owner, checklists, and audit logs.
  • Maintain documentation and versioning (content & tracking).
  • Plan regular audits and incident post-mortems.

Common pitfalls

  • No owner, no documentation, no rollbacks.
  • Legal requirements (privacy) checked too late.

Measurement

  • Track audit cadence and results.
  • Measure mean time to recovery (MTTR) for issues.

Examples & templates

  • Policy template for provenance
  • Release review checklist

Pillar link

ai-visibility-monitoring-kpis

Related terms

Hallucination GuardrailsContent VersioningAuto TranslationContent PruningTracking ConsentCookie Banner

Use cases

Use case: SaaSUse case: E-CommerceUse case: Local businesses

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