Glossary

RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation)

The mechanism by which AI retrieves relevant information from web search or databases before generating an answer. AI-search citations happen on top of this mechanism.

Notes

When ChatGPT’s web search or Google’s AI Overviews receive a question, they retrieve relevant pages at the passage level and build the answer on top of them. The unit of citation is the passage, not the page — the single most important fact for content design.

The practical implication: write each section so it stands alone (answer capsule), make headings announce content precisely, and attach sources to facts. A structure that is easy for RAG to retrieve is a structure that gets cited.

Updated: Jun 10, 2026