Grounding query
A grounding query is a search an AI system runs to find web sources that support and cite its answer, as distinct from the prompt the person typed.
Example
Someone asks an AI assistant "which CRM is easiest for a five-person sales team?" To support its answer, the system might search for "easy CRM for small sales teams" and "CRM pricing for small business." Those searches are grounding queries, and the pages they return are candidates for citation.
Where the term is used
Microsoft uses the term in Bing Webmaster Tools, whose AI Performance report covers Microsoft Copilot, Bing and select partner AI experiences. Bing's announcement describes classifying grounding queries into intents and grouping them into topics, and reports citation share per grounding query.
Why it matters
A page is cited when it is a strong source for the grounding query, which can be worded differently from the original prompt. One prompt can also produce several grounding queries, which is closely related to query fan-out. Where a tool reports grounding queries, they show the searches your content is actually competing in.
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