PAWC (Position-Adjusted Word Count)

Definition

PAWC is the primary metric used in the Princeton GEO paper to measure how prominently a source appears in a generative AI engine's response. Calculated by counting the words attributable to a source, weighted by position within the answer (sources cited earlier or more prominently score higher). Higher PAWC indicates stronger citation visibility. Top Princeton methods by PAWC lift: Quotation +42.6%, Statistics +32.8%, Cite Sources +27.7%.