AEO (Answer Engine Optimization)
AEO is optimizing content so it can be selected as a direct answer in answer-first search experiences.
AI Search Glossary
Simple definitions for AI search, GEO, citations, and the metrics that matter.
A
AI Confidence
AI Confidence is a score (from 0 to 1) that reflects how reliably LLM search engines can describe your brand, product, and positioning when they include you in an answer.
AI Overviews
AI Overviews are AI-generated summary answers shown directly on a search results page for some queries.
AI search
AI search is an answers-first search experience where an AI model generates a direct response, often using information retrieved from the web or a search index.
AI Search Visibility
AI Search Visibility is how often your brand or content appears in AI answers for a defined set of prompts, measured as mentions plus citations.
AI SEO
AI SEO is a casual term for SEO work aimed at improving visibility in AI-generated answers, not just classic rankings.
Alt text
Alt text (alternative text) is a short description added to an image's HTML so screen readers and search systems can understand what the image shows.
Answer-first search
Answer-first search is a search experience where the system presents a synthesized answer immediately, instead of making a list of links the main result.
Assisted Conversion
An assisted conversion is a conversion where AI was part of the journey but not necessarily the last click.
B
Bing index
The Bing index is Bing's catalog of discovered and stored URLs used to return results and power retrieval for downstream experiences.
Browsing
Browsing is when an AI system accesses the live web (directly or through an index) to retrieve sources at query time.
C
Canonical URL
A canonical URL is the preferred version of a page's address, declared via a link tag, that tells search engines which URL to index when duplicates exist.
Citation
A citation is a source reference (often a clickable link) included inside an AI-generated answer to show where information came from.
Citation Depth
Citation Depth (or URL Citation Depth) measures how many citations go to specific pages on your site versus your homepage.
Citation Frequency
Citation Frequency is the percentage of tracked prompts where your domain is cited in AI answers.
Citation optimization
Citation optimization is increasing the likelihood that AI answers reference your page as a source.
Citation Quality
Citation Quality is a segmentation of citations by intent and value, distinguishing definition prompts from high-intent evaluation prompts.
Citation Share of Voice (C-SoV)
Citation Share of Voice is your citation share vs total citations across a defined competitor set, measured on a fixed prompt set.
Citations
Citations are links or source references shown inside an AI answer to indicate where information came from.
CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift)
CLS is a Core Web Vitals metric that measures how much visible page content shifts unexpectedly during loading.
Comparison pages
Comparison pages are dedicated pages that compare two or more options (e.g. "X vs Y") with differences, pros/cons, and recommendations.
Content chunking
Content chunking is structuring information into small, self-contained sections that can be retrieved, summarized, and cited independently.
Core Web Vitals
Core Web Vitals are a set of three metrics (LCP, CLS, INP) defined by Google that measure real-world page load performance, visual stability, and interactivity.
D
Dark AI Traffic
Dark AI Traffic refers to visits influenced by AI answers that arrive without an identifiable referrer, often labeled Direct in analytics.
E
E-E-A-T
E-E-A-T stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. It is a framework Google uses to evaluate content quality and credibility.
Entities
In search and NLP, entities are distinct, identifiable things (people, places, products, concepts) that systems use to understand what content is about.
Extractability
Extractability is how easy it is for a system to pull the right answer from a page without confusion.
F
FAQPage schema
FAQPage schema is structured data that marks up a page's FAQ section (questions and answers) so machines can understand it as Q&A.
G
GA4 Channel Group
A GA4 Channel Group is a Google Analytics feature to classify traffic sources, useful for grouping AI referrals into one reportable bucket.
GEO (Generative Engine Optimization)
GEO is the practice of increasing your chances of being included and cited inside AI-generated answers.
Grounding
Grounding is tying an AI-generated answer to specific sources so claims can be traced back to evidence.
H
Hallucination
A hallucination is when an AI model produces information that sounds plausible but is incorrect or not supported by sources.
Heading hierarchy
Heading hierarchy is the ordered use of H1 through H6 tags to structure a page's content into a logical outline.
HTTP status code
An HTTP status code is a three-digit number returned by a server to indicate whether a request succeeded, redirected, or failed.
HTTPS
HTTPS (HyperText Transfer Protocol Secure) encrypts the connection between a browser and a server using TLS, protecting data in transit.
I
IndexNow
IndexNow is a protocol that lets you notify participating search engines when URLs change so they can crawl and update them faster.
J
JSON-LD
JSON-LD is a format for adding structured data to a page in a machine-readable way (commonly used for Schema.org).
L
lang attribute
The lang attribute is an HTML attribute on the <html> tag that declares the primary language of the page (e.g. lang="en").
LCP (Largest Contentful Paint)
LCP is a Core Web Vitals metric that measures how long it takes for the largest visible element (image, heading, or text block) to render on screen.
LLM (Large Language Model)
A Large Language Model (LLM) is an AI model trained on vast amounts of text data that can generate human-like text responses.
LLMO (Large Language Model Optimization)
LLMO is improving how LLM-powered systems understand, represent, and recommend your brand, content, or product.
llms.txt
llms.txt is a proposed convention for publishing a machine-friendly page that directs AI agents to a site's most important content.
M
Mention
A mention is when an AI answer names a brand, product, or entity without linking to it as a source.
Meta robots
Meta robots is an HTML meta tag that gives search engines page-level crawling and indexing instructions (e.g. noindex, nofollow).
Misattribution Rate
Misattribution Rate is how often an AI answer attributes incorrect claims to your brand or content, or confuses you with another vendor.
Mixed content
Mixed content occurs when an HTTPS page loads sub-resources (images, scripts, stylesheets) over insecure HTTP.
N
Noindex
Noindex is a directive (via meta tag or HTTP header) that tells search engines not to include a page in their index.
O
OAI-SearchBot
OAI-SearchBot is OpenAI's crawler used to surface websites in ChatGPT's search features.
P
Paywall
A paywall is an access restriction that blocks visitors from reading page content until they subscribe or pay.
Prompt Set
A prompt set is a fixed list of queries used to benchmark AI search visibility over time.
Prompt Taxonomy
A prompt taxonomy is a classification of prompts by topic cluster, intent type, persona, and funnel stage.
R
RAG (retrieval-augmented generation)
RAG is a method where a system retrieves sources first, then generates an answer based on those sources.
Redirect chain
A redirect chain is a sequence of two or more redirects between the original URL and the final destination (e.g. A -> B -> C).
Retrieval
Retrieval is the step where an AI search system selects and pulls relevant documents from the web or a search index before generating an answer.
robots.txt
robots.txt is a site-wide rules file that tells crawlers which paths they are allowed or not allowed to fetch.
S
Schema markup
Schema markup is structured data (usually in JSON-LD format) added to a page to help search engines understand the content type, entities, and relationships.
Search intent
Search intent is the underlying goal behind a user's query (informational, navigational, transactional, or commercial investigation).
Server-side rendering
Server-side rendering (SSR) is a technique where the server generates the full HTML for a page before sending it to the browser, rather than relying on client-side JavaScript.
Share of Voice
Share of Voice measures your visibility relative to competitors across a set of tracked prompts.
Source selection
Source selection is how an AI search system decides which documents to retrieve and which ones to cite in its answer.
T
Title tag
The title tag is an HTML element (<title>) that defines the page's title shown in browser tabs, search results, and social shares.
Training data
Training data is the information used to train an AI model before it is deployed, forming its general knowledge.