SEO and AI search glossary
Short definitions of the terms used in search engine optimization and AI search. See the guides for how to apply them.
- AEO (answer engine optimization)
- Optimizing content so search features and AI assistants can use it in direct answers. It builds on SEO with answer-first writing, question coverage and clear entities.
- GEO (generative engine optimization)
- A term for optimizing content for generative AI answers. It overlaps heavily with AEO and the names are often used interchangeably.
- AI Overviews
- Google Search feature that shows an AI-generated summary with links to sources above or among results. Sources come from pages in Google's index.
- AI search visibility
- How often and how prominently a brand or page is mentioned or cited in AI-generated answers.
- Citation
- A link to your page shown as a source in an AI answer or search feature.
- Mention
- An AI answer naming your brand or product, with or without a link.
- LLM (large language model)
- A machine learning model trained on large amounts of text that can generate language. ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini are built on LLMs.
- Crawler (bot, spider)
- Software that fetches web pages so they can be indexed or used. Googlebot and OAI-SearchBot are crawlers.
- robots.txt
- A text file at the root of a host that tells compliant crawlers which paths they may fetch. It is a request, not access control.
- XML sitemap
- A file listing the URLs you want search engines to discover, optionally with last-modified dates.
- llms.txt
- A proposed convention for a plain-text file at /llms.txt that summarizes a site for language models. Major AI search providers have not confirmed that they use it.
- Canonical URL
- The preferred address of a page, declared with a rel=canonical link, used to consolidate duplicate URLs.
- noindex
- A robots meta tag or header that asks search engines not to include a page in results.
- Title tag
- The HTML title of a page. It is a relevance signal and usually the headline of the search result.
- Meta description
- A short summary in the page head that search engines may show under the title. It is not a ranking factor but affects clicks.
- H1 heading
- The main visible heading of a page. Most pages should have one that states the topic.
- Schema markup
- Structured data vocabulary from Schema.org used to describe page content to machines.
- JSON-LD
- A format for embedding structured data as a JSON script in the page. Google recommends it.
- Rich result
- An enhanced search listing, such as ratings or product info, that depends on valid structured data and eligibility.
- Long-tail keyword
- A longer, more specific search phrase, often a question, with lower individual volume and clearer intent.
- Search intent
- The goal behind a query: to learn, compare, buy or find a specific site.
- E-E-A-T
- Experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness: the qualities Google's quality guidelines ask raters to assess. It is not a single ranking factor.
- Backlink
- A link from another site to yours. It is a signal of reference and trust.
- SERP
- Search engine results page.
- Featured snippet
- A highlighted answer extracted from a page and shown at the top of some results.
- TTFB (time to first byte)
- How long a server takes to start sending a response. Slow TTFB delays everything else.
- Open Graph tags
- Meta tags that control the title, description and image shown when a page is shared on social platforms and some apps.
- Entity
- A distinct thing, such as a company, person or product, that search systems can identify and relate to other facts.
- Zero-click search
- A search where the user gets what they need from the results page or AI answer without visiting a site.
- Google Search Console
- Free Google tool showing how your site appears in Google Search, including queries, clicks and indexing problems.
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