Insights · Glossary

The AI search glossary.

SEO, GEO, AEO, share of answer, entity... We've gathered the core terms of the AI search world with plain, clear definitions. Each term links to the relevant detailed article.

AI Search

A form of search that produces a direct, compiled answer to questions. The user gets a single answer instead of a list.

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SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

Work done to get pages found and ranked in search engines. The foundation of technical health, content and authority.

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GEO (Generative Engine Optimization)

Work done to get a brand mentioned and cited in AI answers.

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AEO (Answer Engine Optimization)

Structuring content to be a direct answer to a question; featured answers, voice and AI responses.

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AI Overviews

The answer Google shows at the top of search results, compiled from multiple sources.

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Mention

A brand appearing by name in an AI answer.

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Citation

A site being shown as the source of an answer.

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Share of Answer

A brand's total visibility in AI answers compared to competitors.

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Zero-click

The user seeing the answer directly and not clicking any link.

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Entity (Brand Identity)

The consistent definition of who a brand is, what it does and what topics it has authority on.

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E-E-A-T

Experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness. The foundation of content quality.

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Topic Cluster

A topic authority structure built with a main (pillar) page and supporting content.

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Brand Mention

A brand being mentioned online, with or without a link.

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Featured Snippet

The box shown at the top of search results, containing the answer to the question.

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People Also Ask (PAA)

The expandable search section showing the user's follow-up questions.

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Crawl Budget

The amount of pages bots will crawl on a site in a given period.

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Core Web Vitals

The LCP (speed), INP (responsiveness) and CLS (stability) metrics that measure page experience.

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Structured Data (Schema)

Marking up content in a machine-readable way.

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hreflang

The tag that tells search engines the correct language/region version on multilingual sites.

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NAP Consistency

A business's name, address and phone being the same everywhere; critical for local visibility.

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Localization

Not just translating content; adapting meaning, terms and intent to the target market.

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Digital PR

Authority work that gets a brand genuinely mentioned in credible sources; not backlink sales.

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From term to practice

Where do these concepts stand for your brand?

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