AI SEO & GEO Glossary

Automated bots used by AI platforms (GPTBot, ClaudeBot, Google-Extended) to index and gather web content for training and real-time retrieval.

Why it matters: If you block AI crawlers in robots.txt, your business has zero AI visibility—these bots cannot access your content to include you in AI responses.

Next-generation search powered by large language models (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude) that generate answers rather than just listing links.

Why it matters: Users increasingly bypass traditional search engines and ask AI platforms directly. Being mentioned in AI-generated answers is crucial for discoverability.

The practice of optimizing content for AI-powered search and recommendation systems, including both traditional search engines with AI features and pure AI platforms.

Why it matters: Traditional SEO alone is insufficient. AI SEO addresses how LLMs discover, understand, and cite your content in generated responses.

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The frequency and prominence with which your business appears in AI-generated responses across platforms like ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Gemini.

Why it matters: High AI visibility means potential customers discover you when asking AI for recommendations. Low visibility means you're invisible in the AI-powered search era.

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How AI systems credit sources when citing information in responses—can be inline links, footnotes, or mentions without direct attribution.

Why it matters: Proper attribution drives brand awareness and potential website traffic. Different platforms have different attribution styles.

Microsoft's conversational AI assistant integrated with Bing search, powered by OpenAI technology.

Why it matters: Bing Chat combines traditional search results with AI-generated answers, appearing in Windows, Edge, and Microsoft 365 products.

Strategic content optimization techniques designed to increase the likelihood of being cited by AI systems in their generated responses.

Why it matters: Unlike traditional SEO (ranking focus), citation engineering focuses on being the authoritative source AI platforms reference.

Anthropic's AI assistant focused on helpful, honest, and harmless responses, known for detailed citations and nuanced answers.

Why it matters: Claude often provides more detailed source attribution than other platforms, making it valuable for businesses seeking explicit citations.

Anthropic's web crawler used to gather training data and real-time information for Claude AI.

Why it matters: Allowing ClaudeBot access in robots.txt is essential for visibility in Claude responses.

Organizing related content pieces around pillar topics to help AI systems understand your topical authority and expertise.

Why it matters: Well-clustered content signals depth of knowledge, making AI more likely to cite you as an authoritative source.

OpenAI's conversational AI assistant powered by GPT-3.5 and GPT-4, with 180M+ monthly active users.

Why it matters: As the most widely-used AI platform, ChatGPT visibility directly impacts brand discovery for millions of potential customers.

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Google's user experience metrics (LCP, FID, CLS) measuring page load speed, interactivity, and visual stability.

Why it matters: Slow pages may be partially crawled or timed out by AI crawlers, resulting in incomplete understanding of your content.

The number of pages a crawler (AI or traditional) will index from your site within a given timeframe.

Why it matters: Limited crawl budget means AI systems may miss important pages. Optimize with sitemaps and clear site structure.

How AI presents sources: inline links, footnotes, parenthetical mentions, or no attribution.

Why it matters: Different platforms use different formats. Perplexity shows numbered citations; ChatGPT may mention without links.

Linking to specific sections or pages within your site rather than just the homepage, helping AI understand granular content.

Why it matters: Deep links in internal navigation and external citations help AI discover and cite specific expertise areas.

How AI systems identify and understand businesses, people, places, and concepts in content.

Why it matters: Clear entity signals (structured data, consistent naming) help AI reliably recognize and cite your business.

Google's content quality framework that also influences how AI systems evaluate sources.

Why it matters: AI platforms favor sources demonstrating expertise and authority. Build E-E-A-T through credentials, reviews, backlinks.

Google's answer box appearing at the top of search results, often correlating with AI visibility.

Why it matters: Content structured for featured snippets (clear Q&A format, lists, tables) is also easily parsed by AI systems.

Timestamps and update indicators (datePublished, dateModified) showing content recency.

Why it matters: AI systems prioritize up-to-date information. Stale content (>2 years) rarely appears in AI responses.

Google's multimodal AI model (formerly Bard) capable of understanding text, images, and other media.

Why it matters: Deeply integrated with Google ecosystem, Gemini influences search results and Google Assistant responses.

The practice of optimizing your online presence to increase visibility and attribution in AI-generated responses from large language models.

Why it matters: As AI-powered search grows, GEO is becoming as critical as traditional SEO for business discoverability.

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A quantitative measure (0-9 scale) of technical readiness for AI visibility based on factors like schema markup, llms.txt, crawler access, and content optimization.

Why it matters: High GEO score indicates strong technical foundation for AI discovery, though content quality and authority also influence actual mention rate.

AI-generated summaries appearing at the top of Google search results (formerly Search Generative Experience/SGE).

Why it matters: Appearing in AI Overviews means visibility before traditional search results, capturing attention for 15-20% of searches.

Google's crawler token for accessing content specifically for generative AI training data.

Why it matters: Separate from regular Googlebot; blocking Google-Extended prevents your content from training Google's AI models.

OpenAI's web crawler used to gather training data and real-time information for ChatGPT.

Why it matters: Allowing GPTBot access in robots.txt is essential for ChatGPT visibility. Blocking it guarantees zero ChatGPT mentions.

The practice of anchoring AI responses to factual, verifiable sources rather than generating potentially inaccurate information.

Why it matters: Well-g AI systems prioritize authoritative sources with strong signals (structured data, citations, reviews).

When AI generates false or misleading information not supported by training data or retrieved sources.

Why it matters: Strong authority signals and structured data reduce risk of AI hallucinating incorrect information about your business.

Structured database of entities (businesses, people, places) and their relationships, used by search engines and AI systems.

Why it matters: Being in knowledge graphs (Google, Wikidata) provides strong entity signals that AI systems trust and cite.

AI models trained on vast amounts of text data (GPT-4, Claude, Gemini) capable of understanding and generating human language.

Why it matters: LLMs power the AI platforms where your potential customers search for recommendations and information.

Synonym for AI SEO; the process of preparing content and technical infrastructure for optimal consumption by large language models.

Why it matters: LLM-optimized content is structured, well-marked with schema, and designed for machine parsing alongside human readability.

Schema.org markup defining location-based business information: name, address, phone, hours, service area, reviews.

Why it matters: Critical for local businesses; helps AI reliably extract and cite location-specific information in local queries.

The percentage of relevant AI queries where your business is mentioned (0-100%), measuring actual AI visibility.

Why it matters: Primary metric for AI visibility success. 50%+ mention rate indicates strong AI presence; 0% means you're invisible.

Content combining text, images, video, and audio that AI systems can understand through multiple modalities.

Why it matters: As AI models become multimodal (Gemini, GPT-4V), properly marked images and media enhance discoverability.

AI's ability to understand, interpret, and generate human language.

Why it matters: Understanding NLP helps you structure content in ways AI systems can parse: clear headings, natural language, Q&A formats.

Schema.org markup defining your company: name, logo, contact information, social profiles, founding date.

Why it matters: Foundational schema that helps AI understand your business identity consistently across all content.

AI-powered answer engine with explicit source citations, processing 500M+ monthly searches.

Why it matters: Known for transparent attribution; being cited in Perplexity provides visible brand exposure with direct links.

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Where your mention appears in AI responses: early (first third), middle, or late (last third).

Why it matters: Early mentions signal stronger relevance. Users often focus on early parts of AI responses before reading further.

Crafting specific inputs to elicit desired outputs from AI systems.

Why it matters: Understanding common user prompts helps you optimize content for the questions people actually ask AI.

Creating test questions that mirror real user behavior to measure AI visibility.

Why it matters: Effective testing requires queries your actual customers would ask: "best X in Y", "top Z tools", comparison queries.

AI technique combining information retrieval (search) with text generation to ground responses in real sources.

Why it matters: RAG-based systems (Perplexity) are more likely to cite specific sources, making structured, authoritative content crucial.

Enhanced search results using structured data: star ratings, FAQ accordion, recipe cards, event details.

Why it matters: Schema that creates rich results in Google also helps AI extract structured information reliably.

Standardized structured data vocabulary using JSON-LD, Microdata, or RDFa formats to mark up content with machine-readable information.

Why it matters: AI can parse schema with 95%+ accuracy vs. 60-70% for unstructured content. Single highest-impact GEO factor.

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Search based on meaning and intent rather than exact keyword matching.

Why it matters: AI systems use semantic understanding; optimize for concepts and intent, not just keywords.

Google's original name for AI-powered search interface, now called Google AI Overviews.

Why it matters: Historical term still widely used; represents Google's integration of AI into traditional search.

XML file listing all important pages on your site for crawlers to discover.

Why it matters: Helps AI crawlers understand site structure and discover all content, especially deep pages.

Schema.org markup identifying content sections suitable for voice assistants to read aloud.

Why it matters: Optimizes for voice search and AI assistants (Siri, Alexa, Google Assistant) that use similar technology to ChatGPT.

Organized information using standardized formats (JSON-LD, Microdata) that machines can parse reliably.

Why it matters: Foundation of AI visibility. Structured data makes your business information 95%+ accurate to AI vs. 60-70% unstructured.

Content used to teach AI models during their initial training phase.

Why it matters: While training data is historical, current AI systems also retrieve real-time information—both matter for visibility.

The goal behind a search query or AI prompt: informational, transactional, navigational, or comparison.

Why it matters: AI systems prioritize content matching user intent. Optimize for why users ask questions, not just what they ask.

Spoken queries to AI assistants (Siri, Alexa, Google Assistant) using natural language.

Why it matters: Voice search uses similar AI technology to ChatGPT. Optimizing for conversational queries improves both.

Search or AI query answered completely without user clicking through to any website.

Why it matters: 60-70% of AI queries are zero-click. Being mentioned is critical for brand awareness even without traffic.