GEO and AI SEO glossary: 16 clear definitions

GEO (Generative Engine Optimization)

The set of practices that help a site get cited in AI-generated answers (ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Google's AI Overviews). See SEO vs GEO.

AEO (Answer Engine Optimization)

A close synonym of GEO: optimizing content for engines that give a direct answer rather than a list of links.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

Organic search optimization: what helps a page rank in Google's and other engines' results.

AI Overviews

Summaries generated by Google's AI at the top of some search results, with links to sources. See how to show up.

Grounding

When an AI looks up the web live to answer, instead of relying only on its training knowledge. Grounded answers usually cite their sources.

Citation

A mention of a brand or site, with or without a link, in an AI answer. It's the GEO equivalent of a Google ranking.

AI share of voice

The proportion of AI answers, across a set of questions, that cite your brand compared with your competitors.

robots.txt

A file at a site's root telling crawlers what they may crawl. It can allow or block AI crawlers. The AI crawler checker reads it for you.

GPTBot

OpenAI's crawler that collects pages to train models. Not to be confused with OAI-SearchBot, used for search in ChatGPT. See should you block AI crawlers?.

OAI-SearchBot

OpenAI's crawler used for ChatGPT's search-based answers. Blocking it prevents you from being cited there.

Google-Extended

A robots.txt setting that controls the use of your content by Gemini models. It has no effect on Google Search rankings or AI Overviews.

llms.txt

A text file proposed in 2024 that summarizes a site for AI, placed at the root. It's not an official standard. See our article and the generator.

Structured data (JSON-LD)

Code invisible to visitors that precisely describes a page or business (Organization, LocalBusiness, Product, FAQPage…) to search engines and AI.

Entity

A clearly identified thing (a company, a person, a place) that search engines and AI recognize and connect to consistent information across the web.

E-E-A-T

Experience, expertise, authoritativeness, trustworthiness: the qualities Google tries to recognize in content, which also matter to get cited by AI.

Zero-click search

A search whose answer is given directly on the results page or by the AI, without visiting a site.