GEO Glossary — AI Search Visibility Terms Defined
Key terms in Generative Engine Optimization explained clearly and concisely.
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AI Citation
An AI citation is a reference to a specific source — typically a URL or domain name — that an AI search engine includes in its generated response.
AI Engine
An AI engine is the underlying system that powers AI-generated search responses.
AI Overviews
AI Overviews are AI-generated answer summaries that Google displays at the top of search results pages for qualifying queries.
AI Search Visibility
AI search visibility is a composite metric representing how present and prominent a brand is across AI-powered search engines.
AI Sentiment
AI sentiment is the tone, framing, and perceived favorability with which AI search engines describe a brand in their generated responses.
AI Visibility
AI visibility is a metric that measures how frequently and prominently a brand appears in responses generated by AI-powered search engines like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google AI Overviews.
AI Visibility Score
An AI Visibility Score is a metric that quantifies how frequently and prominently a brand appears in AI-generated search responses across relevant queries.
Answer Engine Optimization (AEO)
Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) is an alternative term for the practice of optimizing digital content to appear in AI-powered search engine responses.
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ChatGPT Search
ChatGPT Search is OpenAI's web search capability integrated into ChatGPT, allowing the AI to retrieve and cite real-time information from the web when generating responses.
Citation
A citation in AI search is when an AI-generated response references a specific URL as a source.
Citation Gap Analysis
Citation gap analysis is the process of identifying queries where competitor brands are cited by AI search engines but your brand is not.
Citation Rate
Citation rate is a GEO metric that measures how frequently a specific domain or URL is referenced as a source in AI-generated search responses.
Competitor Gap
A competitor gap is a topic or query where a rival brand has stronger AI search visibility than yours.
Content Briefing
A content briefing is an AI-generated guide that outlines the structure, topics, sources, and key points needed to create content optimized for AI search citation.
Content Freshness Signal
Content freshness signals are indicators that communicate to search engines and AI systems how recently content was created or updated.
Content Optimization
Content optimization for AI search is the process of improving existing content to increase its likelihood of being cited by AI engines.
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E-E-A-T
E-E-A-T stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness — a quality framework originally defined by Google for evaluating web content.
Entity Authority
Entity authority measures how strongly AI systems associate a brand or organization with specific topics, categories, and attributes.
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Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)
Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is the practice of optimizing a brand's digital content and online presence so that AI-powered search engines — such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews — cite, recommend, and accurately represent the brand in their generated responses.
Grounding
Grounding is the process by which an AI search engine anchors its generated response in retrieved source material.
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Large Language Model (LLM)
A large language model (LLM) is a neural network trained on vast amounts of text data that can generate, summarize, and reason about natural language.
LLM SEO
LLM SEO (Large Language Model SEO) is a term used to describe the practice of optimizing content to be surfaced, cited, and recommended by search engines powered by large language models.
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Share of Voice
Share of Voice (SOV) in AI search measures the percentage of AI-generated responses that mention or cite a specific brand within a defined topic or set of queries.
Share of Voice (AI)
Share of voice in AI search measures how often a brand appears in AI-generated responses relative to its competitors for a set of monitored queries.
Source Attribution
Source attribution is the mechanism by which AI search engines credit original content sources in their generated responses.
Source Authority
Source authority is the degree of trustworthiness and credibility that AI search engines attribute to a website or domain when selecting sources for generated responses.
Structured Data
Structured data is standardized, machine-readable markup added to web pages that helps search engines and AI systems understand the content, context, and relationships on a page.