AEO Glossary

AI Search Optimization Glossary

Understand the core concepts of AEO, GEO, and AI search optimization. This glossary covers all the AI search terms you need to know.

AEO (Answer Engine Optimization)

Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) is the strategy of optimizing your content so that AI search engines (like ChatGPT, Google AI Overview, Perplexity) recommend your brand.

GEO (Generative Engine Optimization)

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is the broad strategy of optimizing content for all generative AI systems, encompassing AEO and more AI interaction scenarios.

LLM (Large Language Model)

Large Language Models (LLMs) are the core technology powering AI assistants like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini — artificial intelligence models trained on massive amounts of text data.

Schema Markup (Structured Data)

Schema Markup is structured data code added to webpage HTML that helps search engines and AI systems understand the meaning and relationships of your content.

E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness)

E-E-A-T stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness — the core framework Google and AI systems use to evaluate content quality.

Featured Snippets

Featured Snippets are special boxes at the top of Google search results that directly answer user questions. They're the predecessor to Google AI Overview and extremely important for AEO.

Knowledge Graph

Knowledge Graph is a structured database used by search engines and AI systems to understand relationships between entities (brands, people, concepts).

AI Citations

AI Citations refer to AI search engines (like Perplexity, Google AI Overview) citing your brand or content as a source in their answers.

Brand Mentions

Brand Mentions are the number of times your brand name is mentioned on other websites across the internet. In the AEO era, brand mentions directly affect the likelihood of AI recommending you.

Prompt Optimization

Prompt Optimization is the strategy of analyzing query patterns users use in AI assistants, then optimizing your content to match these queries.