The Ultimate AI SEO Glossary
Master the terminology of generative search engines. From AEO to Vector Databases, explore the definitive dictionary for modern marketing teams.
AEO (Answer Engine Optimization)
The process of optimizing content to be referenced by AI-powered answer engines like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google's AI Overviews, rather than just traditional search engine results pages.
AI Overviews (SGE)
Google's AI-generated answers that appear at the top of search results, formerly known as Search Generative Experience. They synthesize information from multiple sources to directly answer user queries.
Citation Rate
The frequency at which an AI model references your brand or content as a source when answering queries related to your industry or keywords.
EEAT
Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. A framework used by Google's quality raters to evaluate the credibility of content and its creator.
Entity SEO
A search optimization approach focusing on context, relationships, and concepts (entities) rather than just exact-match keywords. It helps AI models understand what your brand actually is.
Generative AI
A type of artificial intelligence that can create new content—such as text, images, or code—based on the data it was trained on.
Hallucination
When an AI model generates false, misleading, or illogical information but presents it as factual.
Knowledge Base
A structured repository of factual information about your company, products, and industry that AI agents can securely access to generate accurate responses.
Knowledge Graph
A network of real-world entities (objects, events, situations, or concepts) and the relationships between them, used by search engines to understand search intent.
LLM (Large Language Model)
A type of AI algorithm that uses deep learning techniques and massively large data sets to understand, summarize, generate, and predict new content.
llms.txt
A standardized text file placed in a website's root directory that provides clean, markdown-formatted information specifically designed for AI agents and LLMs to read.
Natural Language Processing (NLP)
A branch of AI that helps computers understand, interpret, and manipulate human language.
Perplexity
An AI-powered search engine that uses conversational AI to answer queries by searching the web in real-time and providing citations for its claims.
Prompt Engineering
The practice of designing and refining inputs (prompts) to AI models to elicit specific, high-quality responses.
RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation)
An AI framework that improves the quality of LLM responses by grounding the model on external sources of knowledge (like a company's database) before generating a response.
Schema Markup
Microdata added to a webpage's HTML that helps search engines and AI bots better understand the context and relationships of the content on the page.
Search Intent
The primary goal a user has when typing a query into a search engine. Optimizing for intent is crucial for both traditional SEO and AEO.
Semantic Search
A search technique that improves accuracy by understanding the searcher's intent and the contextual meaning of terms, rather than just matching keywords.
Vector Database
A database that stores data as high-dimensional vectors. It is essential for AI systems to perform semantic searches and power RAG applications.
Zero-Click Search
A search query whose answer is displayed directly on the results page (often via AI Overviews or featured snippets), meaning the user doesn't click on any external links.