The Complete Glossary of AI SEO Terms Every Marketer Should Know

AI Overviews

Google's AI-generated summary that appears above traditional search results for many queries, synthesizing information from multiple sources into one answer.

AI Mode

Google's more conversational, chat-based search experience, going further than AI Overviews by letting users ask follow-up questions in a continuous conversation.

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)

The practice of structuring content so AI engines (ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Overviews) are more likely to retrieve, cite, and recommend it in their generated answers.

LLM (Large Language Model)

The underlying AI technology (like GPT or Gemini) that powers chatbots and generative search engines by predicting and generating human-like text.

RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation)

A technique where an AI model retrieves relevant information from external sources (like the live web) before generating its answer, rather than relying only on what it learned during training. This is how tools like ChatGPT Search and Perplexity produce up-to-date, cited answers.

Citation Rate

How often your content gets referenced or linked inside AI-generated answers for your target queries: the GEO equivalent of a ranking position.

Zero-Click Search

A search where the user gets their answer directly on the results page (via a featured snippet, knowledge panel, or AI Overview) without clicking through to any website.

Share of Voice (AI Search)

How often your brand appears in AI-generated answers compared to your competitors, for a defined set of target queries.

SGE (Search Generative Experience)

An earlier name for what evolved into Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode; you may still see this term in older articles and tools.

Answer Engine Optimization (AEO)

Closely related to GEO; refers specifically to structuring content to directly answer questions in a format ready to be lifted by voice assistants, featured snippets, and AI engines.

Structured Data / Schema Markup

Code added to a webpage that explicitly labels its content (e.g., "this is a Product," "this is a Review") so search engines and AI crawlers can parse it accurately.

E-E-A-T

Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness: Google's framework for judging content quality, increasingly relevant to AI engines deciding which sources to trust and cite.

Topical Authority

The depth and breadth of a website's content on a given subject, signaling genuine expertise rather than a single isolated article.

Content Cluster

A group of closely related, interlinked articles built around one core topic, designed to build topical authority as a set rather than as individual pages.

Crawlability

Whether search engine and AI bots can access and read your site's content, controlled largely through `robots.txt` and site structure.

Canonical Tag

An HTML tag that tells search engines which version of a page is the "master" copy when duplicate or near-duplicate URLs exist.

Knowledge Graph

Google's structured database of entities (people, places, brands, concepts) and the relationships between them, used to power knowledge panels and improve understanding of queries.