AI Search Visibility Glossary

Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) is the practice of optimising a business's online presence so that AI-powered tools - such as ChatGPT and Google's AI Overviews - recommend it in response to relevant queries.

GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation) and SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) are both disciplines for improving online discoverability, but they target different systems: GEO targets AI-generated answers, while SEO targets ranked search results.

AI search visibility is a measure of how frequently and prominently a business appears in AI-generated answers when relevant questions are asked.

AI search ranking refers to how AI tools order and prioritise the businesses, content, or information they include in generated responses - determining not just whether you appear, but how prominently.

AI answer engines are AI-powered tools that respond to user queries with generated answers rather than ranked lists of links - including ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, and Claude.

AI Overviews are AI-generated summaries that appear at the top of Google search results, synthesising information from multiple sources to directly answer the user's query.

Retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) is a technique where AI tools fetch real-time information from external sources before generating a response, rather than relying solely on their training data.

Conversational search is a search interaction where users ask questions in natural language and receive direct answers from AI tools, rather than browsing a list of links.

A zero-click search occurs when a user gets their answer directly from search results or an AI-generated response without clicking through to any website.

LLM citations are the source references that AI language models include in their responses - links or mentions of specific content that informed the generated answer.

Brand mentions are references to a business by name across websites, directories, social media, and other online sources that AI tools use to assess credibility and relevance.

Entity clarity is the degree to which AI tools can accurately and confidently describe what a business does, who it serves, and what makes it different from competitors.

Topical authority is the depth and breadth of expertise a business demonstrates on a subject, as measured by search engines and AI tools through its published content and external references.

AI trust signals are the verifiable indicators of credibility, consistency, and authority that AI tools evaluate before recommending a business in their responses.

Schema markup is structured data code added to a website that tells AI tools and search engines exactly what a business is, what it does, and who it serves.

Structured data is standardised code added to web pages that explicitly labels business information in a format AI tools and search engines can read and process programmatically.

The AI citation gap is the difference between what a business actually offers and what AI tools report about it when responding to relevant queries.

AI readability is the ease with which AI tools can parse, understand, and extract accurate information from a piece of content or a website.

The dark funnel is the portion of the buyer journey that happens before a prospect ever visits your website or submits a form, making it invisible to traditional analytics.

Speed to lead is the elapsed time between a prospect submitting an enquiry and receiving a meaningful response from the business - a metric with a direct and significant impact on conversion rate.