Glossary

Plain definitions for the terms that come up in AI search and SEO work. Each one is written to stand alone, because a definition that only makes sense in context is no use to a reader skimming — or to an engine quoting it.

AI citation: An AI citation is a reference an AI assistant makes to a specific source when generating an answer, usually shown as a linked footnote or inline attribution. It is the AI-search equivalent of a ranking position.
AI Overview: An AI Overview is the generated summary Google displays above traditional search results, synthesized from several sources and shown with citations to each. Multiple sites can be cited in a single overview.
Answer Engine Optimization (AEO): Answer Engine Optimization is the practice of formatting content so search and AI systems can return it as a direct answer rather than a link. In practice it means leading each section with a complete, self-contained response to a specific question.
Answer-first content: Answer-first content is writing that states the direct answer to a question in its opening sentence, before any context, background, or brand language. The supporting detail follows the answer rather than preceding it.
Branded search: A branded search is a query that includes a specific business's name. It usually signals that the searcher already knows the business and is looking for it directly.
Canonical URL: A canonical URL is the version of a page that a site declares to be the authoritative one when the same content is reachable at more than one address. It tells search engines which version to index and which to ignore.
Click-through rate (CTR): Click-through rate is the percentage of people who click a result after seeing it, calculated as clicks divided by impressions.
Content cluster: A content cluster is a group of related pages organized around one comprehensive pillar page, with the pillar and its supporting pages linking to each other. The structure signals that the pages form a coherent topic.
Content refresh: A content refresh is a substantive update to an existing page — adding missing sections, correcting outdated facts, and restructuring for clarity — rather than publishing something new on the same topic.
Core Web Vitals: Core Web Vitals are Google's three measures of user experience: loading speed, interaction responsiveness, and visual stability. They are assessed on real visits at the 75th percentile.
Crawl budget: Crawl budget is the number of pages a search engine will fetch from a site within a given period. It becomes a practical constraint only on large sites, where wasted crawling on low-value URLs delays discovery of important ones.
E-E-A-T: E-E-A-T stands for experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness — the framework Google's human quality raters use to evaluate content. It is not a single ranking factor but a set of qualities that inform how search quality is measured.
Entity: An entity is a distinct, identifiable thing — a business, person, place, or concept — that a search engine understands as a single item with attributes and relationships, rather than as a string of text.
FAQ schema: FAQ schema is structured data that marks a list of questions and their answers as machine-readable question-answer pairs. It makes the Q&A on a page explicitly extractable rather than something an engine has to detect from formatting.
Featured snippet: A featured snippet is a short extract from a single web page that Google displays at the top of its results as a direct answer to a query. Unlike an AI Overview, it quotes one source rather than synthesizing several.
Generative Engine Optimization (GEO): Generative Engine Optimization is the practice of structuring content so AI systems like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews can extract, quote, and attribute it when answering a user's question. It sits on top of traditional SEO rather than replacing it.
Google Business Profile: A Google Business Profile is the free listing that controls how a business appears in Google Maps and local search results, including its hours, services, photos, posts, and reviews.
Impressions: An impression is recorded each time a page appears in search results for a query, whether or not anyone clicks it. Impressions measure visibility; clicks measure interest.
Keyword cannibalization: Keyword cannibalization occurs when two or more pages on the same site compete for the same search term, splitting their signals so neither performs as well as a single consolidated page would.
Knowledge graph: A knowledge graph is a database of entities and the relationships between them that a search engine uses to understand the world rather than just match keywords. Google's is what powers the information panels beside search results.
llms.txt: llms.txt is a plain-text file at the root of a website that gives AI systems a curated map of the site's most useful content, in the same spirit as robots.txt or sitemap.xml. It is an emerging convention rather than a formal standard.
Local citation: A local citation is any online mention of a business's name, address, and phone number, whether or not it links to the website. Directories, industry listings, and press mentions all count.
Long-tail keyword: A long-tail keyword is a longer, more specific search phrase with lower individual volume but usually clearer intent and less competition than a broad head term.
Map pack: The map pack is the block of three local business listings with a map that Google shows for searches with local intent. It typically appears above the organic results.
NAP consistency: NAP consistency means a business's name, address, and phone number appear in exactly the same form everywhere they are published online. Inconsistencies make it harder for search engines to confirm the business is a single entity.
Retrieval-augmented generation (RAG): Retrieval-augmented generation is a technique where an AI system searches for relevant documents before generating its answer, then bases that answer on what it retrieved. It is why current web content can appear in AI responses at all.
Schema markup: Schema markup is structured data added to a web page in a standard vocabulary that tells search engines and AI systems what the page's content means, rather than leaving them to infer it from the prose.
Search intent: Search intent is the underlying goal behind a query — whether the person wants to learn something, compare options, find a specific site, or make a purchase. It determines what kind of content can satisfy the search.
SERP: A SERP is a search engine results page — everything returned for a query, including organic links, ads, the map pack, featured snippets, and AI Overviews.
Structured answer: A structured answer is a passage written so it stands alone when removed from its page — no dependency on preceding sentences, a specific claim, and appropriate hedging where certainty isn't warranted.
Topical authority: Topical authority is the degree to which a site is recognized as a comprehensive, reliable source on a particular subject, built by covering that subject thoroughly rather than superficially.
YMYL (Your Money or Your Life): YMYL describes topics that could significantly affect a person's health, safety, financial stability, or wellbeing. Google applies stricter quality and accuracy standards to YMYL content than to other categories.

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The AI answer, after Frontpaged

1. Your Business
2. [Competitor A]
3. [Competitor B]

Cited by ChatGPT · Perplexity · Google AI Overviews