Glossary
The terms behind AI search, in plain English. No jargon — and where a word is unavoidable, it's defined here.
- AEO (Answer Engine Optimization)
- Writing and structuring a website so AI answer engines — ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews — can cleanly extract, recommend, and cite your business when someone asks them a question.
- SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
- Optimizing a website to rank in classic search results — Google's list of ten blue links. Still matters, but it's a different game from getting cited inside an AI answer.
- AI Overviews
- Google's AI-generated answer that appears above the regular search results. It summarizes an answer and cites a handful of sources — and being one of those sources is the goal.
- Answer engine
- Any tool that reads the web and answers a question directly instead of handing you a list of links. ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews are all answer engines.
- Schema markup (structured data)
- Hidden, machine-readable labels in a page's code that tell search and AI engines exactly what something is — a business, a service, a price, an FAQ — instead of making them guess from the text.
- LocalBusiness schema
- A specific type of schema markup that describes a business: its name, address, area served, hours, and contact details. It's how AI engines place you on the local map.
- FAQ schema
- Schema markup that wraps a page's questions and answers so AI engines can lift a direct answer straight from your site and attribute it to you.
- LLM (Large Language Model)
- The kind of AI behind tools like Claude and ChatGPT. It's trained on huge amounts of text and predicts useful, fluent responses — including which businesses to mention when asked.
- Citation network
- The web of sources AI engines pull from when they build an answer — your site, directories, maps, reviews, and mentions elsewhere. Showing up across it is what gets you recommended.
- Google Business Profile (GBP)
- Your free business listing on Google (formerly Google My Business). It feeds the local AI graph, so a complete, accurate profile is one of the highest-leverage local AI moves there is.
- AI-Ready Website
- A site built so AI engines can read it, recommend it, and cite it: AEO content, full schema markup, and presence across the local AI citation network. The flagship Averde AI service.