Glossary # SEO & GEO Glossary The essential terms of traditional and AI search, explained with an operator's lens. Every definition is written to be directly useful. ## A [GEO & AEO ### AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) AEO turns your content into the direct answer for AI. When a user asks ChatGPT, Perplexity, or a voice assistant a question, AEO determines whether your content gets extracted and cited, or a competitor's does. Learn more about this term ](/en/glossary/aeo-answer-engine-optimization)[GEO & AEO ### AI citation rate AI citation rate is the percentage of prompts tested on one or more LLMs where your brand, product, or content is mentioned. It's GEO's fundamental KPI. It allows you to objectively measure your presence in generative responses, track evolution over time, and evaluate the impact of your AI visibility actions. Learn more about this term ](/en/glossary/ai-citation-rate)[GEO & AEO ### AI hallucination An AI hallucination is a false statement generated by an LLM with the same confidence as a verifiable fact. The model isn't lying: it completes a pattern without direct access to truth. For brands, the risk is twofold: being cited with wrong information, or not being cited at all because the model has insufficient knowledge. Learn more about this term ](/en/glossary/ai-hallucination)[GEO & AEO ### AI Overview AI Overviews are Google's AI-generated summaries that appear at the top of search results. They synthesize an average of 5 to 6 different sources. If you're not among them, you're invisible on that query. Learn more about this term ](/en/glossary/ai-overview)[GEO & AEO ### AI share of voice AI share of voice is the share of generative responses (LLMs, AI Overviews) in which your brand is mentioned, relative to competitors. It's the GEO equivalent of SEO share of voice. It tells you not just whether you're cited, but what position you occupy in your sector's landscape as AI describes it. Learn more about this term ](/en/glossary/ai-share-of-voice) ## B [SEO ### Backlink A backlink is a hyperlink from an external site pointing to one of your pages. It's one of the most stable ranking factors in Google's history. In 2026, quality far outweighs quantity, and editorial backlinks also play an indirect role in LLM visibility. Learn more about this term ](/en/glossary/backlink)[GEO & AEO ### Brand hallucination Brand hallucination is the specific case where an LLM generates incorrect information about a company, product, or person. It's not a rare bug: it's a systemic risk for any brand under-represented or poorly represented in models' training data. Learn more about this term ](/en/glossary/brand-hallucination) ## C [SEO ### Crawl Crawling is the zero step of SEO: before indexing a page, Google must first explore it via its Googlebot robot. In 2026, other robots join the picture: GPTBot, PerplexityBot, ClaudeBot. Each has its own access rules. If your site isn't crawlable, it's invisible, on Google and in AI alike. Learn more about this term ](/en/glossary/crawl) ## D [SEO ### Domain Authority Domain authority is not a Google metric. It's a third-party score calculated by SEO tools (Moz, Ahrefs, Semrush) to estimate the strength of a site's link profile. Useful for comparisons, useless for predictions. In 2026, what really matters is the authority perceived by LLMs, and that can't be reduced to a number. Learn more about this term ](/en/glossary/domain-authority) ## E [GEO & AEO ### E-E-A-T E-E-A-T is the framework Google uses to evaluate whether content deserves to rank well. Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness: four dimensions that determine your credibility in the eyes of algorithms and generative AI. Learn more about this term ](/en/glossary/e-e-a-t) ## F [SEO ### Featured Snippet A featured snippet is the box displayed at the top of Google results, before standard organic listings, known as position zero. But in 2026, its value goes beyond the click: content that earns a featured snippet is also far more likely to be cited in AI Overviews and by LLMs. Optimizing for featured snippets means optimizing for all AI extraction. Learn more about this term ](/en/glossary/featured-snippet) ## G [GEO & AEO ### GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) is the practice of optimizing a brand's presence and visibility in AI-generated responses from platforms like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, and Claude. Unlike traditional SEO which targets rankings in a list of links, GEO targets direct citation within a synthesized answer. Learn more about this term ](/en/glossary/geo-generative-engine-optimization) ## H ## I [SEO ### Indexing Indexing is the process by which Google adds a crawled page to its searchable database. An indexed page is eligible for search results. A non-indexed page is invisible. But indexing isn't automatic: Google decides based on content quality, uniqueness, and usefulness. Learn more about this term ](/en/glossary/indexing)[SEO ### Internal linking Internal linking is the set of hyperlinks connecting pages within the same site. It's one of the most under-exploited SEO levers: well built, it redistributes authority toward strategic pages, facilitates crawling, and guides users toward high-value content. Badly built, it leaves orphan pages invisible. Learn more about this term ](/en/glossary/internal-linking) ## J ## K [GEO & AEO ### Knowledge Panel The Knowledge Panel is the informational box displayed to the right of Google results when searching for a known entity: brand, person, place. It comes from Google's Knowledge Graph. In 2026, the Knowledge Panel is also a credibility signal for LLMs: entities recognized by Google are better represented in generative responses. Learn more about this term ](/en/glossary/knowledge-panel) ## L [SEO ### Link building Link building (or netlinking) is the strategy of acquiring inbound links from third-party sites. It's one of the three pillars of SEO, alongside content and technical. In 2026, backlinks remain a major trust signal for Google, and editorial links also play an indirect role in LLM citability. Learn more about this term ](/en/glossary/link-building)[SEO ### Link juice Link juice (or link equity) is the SEO value transmitted by a hyperlink from one page to another. It's a metaphor for PageRank: the more authority a page receives from authoritative sources, the more juice it has to redistribute. Optimizing link juice distribution in your architecture is one of the most under-exploited technical SEO levers. Learn more about this term ](/en/glossary/link-juice)[GEO & AEO ### LLM (Large Language Model) An LLM is the engine behind ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and Gemini. It's the AI model that understands your questions, synthesizes sources, and generates the responses in which your brand gets cited. Or doesn't. Learn more about this term ](/en/glossary/llm-large-language-model) ## M [GEO & AEO ### Messy Middle The messy middle is the concept developed by Google to describe the non-linear exploration and evaluation phase separating awareness of a need from the act of purchase. In 2026, generative AI has radically transformed this phase: users increasingly trust LLM-synthesized responses to compare and decide. Learn more about this term ](/en/glossary/messy-middle) ## N [SEO ### Noindex The noindex directive is an instruction you give Google asking it not to include a page in its search results. It's not a defensive tool: it's a precision tool for protecting your site's overall quality and concentrating authority on pages that deserve to be seen. Learn more about this term ](/en/glossary/noindex) ## O [SEO ### On-page optimization On-page optimization covers everything you do directly on a page to improve its ranking: title tag, meta description, heading structure, content, internal links, structured data, Core Web Vitals. It's the first lever to activate before any link building work, because poorly structured content won't rank even with backlinks. Learn more about this term ](/en/glossary/on-page-optimization)[SEO ### Organic Traffic Organic traffic is all the visitors arriving on your site via unpaid search engine results. It's the central SEO indicator. In 2026, it must be interpreted with nuance: a decline in overall organic traffic may mask a rise in brand visibility through AI citations. Learn more about this term ](/en/glossary/organic-traffic) ## P [SEO ### People Also Ask People Also Ask (PAA) are the associated question boxes Google displays in search results. They reveal the sub-questions linked to a query and constitute a mine of intent signals. In 2026, they're also one of the best proxies for mapping the sub-queries generated by LLMs' query fan-out. Learn more about this term ](/en/glossary/people-also-ask)[ ### Prompt tracking Prompt tracking is the practice of regularly testing a defined set of prompts across multiple LLMs to measure whether a brand, product, or content is cited in responses. It's the starting point of any GEO strategy: you can't optimize what you don't measure. Learn more about this term ](/en/glossary/prompt-tracking) ## Q [GEO & AEO ### Query fan-out Query fan-out is the mechanism by which an AI transforms your question into 8 to 15 parallel sub-queries before generating a response. If your content doesn't answer these implicit sub-queries, it will never be extracted, even if you rank #1 for the main query. Learn more about this term ](/en/glossary/query-fan-out) ## R [GEO & AEO ### RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) RAG is the mechanism that lets AI search your content on the web in real time before generating a response. It's why ChatGPT or Perplexity can cite your site today, even if it wasn't in their training data. Learn more about this term ](/en/glossary/rag-retrieval-augmented-generation) ## S [SEO ### Search intent Search intent is the real goal a user pursues when typing a query. Google has made it a central ranking criterion: it doesn't reward the most keyword-optimized pages, but those that best answer what the user is truly looking for. Misaligning intent means working for nothing. Learn more about this term ](/en/glossary/search-intent)[SEO ### SEO (Search Engine Optimization) SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the set of practices aimed at improving a site's visibility in organic search results. In 2026, SEO has expanded: it's no longer just about ranking in 10 blue links, but being present in AI Overviews, featured snippets, and LLM responses. Learn more about this term ](/en/glossary/seo-search-engine-optimization)[SEO ### SERP The SERP (Search Engine Results Page) is the page Google displays in response to a query. In 2026, it has nothing to do with the old "10 blue links": AI Overviews, featured snippets, People Also Ask, and knowledge panels all coexist. Analyzing a SERP before producing content means understanding what Google considers the right answer. And therefore what you need to be. Learn more about this term ](/en/glossary/serp)[SEO ### Structured data Structured data is code added to your pages (typically in JSON-LD) that describes their content in a machine-readable language. In 2026, it's both an SEO lever (rich snippets, AI Overviews) and a GEO lever: it acts as a reading guide for LLMs, which extract and cite tagged pages more easily and reliably. Most sites aren't doing enough. Learn more about this term ](/en/glossary/structured-data) ## T ## U [SEO ### URL structure (SEO) URL structure is how you organize and formulate your web page addresses. A well-built URL is short, readable, descriptive, and contains the primary keyword. It's a minor SEO signal but a major user experience factor, and a structural error can be costly during migrations. Learn more about this term ](/en/glossary/url-structure-seo) ## V [SEO ### Voice Search Voice search is the act of submitting a query to a search engine or AI assistant by speaking rather than typing. It has accelerated the rise of AEO and GEO content: voice responses are single responses, extracted from one source. Either you are the source, or you're absent. Learn more about this term ](/en/glossary/voice-search) ## W [SEO ### Webmaster Tools Webmaster Tools primarily refers to Google Search Console (GSC) and Bing Webmaster Tools: the official search engine interfaces for monitoring a site's SEO health, analyzing search performance, and detecting indexing issues. GSC is the most useful free SEO tool that exists. Learn more about this term ](/en/glossary/webmaster-tools) ## X [SEO ### XML Feed An XML feed is an XML-formatted file that lists or describes content in a machine-readable way. In SEO, we distinguish the XML sitemap (list of pages to index) from the RSS/Atom feed (new content stream). In 2026, sitemaps are also read by AI robots to discover your content. Learn more about this term ](/en/glossary/xml-feed) ## Y [GEO & AEO ### YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) designates content categories where incorrect information can have serious consequences on a user's health, safety, or finances. Google applies far stricter E-E-A-T criteria to this content. In 2026, LLMs apply a similar logic to avoid hallucinations on sensitive topics. Learn more about this term ](/en/glossary/ymyl-your-money-or-your-life) ## Z [SEO ### Zero-click search A zero-click search is a Google query that ends without any site being visited: the user gets their answer directly in the SERP. In 2026, over 60% of Google searches are zero-click. This isn't the death of SEO, it's the obligation to be present in the SERP itself. Learn more about this term ](/en/glossary/zero-click-search) ## Subscribe to our newsletter The best SEO & GEO insights every week. No spam, unsubscribe in one click. Thank you! Your subscription has been successfully confirmed.Oops! An error occurred while submitting the form.