# AI Search & GEO Glossary

> Source: Show Up On AI · https://showuponai.com/glossary
> Updated: April 2026

Key terms for AI search and Generative Engine Optimization.

## AI Overviews (AIO)
Google's AI-generated summaries that appear at the top of search results, synthesizing information from multiple organic results. Appears in roughly 47% of Google searches as of early 2026.

## AI Search
Search engines and tools powered by AI that generate direct, synthesized answers instead of traditional lists of links. Includes ChatGPT Search, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, Microsoft Copilot, and others.

## AEO (Answer Engine Optimization)
Earlier term for optimizing content to appear in AI-generated answers, now largely synonymous with GEO.

## Brand Mention
Any reference to your brand on external websites, forums, social media, or publications — linked or unlinked. AI models use brand mentions to build factual consensus.

## Citation
A reference to a source within an AI-generated answer. The unit of success in GEO.

## Citation Share
The percentage of AI-generated responses that cite your content for a given topic or query category.

## Digital PR
The practice of earning brand mentions, coverage, and features on authoritative websites and publications.

## E-E-A-T
Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness — Google's quality guidelines, equally relevant to GEO.

## Entity
A distinctly identifiable thing — person, organization, product, concept, or place — that search engines and AI models can understand and categorize.

## Entity Authority
The strength of your brand's representation in AI models' understanding.

## Factual Consensus
When multiple independent, authoritative sources agree on the same facts about your brand. AI models use it as a key trust signal.

## Featured Snippet
A highlighted block of text Google displays above regular search results. Pages earning snippets are more likely to be cited in AI Overviews.

## Front-Loading
A GEO content technique where the direct answer appears in the first 40-60 words of a section.

## GEO (Generative Engine Optimization)
The practice of optimizing your online presence to be discovered, cited, and recommended by AI-powered search engines. Formalized in a 2023 Princeton University paper.

## Generative Engine
A search system that uses AI to generate synthesized answers rather than returning a ranked list.

## GPTBot
OpenAI's training data crawler. Distinct from OAI-SearchBot.

## Knowledge Graph
A structured database of entities and relationships used to enhance search results and AI responses.

## LLM (Large Language Model)
The AI model class that powers generative engines: GPT, Claude, Gemini, Llama, etc.

## LLMO (Large Language Model Optimization)
Synonymous with GEO; emphasizes the model layer rather than the search layer.

## OAI-SearchBot
OpenAI's search crawler that powers ChatGPT Search results, distinct from GPTBot.

## Parametric Knowledge
Information stored within an AI model's weights from its training data, distinct from retrieved real-time information.

## RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation)
A technique where AI models retrieve real-time information from external sources before generating responses.

## Schema Markup
Structured data vocabulary (schema.org) that helps search engines and AI models understand the meaning of page content.

## SGE (Search Generative Experience)
The original name for Google's AI Overviews.

## Topical Authority
The depth and breadth of expertise a site demonstrates in a specific subject area.

## Zero-Click Search
A search where the user gets their answer directly without clicking through to a website. Roughly 60% of Google searches now zero-click.

## llms.txt
An emerging standard file at a website's root that provides a markdown-formatted summary of the site for LLM consumption.