Plain-language definitions of the terms that come up constantly in AI search and AEO, with no jargon left unexplained.
AEO (AI Engine Optimization / Answer Engine Optimization) The practice of structuring a business's website, content, and online presence so AI systems cite that business by name when someone asks a relevant question. See our complete AEO guide for the full explanation.
AI Overviews Google's AI-generated summary that appears above traditional search results for many queries, synthesizing an answer from multiple sources rather than just listing links.
AI Visibility Score A measurement of how often, and how favorably, a business appears when people ask AI assistants questions in its category, typically tracked with competitor comparison.
Entity In search and AI terms, a specific, identifiable "thing" (a business, person, or place) that search engines and AI systems can recognize and distinguish from similarly named entities.
Entity Authority How clearly and consistently an AI system can identify who a business is, what it does, and where it operates, based on structured, machine-readable information across the web. Weak entity authority is often caused by inconsistent business information across different sites (see NAP Consistency, below), not a lack of content.
FAQ Schema A type of structured data that marks up frequently asked questions and their answers so search engines and AI systems can directly extract and quote them.
Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) A newer term largely used as a synonym for AEO: optimizing content and structured data so generative AI systems cite a business directly.
Knowledge Graph Google's structured database of entities and the verified relationships between them (a business and its location, industry, and related topics, for example), used to power features like Knowledge Panels.
Large Language Model (LLM) The underlying AI technology behind assistants like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini, trained on large amounts of text to generate human-like responses, including recommendations about which businesses to trust.
NAP Consistency Short for Name, Address, Phone: the practice of keeping a business's core identifying information identical across its website, business listings, and social profiles. Inconsistent NAP data is one of the most common, and most fixable, reasons a business struggles with entity authority.
Organization Schema A specific type of structured data (schema.org markup) that identifies a website as belonging to a business, including its name, address, contact information, and links to its official social profiles.
sameAs A schema markup property that links a business's official website to its verified profiles elsewhere (LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram), helping AI systems confirm that all of these represent the same entity.
Schema Markup / Structured Data Code added to a website's pages that describes their content in a standardized format machines can read directly, rather than requiring interpretation the way a human reading the page would.
Topical Authority How deeply a business's published content covers the full range of subjects associated with its industry, not just its own products and services. A roofing company with only product pages has low topical authority; one that's also published on storm damage, insurance claims, and material comparisons has high topical authority.
Trust Signals Independent evidence (reviews, backlinks, citations, and credible third-party mentions) that supports an AI system's confidence in recommending a specific business.
Wikidata A free, collaboratively edited knowledge base that AI systems and search engines reference as a source of structured, verified facts about entities, including businesses.
Have a term you didn't find here? Get in touch and we'll add it, or ask us how these signals stack up for your business specifically.