AI Search Glossary

Plain definitions for the terms that come up in AI search, SEO and local marketing. Each entry gives a one-line meaning, an example, why it matters for a business and the sources behind it. New terms are added every week.

Where answers appear

AI OverviewSummary on the results page

AI ModeConversation tab in Google

Query fan-outHow AI Mode searches behind the scenes

What you work on

AEOHow one page is written

GEOHow your brand shows up across the web

llms.txtOptional map file for AI tools

AI search terms

More AI search terms

Local SEO term pages

SEO term pages

Content term pages

AI and automation term pages

Every term above has its own page: a plain definition, an example, why it matters for a business and the sources behind it, in line with the glossary method.

SEO terms

The vocabulary of classic search. AI search builds on these foundations, and most of what engines find still turns on them.

Topical authorityThe trust a site earns on one subject by covering it completely. It grows when related pages link to each other and each page settles its question in full.

EntityA named thing that search systems track as a fact: a business, a person, a place or a product. Clear entities are easy for engines to describe and recommend.

Schema markupCode added to a page that states its facts in a standard format: prices, hours, reviews, questions. Engines read it without guessing.

Topical mapThe plan of every page a site needs on one subject, arranged as pillars and clusters before anything gets written.

Pillar pageThe main page for a topic, which covers it broadly and links down to the pages that settle each part of it.

Search intentWhat a searcher actually wants from a query: an answer, a page, a product or a place. Pages that match the intent behind the words get chosen.

Local SEO terms

The terms that decide whether a nearby customer finds a business first.

Google Business ProfileThe free Google listing that puts a business on Search and Maps, with its hours, services, photos and reviews. The single most valuable page a local business owns.

Local packThe small set of businesses Google shows with a map for a local search. Earning a place in it turns on proximity, profile quality and reviews.

CitationA mention of a business’s name, address and phone number on another site. Consistent citations confirm the business exists where it says it does.

Service area pageA page written for one area a business serves, with local proof and the services offered there. Built from real work in that area, it earns local searches honestly.

Review gatingThe practice of asking happy customers for public reviews while sending unhappy ones to a private form. Google’s rules ban it, and platforms remove gated reviews.

Location pageOne page per physical location, carrying that branch’s address, hours, team and reviews. Multi-branch businesses rank branch by branch through these pages.

AI and automation terms

The vocabulary of the tools that now do marketing work beside the team.

AI agentSoftware that carries out a multi-step task on its own: reading, deciding and acting across tools, under rules a person sets and can review.

MCPModel Context Protocol, an open standard that lets AI assistants connect to tools and data sources, such as a WordPress site, through one shared method.

PromptThe instruction given to an AI tool. In measurement work, a prompt set is the fixed list of questions used to test how engines answer over time.

AI crawlerA bot run by an AI company that reads web pages for training data or live answers. Site owners meet the main ones in their robots.txt decisions.

WorkflowA defined chain of steps that runs the same way every time: a form arrives, a message goes out, a record updates. Automation starts by writing workflows down.

ChatbotA program that answers visitors in conversation on a site or app. In business use it handles common questions and hands the rest to a person.

Measurement terms

The words that decide whether the work is working.

AI visibilityHow often a brand appears inside AI answers for the questions its customers ask. Measured with a fixed prompt set, run on a schedule.

Prompt setThe frozen list of questions used for visibility checks. Freezing the wording matters, since changed prompts make months impossible to compare.

MentionAn AI answer naming a brand without linking to it. Mentions build recognition, and they often arrive before citations do.

CitationAn AI answer linking to a page as a source. Citations are the AI-search version of a ranking, and the unit visibility reports count.

Organic trafficVisits that arrive from unpaid search results. It is read alongside citations now, since some AI answers satisfy the reader before any click.

Conversion rateThe share of visitors who take the action a page wants: a call, a booking or a form. Traffic without conversion is an audience, not a result.

Questions people ask

How often is this glossary updated?

New terms are added as the field creates them and as guides on this site start using them. Each update is dated at the top of the page, and the AI search updates log records the changes that made new terms necessary.

Why do definitions here stay short?

A glossary entry should settle a term in seconds. Where a term deserves a full explanation, the entry links to the page that gives it, like the six AI search explainers above.

Can I suggest a term for the glossary?

Yes. Send the term through the contact page. Terms that readers meet in the site’s guides get added first, with a plain definition and an example.

Do these definitions match Google’s own wording?

Where Google or another owner defines a term officially, the entry follows that meaning in plain words. The sources behind the main terms sit on their explainer pages.