SEO & GEO Glossary

A reference to a specific web page or brand within an AI-generated answer. Being cited is the primary goal of Generative Engine Optimization.

A Google Search feature that generates a summarised answer at the top of the results page using AI, appearing for approximately 48% of searches in 2026.

An AI-powered search tool such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Gemini that generates direct answers to user queries rather than returning a list of links.

An HTML element that tells search engines which version of a page is the authoritative one when duplicate or near-duplicate content exists across multiple URLs.

A Google ranking signal that measures how recently a piece of content was published or significantly updated. Recency matters most for time-sensitive queries.

The process of identifying topics and keywords your competitors rank for that your site does not yet cover, revealing where content investment will generate the most ranking opportunity.

A set of three Google page experience metrics: Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), Interaction to Next Paint (INP), and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS). Used as ranking signals since 2021.

Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. Google's framework for evaluating content quality, used by search quality raters and reflected in algorithm signals.

A selected search result displayed in a box at the top of Google results that directly answers the search query, extracted from a ranking page. Also called "position zero".

The practice of optimising content so it is cited in AI-generated answers from systems such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, and Gemini.

A composite metric that measures how visible a website or brand is in AI-generated answers across major AI search engines. Tracked and improved through content and structural optimisation.

A content strategy that optimises simultaneously for both traditional search engines (Google) and AI answer engines (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini). Coined by Minineo to describe the unified approach required in 2026.

Links between pages on the same website that help search engines understand content relationships and distribute PageRank, while helping users navigate to related content.

The set of keywords that one or more competitors rank for in Google but your site does not. Closing keyword gaps is a core content strategy for capturing organic traffic share.

A proposed standard file placed at the root of a domain (e.g. example.com/llms.txt) that tells AI language models which pages and content on a site are most relevant to read and index.

Search queries that are longer, more specific, and lower in search volume than broad head terms. They typically have higher conversion intent and lower ranking difficulty.

Structured data added to a web page using vocabulary from schema.org that helps search engines and AI systems understand the content and context of a page.

The underlying goal or purpose behind a search query. The four primary types are informational, navigational, commercial, and transactional.

Non-standard elements that appear on a Google results page beyond the ten blue links, including featured snippets, AI Overviews, image packs, knowledge panels, and local packs.

The percentage of total search visibility a brand holds for a defined set of keywords, compared to all competitors ranking for the same queries. A measure of overall market presence in search.

Pages with low informational value: insufficient word count, scraped text, auto-generated content, or content that fails to substantively address the topic. A negative quality signal for Google.

The degree to which a website is recognised by Google and AI systems as a comprehensive, trustworthy source on a specific subject area, built through depth and breadth of content coverage.

A structured content plan that maps out all the subtopics, supporting articles, and internal link relationships needed to achieve topical authority on a given subject.

A search query that is answered directly on the results page without the user clicking through to any website. In 2026, SparkToro data shows 68% of Google searches end without a click.