SEO & GEO Glossary

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301 Redirect 

A redirect is used when a webpage is moved to a new URL. The redirection sends a visitor from the old URL to the new page. 301 redirects should always be used to make sure bookmarked links and search engine indexes can automatically find a new page.

404 Error

When a visitor attempts to view a page that doesn’t exist or that has been moved or deleted, the server will return a 404 error to the visitor.

Active Users

The number of users who visited your site or opened your application and had an engaged session.

AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) 

A discipline within GEO focused on structuring content so it can be extracted and presented as a direct answer by AI tools and voice assistants. AEO prioritizes clear question-and-answer formatting, concise language, and logical content hierarchy so that AI systems can surface your content confidently without requiring the user to visit your website. 

AI Overview 

A feature in Google Search that generates an AI-written summary at the top of the results page in response to a user query. AI Overviews pull from multiple sources and present a consolidated answer before any traditional organic results appear. Because they reduce click-throughs to individual websites, they are a primary driver of zero-click search growth and a core target for GEO and AEO strategies. 

AI SEO  

A broad term for SEO practices adapted to account for the growing role of AI in search. AI SEO covers both optimizing for traditional rankings and ensuring content is structured and authoritative enough to be cited by AI systems. It serves as the connecting framework between conventional SEO and disciplines like GEO, AEO, and LLMO. 

AI Visibility  

A measure of how frequently and accurately a brand or piece of content appears within AI-generated responses across platforms such as Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, and Perplexity. As more user journeys begin with an AI query, AI visibility is becoming a meaningful performance indicator alongside organic traffic and keyword rankings. 

Algorithm Update

A revision to the methods of evaluating webpages that the search engines use to rank webpages in the search results. Google uses an algorithm called “Page Rank”.

ALT Text 

A text description of your images that is written in your website code. This is so search engines and accessibility tools for the visually impaired can understand what images are on your page.

Analytics 

Digital analytics is a set of technical tools that allow users to define, create, collect, verify, and transform digital data into research, reports, analyses, and recommendations. Google Analytics is a common platform used for evaluating and monitoring the performance of a website.

Anchor Text

The physical text on the webpage that contains the link to another webpage or website. Anchor text helps users and search engines know what content your webpage is linking to. Anchor text is often underlined and a different colour.

Average Position 

This is a Google Ads metric that describes where ads for a given keyword usually appear on the search engine results page (SERP). Position 1 & 2 appear above the organic results, while positions 3-6 appear along the right side-bar beside the organic results. Generally ads in the top positions get more clicks.

An incoming link to your website (also called an inbound link). The number of incoming links on a site can signal the popularity of the site to search engines.

Bounce Rate 

Bounce rate is calculated as the percentage of sessions that are not classified as engaged sessions. This is different from how the bounce rate was measured in Universal Analytics. 

Canonical URL 

Often duplicate content is created under different URLs in error. By using a canonical URL, visitors and search engines are directed to the correct webpage or version of the content. Canonical URLs ensure the correct page has authority.

Citation (AI Context) 

An instance where an AI-generated response references a piece of content as a source when answering a user query. Unlike a traditional backlink, an AI citation may not drive direct traffic. Its value lies in brand visibility and positioning a business as a trusted source within AI-mediated conversations. 

CRO

The process of increasing the number of website users that become paying customers by focusing on the user experience on the website.

CPC (Cost Per Click) 

CPC is a metric related to the pay-per-click method of online advertising. It is the amount you pay when a user clicks on your ad. Your cost per click is dependent on your maximum bid on the keyword, the quality score of your keyword, and the quality score rank of other competitors for the same keyword.

CPM (Cost per Impression) 

CPM is a bidding style where you pay based on the number of times your ad is shown (impressions). In Google Ads CPM is your cost per 1000 impressions. This bidding style works best for those trying to increase brand awareness, rather than driving sales or website traffic.

CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) 

This is a part of the website programming code that defines the visual aspects of a website (ie. Headers, backgrounds, and links).

CTR (Click Through Rate)

The percentage of impressions an ad or organic result received that ended in a click to the webpage.

Data Thresholding

Google Analytics will limit the display of information to protect the identity of an individual user based on demographics, interests, or other signals present in the data.

De-Indexing

A directive that tells search engine crawlers not to include a webpage in their index. De-indexing a page will usually prevent it from appearing in the search results.

Direct Traffic

Users that access your website by directly entering the URL into their browser or by using a bookmark.

A directive that tells search engines to ignore harmful or low quality inbound links.

Domain

The main web address of your site (example: www.yoursite.com).

Domain Authority

Domain Authority is a metric coined by the popular SEO tool MOZ. This metric is used to estimate the ability for that domain to rank in the search result. This metric is best used during competitor research to compare domains, as it is not a ranking factor on Google.

Engaged Session

Sessions that lasted 10 seconds or more, had 1 or more events occur, or when 2 or more page or screen views occurred.

Events

Events allow measurement of user interaction with a website or app. Examples of events that can be tracked in GA4 include button clicks, scrolling, form submissions, video engagements, or purchases.  Event data is used to measure conversions in GA4.

Factual Density     

The concentration of specific, verifiable facts, statistics, and data points within a piece of content. AI systems favour content with high factual density when generating responses, as it provides concrete, citable information. Improving factual density is a practical optimization technique within both LLMO and GEO strategies. 

Selected search results displayed at the top of the search engine results page, designed to answer a query without the user needing to visit a website. The content qualities that earn featured snippets, including clear structure, direct answers, and concise formatting, are the same qualities that support GEO and AEO performance. 

GEO (Generative Engine Optimization)  

The practice of optimizing content so that AI systems can discover, understand, and cite it when generating answers. Where traditional SEO focuses on ranking in search results and earning clicks, GEO focuses on being the source AI tools draw from. As platforms like ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, and Perplexity become common starting points for research, GEO is becoming an essential part of any organic search strategy. 

Google’s digital advertising platform. The platform allows advertisers to pay to display advertisements on the search results (Google Search), on YouTube, or on websites (Google Display). Google Ads can be displayed as an image, text or video.

Google Analytics

An analysis tool that allows website owners to get insight into the user activity on their website. Google Analytics is free to the general public with the ability for a paid option with upgraded features (Google Analytics 360). This tool allows website owners to create dashboards and reports of their website performance. The current version of Google Analytics is called Google Analytics 4 (or GA4). The previous version was Universal Analytics (UA).

Google My Business

A free listing on Google available to businesses, now officially known as Google Business Profile. A complete and accurate profile supports visibility in Google Maps, local search results, and AI-generated responses for location-based queries. Keeping business information current is a foundational step in both local SEO and local GEO. 

Google Search Console

A free tool that is developed by Google and allows website owners to gain insight on how their webpages are indexed and ranked in the Google search results.

Google Web Master Tools 

A service provided by Google that can help identify technical and content issues with your website.

GSO (Generative Search Optimization)

Optimization work aimed at generative search experiences, where a search engine produces a synthesized answer rather than a ranked list of links. GSO and GEO are closely related and sometimes used interchangeably, though GEO is the broader discipline covering all AI-powered discovery channels. 

Headings: H1 or H2 

Headings on a website that are written into a website’s programming code. An H1 heading is a main heading, while H2, H3, etc. are sub-headings. Headings are an easy way to inform users and search engines about the content and structure of a webpage.

HTML

A programming language that is used to create webpages. Search engines read your code to understand what is contained on the webpage.

HTTP

This stands for ‘Hypertext Transfer Protocol’. HTTP is how data is transferred from server to internet browser.

HTTPS

This stands for ‘Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure’. HTTPS uses a secure sockets layer (SSL) to encrypt the data that is transferred from the website to the browser. Having a secure website is a minor ranking factor for Google.

Impression Share

A Google Ads metric. Impression share is the number of times an ad was shown divided by the estimated number of times an ad was eligible to be shown. Ad eligibility depends on bids, quality scores, and targeting settings. Impression share can be used to guide bid and budget adjustments.

A link from one page of a website to another page on a website. The structure of a website’s internal links can inform search engines about the website content and intent.

Indexed Pages

The pages of a website that have been analyzed by a search engine and stored (indexed) in the search engine database of webpages.

JavaScript

A programming language that can carry out tasks while a user is browsing the site. JavaScript allows the user to interact with tools and features on a webpage. For example, JavaScript may validate user input, load a form, calculate a field, or change a colour or image on a website.

Keyword

A word a user has typed into a search engine. By optimizing the use of targeted keywords in your webpages, search engines will associate your webpage with the words users are searching for.

Keyword Cannibalization

This occurs when multiple pages on a single website are competing to rank for the same search query on a SERP.

Keyword Stuffing

The process of loading or repeating keywords in a website’s meta tags, visible content and anchor text to try and gain an unfair advantage on the SERP.

Knowledge Graph

A structured database covering facts about people, places, organizations, and things, along with the relationships between them. Google uses it to generate knowledge panels and carousels at the top of search results. A brand that is well-represented in the Knowledge Graph is more likely to be accurately referenced in AI-generated responses, making it a relevant consideration within GEO strategy. 

KPI

Standing for ‘key performance indicator’, a KPI is a value that measures how successfully an action is contributing to a goal.

Landing Page

The first webpage a user sees when they arrive on a website.

In digital advertising, landing pages are often created for specific ads and campaigns to capture leads and generate conversions.

The process of connecting your website to other sites through inbound links. Having more links can improve your search engine rankings. However, having bad quality or irrelevant links can also damage your ranking. As an SEO best practice, you should only link with relevant websites and avoid linking with directories and forums.

LLM (Large Language Model)   

An artificial intelligence model trained on large volumes of text, capable of generating, summarizing, and reasoning about written language. LLMs power tools such as ChatGPT (OpenAI), Claude (Anthropic), Gemini (Google), and Copilot (Microsoft). Understanding how LLMs assess and prioritize content is central to GEO and LLMO. 

LLMO (Large Language Model Optimization)  

The practice of optimizing content so that large language models can accurately understand, retrieve, and reference it when generating responses. LLMO focuses on factual density, topical authority, and semantic clarity. Because LLMs evaluate content based on how clearly it communicates expertise, LLMO overlaps significantly with good content strategy and technical SEO. 

Local Citation

Web-based references to local businesses including name, address and phone number (also known as NAP). These citations can also be referred to as a ‘business listing’.

Long – Tailed Keyword

Search terms that consist of multiple words in a phrase and are often highly specific with a lower search volume.

Meta Descriptions

A description that is included in the HTML code of your webpage. Meta descriptions often appear on the search results page below the page title. They give both search engines and visitors an idea of what the webpage is about.

Mobile-First Indexing

Starting in 2018, Google began rolling out mobile-first indexing. This means that search engine crawlers index your webpages based on their mobile version over desktop.

New Users

Number of users who interacted with your site or launched your app for the first time. first_open or first_visit are the events that trigger this metric.

Links on a webpage that are marked up with ‘rel=”nofollow”’ will not pass PageRank to other webpages

On-page SEO

Search engine optimization tactics that take place on a webpage of a website. This can include: updating HTML tags such as the page title, headings and the meta description, adding image ALT text, including useful internal links, optimizing the page content for a targeted phrase or concept, and optimizing URL structure.

Organic Traffic

Users who arrive at a website by clicking an unpaid search result.

Most organic traffic originates from typed queries, though visits from some voice search platforms are also included. As AI Overviews and zero-click features grow, it is possible for search visibility to remain strong while organic traffic declines. AI citations and brand mentions within AI-generated responses are emerging as supplementary indicators of search presence. 

Organic Search Results

The website listings that appear on the results page of a search engine, usually below the paid advertisements. These results are ranked by the search engine algorithms to provide users with the most relevant results to their search query.

Orphan Page

A page on a website that is not linked to from any other pages on the same site.

Page Authority

Page Authority (PA) is a metric developed by MOZ to predict the likelihood a page will rank higher in the search results relative to other pages in a similar category.

Page Speed

A ranking factor for search engines, page speed is the time that it takes for a webpage to fully load.

Page Title

Page titles can be seen at the top of the browser window. Page titles should always contain keywords that are related to your business. Search engines use this information to understand what a webpage is about.

Pageview

A pageview is counted each time a webpage is loaded in the browser. It is a standard metric in Google Analytics.

Visits to your website that come through a paid digital advertisement.

PPC (Pay-Per-Click)

An online advertising method where you pay only when your ad is clicked by a user. Google Ads is a common form of PPC. Google Ads PPC ads appear at the top and left side of Google search engine results pages. They can also appear throughout Google’s display network (i.e. YouTube).

Prompt (AI Context)

A question, instruction, or query submitted by a user to an AI system such as ChatGPT, Claude, or Perplexity. Understanding the prompts users submit in relation to a particular industry or service is an important part of GEO strategy, as it identifies what questions AI systems are being asked and whether existing content is positioned to answer them. 

Quality Score 

A Google Ads measurement of the suitability of your Google Ads. Your quality score for any given keyword will affect the cost of a click. The lower your quality score, the more expensive your clicks. Low quality scores also affect impressions (the number of times your ad is shown). Google does not publish their exact algorithm for quality, but it depends on three factors: CTR (largest), relevance of ad text, and landing page quality.

Referral Traffic

Traffic that comes to your website from another website, for example users that access your website through a link on a social media platform.

Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG)     

A method used by some AI systems that combines a language model’s generative capabilities with real-time retrieval of external content. Rather than relying solely on training data, a RAG-enabled system searches for relevant information before composing its response. The quality, structure, and authority of published content has a direct bearing on whether an AI system retrieves and references it. 

Rich Snippet

The title and description preview seen on the search engine results is called a snippet. When these traditional snippets are enhanced by other elements they are referred to as rich snippet, for example, a result that displays site links or star ratings. Using schema markup will improve the likelihood of a search result displaying as a rich snippet.

Search Volume

The number of times that a keyword was searched in a given period of time. Most of the time search volume is presented as monthly search volume.

SERP (Search Engine Results Page)

The page displayed after a user submits a query to a search engine, with results ranked by relevance and a range of SEO factors. Modern SERPs increasingly include AI-generated features such as AI Overviews, knowledge panels, and featured snippets, which can answer queries directly on the page without requiring a click-through to any website. 

Semantic Clarity

 The degree to which the meaning and context of content is clear and unambiguous to AI systems. Content with strong semantic clarity uses precise language, consistent terminology, and logical structure. AI systems are more likely to accurately cite content they can confidently interpret, and more likely to misrepresent content that is vague or inconsistently written. 

Semantic Markup 

Semantic markup allows search engines to understand the content and structure of a website. By leveraging structured semantic markup in the website’s architecture and content, a website will inform search engines of the specific value and relevancy of its content.

Schema 

Schema, also referred to as Schema.org markup, is a structured data language used to annotate webpage content so that search engines and AI systems can more accurately interpret it. It supports rich search results such as star ratings, FAQ displays, and product details, and is a useful signal for GEO and AEO as well-structured data makes it easier for AI systems to retrieve and represent content accurately. 

Links that appear beneath a website listing in the search results. Up to 6 sitelinks can appear for a single organic listing. Up to 4 sitelinks can also be displayed under paid listings.

Sitemap 

A type of digital map of a website. When made available to search engines, a sitemap makes it easy for search engines to index and display your website in their results pages.

Spider 

A computer program that scans a website and collects a variety of information including page titles & descriptions, number of indexed pages, inbound & outbound links, redirects, and site errors.

Topic Authority

The degree to which a website is recognized by search engines and AI systems as a credible, comprehensive source on a specific subject. Topic authority is built through consistent, well-researched content that covers a subject area with genuine depth. It is a meaningful signal for both traditional SEO rankings and the likelihood of being cited in AI-generated responses. 

Traffic 

The number of online users who visit a website.

Thresholding

See Data Thresholding.

Total Users

Total number of unique users who logged an event

URL 

The web address of a page on a website (example: www.yoursite. com/contact).

UTM Parameters

“Urchin tracking module” (UTM) parameters are simple code attached the end of your URL to provide additional data about the click such as source, medium, campaign name and term. UTM parameters are commonly used in analytics packages and other digital platforms to track how users move between websites.

XML Sitemap

A digital map of a website that provides a list of every page on a website that the search engines are to crawl.

Zero-Click Search  

A search interaction in which the user receives a complete answer directly on the results page, through a featured snippet, AI Overview, or knowledge panel, without visiting any website. As AI becomes more embedded in search, maintaining visibility no longer guarantees traffic, making on-SERP presence and AI citations increasingly important performance considerations.