GEO Glossary
AI & GEO Glossary
The key concepts of the ChatGPT, Gemini, and AI Overview era: short definition, real-world example, and a link to the relevant SEOLOK tool.
A
AI Overview
A summary box generated by an LLM shown at the very top of Google search results. It provides a direct answer and links to source sites below.
Example: For the query 'what should I eat to lose weight?', Google shows an AI Overview box above the organic listings.
Try in SEOLOK: AI Visibility Tracking →AI Citation
When an LLM references a specific website as a source in its answer. It builds brand awareness and trust rather than driving direct clicks.
Example: If ChatGPT cites your blog post when answering 'best SEO tools', that is an AI citation.
Try in SEOLOK: AI Visibility Tracking →B
Brand Mention
Any occurrence of a brand name on a web page, regardless of whether it contains a link. LLMs use brand mentions as a trust signal.
Example: A PR article mentioned the brand name three times without linking; this still contributes to AI visibility.
C
Conversational Search
A search behaviour where users type natural sentences instead of short keywords. It has become common with the rise of LLMs.
Example: 'How do I do SEO for a small business?' is a conversational search; 'SEO small business' is traditional keyword search.
Content Freshness
How up-to-date a page's information is. LLMs and RAG systems favour fresh content; publication dates, 'last updated' notes, and live data improve freshness signals.
Example: A blog post updated in late 2024 with the latest statistics started appearing more frequently in AI Overview answers.
Try in SEOLOK: AI Visibility Tracking →E
E-E-A-T
Abbreviation for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. The foundation of Google's quality rater guidelines; LLMs are sensitive to these signals too.
Example: Author bios, expert interviews, and cited sources all strengthen E-E-A-T signals.
F
Featured Snippet
A summary answer box pulled from a web page and shown above Google's organic listings. Also known as 'Position 0'.
Example: A recipe blog that included step-by-step instructions earned a featured snippet and saw a 40% traffic increase.
Try in SEOLOK: Rank Tracker →G
GEO (Generative Engine Optimization)
The practice of optimizing content to increase the likelihood of being cited and surfaced in AI-powered search engines such as ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity.
Example: A law firm restructured its content using GEO principles so ChatGPT would recommend its address when answering 'divorce lawyer in Istanbul'.
Try in SEOLOK: AI Visibility Tracking →Google AI Mode
A new Google search tab that transforms the entire search experience into LLM-generated answers instead of the classic ten blue links.
Example: When a user switches to AI Mode, they see a single synthesised answer rather than traditional organic rankings.
K
Knowledge Graph
Google's structured database of relationships between entities (people, places, companies). LLMs draw on this graph when constructing answers.
Example: If your company has a Wikipedia or Wikidata entry, its chances of appearing in the Knowledge Graph increase.
L
LLM (Large Language Model)
An AI model trained on billions of parameters to generate human-like text. GPT-4, Gemini, and Claude all fall into this category.
Example: Google's Gemini model uses an LLM to generate AI Overview answers.
llms.txt
A directive file, similar to robots.txt, that tells LLMs which content on a website can be crawled. Not yet an official standard; Anthropic and some other providers support it.
Example: The seolok.com/llms.txt file tells AI bots which pages they may read.
P
Prompt
A natural-language instruction or question sent to an LLM. For content creators, the ideal prompt is one that naturally incorporates their brand.
Example: The prompt 'which SEO tools are popular in Turkey?' could get SEOLOK cited by an AI assistant.
Perplexity
An AI-powered search engine that crawls the web in real time and produces cited answers. It is one of the platforms to target alongside Google in a GEO strategy.
Example: A user searched 'best accounting software' on Perplexity and the company's blog post was cited instead of a competitor's.
Try in SEOLOK: AI Visibility Tracking →R
RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation)
A technique where an LLM fetches information from real-time sources before generating a response. It directly influences whether your content gets cited in model answers.
Example: Perplexity uses a RAG architecture that crawls the web when answering questions, giving up-to-date blogs a chance to be cited.
S
Structured Data
Machine-readable markup in Schema.org format. It helps LLMs and search engines understand content and is one of the core GEO signals.
Example: Adding Product schema to a product page can make price and star rating appear inside an AI Overview box.
Try in SEOLOK: Site Analysis →SGE (Search Generative Experience)
The previous name for Google's AI Overview. Some older sources still refer to it as SGE; it was renamed 'AI Overview' in 2024.
Example: Older SEO blogs say 'SGE optimisation' while newer content says 'AI Overview optimisation' — they mean the same thing.
T
Topical Authority
A website's reputation for publishing comprehensive, interlinked content on a specific topic. It is a major factor in LLMs choosing a site as a reliable source.
Example: Publishing 50 interlinked SEO guides built topical authority and led to more frequent AI citations.
V
Vector Search
A search technique that converts text into numerical vectors and matches results by semantic similarity rather than exact keyword match. It underpins modern AI search engines.
Example: A vector search for 'foot pain' also returns content about plantar fasciitis because they are semantically close.
Z
Zero-Click Search
A search session where the user gets their answer directly on the results page without clicking any link. AI Overviews and featured snippets drive zero-click behaviour.
Example: When AI Overview answers 'What is the population of Istanbul?' directly, the user never clicks through to any site.
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