Glossary
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AI Overview
An AI Overview is Google’s AI‑generated summary box that appears above or within search results, answering the query directly and often dramatically reducing click‑through to organic listings.
AI referral traffic
AI referral traffic is website traffic coming from AI search interfaces such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, or AI Overviews, often representing a small share of sessions but converting 4–5× better than traditional organic search.
AI search
AI search refers to discovery experiences powered by large language models and answer engines, where users ask questions conversationally and receive synthesized responses instead of a long list of links.
AI surface area
AI surface area is the total set of queries, interfaces, and touchpoints where AI systems could potentially mention, cite, or recommend your brand across engines and products.
Answer asset
An answer asset is a piece of content specifically structured to deliver a complete, quotable answer to a focused question, with direct definitions, data, and next steps at the top of the page.
B2B demand engine
A B2B demand engine is the combined system of channels, content, and processes that generate, qualify, and convert demand from target accounts, including AI search and GEO as upstream inputs.
Dense truth layer
A dense truth layer is the network of consistent, up‑to‑date on‑site and off‑site content that repeats the same accurate facts about a brand, reducing the likelihood of AI hallucinations.
Digital PR
Digital PR is the practice of earning authoritative mentions, features, and coverage on external sites and publications to shape consensus about a brand and influence how AI systems perceive it.
E‑E‑A‑T
E‑E‑A‑T is Google’s quality framework that evaluates Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness, with 2026 guidance placing extra weight on proof of real‑world, first‑hand experience.
Entity
An entity is a distinct, machine‑recognisable object such as a person, organisation, product, or concept that AI systems use as nodes in their knowledge graphs to understand relationships.
Entity graph / knowledge graph
An entity graph, or knowledge graph, is the structured representation of entities and their relationships that search engines and LLMs use to reason about topics, brands, and queries.
FAQPage schema
FAQPage schema is a JSON‑LD structured data type that marks up frequently‑asked questions and answers on a page, making them easier for AI search and rich results to extract and display.
Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)
Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is the practice of structuring content, entities, and distribution so that AI engines can understand, trust, and cite your brand as a primary source in generated answers.
GEO audit
A GEO audit is a structured review of how visible, understandable, and cite‑worthy a brand is across AI search systems, covering AI visibility, content, schema, entities, PR, and analytics.
High‑intent traffic
High‑intent traffic consists of visitors who arrive with strong purchase or action intent, often after AI search has already pre‑qualified options and narrowed their decision set.
Invisible brand
An invisible brand is a company that almost never appears in AI‑generated answers or citations, even when it competes in that category, effectively disappearing from a growing share of search interactions.
JSON‑LD
JSON‑LD is a lightweight JSON‑based format for linked data that allows websites to embed structured schema markup in a way that AI systems and search engines can easily parse.
Multi‑modal GEO
Multi‑modal GEO is the optimisation of video, audio, images, and transcripts so that AI systems can understand, index, and cite non‑text content alongside traditional articles.
Original research
Original research is proprietary data or analysis produced by a brand – such as benchmark reports or surveys – that creates unique statistics AI systems must reference from that source.
Pillar content / core article
Pillar content is an in‑depth, evergreen article that serves as the canonical source on a topic, designed to attract citations from AI engines, media, and other sites.
Schema markup
Schema markup is structured data, usually in JSON‑LD, that explicitly describes page content and entities to search engines and AI models using the schema.org vocabulary.
Semantic search
Semantic search is search that focuses on understanding intent, context, and relationships rather than exact keyword matches, using entities and meanings to retrieve the best answers.
Topic hub / Content cluster
A topic hub is a group of interlinked pages that comprehensively cover a problem space – definitions, strategy, implementation, and case studies – to build semantic authority.
Zero‑click search
Zero‑click search occurs when the user’s query is fully satisfied on the search results or AI answer screen, so no one clicks through to a website, even though the answer may rely on external sources.