GEO definitions.
The technical and market terms that matter in Generative Engine Optimization, without the padding.
GEOGenerative Engine Optimization
The technical and editorial discipline that makes a brand quotable by generative AI engines (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity). It covers structured data, extractable content, external authority and technical infrastructure (llms.txt, ai.txt, robots.txt). Complementary to classical SEO, not a replacement for it.
AEOAnswer Engine Optimization
A practical synonym for GEO. The focus is the same: appearing in answers generated by engines that synthesise, rather than in lists of links. Some markets say AEO, others say GEO. We use GEO as the umbrella term.
LLMOLLM Optimization
The content-structure strand inside GEO. It covers how to write, structure and mark up pages so that language models extract and quote them faithfully: question engineering, snippable paragraphs, sourced figures and schema.org.
AI ModeAI Mode (Google Search)
The conversational mode of Google Search, generalised in 2026. It reached a billion monthly users in May 2026. It progressively replaces the list of ten blue links with generated answers carrying three to five citations. Default model: Gemini 3.5 Flash.
Generative UIGenerative UI
The Google AI Mode feature that builds a custom interface per query, simulations, comparison tools, interactive dashboards, instead of returning a page with a fixed template. Free for everyone from summer 2026.
AI agentsInformation agents
Autonomous Google agents that run in the background monitoring the web, blogs, news and market data, and alert the user when something relevant happens. Rolling out from summer 2026 (AI Pro and Ultra).
Citation rateCitation rate
The rate at which a brand is mentioned in an engine's answers across a fixed set of questions relevant to its category. The primary GEO metric, expressed as a percentage (citations divided by total answers, times 100).
schema.orgschema.org and structured data
The standard structured-data vocabulary (Organization, Service, FAQPage, Article, BreadcrumbList and others) embedded as JSON-LD in a page. It lets engines and language models understand the entities and relationships on a site without ambiguity. A technical pillar of GEO.
llms.txtllms.txt
A markdown file at the root of a site describing its content in a structured, model-readable form. An emerging standard through 2024 to 2026. The llms-full.txt variant carries the expanded version with the main text of the pages, in a single fetch for crawlers.
ai.txtai.txt
An AI usage policy file at the root of a site, similar in spirit to robots.txt. It states which AI crawlers may index the site and on what terms, covering GPTBot, ClaudeBot, Google-Extended, PerplexityBot and others.
Knowledge graphKnowledge graph
Google's internal representation (and that of other platforms) linking entities, companies, people and concepts, through properties such as sameAs. Appearing in the knowledge graph as a consistent entity is a strong signal for models to accept a brand as quotable.
Entity SEOEntity SEO
The work of establishing a brand as an entity in the knowledge graph: a consistent description across every platform (LinkedIn, Wikipedia, Crunchbase, G2), sameAs in the schema, and a clear role in the sector. It raises the probability of being cited by language models.
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