The vocabulary of being found.

Definitions

Answer Engine Optimization (AEO)

Answer Engine Optimization is the practice of structuring a business's website and public presence so AI assistants — ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google AI Overviews — can read, verify, and cite it when recommending businesses. Where SEO targets a ranking on a results page, AEO targets inclusion in the answer itself. See the full AEO explainer.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Search Engine Optimization is the practice of improving a website's position in traditional search results through technical health, relevant content, and authority signals such as links. SEO remains the foundation AEO builds on: engines rarely cite what search can't find.

Schema markup

Schema markup is code added to a web page — usually JSON-LD using the Schema.org vocabulary — that states facts about a business in a form machines parse directly: name, phone, services, prices, service area. It turns claims a human reads into data an engine can verify.

Structured data

Structured data is any information published in a consistent, machine-readable format rather than free-form prose. On websites it usually means Schema.org markup. Engines prefer structured data because it removes guesswork: a stated price in markup is unambiguous in a way a paragraph is not.

NAP consistency

NAP consistency means a business's Name, Address (or service area), and Phone number appear identically everywhere they're published — website, Google Business Profile, directories, social profiles. Variation reads as distrust to engines trying to resolve one real-world business from many mentions.

Entity

An entity is the single, unambiguous "thing" an engine understands a business to be — distinct from any one page about it. Strong entities have consistent identity data, linked profiles, and structured markup that all point to the same organization. Weak entities fragment into unverifiable mentions.

Citation

A citation is any third-party mention of a business's identifying details — a directory listing, a map profile, a news mention. Consistent citations corroborate that a business exists and operates where it says it does. The weight engines give citation consistency is debated, but corroboration itself is not.

Google Business Profile

Google Business Profile is Google's free business listing — the panel that appears in Maps and local search with hours, phone, reviews, and photos. It is the highest-leverage single profile for local visibility, and its review stream is a primary trust signal for AI recommendations.

Local pack

The local pack is the map-plus-three-listings block Google shows for searches with local intent. Placement depends on relevance, distance, and prominence — with review volume and rating heavily weighted. AI answer engines draw on much of the same signal set.

LLM citation

An LLM citation is a source link an AI assistant attaches to a claim in its answer. Being cited means the engine both read your content and trusted it enough to attribute — the direct payoff of AEO. Passages must be self-contained to be citable.

Answer engine

An answer engine is any system that responds to a query with a synthesized answer rather than a list of links — ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini, Google AI Overviews. Answer engines compress discovery: the answer is the shortlist, and inclusion is binary.

Review velocity

Review velocity is the rate at which a business accumulates new reviews. Engines read steady, recent reviews as evidence of an active, delivering business; a large but stale review count signals decline. Automating the ask — compliantly, with no sentiment screening — is how velocity is sustained. See Revyx.