AI search is changing how businesses get found. With that change comes new terminology: AEO, AI citations, entity optimisation, prompt mapping, Eclipse Scores. Some of these terms are genuinely new. Others are existing concepts that now carry different weight in an AI-first search landscape.
This glossary cuts through the jargon. Every term is defined in plain language, explained with practical context, and tied back to what it actually means for your business. We update this page regularly as the AI search landscape evolves.
✅How to Use This Glossary
Each term links to its own dedicated page with a full explanation, practical examples, and links to related content. If you are new to AEO, start with Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) and AI Search Visibility.
Core AEO Terms
- Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) - The practice of optimising your business to be recommended by AI search engines.
- AI Search Optimization - A broader term covering all strategies to improve visibility across AI-powered search platforms.
- AI Search Visibility - How often and how prominently your business appears in AI-generated search answers.
- LLM SEO - Search engine optimisation specifically targeting large language models like ChatGPT and Claude.
- Prompt Optimization - Structuring content to match the specific prompts users type into AI search engines.
AI Platforms & Features
- AI Overviews (Google) - Google's AI-generated summaries that appear at the top of search results.
- ChatGPT Search - OpenAI's integrated search feature within ChatGPT that pulls real-time web results.
- Perplexity AI - An AI-powered search engine that provides cited, sourced answers to queries.
- Gemini Search - Google's AI assistant with integrated search capabilities.
- Copilot Search - Microsoft's AI assistant powered by OpenAI, integrated with Bing search.
- Search Generative Experience - Google's earlier name for AI-generated search results, now called AI Overviews.
Authority & Trust Signals
- AI Citations - When an AI search engine references or links to your content in its answer.
- Citation Building - The strategic process of getting your business mentioned across sources AI engines trust.
- Citation Velocity - The rate at which new citations and mentions of your business appear across the web.
- Entity Optimization - Building a clear, consistent identity for your business so AI engines can recognise and recommend it.
- Brand Entity - Your business as a distinct, recognisable entity in AI knowledge systems.
- E-E-A-T for AI - Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness as applied to AI search ranking.
- Content Authority - The degree to which AI engines trust your content as a reliable source for specific topics.
- Digital PR for AI - Using media placements and editorial coverage to build the authority signals AI engines look for.
- Source Attribution - How AI engines credit and link to the sources they use when generating answers.
Technical Foundations
- Schema Markup for AEO - Structured data that helps AI engines understand and categorise your content.
- Structured Data - Machine-readable code added to web pages that helps search engines and AI parse content.
- Knowledge Graph - A database of entities and their relationships that AI engines use to understand the world.
- Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) - The process AI engines use to pull real-time information before generating an answer.
- Grounding (AI) - The process of connecting AI-generated responses to verified, factual source material.
- Natural Language Processing - The technology that enables AI to understand, interpret, and generate human language.
Strategy & Measurement
- Topic Clusters - Groups of related content pages organised around a central topic to build topical authority.
- AI Search Monitoring - Tracking how your business appears across AI search platforms over time.
- AI Search Volatility - How frequently and dramatically AI search results change for specific queries.
- AI Search Ranking Factors - The signals AI engines use to decide which businesses and content to recommend.
- AI Search Market Share - The distribution of search queries across AI platforms like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI.
- AI-First Content Strategy - A content approach that prioritises AI citation and recommendation alongside traditional SEO.
- Multi-Platform Optimization - Optimising for visibility across multiple AI search engines simultaneously.
Content & Search Concepts
- Zero-Click Search - Searches where the user gets their answer directly in the results without clicking through to a website.
- Featured Snippets - Highlighted answer boxes in Google results that often feed into AI Overviews.
- Conversational Search - The shift from keyword-based queries to natural language questions in search.
- AI Content Optimization - Structuring and writing content specifically to be parsed and cited by AI engines.
- Semantic Search - Search technology that understands the meaning and intent behind queries, not just keywords.
- AI Training Data - The information used to train AI models, including web content that influences what they recommend.
- AI Hallucination - When an AI generates incorrect or fabricated information, a key risk in AI search accuracy.
This glossary is maintained by Omni Eclipse, an Answer Engine Optimization agency. We help businesses get recommended by AI search engines. Learn more about our services or book a free AI Visibility Audit.