- Answer Engine Optimization (AEO)
- The practice of structuring a business's public information so AI answer engines — ChatGPT, Google's AI Overview, Perplexity, Gemini — name and cite it when someone asks a question, rather than just ranking a link to click. What is AEO? →
- Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)
- A synonym for AEO used interchangeably across the industry. Both describe getting a business surfaced inside AI-generated answers; 'GEO' emphasizes generative models, 'AEO' emphasizes answer engines. Same goal.
- AI Overview
- Google's AI-generated answer shown at the top of many search results, above the blue links. For local questions like 'how much does Botox cost in <city>,' it often names specific businesses with prices. What is a Google AI Overview? →
- Answer engine
- Any AI system that responds to a query with a synthesized answer instead of a list of links — ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Google's AI Overview, Claude. They build the answer from sources they can read and trust.
- Citation
- When an answer engine names or links a specific source in its answer. Being the cited source for a buying-intent question (e.g. a treatment's cost in a city) is the goal of AEO — it puts the business in front of the patient before they click anything.
- Share of voice (AI)
- The proportion of relevant AI answers in which a business is named, versus its competitors. A clinic named in 8 of 10 city cost-answers has higher AI share of voice than one named in 1 of 10.
- Extractable answer
- A clear, plain-text statement of a fact (like a specific price) that an AI can lift verbatim into its answer. A price written as readable text — 'Botox is $12 per unit' — is extractable; a price shown only as an image, or that a visitor has to click or inquire to reveal, is not.
- Structured data (schema)
- Machine-readable tags (JSON-LD: FAQPage, MedicalBusiness, Article) that label what content means. It can help engines parse a page, but on its own it does not guarantee a citation — a page must still state the answer in readable text. Does my med spa need schema? →
- llms.txt
- A proposed text file (like robots.txt) meant to guide AI crawlers to a site's key content. Adoption is early and there is little evidence it drives citations yet; treat it as optional housekeeping, not a ranking lever. What is llms.txt? →
- E-E-A-T
- Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trust — Google's quality framework. Named authors with real credentials and corroborating sources help a page earn trust, though for direct factual questions, stating the answer clearly matters most.
- Corroboration
- Independent sources that agree with a business's claim (a directory, a listing, a review profile stating the same facts). Answer engines favor information they can confirm across more than one place.
- AI retrieval bots
- The crawlers AI engines use to read the web — GPTBot, OAI-SearchBot, ChatGPT-User, PerplexityBot, Claude-SearchBot, Google-Extended. A site's robots.txt must allow them, or its content can't be read or cited.