Search and AI terms, explained simply.

All terms

• GEO

  GEO means working on how findable and clearly presented your content is in generative search and answer systems. A mention cannot be forced.

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• AEO

  AEO stands for answer engine optimization: shaping content so that specific questions are answered clearly. It describes a working goal, not a guaranteed spot in an answer.

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• LLM

  A large language model is a model that generates text from an input. Products built on a language model can also use search and other tools.

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• Google AI Overviews

  AI Overviews are AI-generated summaries in Google Search that can, for suitable searches, sum up information with supporting links.

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• Prompt

  A prompt is the input you give a chatbot – a question or a task, for example “Recommend an electrician in Denver”. How the prompt is worded strongly affects the answer.

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• Schema.org

  Schema.org is a vocabulary for structured data. It describes things like organizations, articles, services and a website’s navigation in a machine-readable way.

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• NAP

  NAP stands for name, address, phone: your business name, address and phone number. Consistent, correct details help customers recognize the right business.

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• Local SEO

  Local SEO is about how findable a business is in location-based searches. According to Google, relevance, distance and prominence are the main factors in local results.

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• Citations

  In local marketing, citations are mentions of a business on other websites. An AI source citation, by contrast, is an actual linked source in a specific answer from an AI system.

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• Digital footprint

  Your digital footprint is everything that exists online about your business: your website, directory listings, reviews, social profiles and press articles. A consistent footprint helps – it does not guarantee a mention.

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• Topical authority

  Topical authority describes how much a website is seen as a reliable source on a subject. It is an industry term, not an official value from Google or AI providers.

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• Zero-click search

  A zero-click search is a search that is answered directly on the results page – by a featured snippet, an AI Overview or a knowledge panel – without the user clicking on a website.

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• AI finding

  An AI finding records whether an AI assistant names a business for defined questions – with the question, system and time. Pakun AI does not query ChatGPT, Gemini or Perplexity automatically. We check the public facts such systems draw on: website, Google profile and directories.

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