SEO and GEO Glossary · Backed by Google for Startups
Every SEO and GEO term in one place.
We put together the terms that come up in every SEO and GEO conversation, from crawling to AI citation, each with a short definition and the discipline where it actually matters. No jargon without an explanation.
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01Overview
SEO Glossary
SEO turned into a field full of acronyms: some were born inside Google, some arrived with language models, and some come from third-party tools that every agency reads a little differently. This glossary brings the most used terms in SEO and GEO (SEO for AI) into one reference, each with a one or two sentence definition and the workstream where the term shows up in practice.
The list is organized by letter, so it works like a dictionary: find the term, read the definition, follow the link to the page that covers the subject in depth. Terms that started in traditional SEO (canonical, crawl budget, link building) sit next to the ones that arrived with GEO (AI citation, mention rate, share of voice in AI), because today both fronts run on the same monthly plan.
If a term is missing, or you want to see how it applies to your specific site, talk to an Expert. This glossary also backs up our two longer guides: what is SEO and what is GEO.
03Terms starting with A
A: from AEO to Above the fold
The group opens with the newest acronym on the list, AEO, and closes with one of the oldest in page design, above the fold.
| Term | Definition | Where it matters |
|---|---|---|
| AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) | Optimizing content so search engines and AI assistants use it as the direct source for an answer. | GEO |
| AI Overviews | AI-generated summary Google shows at the top of some searches, citing sources below the text. | GEO |
| Search algorithm | The set of rules a search engine uses to decide the order of results for each query. | Technical SEO |
| Alt text | An image's alternative text, read by screen readers and by search bots when the image fails to load. | Technical SEO |
| Anchor text | The clickable text of a link, which helps search engines understand what the destination page is about. | Link building |
| Indexing API | A channel a site uses to tell a search engine a page went live or changed, without waiting for regular crawling. | Technical SEO |
| Information architecture | How a site's pages are organized and connected, from the menu to the footer. | Technical SEO |
| Domain authority (DR/DA) | A score estimated by third-party tools for a domain's strength, calculated mostly from its link profile. | Authority |
| Above the fold | The part of a page visible before scrolling; it weighs on page experience and first impression. | Content |
04Terms starting with B
B: from Backlink to Buyer persona
Group B holds the fundamentals of authority and the vocabulary used to plan who the content needs to convince.
| Term | Definition | Where it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Backlink | A link from another site pointing to yours; one of the strongest authority signals. | Authority |
| Toxic backlink | A low-quality or suspicious link that can hurt the reputation of the domain that receives it. | Authority |
| Black hat SEO | Any practice that tries to fool the algorithm instead of serving the searcher; subject to penalties. | Technical SEO |
| Bounce rate | The percentage of visits that leave a page without interacting with the rest of the site. | Measurement |
| Breadcrumb | A navigation trail showing the path to the current page (Home > Services > Page); helps users and search engines. | Technical SEO |
| Buyer persona | A representation of the ideal customer, used to decide which questions the content needs to answer. | Content |
05Terms starting with C
C: from Cache to CTR
The densest group in the glossary, covering most of the technical SEO and measurement vocabulary.
| Term | Definition | Where it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Cache | A temporary copy of a page stored so it loads faster on future visits. | Technical SEO |
| Content cannibalization | When two pages on the same site compete for the same keyword and hurt each other's ranking. | Content |
| Canonical | A tag that marks which version of a page is the official one, when more than one URL has similar content. | Technical SEO |
| CDN (content delivery network) | A network of servers spread around the world that serves a site from the point closest to the visitor. | Engineering |
| AI citation | A mention of your brand or content inside the answer of a model such as ChatGPT, Gemini or Perplexity. | GEO |
| Content cluster | A group of pages organized around a central topic, linked to each other to reinforce authority on the subject. | Content |
| Core Web Vitals | Google's metrics for a page's loading speed, visual stability and responsiveness to interaction. | Technical SEO |
| CPC (cost per click) | The amount paid per click in paid media; used as a reference to estimate the value of an organic position. | Measurement |
| Crawl budget | The number of pages a search engine is willing to crawl on a site within a given period. | Technical SEO |
| CTR (click-through rate) | The percentage of people who click a result after seeing it in the search page. | Measurement |
06Terms starting with D
D: from Structured data to Duplicate content
Group D covers the vocabulary behind the site's biggest technical edge: how a page explains itself to a machine.
| Term | Definition | Where it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Structured data | Code that describes a page's content for machines (schema.org), such as price, rating or a question and answer. | Structured data |
| Unstructured data | Text, image or video without explicit markup; the machine has to interpret the meaning on its own. | Structured data |
| Deindexing | Removing a page from a search engine's index, either intentionally (noindex) or through a penalty. | Technical SEO |
| Entity disambiguation | The process by which a search engine or AI model decides exactly which brand, person or place is meant when the name is ambiguous. | GEO |
| Meta description | The short summary shown below the title in search results; it does not affect ranking but influences the click. | Content |
| Google quality guidelines | Google's public document defining what counts as trustworthy, useful content. | Technical SEO |
| Root domain | A site's main address, without a subdomain (example.com, not blog.example.com). | Technical SEO |
| DR (Domain Rating) | A third-party metric for the strength of a domain's link profile, on a 0 to 100 scale. | Authority |
| Duplicate content | Identical or very similar text present on more than one URL, whether your own or someone else's. | Technical SEO |
07Terms starting with E and F
E and F: from E-E-A-T to Content funnel
Two small groups that fit together: Google's quality framework and the acronyms that show up in GEO and content planning.
| Term | Definition | Where it matters |
|---|---|---|
| E-E-A-T | Google's framework for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trust, used to judge the quality of content or a brand. | Content |
| Embedding | A numeric representation of text, used by AI models to compare meaning across pieces of content. | GEO |
| Engagement rate | The share of visitors who genuinely interact with a page, beyond simply opening it. | Measurement |
| Entity | A concept, brand, person or place recognized by a search engine as a single object, independent of the words used to describe it. | GEO |
| 404 error | A page-not-found response; a signal of a broken link that hurts experience and crawling when it piles up. | Technical SEO |
| Fan-out (query fan-out) | A technique where an AI model splits a question into several smaller searches before assembling the final answer. | GEO |
| Featured snippet | A highlighted answer at the top of the results, pulled from a page that answers the question directly. | GEO |
| Follow / Nofollow | A link attribute that tells a search engine whether or not to pass authority through it. | Authority |
| Fresh content | Content updated regularly, a signal search engines weigh on time-sensitive topics. | Content |
| Content funnel | Organizing content by the reader's decision stage: discovery, comparison and purchase decision. | Content |
08Terms starting with G and H
G and H: from GEO to Hub and spoke
The group opens with the acronym that names the second half of this glossary.
| Term | Definition | Where it matters |
|---|---|---|
| GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) | The work of preparing content, authority and data to appear as a source in generative AI answers. | GEO |
| Google Discover | A Google content feed outside traditional search, powered by the user's interest history. | Content |
| Google Search Console | Google's tool for tracking indexing, rankings, clicks and technical errors on a site. | Measurement |
| Knowledge Graph | Google's database connecting entities to each other, powering direct answers in search. | GEO |
| Guest post | An article published on another site, negotiated or produced to earn a mention and a link back. | Authority |
| Heading tags (H1 to H6) | Title and subtitle markup on a page; they organize reading and signal topic hierarchy. | Technical SEO |
| Hreflang | A tag that tells a search engine which language or country version of a page to show each user. | International SEO |
| HTTPS | The protocol that encrypts the connection between browser and site; a baseline security and ranking requirement. | Engineering |
| Hub and spoke | A content model with one central page (hub) and supporting pages (spokes) linked to it. | Content |
09Terms starting with I
I: from Impressions to Intent match
Group I holds the vocabulary of indexing, the stage where a search engine decides whether it knows your page.
| Term | Definition | Where it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Impressions | The number of times a page showed up in search results, whether or not it got a click. | Measurement |
| Indexing | The process by which a search engine reads, understands and stores a page in its database so it can show it later. | Technical SEO |
| Mobile-first indexing | Google's criteria of using a site's mobile version as the main reference for indexing and ranking. | Technical SEO |
| Inverted index | The data structure search engines use to quickly find every page that contains a given word. | Technical SEO |
| INP (Interaction to Next Paint) | Google's metric for how quickly a page responds to a user's interaction. | Technical SEO |
| Search intent | What a person actually wants when they type a query: information, comparison, location or purchase. | Content |
| Intent match | How well a page's content aligns with the search intent of the term it is trying to rank for. | Content |
10Terms starting with J, K and L
J, K and L: from JSON-LD to Long tail
Three letters grouped together to fit the most used structured data format alongside the vocabulary of keyword research.
| Term | Definition | Where it matters |
|---|---|---|
| JSON-LD | The code format Google recommends for adding structured data to a page. | Structured data |
| Keyword research | The process of surveying the terms an audience uses to search for a product, service or question. | Keyword mapping |
| Keyword stuffing | Artificially repeating a keyword in a text, an old practice that is penalized today. | Technical SEO |
| Landing page | A page built to convert a specific audience into a single action, usually arriving from paid media. | Content |
| LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) | A metric measuring the time it takes the largest visible element of a page to finish loading. | Technical SEO |
| Link building | The consistent work of earning links from other sites, the main path to gaining authority. | Authority |
| Internal link | A link between two pages on the same site; it distributes authority and helps crawling. | Technical SEO |
| Link equity | The authority passed from one page to another through a link. | Authority |
| LLM (Large Language Model) | A language model trained on large volumes of text; the engine behind ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude. | GEO |
| Long tail | A more specific, lower-competition search term, usually closer to a purchase decision. | Keyword mapping |
11Terms starting with M and N
M and N: from Machine learning to Noindex
Group M and N runs from keyword mapping to the pair of tags that decides what stays out of the index.
| Term | Definition | Where it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Machine learning in search | Search engines' use of machine learning to refine ranking and understand natural language. | Technical SEO |
| Keyword mapping | Organizing search terms by intent and destination page, the foundation of a content plan. | Keyword mapping |
| Mention rate | How often a brand shows up in AI model answers across a set of monitored questions. | GEO |
| Meta robots | A tag on a page instructing a search engine whether to index it and whether to follow its links. | Technical SEO |
| Meta title (SEO title) | The title shown in the browser tab and as the clickable title in search results; it carries the page's main keyword. | Content |
| Site migration | Changing a site's domain, platform or URL structure, with the risk of losing rankings if done poorly. | Technical SEO |
| NLP (natural language processing) | An AI field focused on interpreting human language, used by search engines and conversational models. | GEO |
| Noindex | A tag asking a search engine not to include a page in its index, even if it can access it. | Technical SEO |
12Terms starting with O and P
O and P: from Off-page SEO to Prompt engineering
The biggest group in the glossary, with the classic split between what gets tuned inside a page and what gets built outside it.
| Term | Definition | Where it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Off-page SEO | Actions taken outside the site itself that influence ranking, mainly authority and mentions. | Authority |
| On-page SEO | Adjustments made within a page itself: title, content, structure, structured data and speed. | Technical SEO |
| Orphan page | A page that exists on a site but has no internal link pointing to it, which makes crawling harder. | Technical SEO |
| Outbound link | A link that goes from a page on your site to a different domain. | Technical SEO |
| Overoptimization | Excessive tuning aimed only at the algorithm, to the point of hurting the reading experience. | Technical SEO |
| PageRank | Google's original algorithm for measuring a page's importance from the network of links it receives. | Authority |
| PageSpeed | Google's tool and metric for a page's loading speed, on mobile and desktop. | Technical SEO |
| Pagination | Splitting a long listing into several numbered pages, with its own markup so a search engine understands the sequence. | Technical SEO |
| Pillar page | A broad guide on a central topic, around which more specific supporting pages are organized. | Content |
| Pogo-sticking | When a user clicks a result, quickly returns to search and clicks another; a negative satisfaction signal. | Measurement |
| Prompt engineering | The practice of crafting questions and instructions to get better answers from an AI model. | GEO |
13Terms starting with Q and R
Q and R: from Query to Robots.txt
From the simplest term in the glossary, the search itself, to the file that decides what a bot is allowed to read.
| Term | Definition | Where it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Query | The term or phrase a user types into a search. | Keyword mapping |
| RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) | A technique where an AI model retrieves outside information before generating an answer, instead of relying only on what it already learned. | GEO |
| Rank tracking | The periodic monitoring of keyword positions in search results. | Measurement |
| Readability | How easy a text is to read, measured by short sentences, clear paragraphs and plain vocabulary. | Content |
| 301 redirect | A permanent redirect from one URL to another; it passes most of the original page's authority forward. | Technical SEO |
| 302 redirect | A temporary redirect from one URL to another; it does not pass authority the way a 301 does. | Technical SEO |
| Referring domain | Each distinct domain that has at least one link pointing to your site. | Authority |
| Rich results | A search result with an extra visual element (stars, price, a question and answer), enabled by structured data. | Structured data |
| Robots.txt | A file at a site's root that tells search bots which areas can, or cannot, be crawled. | Technical SEO |
14Terms starting with S
S: from Google sandbox to SGE
The letter S carries the structured data vocabulary, the local SEO and technical SEO pair, and the old name for what is now AI Overviews.
| Term | Definition | Where it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Google sandbox | The early period in which a new domain takes longer to rank well, even with correct work. | Technical SEO |
| Schema.org | The standard vocabulary used to write structured data, maintained jointly by Google, Bing and other search engines. | Structured data |
| Local SEO | Ranking for searches with geographic intent, tied to Google Business Profile and city-level pages. | Local SEO |
| Technical SEO | The branch of SEO focused on a site's health: crawling, indexing, speed, security and architecture. | Technical SEO |
| SERP (Search Engine Results Page) | The results page for a search, with organic links, ads and enriched elements. | Measurement |
| Share of voice in AI | The share of citations on a topic or category that go to your brand rather than to competitors, in AI answers. | GEO |
| Content silo | Organizing a site into closed topical blocks, with internal links concentrated inside the same block. | Content |
| Sitemap | An XML file listing a site's pages to make crawling easier for search engines. | Technical SEO |
| Spam score | A score estimated by third-party tools for the likelihood that a domain is considered spam by search engines. | Authority |
| SGE / AI Overviews | The name of Google's project for AI-generated search answers, now shipped as AI Overviews. | GEO |
15Terms starting with T through Z
T through Z: from Conversion rate to Zero-click search
The last six letters in one group, from the result that closes the funnel to the term describing a search with no click.
| Term | Definition | Where it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Conversion rate | The percentage of visitors who complete the desired action on a page (buy, request a quote, fill out a form). | Measurement |
| Thin content | A page with little real value for the searcher, usually short or repeated across several URLs. | Content |
| Tokenization | Splitting a text into smaller units (tokens) so a language model can process it. | GEO |
| Topical authority | A search engine or AI's recognition that a site is a comprehensive reference on a subject. | Content |
| Topical map | A structure organizing every subtopic of a broad subject, used to plan a content cluster. | Keyword mapping |
| Organic traffic | Visits that reach a site through natural search results, without paying for media. | Measurement |
| Trust flow | A third-party metric that estimates a domain's trustworthiness from the quality, not the quantity, of the links it receives. | Authority |
| TTFB (Time to First Byte) | The time between requesting a page and the first byte of the server's response arriving. | Engineering |
| Friendly URL | A short, readable page address that carries the keyword, without unnecessary technical parameters. | Technical SEO |
| UGC (User Generated Content) | Content created by users themselves, such as reviews and comments; also a link attribute (rel="ugc"). | Content |
| Vector search | Search that compares the meaning of texts by numeric proximity (embeddings), instead of only matching identical words. | GEO |
| Voice search | A query made by voice command, usually longer and closer to a spoken question. | Keyword mapping |
| White hat SEO | Optimization practice aligned with search engine guidelines, built to last. | Technical SEO |
| WPO (Web Performance Optimization) | The discipline of optimizing site performance, the technical foundation of PageSpeed and Core Web Vitals. | Engineering |
| Zero-click search | A search where the user finds the answer directly on the results page, without clicking any link. | GEO |
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Does this glossary cover both traditional SEO and GEO?
It does. Keeping the two in separate glossaries stopped making sense: the same monthly plan now handles Google rankings and citations in ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Perplexity, so the terms live together here the way they live together in day-to-day consulting.
What is the difference between SEO and GEO, in one sentence?
SEO organizes a site to perform well in traditional search results; GEO prepares the same content, with authority and structured data, to be cited as a source in AI model answers. See the full picture in what is SEO and what is GEO.
Why are so many terms in English?
Most of this vocabulary was born in Google's own documentation, in international tools or in papers about language models, almost always in English first. We kept the original term and explained it in plain language, the way it comes up in real client conversations.
Are structured data and schema.org the same thing?
Not exactly. Schema.org is the vocabulary, the dictionary of available types (Product, Service, FAQPage and others). Structured data is the name for the work of applying that vocabulary, usually in JSON-LD, inside a page. See the full workstream in structured data.
Does this glossary replace an SEO consulting engagement?
No. It explains the vocabulary; the consulting engagement applies each of these concepts to your site, your competitors and your market, with a plan and a timeline. That is what SEO consulting is for.
Do you update the glossary as new terms come up?
Yes. GEO is a recent front and its vocabulary still moves fast, with new terms surfacing after every meaningful AI or Google update. We revisit this page whenever a new term enters conversations with clients.
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