Glossary

AI search terms, defined

The vocabulary of answer engine optimization, in plain English. Each definition has its own page with the practical detail behind it.

Last updated August 14, 2026

Answer Engine Optimization (AEO)

Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) is the practice of getting your business named and cited inside the answers AI engines give — from AI-powered search to assistants like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, DeepSeek, Grok, Meta AI and Google’s AI Overviews — when a customer asks for a recommendation. Unlike SEO, which competes for blue links, AEO competes to be the answer itself. You win it by adding machine-readable files to your site — an llms.txt file, structured schema, answer pages and FAQ pages — customized to what AI actually says about your business today, not guesswork.

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is the practice of building the authoritative, citation-ready presence that makes large language models — ChatGPT, Gemini, Grok and the like — recommend your business inside direct conversations, when a user asks the AI to help, explain, create or recommend. GEO builds on top of AEO: your machine-readable AEO files (llms.txt, structured schema, answer and FAQ pages) go in first, then GEO earns the authority on top of them through continually published, citation-ready content.

Findability Score

The Findability Score is MyFast AI’s single 0–100 measure of how visible your brand is across every AI engine and every buyer search we test. It is built from five equally weighted pillars: Foundation, Brand Recognition, Authority, Content Coverage and Ranking Share.

Share of Voice

Share of Voice in AI search is the percentage of relevant buyer answers in which an AI engine names your brand versus your competitors. It replaces keyword rank as the core competitive metric in answer engines.

Zero-click search

A zero-click search is one where the user gets a complete answer directly from the AI or search result without visiting any website. In answer engines, if the AI does not name your business in that answer, you never get the chance to compete for the click.

llms.txt

llms.txt is a plain-text Markdown file placed at the root of your domain that gives AI models a concise, curated map of your most important, factual pages. It acts like a sitemap written for large language models.

Answer engine

An answer engine is any AI system that responds to a question with a synthesized answer instead of a list of links — ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, Copilot and Google AI Overviews are all answer engines.

Entity consistency

Entity consistency means your business name, address, phone, services and key facts are identical everywhere AI reads them — your site, Google Business Profile, Bing Places, Apple and the data aggregators. Inconsistency makes AI lose confidence and drop you from recommendations.

Citation

A citation in AI search is when an answer engine names your brand or links your domain as a source inside its generated answer. Citations are the AEO equivalent of a ranking — they are what you are optimizing to earn.