The terminology of AI search optimization
The field is young and the names are still competing. Every term below is in real use — each links to a page explaining what it means and when to reach for it.
The hierarchy this site uses: Primary public term: AI Search Optimization · Industry acronym: GEO · Specific outcome: AI Visibility · Technical subset: LLMO · Citation-focused subset: AEO
We deliberately avoid branding the category as plain "AI optimization" — that could equally mean optimizing AI models, prompts, or compute costs, rather than optimizing a website for AI discovery.
| Term | Meaning | Best use |
|---|---|---|
| GEO Generative Engine Optimization |
Improving visibility within responses produced by generative engines. | The strongest broad industry term — use for visibility in ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews and similar systems. |
| AEO Answer Engine Optimization |
Getting selected, quoted, or cited in direct answers. | Use when the goal is becoming the answer, citation, or recommendation instead of merely ranking as a blue link. |
| LLMO Large Language Model Optimization |
Making content understandable and retrievable by LLMs. | Use in technical conversations about how models understand, retrieve, and summarize a brand's content. |
| AI Search Optimization | Plain-English umbrella term for optimizing a website for AI-driven search. | The best term for clients and nontechnical audiences — it says exactly what it is. This is the primary public term used across this site. |
| Generative Search Optimization | Optimization for AI-generated search results. | A clear alternative to GEO when you want the words to explain themselves. |
| AI Visibility Optimization | Improving brand mentions and citations in AI answers. | Best when measuring brand exposure rather than website traffic — the outcome term in this site's hierarchy. |
| AI Discovery Optimization | Helping AI systems discover and recommend a company or resource. | A good broader marketing term when the goal is being found and suggested, not just cited. |
| Answer Search Optimization | A hybrid of search and answer optimization. | Less established; prefer AEO or GEO unless the audience already uses it. |
| Conversational Search Optimization | Optimization for natural-language and follow-up searches. | Useful when the focus is conversational interfaces — chat, voice, multi-turn questions. |
| AI Citation Optimization | Increasing the likelihood that AI systems cite the site. | Narrow but highly descriptive — use when citations are the KPI. |
| Machine Readability Optimization | Improving structure, schema, crawlability, and extractability. | Usually a technical subset of the discipline rather than the whole of it. |
| RAG Optimization Retrieval-Augmented Generation |
Making content more retrievable and useful in grounded AI systems. | The developer's term — use in technical contexts about retrieval pipelines. |
Google's own position, worth keeping in view: conventional SEO remains foundational, and Google states there are no special technical requirements unique to appearing in AI Overviews or AI Mode. It refers to terms like AEO and GEO as emerging industry terminology rather than replacements for SEO (developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/ai-features).
Wondering where your own site stands? Grade my site → · Read the AIO guide →