SEO & GEO Glossary

HTTP status code 301 — the permanent redirect. The most important tool for domain migrations, URL restructuring and consolidating duplicate content.

Continuous monitoring of whether and how often a website is cited as a source by AI search engines (ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude, AIO).

Specialised bots operated by AI providers that crawl websites for the training or live answers of LLMs. Blocking them in robots.txt blocks AI visibility.

Aggregated metric for the presence of a brand or domain in AI answers across all relevant LLM engines — analogous to the classic visibility index.

An invisible statistical marker in AI-generated text that makes its origin verifiable — readable only with the provider's matching key.

Open-source CLI coding agent with a Git-first workflow — every change becomes a separate commit, ideal for reproducible AI development.

The visible, clickable text of a hyperlink. One of the oldest and still powerful backlink ranking signals — naturally mixed, never over-optimised.

A link from an external website to your own domain. Backlinks have been one of the most important off-page ranking signals since 1998 (Google PageRank).

BERT (2019) and MUM (2021) are Google's language models, which dramatically improved language understanding in search — the basis for intent recognition.

A Bing Webmaster Tools report available since February 2026 that provides first-party data on Copilot citations — the only platform-native AI citation report.

An overview of which URLs on a website Bing already knows, has indexed or has not registered at all — built from the sitemap crawl and matched against Bing's GetUrlInfo endpoint.

Microsofts free tool shows Copilot citations and a second backlink profile. Which CSV exports pay off and how you read them into Rankmio.

Bounce rate and engagement rate in GA4 are two sides of the same coin — they measure whether sessions are genuinely engaged by the content.

The aggregated trust a brand holds in search engines and LLMs — built from brand searches, mentions, Knowledge Graph presence and backlinks. A direct AI ranking factor.

The tendency of LLMs to cite well-known brands disproportionately often — even when smaller providers are equivalent in substance. A GEO distortion.

Navigation element that shows the path of a page within the site hierarchy (Home › Category › Subcategory › current page). Improves UX and SEO.

A tracking approach that returns up to 1,000 ranking keywords per domain in a single query — instead of hundreds of individual queries, one per keyword.

HTML tag <link rel="canonical"> that tells search engines the preferred version of a page — decisive in the fight against duplicate content.

OpenAI's conversational AI system, which triggered mass adoption of LLM-based search from late 2022 onwards. Also a search engine via ChatGPT Search.

OpenAI's web search engine, embedded in ChatGPT since October 2024. Delivers model-written answers with linked sources — a direct competitor to Google.

Score (0-100) for how citable a page is in AI search engines — measured by the same rules as the GEO audit.

The share of AI answers in which a particular domain is cited as a source. The central GEO visibility metric — comparable to the classic SERP position.

Anthropic's family of language models, widely used for its strength in structured answers and code generation. Relevant to GEO through ClaudeBot.

CLI-first agent from Anthropic that codes in the terminal, reads and writes files and runs tests — controlled through natural language.

Core Web Vitals metric: measures cumulative visual instability — how much layout elements still jump around during loading. Target < 0.1.

Systematic analysis of the SEO/GEO positioning of direct competitors. A source of quick wins (keyword, backlink and entity gaps) and of strategy.

A bulk pull per competitor that retrieves the ranking keyword universe, the top pages and the backlink profile in one go.

Structured specification for a piece of content — main topic, search intent, H2/H3 outline, entity list, FAQ and source requirements.

A person who independently produces digital content (video, text, audio, graphics) for platforms such as YouTube, TikTok, Instagram or blogs.

Visible content and structured data diverging — for example an FAQ section without FAQPage schema, or an author without Person markup.

The systematic enrichment of AI requests with company knowledge, brand voice, audience and sources — instead of supplying an isolated prompt alone. The context carries the result, not the prompt.

The share of visitors who complete a defined goal — a purchase, a lead, a sign-up. The most important business metric behind SEO.

Set of three Google performance metrics (LCP, INP, CLS) that have been a direct ranking factor since 2021 and measure the user experience on a page.

The process in which search engine bots automatically retrieve web pages in order to capture content and links. The first stage before indexing.

Google's public dataset of real user data on the page performance of millions of websites. The source of the field data for Core Web Vitals, and relevant to rankings.

Ratio of clicks to impressions — the most important SERP performance metric. A low CTR despite a good position is a clear signal that the snippet needs optimising.

AI-first IDE based on VS Code with Composer mode, repo indexing and context-aware code generation — one of the most widely used vibe coding environments.

Google tool that lets site owners "disavow" toxic or spammy backlinks. A measure of last resort — today usually unnecessary.

Large bulk pull in Rankmio that retrieves the entire ranking keyword universe per domain — up to 1,000 keywords with sweet-spot selection for positions 4-30.

Third-party score (0-100) for the backlink strength of a domain. Vendor-specific — not an official Google signal, but a rough comparative value.

Identical or near-identical content that is reachable under several URLs — it dilutes ranking signals and Google often ranks the "wrong" version.

Google's four quality criteria (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trust) — critical for YMYL topics. Also a GEO citation signal in LLMs.

A numerical vector representation of a piece of text that encodes semantic meaning. The basis for semantic search, RAG and topic cluster detection.

GA4 metric: the share of sessions that last longer than 10 seconds, trigger a conversion or contain 2 or more page views. The positive reading of bounce rate.

A concrete, uniquely identifiable concept — person, place, organisation, product, term. The basic building block of knowledge graphs and search engine understanding.

A comparative method that identifies entities and topics covered by competitors but missing from your own website. The fastest GEO quick win once the SEO fundamentals are in place.

Schema.org type for Q&A pages: structure, example and why Google has shown no FAQ snippets since May 2026. On its own it brings no extra AI citations.

Highlighted answer snippet above the organic results in the Google SERP. ”Position 0" — high visibility, but declining CTR since AI Overviews.

Free single-URL audit without an account — checks one URL against the most important on-page and citability levers and shows the demo scope for Rankmio features.

The umbrella term for AI systems that create new content — text, images, audio, video, code — rather than merely classifying it. Covers language models and image generators alike.

The discipline of optimising web content so that generative AI search engines such as ChatGPT, Perplexity or Google AI Overviews cite it as a source.

AI assistant from GitHub and Microsoft, integrated into VS Code, JetBrains, Neovim and Visual Studio — with inline autocomplete and chat mode.

AI-generated summary at the top of the Google SERP that pushes classic organic results further down. The biggest SERP upheaval since featured snippets.

Google's web analytics platform since July 2023 — event-based tracking, a cookie-less model and built-in conversion modelling.

Free Google profile for businesses with a shopfront or a local service area. Controls how a business appears in Google Maps and in the Local Pack.

Google's tracking mode that supplies anonymised modelled data when a user has not given consent. Mandatory since March 2024 for EU domains using Google Ads or GA4.

Major Google algorithm update, rolled out 2–4 times a year. Reorders rankings broadly over several weeks — an occasion for a strategy review.

Google's family of language models, powering the former Bard platform since 2023 and large parts of Google Search — AI Overviews and AI Mode — since 2024.

Google's free tool for site owners: indexing, search performance, Core Web Vitals and technical crawl problems. Indispensable for SEO.

A free Google tool that manages tracking tags — GA4, Ads, the Facebook pixel and others — through a web interface, without deploying code. A marketing standard.

A free Google tool showing the relative frequency of searches over time — essential for seasonality, spotting trends and comparing topics.

Specialised Google crawler for news. It decides which articles appear in Google News, the news carousel and Top Stories.

When an LLM produces factually incorrect statements with high confidence. Conceptually unavoidable — but reducible through RAG pipelines and source linking.

Hierarchical outline of a page using H1 to H6. Important for accessibility, SEO and, above all, for citability in AI search engines (GEO).

Google's assessment system, introduced in 2022, which prioritises content written by people for people — as a counter to mass-produced thin content.

An HTML or sitemap annotation that tells Google the language and regional variants of a page. Mandatory for multilingual websites — complex and error-prone.

The inclusion of a URL in the Google search index. Only indexed URLs can appear in the search results — the decisive first hurdle of any SEO strategy.

Open protocol from Microsoft and Yandex that lets website operators actively inform search engines about new or updated URLs — without having to wait for the next crawl.

A concept from a Google patent (2018): a document receives a score for how much new information it offers relative to already existing content.

Core Web Vitals metric since March 2024: measures the worst response time to clicks/taps within a session. Target < 200 ms. Successor to FID.

Linking between pages of your own website. It governs crawl depth, topic clusters and the distribution of link equity — an underrated SEO tool.

JSON format for structured data — Google's recommended variant for Schema.org markup. Kept cleanly in the HTML head, separate from the visible content.

A score (0-100) from third-party tools that estimates how competitive a keyword is. A sorting metric for prioritisation — and specific to each tool.

Systematic identification and assessment of the search phrases target audiences use to look for your topics. The basis of every SEO/GEO strategy.

A structured knowledge database of entities and their relationships. Google's Knowledge Graph powers Knowledge Panels and the factual accuracy of AI answers.

Information box on the right-hand side of the Google SERP containing structured knowledge about an entity — brand, person, place, concept. Drawn from the Knowledge Graph.

A measurable figure for judging success. In SEO usually a mix of visibility, traffic, engagement and business metrics.

A machine learning model trained on vast text collections that understands and generates natural language. The foundation of every AI search engine.

Technique in which images, videos and iframes are only loaded once they are just short of the viewport area. A classic page speed quick win.

Core Web Vitals metric: how long it takes for the largest visible element to be rendered. Target &lt; 2.5 s. The most important headline performance metric since 2021.

Open-source auditing tool from Google that measures performance, accessibility, best practices, SEO and PWA conformance — available directly in Chrome DevTools.

A rival term to GEO: optimising content so that it is understood, cited and correctly reproduced by language models. It describes the same work, but places the emphasis on the model rather than the search engine.

Proposed standard for a Markdown file in the website root that gives LLMs a structured, curated overview of a website's most important content.

Map-based top-three box shown by Google for local search queries — a position there brings 3–5× more clicks than a classic top-10 ranking.

Optimisation for regional search queries such as ”hairdresser Munich” or ”dentist near me”. A discipline in its own right, built around Google Business Profile and the Local Pack.

Specific search queries of three or more words with low volume but high intent and conversion rate. In aggregate they often exceed the money keywords.

Browser-based AI platform for the full-stack build of complete web apps from natural language — competing with v0, Bolt and Replit Agent.

Tracking method that retrieves LLM answers 3+ times per query and counts only what appears in the majority as a citation. Essential for GEO metrics.

Share of AI answers in which a brand is mentioned in the text (without a link). An important GEO brand-building metric alongside citation rate.

HTML tag in the head that defines the description of a page. Not a direct ranking factor — but the most important lever for SERP CTR.

A security problem that occurs when an HTTPS page loads resources (images, scripts, iframes) over HTTP. Browsers block these increasingly often — a ranking risk.

Google indexes and evaluates primarily the mobile version of a page. Mandatory for all websites since July 2024 — mobile optimisation is not optional.

Consistent spelling of name, address and telephone number across all web directories. A critical trust signal for local SEO and local pack ranking.

HTML meta tag or HTTP header that instructs search engines not to include a URL in the index. A tool against irrelevant pages in SERPs.

All SEO measures taking place outside your own website — primarily backlink building, brand mentions, digital PR and reputation management.

All SEO measures that take place directly on a web page — content, HTML structure, internal linking, page speed and Schema.org.

User ratings on platforms such as Google, Trustpilot and Yelp. A direct ranking factor in local SEO and an indirect trust signal for every kind of search.

Meta tag set introduced by Facebook (2010) that defines how a URL is displayed as a card when shared on social media. Essential for every shareable page.

Google algorithm update from 2021 that integrated page experience signals (Core Web Vitals, mobile-friendliness, HTTPS) as a ranking factor.

Strategic assignment of each URL to one primary and 2–3 secondary keywords — prevents cannibalisation and makes ranking responsibility clear.

The loading time of a web page. A direct ranking factor (Core Web Vitals), a critical UX lever and one of the few SEO levers with a measurable ROI on conversion rate.

Google's algorithm update from 2012, which systematically devalues spammy and manipulative backlinks. Part of the core algorithm and real-time since 2016.

Clickable question box in the Google SERP showing related questions with expandable answers. An important source of visibility and a source for long tail research.

An AI search engine with clearly linked sources and a multi-engine approach — a central GEO target. High citation rate, smaller user base than ChatGPT.

Rankmio module that extracts the brand voice from uploaded documents for each project and feeds it into every AI content generation as a consistent voice.

Comprehensive overview page on a main topic that sits at the centre of a topic cluster and links to every spoke article. The strongest article within the topic.

Central URL data base in Rankmio for each project — the single source of truth for all crawled, tracked and indexed URLs.

The craft of formulating requests to LLMs so that they reliably deliver good results. The interface between human and AI, and a growing professional role.

A measure with a disproportionately high effect for little effort. Classics: title/meta on position-11-20 keywords, adding schema, internal linking.

Retrieval Augmented Generation: an LLM retrieves suitable live sources and answers on their basis. The foundation of almost every modern AI search engine.

A signal that Google includes when calculating a page's position. Google confirms only broad categories — the precise weighting is not public.

Central collection of tasks in Rankmio, where all SEO and GEO findings from audits arrive as concrete, prioritised tasks. Connects analysis with implementation.

Built-in AI assistant within Rankmio with access to all project data — it answers questions, suggests optimisations and can create action tasks.

Rankmio module that tracks citation rate and mention rate across 5 LLM engines (ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude, AIO) using a majority vote.

Rankmio module for AI-assisted content creation: brief system with 28 structural elements, AI generation, editor with live citability check, media integration.

Consumption units in Rankmio used to bill chargeable actions — from AI generation to bulk pulls. The central pricing logic.

Four user roles in Rankmio (visitor, credits, basis, pro) plus admin — they govern feature access, credit packages and rate limits.

A GEO-specific audit that tests web pages against more than 33 citability checkpoints — from H2 answer logic and Schema.org sameAs through to entity completeness.

The HTTP twin of the JSON export: three endpoints under /api/v1/, bearer token authentication. Built for CI pipelines and AI coding agents that fetch their data themselves.

Calculated score (0–100) that derives the SEO optimisation opportunity for each URL — combining position, CTR gap, search volume, KD and implementation effort.

Rankmio module for classic ranking tracking — bulk-first with Discovery Bundle XL plus watchlist. Trend charts, movers and Share of SERP.

Technical SEO audit that crawls a domain and lists all relevant on-page issues in a structured way — from heading hierarchy to broken links.

Multi-user function in Rankmio: a main account can invite up to 3 additional users who each have their own login and access to the shared projects.

A value from 0 to 100 built from four sources: SERP visibility, AI citations, traffic and backlinks. Missing sources cost their points instead of being redistributed.

New class of LLM introduced in 2024 that works through a chain-of-thought before answering. Higher answer quality on complex multi-step tasks.

A unique domain that has placed at least one backlink to your own website. A more meaningful metric than the total number of backlinks.

Enhanced search result with additional information such as stars, prices, FAQ boxes or images. Basis: Schema.org. Typical CTR advantage +20-40%.

Text file in the website root that gives crawlers rules on crawl behaviour. It blocks areas from crawling — it is not intended for hiding sensitive content.

Standardised vocabulary for structured data that helps search engines and AI engines understand page content semantically.

Schema.org property that links an entity to its external knowledge base URL (Wikidata, Wikipedia, LinkedIn). A bridge to the Knowledge Graph.

Software for analysing and steering your own search visibility: keyword research, rank tracking, backlinks, technical audit.

The intention behind a search query — informational, navigational, transactional or commercial. The single most important factor when choosing the content format.

Estimated number of monthly searches for a keyword. The most important metric in keyword research — only meaningful alongside difficulty and intent.

Cyclical fluctuation in search demand across the year — Christmas, Easter, back to school, summer travel. Essential knowledge for content timing and campaign planning.

Specialised software for keyword research, competitor analysis, on-page optimisation, backlinks and rank tracking — the toolkit for measurable SEO.

The share a domain holds of the total top-10 visibility for a defined keyword set — an important competitor comparison indicator in the position tracker.

The hierarchical structure of a website — navigation paths, URL hierarchy, topic clusters. The basis for crawl efficiency, UX and topical authority.

Sub-links beneath the first SERP result that lead to important subpages of the domain. They are generated automatically, above all for brand searches.

Machine-readable XML directory of all indexable URLs on a website. Essential for clean indexing on larger sites or with frequent updates.

Rankmio module that checks the sitemap of a domain or a competitor at regular intervals and reports new, changed or removed URLs as alerts.

Your entry in the result list: title, address and description. It decides the click, not the position.

A test that measures the loading time and rendering performance of a web page — usually via PageSpeed Insights or Lighthouse with four score categories.

Read-only template briefs in the Content Studio that are created automatically for every new project — solid starting points without full brief configuration.

Keywords ranking in positions 4–30 — the golden range for optimisation. Realistic jumps into the top 3 are possible with targeted title, meta and content optimisation.

The HTML title element of a page — a direct ranking signal and the strongest CTR lever in the SERP. Maximum 60 characters, money keyword at the front, brand at the end.

A content organisation model: a pillar page on the main topic links to several spoke articles — which link back and to one another.

A measure of how completely and deeply a website covers a subject area. A key signal for AI engines when selecting citable sources.

The perception of a domain as a recognised expert in a subject area. The result of topic coverage, E-E-A-T and topically relevant backlinks.

A database that stores embeddings efficiently and performs nearest-neighbour search in high-dimensional vector space. The backbone of modern RAG systems.

A method in which developers describe features to AI agents primarily in natural language rather than writing every line themselves. Coined in 2025.

Aggregated metric for a domain's organic visibility in the SERPs. Tool-specific (Sistrix, Searchmetrics, Semrush).

Search queries spoken rather than typed — via Siri, Google Assistant or Alexa. Longer, conversational phrases with pronounced long tail characteristics.

Modern image formats offering files 25–50 % smaller at comparable quality to JPEG/PNG. Essential for any serious page speed optimisation.

A free, collaboratively maintained knowledge base with more than 100 million entities, each with a unique Q number. A central external source of knowledge for Google and for language models.

Google's classification for content that touches on health, finance, legal matters or safety. E-E-A-T standards are particularly strict in this area.

Search queries in which the user receives the answer directly in the SERP and does not click. A rising share since Featured Snippets and AI Overviews.