---
title: "AEO, GEO & SEO Glossary — Plain-English Definitions (2026) | Simeon Solutions"
url: https://www.simeonsolutions.com/glossary
description: "Plain-English definitions of the terms behind search and AI-answer visibility: AEO, GEO, AI Overviews, query fan-out, llms.txt, IndexNow, E-E-A-T and more."
updated: 2026-09-24
---
1. [Home](https://www.simeonsolutions.com/)
2. Glossary

Glossary · 40 terms

# The AEO, GEO & SEO glossary

Plain-English definitions of the words behind being found — and quoted — by Google, ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity. Written for business owners, checked against what the platforms have actually published.

[A](#letter-A)[B](#letter-B)[C](#letter-C)[D](#letter-D)[E](#letter-E)[F](#letter-F)[G](#letter-G)[H](#letter-H)[I](#letter-I)[L](#letter-L)[M](#letter-M)[N](#letter-N)[P](#letter-P)[Q](#letter-Q)[R](#letter-R)[S](#letter-S)[T](#letter-T)[W](#letter-W)[X](#letter-X)[Z](#letter-Z)

AI search 

## Agentic browsing · browser agents · AI browsing agents

Agentic browsing is when an AI agent operates a web browser on a person's behalf: reading pages, clicking, filling in forms and finishing tasks such as booking an appointment or collecting quotes. Sites built with plain, semantic HTML and clear labels are easier for these agents to understand and use.

It is already in mainstream products. Chrome’s auto browse, launched in preview for US AI Pro and Ultra subscribers in January 2026, can fill in forms, get quotes and schedule appointments. Agents read a page through screenshots, the HTML and the accessibility tree, so what helps them is mostly good web practice:

- real `<button>`, `<a>` and `<label>` elements rather than clickable `<div>`s;
- key facts such as prices and opening hours as text in the HTML, and no hover-only controls;
- a stable layout that doesn’t shift while the agent acts.

Lighthouse added an agentic browsing category in May 2026 that checks some of this. A Chennai restaurant whose table booking is a labelled HTML form is far easier for an agent to complete than one that only takes bookings through an image or a chat widget. [WebMCP](https://www.simeonsolutions.com/glossary#webmcp) goes a step further.

Sources: [Google — The new era of browsing: Putting Gemini to work in Chrome](https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/products/chrome/gemini-3-auto-browse/) · [web.dev — Build agent-friendly websites](https://web.dev/articles/ai-agent-site-ux) · [Chrome for Developers — Lighthouse agentic browsing scoring](https://developer.chrome.com/docs/lighthouse/agentic-browsing/scoring)

Technical 

## AI crawler (user agent) · AI bot · AI user agent · LLM crawler

An AI crawler is a bot that an AI company uses to fetch web pages, identified by its user-agent name. Most AI firms run separate agents for model training, for building a search index and for fetching a page when a user asks, and robots.txt rules treat each one separately.

Blocking one agent does not block the others, so it helps to know the names each company publishes:

- **Training:** GPTBot (OpenAI) and ClaudeBot (Anthropic). Google has no separate training crawler; it uses the Google-Extended token explained under [robots.txt](https://www.simeonsolutions.com/glossary#robots-txt).
- **Search index:** OAI-SearchBot (ChatGPT search), Claude-SearchBot and PerplexityBot. OpenAI says sites that block OAI-SearchBot will not be shown in ChatGPT search answers.
- **User-triggered fetch:** ChatGPT-User, Claude-User and Perplexity-User load a page because someone asked. OpenAI says robots.txt rules “may not apply” to these visits, and Perplexity says its user agent “generally ignores” them.

Many businesses allow the search and user agents and decide on training separately. Our [free checker](https://www.simeonsolutions.com/tools/ai-visibility-checker) shows which of these your robots.txt currently lets in.

Sources: [OpenAI — Overview of OpenAI Crawlers](https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/bots) · [Anthropic — Does Anthropic crawl data from the web, and how can site owners block the crawler?](https://privacy.claude.com/en/articles/8896518-does-anthropic-crawl-data-from-the-web-and-how-can-site-owners-block-the-crawler) · [Perplexity — Perplexity Crawlers](https://docs.perplexity.ai/guides/bots)

Measurement 

## AI share of voice · AI SOV · citation share · AI visibility share

AI share of voice is the percentage of AI answers, for a fixed set of prompts, that mention or cite your brand compared with competitors. It turns scattered spot checks in ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity or Google's AI features into a number you can track, as long as the prompts and sampling stay consistent.

The basic method: list the questions real customers ask, run each one on the engines that matter to you, and record which brands are mentioned, cited or recommended. Your share is your appearances divided by all brand appearances across the set.

Answers vary by engine and by day. Orbit Media’s September 2026 study of ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity found all four cited the same domain for the same question only 1.7% of the time, and it advises judging trends on three or more weeks of data. So track each engine separately, repeat runs, and read the direction rather than one day’s figure. Bing’s citation share metric is an official version for Microsoft’s AI surfaces. See [AI visibility tracking](https://www.simeonsolutions.com/glossary/ai-visibility-tracking).

Sources: [Orbit Media — LLM Citation Study: 13,184 Citations Across 4 AI Tools](https://www.orbitmedia.com/blog/ai-citation-sources/) · [Bing Search Blog — New AI Visibility Insights in Bing Webmaster Tools: Intents, Topics, Citation Share, Compare](https://blogs.bing.com/search/June-2026/New-AI-Visibility-Insights-in-Bing-Webmaster-Tools-Intents-Topics-Citation-Share-Compare)

Measurement 

## [AI visibility & citation tracking](https://www.simeonsolutions.com/glossary/ai-visibility-tracking) · AI citation tracking · AI search visibility · LLM visibility tracking

AI visibility tracking measures how often AI features and assistants — Google AI Overviews and AI Mode, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Copilot and Claude — mention or cite your business, and what traffic they send. Search Console, Bing Webmaster Tools, GA4 and a fixed panel of test prompts cover the basics free.

[Full guide →](https://www.simeonsolutions.com/glossary/ai-visibility-tracking) 

AI search 

## [Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO)](https://www.simeonsolutions.com/glossary/answer-engine-optimisation) · AEO · answer engine optimization

AEO is the practice of making your content easy for AI answer engines — Google AI Overviews and AI Mode, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Copilot — to find, trust and quote, so your business is more likely to be cited as the source of an answer, not just listed beneath it.

[Full guide →](https://www.simeonsolutions.com/glossary/answer-engine-optimisation) 

Content 

## Answer-first content · inverted pyramid · BLUF (bottom line up front) · answer-first writing

Answer-first content puts the direct answer to the reader's question in the first sentence or two of a page or section, then adds detail, evidence and context. It follows journalism's inverted pyramid and suits people who skim, featured snippets, and AI systems that quote short passages.

The test: someone who reads only the first sentence under a heading should already have their answer. If the heading asks “How long does GST registration take?”, that sentence gives the typical timeframe and what changes it, not a history of GST; steps, exceptions, a source and an example follow.

A few habits make it work:

- use the question people actually ask as the heading;
- keep the answer to two or three plain sentences that make sense out of context;
- put numbers, prices and names in the text, not only in images or PDFs.

It is good writing, not a trick. Google’s AI guide says to write for your human audience with clear headings and sections, and that you don’t need to write in a special way for generative AI search. Our [AEO guide](https://www.simeonsolutions.com/blog/aeo-guide-2026) has worked examples.

Sources: [Nielsen Norman Group — Inverted Pyramid: Writing for Comprehension](https://www.nngroup.com/articles/inverted-pyramid/) · [Google Search Central — Google's Guide to Optimizing for Generative AI Features on Google Search](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/ai-optimization-guide)

Measurement 

## Bing Webmaster AI Performance · Bing AI Performance report · Copilot citations report

AI Performance is a free report in Bing Webmaster Tools showing how often your pages are cited as sources in Microsoft Copilot, AI-generated summaries in Bing and selected partner integrations, and which grounding queries led to those citations. It launched in public preview in February 2026.

Unlike Google’s report, it measures citations rather than impressions. Metrics include total citations, average cited pages, grounding queries (the key phrases the AI used when retrieving content it went on to cite) and page-level citation activity over time.

A June 2026 update grouped grounding queries into intents and topics, added period comparison, and introduced citation share: your citations as a percentage of all citations shown across all sites for the same grounding query. That makes it the closest thing to an official [AI share of voice](https://www.simeonsolutions.com/glossary#share-of-voice) figure, though only for Microsoft’s surfaces.

To see it, verify your site in Bing Webmaster Tools. Read the numbers as trends over weeks rather than day-to-day verdicts.

Sources: [Bing Webmaster Blog — Introducing AI Performance in Bing Webmaster Tools Public Preview](https://blogs.bing.com/webmaster/February-2026/Introducing-AI-Performance-in-Bing-Webmaster-Tools-Public-Preview) · [Bing Search Blog — New AI Visibility Insights in Bing Webmaster Tools: Intents, Topics, Citation Share, Compare](https://blogs.bing.com/search/June-2026/New-AI-Visibility-Insights-in-Bing-Webmaster-Tools-Intents-Topics-Citation-Share-Compare)

AI search 

## Brand mentions · unlinked mentions · brand citations · implied links

Brand mentions are references to your business name on other websites, videos, forums and social platforms, whether or not they link to you. They matter more in AI search than in classic SEO: in a study of 75,000 brands, mentions tracked how often AI assistants name a brand far more closely than backlinks did.

Ahrefs’ study of 75,000 brands (updated August 2026) found YouTube mentions correlated at about 0.74 with visibility in ChatGPT, AI Mode and AI Overviews, and branded web mentions at 0.66–0.71, while backlinks correlated only weakly. Ahrefs stresses that correlation isn’t causation. Semrush found LinkedIn was the second most-cited domain in ChatGPT Search, AI Mode and Perplexity answers in its dataset.

Earn mentions where your customers already look: trade press, association websites, YouTube explainers, LinkedIn posts and local news. Don’t publish self-ranked “best” lists. In Lily Ray’s June 2026 analysis of AI Overviews, when a brand’s own listicle was cited, that brand was left out of the recommendation 69% of the time. See [entity SEO](https://www.simeonsolutions.com/glossary/entity-seo).

Sources: [Ahrefs — Top Brand Visibility Factors in ChatGPT, AI Mode, and AI Overviews (75k Brands Studied)](https://ahrefs.com/blog/ai-brand-visibility-correlations) · [Semrush — We Analyzed 89K LinkedIn URLs Cited in AI Search: Here's What Drives Visibility](https://www.semrush.com/blog/linkedin-ai-visibility-study/) · [Lily Ray — Why Calling Yourself the 'Best' Could Be Helping Your Competitors Win in AI Search](https://lilyraynyc.substack.com/p/why-calling-yourself-the-best-could)

Technical 

## Canonical URL · rel=canonical · canonical tag · canonicalisation

A canonical URL is the single address a search engine treats as the main version of a page when the same or very similar content is reachable at several URLs. You can suggest it with a rel=canonical link, redirects or your sitemap, but Google treats your choice as a hint, not a rule.

Duplicates are normal: `http` and `https`, `www` and non-`www`, tracking parameters such as `?utm_source=`, and filter or sort options on a shop all create extra URLs for the same content. Google crawls the canonical most regularly and the duplicates less often.

To steer the choice, send consistent signals:

- 301 redirects and `rel="canonical"` are strong signals; listing a URL in your sitemap is a weak one.
- Link internally to the canonical version only.
- Don’t use robots.txt or `noindex` to pick a canonical; Google advises against both.

If URL Inspection in Search Console shows a different Google-selected canonical from the one you declared, look for mixed signals, such as internal links, sitemaps and redirects pointing at different versions.

Sources: [Google Search Central — What is canonicalization](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/canonicalization) · [Google Search Central — How to specify a canonical URL with rel="canonical" and other methods](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/consolidate-duplicate-urls)

Technical 

## Content signals (AI usage preferences) · Content-Signal · AI preferences · aipref

Content signals are machine-readable statements of how a site's content may be used once it has been fetched: for search results, as input to AI answers, or for training AI models. Cloudflare's Content-Signal line for robots.txt is the best-known form. Signals state preferences; they do not block anything.

Cloudflare’s version, launched in September 2025, is a robots.txt line such as `Content-Signal: search=yes, ai-input=yes, ai-train=no`. `search` covers classic results with links and short excerpts, `ai-input` covers grounding and AI-generated answers, and `ai-train` covers training or fine-tuning models.

Treat it as a public statement, not a control. Cloudflare itself says some companies might simply ignore the signals, and Google’s robots.txt parser skips lines it does not support. The IETF’s AI Preferences working group is drafting a shared vocabulary (AI training, AI use and search), still an Internet-Draft in September 2026.

Adding the line costs nothing and records your position. To actually keep a bot out, use user-agent rules in [robots.txt](https://www.simeonsolutions.com/glossary#robots-txt) or block it at your firewall.

Sources: [Cloudflare — Giving users choice with Cloudflare's new Content Signals Policy](https://blog.cloudflare.com/content-signals-policy/) · [IETF — A Vocabulary For Expressing AI Usage Preferences (draft-ietf-aipref-vocab-08)](https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-ietf-aipref-vocab/) · [Google Search Central — How Google interprets the robots.txt specification](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/robots/robots%5Ftxt)

Technical 

## Core Web Vitals (LCP, INP, CLS) · CWV · page experience metrics

Core Web Vitals are Google's three field metrics for page experience: Largest Contentful Paint for loading, Interaction to Next Paint for responsiveness and Cumulative Layout Shift for visual stability. A page passes when at least 75% of real visits meet the 'good' threshold on all three.

The “good” thresholds, measured at the 75th percentile of page loads, with mobile and desktop assessed separately:

- **LCP:** 2.5 seconds or less;
- **INP:** 200 milliseconds or less (INP replaced First Input Delay in March 2024);
- **CLS:** 0.1 or less.

Google says Core Web Vitals are used by its ranking systems, but good scores don’t guarantee top rankings, and it will still show the most relevant page even when its experience is sub-par. Treat them as a baseline for users rather than a ranking lever, and test on a mid-range phone over mobile data, where heavy images, slow scripts and pop-ups hurt most. Check field data in Search Console’s Core Web Vitals report or PageSpeed Insights, not only a lab score.

Sources: [web.dev — Web Vitals](https://web.dev/articles/vitals) · [Google Search Central — Understanding page experience in Google Search results](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/page-experience) · [web.dev — Interaction to Next Paint becomes a Core Web Vital on March 12](https://web.dev/blog/inp-cwv-march-12)

Technical 

## Crawl budget · crawl capacity · crawl demand

Crawl budget is the number of URLs a search engine can and wants to crawl on your site in a given period. Google describes it as the combination of crawl capacity, set by how much your server can handle, and crawl demand, set by how popular your pages are and how often they change.

Most small business sites never need to think about it. Google’s guide is aimed at sites with over a million pages that change weekly, sites with over 10,000 pages that change daily, and sites with many URLs stuck in [Discovered – currently not indexed](https://www.simeonsolutions.com/glossary#discovered-not-indexed).

Where it does matter, the fixes are about wasting less:

- consolidate duplicate URLs and use robots.txt to block endless filter or internal search URLs;
- return 404 or 410 for pages that are gone, and avoid long redirect chains;
- keep sitemaps current and pages quick to load.

Adding `noindex` does not save budget, because Google still has to fetch the page to see it. For Google Search, the crawling a site gets also reflects its popularity, overall user value, content uniqueness and serving capacity.

Sources: [Google Search Central — Optimize your crawl budget](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/large-site-managing-crawl-budget)

Technical 

## "Discovered – currently not indexed" · Discovered - currently not indexed · discovered not indexed

"Discovered – currently not indexed" is a Search Console status meaning Google knows a URL exists but has not crawled it yet. Google says it typically postponed the crawl to avoid overloading the site, but on many sites the real brake is low perceived value or demand for the pages.

Having a few new URLs in this state is normal. Hundreds or thousands often mean Google doesn’t yet think the pages are worth fetching. For Search, Google weighs popularity, overall user value, content uniqueness and serving capacity, and John Mueller said in July 2026 that when its systems are seriously worried about a site’s quality, they reduce the number of pages they index.

What actually helps:

- link to important pages from your menus and from strong existing pages;
- cut or merge thin, near-duplicate pages, such as city or tag pages with nothing unique on them;
- earn real demand: mentions, links and people searching for you by name.

Use “Request indexing” in URL Inspection sparingly, for your most important pages; it does not fix the underlying cause. See [crawl budget](https://www.simeonsolutions.com/glossary#crawl-budget).

Sources: [Search Console Help — Page indexing report](https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/7440203) · [Google Search Central — Optimize your crawl budget](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/large-site-managing-crawl-budget) · [Search Engine Roundtable — Google: Discovered vs Crawled Not Indexed Quality Issues & AI-Generated Content](https://www.seroundtable.com/google-crawled-not-indexed-quality-ai-content-41701.html)

SEO 

## Doorway pages · doorway abuse · gateway pages · bridge pages

Doorway pages are pages created to rank for many similar searches, such as one page per city with only the place name changed, that funnel visitors to the same destination. Google's spam policies call this doorway abuse, and sites that break those policies may rank lower or disappear from results.

Google’s examples include “multiple domain names or pages targeted at specific regions or cities that funnel users to one page”, and “substantially similar pages that are closer to search results than a clearly defined, browseable hierarchy”.

Location pages are fine when each one is genuinely about that place. The test is whether a visitor from that town learns something they couldn’t get from your other pages:

- a real office, staff or service area there, with directions or contact details;
- local proof, such as projects completed, photos, reviews and prices for that area;
- a person who has checked every page before it goes live.

If you can’t say something true and specific about a town, don’t make a page for it. One honest service-area page is safer than many thin copies. See also [programmatic SEO](https://www.simeonsolutions.com/glossary#programmatic-seo).

Sources: [Google Search Central — Spam policies for Google web search](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/essentials/spam-policies)

Content 

## [E-E-A-T](https://www.simeonsolutions.com/glossary/e-e-a-t) · EEAT · E-A-T

E-E-A-T stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness: the qualities Google's quality raters use to judge whether content can be trusted. It is not a single ranking factor, but Google's systems use a mix of signals to identify it and give it extra weight on health, money and safety topics.

[Full guide →](https://www.simeonsolutions.com/glossary/e-e-a-t) 

SEO 

## [Entity SEO & the Knowledge Graph](https://www.simeonsolutions.com/glossary/entity-seo) · entity-based SEO · semantic SEO · Knowledge Graph optimisation

Entity SEO is the practice of making your business, people and products clearly identifiable 'things' that search engines and AI assistants can recognise, describe and connect, rather than strings of keywords. Google keeps what it knows about entities in its Knowledge Graph, which feeds knowledge panels and AI Mode.

[Full guide →](https://www.simeonsolutions.com/glossary/entity-seo) 

SEO 

## Featured snippet · answer box · position zero

A featured snippet is a Google search result that reverses the usual layout: an extract answering the query appears first, followed by the source page's title and link. Google chooses snippets automatically; site owners cannot mark a page as one, only make a clear answer easy to find.

There is no markup that opts you in. You can only opt out: `nosnippet` or `data-nosnippet` blocks snippets, and a low `max-snippet` value makes a featured snippet unlikely because there isn’t enough text to show.

What tends to earn one is the same habit that helps with AI answers: a question-style heading followed by a direct, self-contained answer, then a short list or table when the answer is a set of steps or a comparison.

A snippet can mean fewer clicks when the extract fully answers the question. For a business, the best targets are questions where the reader still needs you afterwards, for a quote, a booking or the detail. See [zero-click search](https://www.simeonsolutions.com/glossary/zero-click-search) for that trade-off.

Sources: [Google Search Central — Featured snippets and your website](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/featured-snippets)

AI search 

## [Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO)](https://www.simeonsolutions.com/glossary/generative-engine-optimisation) · GEO · generative engine optimization

GEO is the practice of improving how often and how accurately generative AI systems — ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude, Copilot and Google's AI Mode — mention, describe and cite your brand when they write answers, through clearer content on your own site and genuine mentions across the wider web.

[Full guide →](https://www.simeonsolutions.com/glossary/generative-engine-optimisation) 

AI search 

## [Google AI Overviews & AI Mode](https://www.simeonsolutions.com/glossary/ai-overviews-and-ai-mode) · AI Overviews · AIO · AI Mode

AI Overviews are AI-generated summaries Google shows on some results pages, usually above the regular results, with links to their sources. AI Mode is a separate, conversational Search mode for multi-part questions and follow-ups. Both use customised Gemini models, Google's core ranking systems and query fan-out.

[Full guide →](https://www.simeonsolutions.com/glossary/ai-overviews-and-ai-mode) 

Local 

## [Google Business Profile](https://www.simeonsolutions.com/glossary/google-business-profile) · GBP · Google My Business · GMB

Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) is the free listing that controls how a business appears in Google Search and Maps — name, category, hours, location or service area, photos, posts and reviews. In 2026 it also feeds Google's AI answers to local questions, especially in AI Mode.

[Full guide →](https://www.simeonsolutions.com/glossary/google-business-profile) 

Technical 

## hreflang · rel="alternate" hreflang · x-default

hreflang is an annotation, added as HTML link tags, HTTP headers or sitemap entries, that tells Google which language and regional versions of a page exist so it can show each searcher the right one, such as the English or Malayalam version. It points to the right URL; it does not translate anything.

The rule that trips up many sites: each version must list itself and every other version, and the links must be mutual. If two pages don’t both point to each other, Google ignores the tags.

Codes are an ISO 639-1 language, optionally followed by an ISO 3166-1 region: `en-IN`, `ml-IN` or `ta-IN` for India, `en-AE` for the UAE. A region on its own, such as `IN`, is invalid. Add `x-default` for visitors who match none of your versions.

Google works out a page’s language itself; it doesn’t rely on hreflang or the `lang` attribute for that. A Surat textile exporter with English pages for the UAE and the US can use `en-AE` and `en-US` so each market sees its own prices, delivery terms and contacts.

Sources: [Google Search Central — Tell Google about localized versions of your page](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/specialty/international/localized-versions)

Technical 

## [IndexNow](https://www.simeonsolutions.com/glossary/indexnow)

IndexNow is an open protocol that lets a website tell participating search engines — including Bing, Yandex, Seznam, Naver and Yep — the moment a URL is added, updated or deleted, instead of waiting to be recrawled. Google does not participate, so it complements XML sitemaps rather than replacing them.

[Full guide →](https://www.simeonsolutions.com/glossary/indexnow) 

Technical 

## [llms.txt](https://www.simeonsolutions.com/glossary/llms-txt)

llms.txt is a proposed Markdown file at a site's root (/llms.txt) that gives AI tools a summary of the site and links to its key pages. It is a community proposal, not a standard: Google Search doesn't use it, most such files get no requests at all, and its clearest use is helping coding agents read documentation.

[Full guide →](https://www.simeonsolutions.com/glossary/llms-txt) 

Local 

## Local citations · business listings · directory listings · structured citations

Local citations are mentions of your business name, address and phone number on other websites, such as directories, map apps, industry associations and local news sites. They help customers and search systems confirm your details, and for most businesses accuracy on a few important sites matters more than volume.

Their weight in local rankings has faded. Whitespark’s 2026 survey of local search experts says citations have been “decreasing in importance for the past decade”, yet the same report rates three of the top five AI search visibility factors as citation factors. That is expert opinion, not measured data. Google itself says only that prominence draws on things like how many websites link to your business and how many reviews you have.

So focus on quality over quantity:

- the main platforms in your market, such as Justdial, IndiaMART or Sulekha in India;
- your industry body, trade associations and chamber of commerce;
- identical details everywhere (see [NAP consistency](https://www.simeonsolutions.com/glossary#nap-consistency)).

Skip packages that submit you to hundreds of low-quality directories.

Sources: [Whitespark — Official 2026 Local Search Ranking Factors Report](https://whitespark.ca/local-search-ranking-factors/) · [Google Business Profile Help — Tips to improve your local ranking on Google](https://support.google.com/business/answer/7091)

Local 

## Local pack (map pack) · map pack · 3-pack · local 3-pack

The local pack is the block of Google Business Profile listings with a map that Google shows for searches with local intent, such as 'dentist near me' or 'caterers in Kochi'. Google ranks it mainly on relevance, distance and prominence, and says there is no way to pay for a better local ranking.

Prominence is how well known you are, including how many websites link to you and how many reviews you have. You can’t change distance, so the levers are a complete, accurate [Business Profile](https://www.simeonsolutions.com/glossary/google-business-profile), the right primary category, real photos, a steady flow of reviews with replies, and a website that matches the listing.

The same data also feeds AI answers. In an August 2026 US study of nearly 4,000 local searches per surface, 79.8% of AI Mode’s local citations pointed to Google Maps or Business Profile data, while AI Overviews mostly cited businesses’ own websites. Ask Maps, Gemini’s conversational search inside Google Maps, began rolling out in the US and India in March 2026\. Our [Business Profile guide](https://www.simeonsolutions.com/blog/google-business-profile-management-guide-2026) covers the details.

Sources: [Google Business Profile Help — Tips to improve your local ranking on Google](https://support.google.com/business/answer/7091) · [Steady Demand — AI Overviews and AI Mode both cite local businesses in almost opposite ways](https://www.steadydemand.com/ai-overviews-and-ai-mode-both-cite-local-businesses-in-almost-opposite-ways-ai-optimization-is-different-for-each/) · [Google — How we're reimagining Maps with Gemini](https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/products/maps/ask-maps-immersive-navigation/)

Technical 

## Markdown for agents · Markdown content negotiation · agent-readable Markdown

Markdown for agents means serving a clean Markdown version of a web page to AI agents, usually when their request carries the header Accept: text/markdown. It strips menus, scripts and styling so an agent spends fewer tokens per page. Google Search does not need or use it.

Two large infrastructure providers made it easy in February 2026\. Cloudflare converts HTML to Markdown at the edge for sites that switch the feature on, adding a header that reports the token count. Vercel published a content-negotiation pattern and showed one page shrinking from about 500 KB of HTML to 3 KB of Markdown.

Keep expectations modest. It is aimed at coding assistants and other agents that read pages directly, but Google says you don’t need Markdown or AI text files to appear in Google Search, and there is little public evidence that it changes citations in other AI tools. If you offer it, keep the Markdown identical in substance to the HTML page and treat it as a companion to [llms.txt](https://www.simeonsolutions.com/glossary/llms-txt), not a ranking tactic.

Sources: [Cloudflare — Introducing Markdown for Agents](https://developers.cloudflare.com/changelog/2026-02-12-markdown-for-agents) · [Vercel — Making agent-friendly pages with content negotiation](https://vercel.com/blog/making-agent-friendly-pages-with-content-negotiation) · [Google Search Central — Google's Guide to Optimizing for Generative AI Features on Google Search](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/ai-optimization-guide)

Local 

## NAP consistency · NAP · name, address, phone

NAP consistency means your business name, address and phone number are written the same way everywhere they appear: your Google Business Profile, website, social profiles and directories. It stops customers reaching old numbers or addresses, and makes your listings easier for search engines and AI tools to match.

Google’s own rule is the starting point: your profile name should reflect your real-world name “as used consistently on your storefront, website, stationery, and as known to customers”, and adding unnecessary information to it can get the profile suspended. Google doesn’t publish NAP consistency as a ranking factor in itself; the benefit is fewer conflicting records about you.

Practical checks:

- one spelling of the name and one address format, matching your signboard;
- the same main phone number, with +91, on your website and every profile;
- change everything in the same week when you move.

A Kochi clinic moving from MG Road to Kakkanad should update its [Business Profile](https://www.simeonsolutions.com/glossary/google-business-profile), website footer and directory listings such as Justdial or Practo together, then check them again a month later.

Sources: [Google Business Profile Help — Guidelines for representing your business on Google](https://support.google.com/business/answer/3038177)

AI search 

## Passage retrieval · passage ranking · passage indexing · chunk retrieval

Passage retrieval is how search engines and AI assistants find and score individual sections of a page rather than only the page as a whole. The best-matching passage can be ranked, shown or quoted in an AI answer even when the rest of the page covers a broader subject.

Google lists a passage ranking system among its ranking systems: it identifies individual sections of a page to judge how relevant the page is to a search. AI answers take the idea further, typically retrieving passages for each sub-question in a [query fan-out](https://www.simeonsolutions.com/glossary/query-fan-out) and writing the answer from the strongest ones.

You don’t need to chop pages into fragments. Google says there’s no requirement to break content into tiny pieces, and that its systems can pick out the relevant part of a page that covers several topics. What helps is ordinary clarity: descriptive headings, and a first sentence under each one that answers on its own and names the thing instead of saying “it”. A Kochi clinic’s page on knee replacement written that way gives separate, quotable answers on recovery time and on cost.

Sources: [Google Search Central — A guide to Google Search ranking systems](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/ranking-systems-guide) · [Google Search Central — Google's Guide to Optimizing for Generative AI Features on Google Search](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/ai-optimization-guide)

SEO 

## Preferred sources (Google) · preferred source · source preferences

Preferred sources is a Google Search setting that lets a user choose websites they want to see more often. Chosen sites appear more in Top Stories with a 'preferred' badge and, since May 2026, can also be highlighted with that badge in AI Mode and AI Overviews for that user.

For a site owner, the useful part is the deeplink Google documents: `https://www.google.com/preferences/source?q=` followed by your site’s URL opens the preference screen with your site filled in, so you can put it behind a button in articles, emails or newsletters.

The feature launched in the US and India in August 2025 and now covers Top Stories in every language where Google Search is available. Only whole domains and subdomains are eligible, not sub-folders such as /blog. To show as preferred in AI Mode and AI Overviews, your site must also be included in Search generative AI features in Search Console.

It helps with readers who already value you. It is not a substitute for earning visibility with everyone else.

Sources: [Google Search Central — Help your readers find your site through preferred sources in Google Search](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/preferred-sources) · [Google — How to select your preferred sources in Top Stories in Search](https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/products/search/preferred-sources/)

SEO 

## Programmatic SEO · pSEO · template pages · pages at scale

Programmatic SEO is creating many pages from a template and a database, such as one page per product, location or comparison, to meet search demand at scale. It is legitimate when every page carries unique, useful information, and becomes spam when pages differ only by a swapped keyword.

Google’s spam policies don’t ban templates; they target scale without value. [Scaled content abuse](https://www.simeonsolutions.com/glossary#scaled-content-abuse) covers many pages made “for the primary purpose of manipulating search rankings and not helping users”, and doorway abuse covers near-identical city or region pages that funnel visitors to one place. The August 2026 spam update hit heavily programmatic sites, and Google’s John Mueller has said that when its systems are seriously worried about a site’s quality, they index fewer of its pages.

To stay on the right side:

- build each page on real data a visitor needs: stock, specifications, prices or local reviews;
- publish only combinations with genuine demand and something distinct to say;
- have a person review samples from every template, and remove or noindex thin pages.

A Surat textile exporter’s page per fabric with real weights, minimum order quantities and swatch photos is programmatic SEO done well; a page per city with only the name swapped is not.

Sources: [Google Search Central — Spam policies for Google web search](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/essentials/spam-policies) · [GSQI — Google's August 2026 Spam Update – Scaled Content Abuse, AI Content, Programmatic Content, Thin Affiliates, And More \[Case Studies\]](https://www.gsqi.com/marketing-blog/august-2026-google-spam-update-case-studies/) · [Search Engine Roundtable — Google: Discovered vs Crawled Not Indexed Quality Issues & AI-Generated Content](https://www.seroundtable.com/google-crawled-not-indexed-quality-ai-content-41701.html)

AI search 

## [Query fan-out](https://www.simeonsolutions.com/glossary/query-fan-out) · fan-out queries · sub-queries

Query fan-out is the technique AI search systems such as Google's AI Mode and AI Overviews use to split one question into many related sub-queries, run them at the same time and combine the results into one answer. A page can be cited for a sub-question it answers well without ranking for the original query.

[Full guide →](https://www.simeonsolutions.com/glossary/query-fan-out) 

Local 

## Review management · online review management · Google review management

Review management is the ongoing work of asking genuine customers for reviews, monitoring what they post, replying, and reporting fake or policy-breaking reviews, mainly on Google but also on platforms such as Justdial, Zomato or Practo. Done honestly, it builds trust with the people reading them.

Google says more reviews and positive ratings can help your local ranking, and that replying shows customers you value their feedback. In BrightLocal’s 2026 survey of US consumers, 81% expected a reply within a week.

The rules are strict. Google’s policy bans paid reviews and any incentive, such as a discount or freebie, for posting a review or removing a negative one. Businesses must not pressure customers to review while on the premises or ask for specific content. In practice:

- ask every customer the same way, using the review link in your Business Profile;
- check for new reviews every few days, and reply to good and bad ones politely, without sharing personal details;
- flag reviews that look fake, such as a burst of one-star ratings from new accounts or complaints about services you don’t offer, instead of arguing in public.

Our guide to [removing fake Google reviews](https://www.simeonsolutions.com/blog/remove-fake-google-reviews-guide-2026) covers reporting step by step.

Sources: [Google Business Profile Help — Tips to improve your local ranking on Google](https://support.google.com/business/answer/7091) · [Google Maps user-contributed content policy — Prohibited & restricted content](https://support.google.com/contributionpolicy/answer/7400114) · [BrightLocal — Local Consumer Review Survey 2026](https://www.brightlocal.com/research/local-consumer-review-survey/)

Technical 

## robots.txt · robots exclusion protocol · REP

robots.txt is a plain-text file at the root of a website that tells crawlers which URLs they may fetch, using User-agent groups with Allow and Disallow rules. It controls crawling, not indexing, and it is a request that well-behaved bots follow, not a security measure.

A common trap: a group for a named bot replaces the `*` group instead of adding to it. If GPTBot has its own group, nothing under `User-agent: *` applies to it, so restate every Disallow line in each named group.

Three more things worth knowing:

- A blocked URL can still be indexed from links elsewhere and shown without a snippet. To keep a page out of Google, use `noindex` on a page Google is allowed to crawl, or a password.
- Google reads only `user-agent`, `allow`, `disallow` and `sitemap`, ignores other lines such as `crawl-delay`, and stops reading after 500 KiB.
- Google-Extended is a token, not a crawler. Disallowing it stops use of your content for Gemini training and grounding in Gemini apps, but it does not affect Google Search, including AI Overviews.

Some [AI agents that fetch pages for a user](https://www.simeonsolutions.com/glossary#ai-crawler) may not follow robots.txt at all.

Sources: [Google Search Central — How Google interprets the robots.txt specification](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/robots/robots%5Ftxt) · [RFC 9309 — Robots Exclusion Protocol](https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc9309.html) · [Google Search Central — List of Google's common crawlers (Google-Extended)](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/google-common-crawlers)

SEO 

## Scaled content abuse · mass-produced content · scaled content · AI content spam

Scaled content abuse is Google's spam-policy term for generating many pages mainly to manipulate search rankings rather than help people, typically unoriginal content with little or no value. It applies no matter how the pages are made, whether by AI tools, cheap writing, scraping or templates.

Google introduced the policy in March 2024\. Its examples include using generative AI to create many pages without adding value, scraping or synonymising other people’s content, stitching pages together, and pages that make little sense to a reader but contain search keywords. Since May 2026 the same policies also cover attempts to manipulate generative AI responses in Google Search.

Enforcement is active: Glenn Gabe’s case studies of the August 2026 spam update describe programmatic and AI-generated sites losing large amounts of visibility. Using AI is not the violation in itself; volume without value is. To stay on the right side, publish only pages you would happily show a customer, with original information or first-hand experience, edited by a person who knows the subject, at a pace you can actually review. See also [doorway pages](https://www.simeonsolutions.com/glossary#doorway-pages).

Sources: [Google Search Central — Spam policies for Google web search](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/essentials/spam-policies) · [Google Search Central Blog — What web creators should know about our March 2024 core update and new spam policies](https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2024/03/core-update-spam-policies) · [GSQI — Google's August 2026 Spam Update – Scaled Content Abuse, AI Content, Programmatic Content, Thin Affiliates, And More \[Case Studies\]](https://www.gsqi.com/marketing-blog/august-2026-google-spam-update-case-studies/)

Measurement 

## Search Console AI features report · Generative AI performance report · AI performance report

The Search Console AI features report, officially the Generative AI performance report, shows how often links to your site appeared in Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode, with a separate view for AI features in Discover. It counts impressions only, not clicks, and has been available worldwide since 31 August 2026.

Clicks from AI Overviews and AI Mode are not separated out; they sit inside the normal Performance report under the Web search type. So use this report to see which pages Google draws on, and in which markets, then judge value from enquiries and sales.

You can break impressions down by page, country, date and device. Several links from your site in one AI answer count as a single impression in the chart total, and the newest data is preliminary.

The same rollout added a Search generative AI setting that lets a site opt out of these features. Opting out removes the impressions and traffic they bring, but does not affect regular rankings. For a wider view across engines, see [AI visibility tracking](https://www.simeonsolutions.com/glossary/ai-visibility-tracking).

Sources: [Search Console Help — Generative AI performance report (Search)](https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/16984139) · [Search Engine Journal — Google Search Console AI Reports Rolled Out Worldwide](https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-search-console-ai-reports-rolled-out-worldwide/587836/) · [Google Search Central — AI features and your website](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/ai-features)

Technical 

## [Structured data (schema markup)](https://www.simeonsolutions.com/glossary/structured-data) · schema markup · JSON-LD · Schema.org markup

Structured data is machine-readable code, usually JSON-LD using the Schema.org vocabulary, that states what a page describes — a business, product, article or event — so search engines need not guess. It can make pages eligible for rich results, but guarantees nothing, and Google doesn't require it for AI features.

[Full guide →](https://www.simeonsolutions.com/glossary/structured-data) 

Content 

## Topical authority · topic authority · topical depth · topic clusters

Topical authority is the idea that a site known for covering one subject in depth, with real expertise, is more likely to be trusted and surfaced for questions on that subject. Google has described a topic authority system for news; for other sites it is an SEO concept, not a named ranking system.

Google’s news system, announced in 2023, looks at how notable a source is for a topic or location, its original reporting and its reputation, such as a local paper reporting on its own area. For a business site, the practical version is to cover your own field thoroughly and stay in it:

- map the questions customers ask before and after buying, and answer each one well;
- link related pages so the subject hangs together;
- show first-hand experience through cases, photos and named authors.

Google’s self-assessment asks whether you are “producing lots of content on many different topics in hopes that some of it might perform well in search results”; that is the opposite. A Kochi physiotherapy clinic writing about knee, back and sports rehabilitation is building authority; adding unrelated travel tips dilutes it. See [E-E-A-T](https://www.simeonsolutions.com/glossary/e-e-a-t).

Sources: [Google Search Central Blog — Understanding news topic authority](https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2023/05/understanding-news-topic-authority) · [Google Search Central — Creating helpful, reliable, people-first content](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/creating-helpful-content)

Technical 

## WebMCP · Web MCP

WebMCP is a proposed open web standard that lets a page offer structured tools, such as a booking form or a quote calculator, directly to AI agents in the browser, so an agent calls a defined action instead of guessing which buttons to press. Chrome is testing it in an origin trial.

Chrome opened an origin trial for it from Chrome 149\. There are two ways in: add `toolname` and `tooldescription` attributes to an existing HTML form (the declarative API), or register tools in JavaScript with `document.modelContext.registerTool()` (the imperative API).

Google said at I/O in May 2026 that Gemini in Chrome will “soon” support WebMCP. Until agents use it widely, and while the API can still change, treat it as an experiment:

- start with a form that already works well for people;
- write plain, accurate tool descriptions;
- keep a human confirmation step for anything that books, pays or sends data.

Good HTML still matters more today; see [agentic browsing](https://www.simeonsolutions.com/glossary#agentic-browsing).

Sources: [Chrome for Developers — WebMCP](https://developer.chrome.com/docs/ai/webmcp) · [Chrome for Developers — 15 updates from Google I/O 2026: Powering the agentic web with new capabilities, tools, and features in Chrome](https://developer.chrome.com/blog/chrome-at-io26) · [InfoQ — WebMCP Standard Proposal for Agentic Web Actuation Now Available in Chrome (Origin Trials)](https://www.infoq.com/news/2026/06/webmcp-web-agent-standard-chrome/)

Technical 

## XML sitemap & lastmod · sitemap.xml · lastmod

An XML sitemap is a file listing the URLs you want search engines to crawl, each optionally with a lastmod date showing when the page last changed meaningfully. It helps discovery on new, large or poorly linked sites, and Google uses lastmod only when it is consistently and verifiably accurate.

A common mistake is a lastmod that changes on every build or every day. Google trusts it only when it matches real, significant updates to the main content, structured data or links; a new copyright year doesn’t count. Google ignores `<priority>` and `<changefreq>` entirely.

Other basics:

- list only canonical, indexable URLs that return a 200 status;
- keep each file to 50,000 URLs or 50 MB uncompressed, and use a sitemap index beyond that;
- submit it in Search Console and reference it in robots.txt.

A sitemap invites crawling; it does not guarantee indexing. Bing and several other search engines can also be told about changes straight away through [IndexNow](https://www.simeonsolutions.com/glossary/indexnow).

Sources: [Google Search Central — Build and submit a sitemap](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/sitemaps/build-sitemap)

SEO 

## [Zero-click search](https://www.simeonsolutions.com/glossary/zero-click-search) · no-click search · zero-click results

A zero-click search ends without the searcher clicking any result, because the results page answers the question itself — in an AI Overview, featured snippet, knowledge panel or local pack. In the US, 68% of Google searches in early 2026 ended this way, so being the source shown matters as much as the click.

[Full guide →](https://www.simeonsolutions.com/glossary/zero-click-search) 

Put it to work

## See how AI engines read _your_ site

Our free checker tests crawler access, JavaScript-free content, structured data and answer-readiness in about ten seconds.

[Run the free check →](https://www.simeonsolutions.com/tools/ai-visibility-checker) [AEO & GEO services →](https://www.simeonsolutions.com/aeo)