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LLM-SEO Glossary

🎯 Quick Summary​

  • Complete terminology reference for LLM optimization and AI search
  • Covers technical terms, metrics, platforms, and optimization concepts
  • Alphabetically organized for easy lookup
  • Links to detailed guides for complex topics

🏷️ Metadata​

Tags: glossary, reference, terminology, definitions Status: %%ACTIVE%% Complexity: %%SIMPLE%% Max Lines: 450 (this file: 435 lines) Reading Time: Reference (lookup as needed) Last Updated: 2025-01-18

A​

AEO (Answer Engine Optimization)​

The practice of structuring content to directly answer user questions, optimizing for AI systems to extract and cite information easily. → Details

AI Share of Voice (ASoV)​

Metric measuring your brand's relative visibility in AI-generated answers compared to competitors. Calculated as (Your Citations / Total Category Citations) × 100%. → Guide

Answer Equity​

Composite metric combining citation quantity, position, platform coverage, and sentiment to measure overall AI visibility quality. → Explanation

Anthropic​

Company behind Claude AI assistant. → Platform Guide

C​

Citation​

When an AI system mentions or references your brand, website, or content as a source in its generated answer.

Citation Position​

Where your citation appears in AI answer: primary source (first/main), secondary source, or footnote mention. → Metrics

Citation Rate​

Percentage of relevant queries where AI systems cite your content. Formula: (Citations / Total Queries) × 100%. → Deep Dive

Claude​

Large language model developed by Anthropic, known for longer context windows and nuanced responses. → Platform Guide

Common Crawl​

Massive public web archive used to train foundation models. Getting indexed here increases chances of being in training data. → Details

Content Governance​

Strategic control of how AI systems access and use your content via robots.txt, meta tags, and legal frameworks. → Guide

E​

E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness)​

Google quality framework now critical for AI citation. Signals expertise through author credentials, experience, and trust indicators. → Implementation Guide

F​

Foundation Model​

Base AI model trained on massive datasets (e.g., GPT-4, Claude, Gemini) before fine-tuning. → Training Details

Foundation Model Training​

Process of training AI models on web content, typically using Common Crawl and proprietary datasets. Content in training data has persistent visibility. → Guide

G​

Gemini​

Google's large language model family, integrated into Google Search and services. → Platform Guide

GPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer)​

Architecture behind ChatGPT and other LLMs. GPT-4 is latest major version (2024-2025).

GPTBot​

OpenAI's web crawler used to gather training data for GPT models. Can be controlled via robots.txt. → Crawler Management

K​

Knowledge Cutoff​

Date beyond which foundation model has no training data. E.g., "GPT-4 knowledge cutoff: April 2023."

L​

Large Language Model (LLM)​

AI model trained on massive text datasets to understand and generate human-like text (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, etc.).

LLM Optimization (LLMO)​

Practice of optimizing content for visibility and citation in AI-powered search systems. → Complete Guide

LLM-SEO​

Synonym for LLMO. Search engine optimization specifically for large language models.

P​

Perplexity AI​

AI-powered search engine heavily using RAG to provide real-time, cited answers. → Platform Guide

Platform Coverage​

Metric measuring how many different LLM platforms cite your content (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity). → Metrics

Prompt Engineering​

Art of crafting effective prompts to get desired outputs from LLMs. Less relevant for LLMO (you can't control user prompts).

R​

RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation)​

AI technique combining real-time web search with language generation to provide current, cited answers. Critical for LLMO. → Deep Dive

Retrieval Chain​

Multi-step RAG process: query → search → retrieve → rank → augment → generate. → Technical Details

robots.txt​

File controlling which web crawlers can access your site. Can allow/block AI training bots. → Setup Guide

S​

Schema Markup​

Structured data (JSON-LD, Microdata) helping AI systems understand content meaning. FAQ, Article, HowTo schemas particularly valuable for LLMO. → Implementation

Semantic Structure​

Organizing content with clear meaning and relationships, making it easier for AI to extract information. → Best Practices

Sentiment (Citation)​

Tone of citation: positive (recommended), neutral (mentioned), or negative (criticized). Tracked in UnrealSEO analytics.

T​

Training Data​

Text corpus used to train foundation models. Includes Common Crawl, books, code, and proprietary datasets.

Z​

Search experience where user gets answer directly without clicking through to sources. Dominant in AI search. → Concept Guide

Acronyms Quick Reference​

AcronymFull TermMeaning
AEOAnswer Engine OptimizationOptimizing for direct answers
AIArtificial IntelligenceMachine intelligence
ASoVAI Share of VoiceCompetitive citation metric
CTRClick-Through Rate% of impressions clicked (traditional SEO)
E-E-A-TExperience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, TrustworthinessQuality signals
LLMLarge Language ModelAI model like ChatGPT
LLMOLLM OptimizationSEO for AI systems
RAGRetrieval-Augmented GenerationReal-time web search + AI
SERPSearch Engine Results PageGoogle search results

Platform & Company Names​

NameTypeDescription
AnthropicCompanyMaker of Claude
ChatGPTProductOpenAI's AI assistant
ClaudeProductAnthropic's AI assistant
GeminiProductGoogle's LLM (formerly Bard)
GoogleCompanySearch engine + Gemini
MicrosoftCompanyMaker of Copilot (uses OpenAI)
OpenAICompanyMaker of ChatGPT, GPT-4
PerplexityCompany/ProductAI-powered search

Common Queries​

"What's the difference between SEO and LLMO?" → Traditional SEO vs LLM-SEO Guide

"How is citation rate calculated?" → Citation Rate Metrics

"What is RAG?" → RAG Systems Overview

"How do I improve my citation rate?" → Content Optimization Guide

"What are E-E-A-T signals?" → E-E-A-T Implementation

📚 Related Resources​

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Last updated: 2025-01-18 | Edit this page | Suggest term

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