SEO, AEO and GEO terms in plain language

The work of making your website easy for Google to find, read and trust, so it shows up when people search for what you sell.

Writing and structuring your content so a search tool can lift a short, direct answer from it, such as the answer box above the results.

Making your company easy for AI tools to understand and recommend when someone asks them who to buy from.

How often AI tools such as ChatGPT or Gemini mention your company when a buyer asks about your kind of product or service.

When an AI tool names your company or links to your page as a source for its answer.

The short AI-written summary Google can show at the top of some search results, with links to the pages it used.

A Google search experience where you ask a question and get an AI-written answer you can follow up on, instead of a plain list of links.

The question or request a person types into an AI tool, for example "Who is a good commercial roofing contractor near me?"

Out of a set of buyer questions, the share of AI answers that name or link to your company.

The set of facts that identify your company, such as its name, location, products and certifications. AI tools trust a company more when these facts match everywhere they appear.

Extra code on a page that labels its facts, such as "this is a product" or "this is the phone number", so search tools read it correctly.

Facts written in a fixed, machine-readable format. Schema markup is the most common kind on websites.

Fixing the behind-the-scenes parts of a site that decide whether Google can find and read it, such as speed, page setup and broken links.

How the pages of a website are organized and linked together, so visitors and search tools can find each page.

Google's measures of how fast a page loads, how soon it responds to a tap, and whether it jumps around while loading.

When a search tool visits your pages and reads them. A page that cannot be crawled cannot be listed.

A link to your website from another website. Links from trusted sites are one signal that your site can be trusted.

Work done away from your own site, such as earning links and mentions from other trusted websites.

A page that lists the technical details of a product, such as materials, sizes, finishes and tolerances, in text a buyer or a search tool can read.

A buyer's request asking a supplier for a price on specific parts or work. For many manufacturers it is the main way a sale starts.

Selling through distributors, dealers or resellers instead of only direct to the buyer.

A company that cuts, bends, welds or assembles metal or other materials into finished parts or structures.

The free listing that shows your company on Google Search and Maps, with your address, hours and reviews.