The AI-era marketing glossary
Every term on this page is defined in two to three quotable sentences — the first sentence always stands alone as a complete answer. That's deliberate: it's how we write for featured snippets, AI Overviews and assistants like ChatGPT, and it's how you should too. 24 terms across search, local, AI search and performance.
Search fundamentals
The core concepts behind how pages get crawled, ranked and clicked on Google.
SEO
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the practice of improving a website's content, structure and authority so it ranks higher in organic search results. Higher rankings bring more unpaid traffic from people actively searching for what you offer. Modern SEO also feeds AI search, since assistants pull their answers from well-optimized pages.
SERP
A SERP (Search Engine Results Page) is the page a search engine displays after a user enters a query. Modern SERPs mix traditional links with ads, AI Overviews, featured snippets, maps and People Also Ask boxes. Winning a SERP now means earning visibility across these features, not just ranking first.
Featured Snippet
A featured snippet is a highlighted answer box at the top of Google's results that quotes a passage directly from a ranking page. It answers the query instantly, often earning the click ahead of the number-one organic result. Pages win snippets by answering a question concisely, in roughly 40–60 words, directly under a matching heading.
People Also Ask
People Also Ask (PAA) is the expandable box of related questions Google shows inside its search results. Each question opens a short answer pulled from a web page, with a link to the source. Structuring content as clear question-and-answer pairs is the most reliable way to appear there.
Backlink
A backlink is a link from one website to another, which search engines treat as a vote of confidence in the linked page. Links from relevant, authoritative sites raise rankings far more than links from weak or spammy ones. Earning quality backlinks remains one of the strongest signals in SEO.
Technical SEO
Technical SEO is the optimization of a website's infrastructure — crawlability, indexing, site speed, mobile rendering and structured data — so search engines can find, understand and rank its content. Even excellent content underperforms if crawlers cannot access or interpret it efficiently.
Core Web Vitals
Core Web Vitals are Google's three user-experience metrics: Largest Contentful Paint (loading), Interaction to Next Paint (responsiveness) and Cumulative Layout Shift (visual stability). They measure how fast and stable a page feels to real users, and they are a confirmed factor in Google rankings.
Structured Data (Schema Markup)
Structured data, or schema markup, is machine-readable code — usually JSON-LD — added to a page to tell search engines exactly what its content means: a business, product, FAQ, article or review. It makes pages eligible for rich results and helps AI systems interpret and cite content accurately.
Topical Authority
Topical authority is the credibility a website earns by covering one subject completely and expertly across many interlinked pages. Search engines and AI models prefer sources that demonstrate depth on a topic over sites with a single thin page. Building it means publishing connected content clusters, not isolated posts.
Local search
The terms that decide which businesses show up when people search nearby.
Local SEO
Local SEO is the practice of optimizing a business's online presence to rank for location-based searches such as “dentist near me” or “marketing agency in Ahmedabad”. It centres on the Google Business Profile, local citations, reviews and location pages. For businesses serving a physical area, it is usually the fastest route to qualified leads.
Google Business Profile
Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) is Google's free listing that controls how a business appears in Maps and local search results. It holds the business's name, address, hours, photos, posts and reviews. An optimized, active profile is the single biggest factor in local map-pack rankings.
Map Pack (Local 3-Pack)
The Map Pack, or Local 3-Pack, is the block of three local business listings shown with a map at the top of Google's results for searches with local intent. It sits above the regular organic links and captures a large share of local clicks and calls. Ranking in it depends on proximity, relevance and prominence.
NAP Consistency
NAP consistency means a business's Name, Address and Phone number are written identically everywhere they appear online — website, Google Business Profile, directories and social profiles. Matching details help search engines and AI assistants trust the data. Conflicting listings dilute local rankings and confuse potential customers.
Local Citation
A local citation is any online mention of a business's name, address and phone number, such as a listing on Justdial, Yelp or an industry directory. Citations verify that a business is real and located where it claims to be. Consistent citations across trusted sites strengthen local search rankings.
AI search & GEO
How brands get chosen, quoted and cited by AI Overviews and assistants like ChatGPT.
AEO (Answer Engine Optimization)
AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) is the practice of structuring content so it is selected as the direct answer in featured snippets, People Also Ask boxes, AI Overviews and voice search. It relies on answer-first writing, question-based headings and FAQ structured data. AEO wins visibility even when users never click a link.
GEO (Generative Engine Optimization)
GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) is the practice of optimizing content so AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini cite your brand in their generated answers. It focuses on quotable statements, entity consistency, structured data and the authority signals AI models trust. GEO is to AI chat what SEO is to Google.
AI Overview
An AI Overview is the AI-generated summary Google shows above traditional results for many queries, assembled from multiple web sources with citation links. It often satisfies the searcher on the spot, so being cited inside it matters as much as ranking below it.
AI Citation
An AI citation is a mention or source link a brand earns inside an answer generated by an AI system such as ChatGPT, Perplexity or Google's AI Overviews. Citations are the new click: they put a brand in front of users who may never visit a results page. They are the primary success metric of GEO.
Entity
In search, an entity is a distinct, well-defined thing — a person, brand, place or concept — that search engines and AI models recognize independently of exact keywords. Google and large language models store facts about entities in knowledge graphs. Consistent names, descriptions and structured data across the web make an entity easier to understand and cite.
E-E-A-T
E-E-A-T stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness — the framework Google's quality guidelines use to judge whether content deserves to rank. It rewards content from identifiable authors with first-hand experience and credible reputations. Strong E-E-A-T signals also make a source more likely to be cited by AI systems.
llms.txt
llms.txt is a proposed plain-text file placed at a website's root that gives AI language models a curated, markdown-formatted guide to the site's most important content. It works like a robots.txt for the AI era, helping assistants find and represent your pages accurately when generating answers.
Performance & measurement
The metrics that separate marketing spend from marketing profit.
PPC
PPC (pay-per-click) is a digital advertising model in which advertisers pay only when someone clicks their ad, most commonly on Google Ads and Meta platforms. It delivers immediate, targeted traffic while organic channels build momentum. Profitability depends on tight targeting, relevant landing pages and continuous bid optimization.
ROAS
ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) is the revenue generated for every unit of money spent on advertising, calculated as revenue divided by ad spend. A ROAS of 5 means every ₹1 spent on ads returned ₹5 in revenue. It is the core profitability metric for paid campaigns.
Cost Per Lead (CPL)
Cost per lead (CPL) is the average marketing spend required to acquire one lead, calculated by dividing total campaign cost by the number of leads generated. It shows what filling the top of your funnel actually costs. Comparing CPL against what a customer is worth tells you whether a channel deserves more budget.
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