Glossary
AI visibility glossary: the terms in plain English
People who sell AI visibility services (including us) use a lot of jargon. Here is what the common terms mean, in plain English, so you can follow the conversation and ask sensible questions.
By Word of Chat · Published 27 October 2026
The terms, A to Z-ish
- AI assistant
- A chat tool such as ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini, Microsoft Copilot or Perplexity that answers questions in written sentences instead of a list of links.
- AI visibility
- How often, and how accurately, AI assistants mention your business when people ask for a recommendation in your trade and area.
- LLM (large language model)
- The technology behind AI assistants: a model trained on a huge amount of text that predicts sensible-sounding answers. It does not "know" your business unless it has read about it or searches for it.
- Training data and cut-off
- The text a model learned from, and the date that learning stopped. Anything that happened after the cut-off is unknown to the model unless it searches the web.
- Web search (or grounding)
- When an assistant looks things up online before answering, then summarises what it found. Answers based on a search can include newer information.
- GEO (generative engine optimisation)
- Work aimed at helping AI assistants find and describe a business accurately. Largely the same idea as AI visibility work.
- AEO (answer engine optimisation)
- Another name for much the same thing, from the idea that assistants are "answer engines".
- SEO (search engine optimisation)
- Work aimed at ranking in ordinary search results. It overlaps heavily with AI visibility work.
- AI crawler
- A program an AI company uses to read web pages, for training or for live search. Your robots.txt file can allow or block it.
- robots.txt
- A short text file on your website that tells crawlers which pages they may read.
- Google Business Profile
- Your free business listing on Google Search and Maps. Often the single most important listing for a local business.
- NAP consistency
- Having your Name, Address (or area) and Phone number the same everywhere you are listed, so people and machines can tell it is all the same business.
- Citation (local)
- Any mention of your business details on another website, such as a directory or local news site.
- Structured data (schema)
- Hidden labels in your website’s code that say clearly "this is our phone number", "these are our opening hours" and so on.
- Hallucination
- When an AI assistant states something false with confidence, such as a wrong phone number or a service you do not offer.
- Share of answers
- Out of a set of questions asked several times, how often your business was named. A useful way to track change; never a promise.
Words to be wary of
Be cautious of anyone who promises "guaranteed placement", "page one of ChatGPT" or a "partnership" with an AI company. There is no paid placement inside AI answers, and nobody outside those companies controls them.
Want to know where you stand?
Our free check asks ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini the kind of questions your customers ask and emails you, in plain English, whether you were named and who was named instead. Four tiny steps; your details come last.
Step 1 of 4: Your trade
If you want more, every service has a fixed price.
Questions
Is GEO different from what Word of Chat does?
It is a different name for much the same work. We just prefer plain English: we check whether AI assistants name you, fix what is likely holding you back, and measure again.
Do I need to understand all this?
No. Knowing a few terms helps you ask good questions. The basics you can act on are in our checklist and guides.
Where can I see what AI says about me?
Our free check asks ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini customer-style questions about businesses like yours and emails you the results.