SEO & AI Glossary

A controlled experiment where two versions of a page, email, or ad are shown to different audience segments to determine which performs better.

An autonomous AI system that uses a language model to plan and execute multi-step tasks — calling tools, APIs, and other models — to achieve a goal without step-by-step human direction.

Systematic errors in AI outputs that result from biased training data or flawed model design, producing unfair or skewed results.

Tools and methods that attempt to identify whether content was generated by AI language models versus written by humans — with significant accuracy limitations.

The information a language model has access to when generating a response — the prompt, attached files, retrieved documents, conversation history, and system instructions.

A web crawler operated by an AI company to gather content for training datasets, real-time retrieval, or both.

When an AI model produces text that sounds confident but is factually wrong, made up, or inconsistent with the source material. Also called LLM hallucination or model hallucination.

Google's AI-generated summary that appears at the top of search results, synthesising information from multiple sources.

Search experiences powered by large language models that generate conversational answers, synthesise information from multiple sources, and reduce reliance on traditional blue-link SERPs.

A composite metric used by AI visibility platforms to summarize a brand's presence across AI engines — typically combining citation rate, sentiment, and share of voice.

Low-effort, mass-produced AI-generated content with no original insight, human editing, or first-party evidence — readable but valueless.

The extent to which a brand's content is referenced, cited, or surfaced in AI-generated answers from tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity.

Content produced by AI language models, subject to Google's quality standards regardless of production method — quality and helpfulness determine ranking, not the tool used.

Interfaces designed around language model interaction as the primary input — distinct from traditional UI with AI features bolted on.

A Google-led open-source framework that creates stripped-down, fast-loading mobile web pages by restricting HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

The portion of a webpage visible without scrolling, originating from newspaper design where the most important content appeared on the top half of the front page.

The overlap between web accessibility standards (WCAG) and SEO best practices, where accessible sites are better understood by search engines.

An approach that treats accessibility not as a compliance checkbox added at the end but as a foundational design constraint shaping color, type, motion, structure, and interaction from the start.

A B2B marketing strategy that focuses resources on a specific set of high-value target accounts rather than broad audience outreach.

Additional information shown alongside Google Ads that expand the ad with sitelinks, callouts, location, phone numbers, prices, or structured snippets.

The decline in ad performance that occurs when the same audience sees the same creative too frequently, reducing engagement and CTR.

The practice of falsely representing online ad impressions, clicks, or conversions to collect advertising revenue, costing the industry billions annually.

A performance-based marketing model where affiliates promote a product and earn a commission for each sale or lead they generate.

The practice of creating content that ranks organically for product and review queries, monetised through affiliate commission links to advertisers.

The fee structures used by digital marketing agencies — including retainers, project fees, and performance-based models — and the factors that determine pricing strategy.

AI systems designed to act autonomously toward goals, using tools and multi-step reasoning rather than responding to single prompts.

A change to a search engine's ranking algorithm that alters how pages are evaluated and ordered in search results.

An automatic ranking demotion triggered by Google's algorithms when a site's signals fall below quality thresholds—without human reviewer involvement.

The alternative text attribute on an HTML image element that describes the image for search engines and assistive technologies.

The practice of optimising Amazon product listings to rank higher in Amazon's A9/A10 search algorithm and increase organic sales.

The visible, clickable text of a hyperlink that provides context about the linked page to both users and search engines.

The total predictable revenue a SaaS business expects to receive annually from active subscriptions — a core metric for measuring business scale and growth trajectory.

The practice of optimising content to appear in AI-generated answers from tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google's AI Overviews.

The process of improving an app's visibility in the Apple App Store and Google Play to increase downloads and conversion rate.

The simulation of human intelligence in machines programmed to think, learn, and solve problems autonomously.

A technique in neural networks that allows the model to focus on the most relevant parts of an input when generating output.

A framework that assigns credit for conversions to the different marketing touchpoints in a customer's journey.

The time period after an ad interaction within which a conversion is credited to that ad — typically ranging from 1 day to 90 days depending on the channel and purchase cycle.

A trending visual style that uses soft, multi-color radial or mesh gradients reminiscent of northern lights — popularized by Stripe and Linear circa 2020.

The long-term strategy of building a website's credibility and link equity through consistent content creation, digital PR, and topical depth — the foundation of sustained organic search performance.

Semrush's composite metric for estimating the overall quality and SEO power of a domain or webpage, combining backlink profile, organic traffic, and spam factors.

The mean ranking position of a page in search results for a given keyword, as reported in Google Search Console.