SEO & AI Glossary

The practice of formatting content to win the featured snippet—the answer box Google displays above organic results for certain queries.

An AI technique where a model learns a new task from a small number of examples provided in the prompt or training.

The process of continuing to train a pre-trained AI model on a specific dataset to specialise it for a particular task.

A web performance metric measuring the time from page navigation to when any content—text, image, or canvas—first renders on screen.

Data collected directly from your own audience—customers, subscribers, and website visitors—through owned channels and interactions.

A 2D visual style that strips out drop shadows, gradients, and textures in favor of solid colors, sharp edges, and clear typographic hierarchy.

The process of improving the design, copy, and UX of web forms to increase completion rates and reduce abandonment.

Indicators Google uses to assess how recently content was published or updated, used as a ranking factor for time-sensitive queries.

A design aesthetic from 2004-2013 characterized by glossy plastic surfaces, light-blue skies, glass effects, lens flares, and an optimistic vision of technology — now experiencing a nostalgic revival.

The process of measuring how users progress through defined steps toward a goal, identifying where the most sessions drop off.

An aesthetic borrowing from sci-fi film interfaces — angular HUD elements, glowing accents, holographic effects, scan lines — used for products that want to signal advanced technology.

General Data Protection Regulation — the EU's comprehensive data privacy law governing how personal data is collected, processed, and stored.

Generative Pre-trained Transformer — OpenAI's family of large language models that power ChatGPT and many AI marketing tools.

Content that requires users to submit contact information before gaining access, used to generate leads.

Google's family of multimodal large language models powering Google Search AI Overviews, Google Assistant, and the Gemini app.

AI systems that create original content—text, images, audio, or code—by learning patterns from training data.

The practice of optimising content and brand presence for inclusion and citation in generative AI-powered search engines like Perplexity and Google AI Overviews.

The practice of optimizing content to be retrieved, cited, and recommended by generative AI engines like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and Google AI Overviews.

Google's AI-powered search mode that generates synthesised answers above traditional organic results using AI Overviews.

A location-specific keyword added to a search query to indicate geographic intent — such as 'SEO agency London' or 'dentist near me'.