Educational guide
Quick decision table
| Term | Best used for | Do not assume |
|---|---|---|
| SEO | Discovery and presentation in search systems | That established SEO becomes irrelevant in AI features |
| AEO | Answer-shaped content and direct responses | That FAQ formatting guarantees selection |
| GEO | Research and practice around generative-answer visibility | That every platform uses one GEO scoring system |
| LLMO | A working label for visibility in LLM-mediated experiences | That a site can directly optimize model internals |
| AI SEO | A broad plain-language umbrella | That the label defines one accepted methodology |
| AAIO | Access and task-readiness for software agents | That it means agentic application development |
| RAG | A retrieval-plus-generation architecture | That it is a marketing discipline |
| NLP | The technical field of language processing | That it is an optimization tactic |
| CTR | A measured click rate | That it explains uncited answer exposure |
1. SEO — Search Engine Optimization
SEO is the established practice of helping search systems crawl, index, understand and present useful pages. Google's current guidance says the same foundational SEO practices remain relevant to its AI features and that no special additional optimization is required. Eligibility still does not guarantee crawling, indexing or serving. See AI features and your website.2. AEO — Answer Engine Optimization
AEO is an industry label for making direct answers easy to find and understand. Concise definitions, descriptive headings and supported claims can help readers and retrieval systems, but there is no universal AEO standard and answer-shaped formatting does not guarantee selection.3. GEO — Generative Engine Optimization
GEO is used in research and marketing to discuss visibility in generative answers. Treat it as a field of experimentation: define the platform, prompt set, collection date, sources and outcome being measured. Do not present GEO as one platform-owned score or a replacement for technical SEO and reliable content.4. LLMO — Large Language Model Optimization
LLMO is a working label for improving how content is represented in experiences mediated by large language models. A website owner can improve public facts, source quality, crawlability and measurement. The owner cannot directly tune a third-party model's internal weights or guarantee that the model will cite a page.5. AIO — an ambiguous acronym
AIO can mean AI optimization, artificial intelligence optimization or a vendor-specific concept. Spell it out on first use and define the job. If the job is measuring mentions and citations, say that. If the job is optimizing an AI application, describe the model, evaluation and production constraint instead.6. AI SEO — a broad descriptive umbrella
AI SEO is a convenient umbrella for search work affected by AI-generated features and answer systems. It is useful in plain language, but it should not hide the actual activity: technical access, content quality, source development, answer monitoring or conversion measurement.7. AAIO — Agentic AI Optimization
AAIO is a working label for making content and permitted interfaces usable by software agents. It concerns access, canonical identity, clear facts, documented tools and safe permissions. It is distinct from commissioning an agentic application, which is a product-development engagement.8. RAG — Retrieval-Augmented Generation
RAG is a system architecture in which a generation step uses retrieved material as context. For content teams, the relevant questions are whether the correct document can be retrieved, whether the source is current and whether the answer preserves its meaning. RAG itself is not a ranking guarantee or a content category.9. NLP — Natural Language Processing
NLP is the technical field concerned with computational processing of language. It includes many tasks and methods; it is not a synonym for AI SEO. Use the term when discussing language-processing systems, not as a vague claim that prose has been optimized for an algorithm.10. CTR — Click-Through Rate
CTR is clicks divided by impressions under a defined reporting system. It remains useful where both values are measured, such as Search Console. It does not measure an uncited answer mention, sentiment, factual accuracy or whether a model used a source internally. Pair it with the metric that matches the decision.How to choose the right term
Start with the system and decision, not the acronym. Name the platform, the surface being measured, the evidence source and the intended outcome. If two labels describe the same work, use the term your audience understands and define it once. No acronym creates certainty that a page will be crawled, cited, ranked or recommended.Interpretation note
AI and search behavior changes over time. Guidance does not promise discovery, ranking, citations, traffic or commercial outcomes; confirm platform-specific details against primary documentation.