# GEO & AEO glossary

Plain-English definitions of the vocabulary around getting cited by AI: GEO, AEO, AI citations, AI visibility, Google AI Overview, MCP and more. Each term is written to be quotable.

1. **[Generative engine optimization (GEO)](/content/glossary/generative-engine-optimization/index.html)**: Generative engine optimization (GEO) is the practice of getting a brand cited in the answers AI engines provide.
2. **[Answer engine optimization (AEO)](/content/glossary/answer-engine-optimization/index.html)**: Answer engine optimization (AEO) is optimizing content to be surfaced and cited by answer engines.
3. **[AI visibility](/content/glossary/ai-visibility/index.html)**: AI visibility is how often and how prominently a brand appears, is mentioned, or is cited across AI platforms.
4. **[AI citations](/content/glossary/ai-citations/index.html)**: An AI citation is a source (URL or domain) an AI engine references to support an answer.
5. **[AI citation API](/content/glossary/ai-citation-api/index.html)**: An AI citation API returns, programmatically, the sources AI engines cite for a given query.
6. **[Google AI Overview](/content/glossary/ai-overview/index.html)**: Google AI Overview (formerly SGE) is the AI-generated summary shown at the top of Google results.
7. **[Model Context Protocol (MCP)](/content/glossary/mcp/index.html)**: The Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open standard that lets AI agents connect to external tools.
8. **[AI share of voice](/content/glossary/ai-share-of-voice/index.html)**: AI share of voice is your brand's proportion of mentions or citations across AI answers for a set of queries.
9. **[Hotspot source](/content/glossary/hotspot-source/index.html)**: A hotspot source is a page or domain cited by multiple AI engines for the same query.
10. **[AI search](/content/glossary/ai-search/index.html)**: AI search is search powered by large language models that returns a synthesized answer with citations.
11. **[LLM SEO](/content/glossary/llm-seo/index.html)**: LLM SEO is an informal synonym for GEO/AEO: optimizing to be cited by large language models.