SEO, GEO & AEO Glossary
every essential 2026 definition

GEO relies on different signals than classic SEO: factual clarity of content, presence of structured data (schema.org), author authority (E-E-A-T), citability of answers to direct questions, and presence in external reference sources (Wikipedia, forums, trade press). A site well optimized for GEO is structured so an AI can extract a precise answer to a specific question from it. In 2026, with the massive adoption of LLMs for information search, GEO has become an essential pillar of any SEO strategy.

AEO is often considered a subset of GEO, or its precursor. Where GEO covers visibility across all generative engines, AEO focuses on capturing "position zero" in classic engines (featured snippets) and answer blocks in Google. To optimize AEO: structure content as questions/answers with a direct answer in 40-60 words at the start of a paragraph, use FAQPage and HowTo schema, and target questions with a precise informational intent. Voice search (Google Assistant, Siri, Alexa) also relies on the same AEO signals.

The GoMySeo GBP Heatmap uses an 11x11 grid (121 search points) around the business. For each point, the tool simulates a geolocated Google Maps search and retrieves the listing's real position. The result is a colored map: green for positions 1-3 (highly visible), orange for positions 4-10 (visible), red for positions 11 and beyond (barely visible). The KRS Score (Key Ranking Score) summarizes the 121 positions into a single score out of 100. The heatmap makes it possible to identify the parts of a city where a business is not visible and optimize its GBP listing accordingly.

The KRS Score is calculated from the 121 positions recorded on the GBP Heatmap's 11x11 grid. Each position gets a weight based on its rank: position 1 counts the maximum, position 11+ counts 0. The weighted average produces the KRS Score. A KRS Score of 80 or above indicates excellent local visibility. A score below 40 signals an insufficient presence in the targeted geographic area. The KRS Score lets you compare a business's performance over time, benchmark against local competitors, and measure the impact of optimizations made to the GBP listing.

E-E-A-T is especially critical for YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) sites: health, finance, law, safety. To strengthen E-E-A-T: clearly identify content authors with a bio and verifiable references, earn citations and backlinks from authoritative sites, display legal information, keep content regularly updated, and respond to reviews and comments. E-E-A-T is also an important signal for generative AI: content signed by an identifiable author and cited by other reference sources is more likely to be treated as a trustworthy source by ChatGPT or Perplexity.

SpamBrain continuously analyzes inbound links, page behavior in the index, and content-quality signals. A SpamBrain penalty can cause a sudden drop in organic traffic or partial deindexing of a site. The practices most often sanctioned by SpamBrain include: artificial link networks (PBNs), mass purchase of backlinks from low-quality sites, large-scale duplicate content, and keyword stuffing. GoMySeo's Google risk audit detects the signals that can draw SpamBrain's attention and proposes a remediation plan.

The HCU is a "site-wide" signal: if a significant share of a domain's content is judged unhelpful, the entire site can see its rankings drop, even for quality pages. Negative signals detected by HCU include: content mass-produced by AI with no editorial oversight, summaries of other sites' articles with no added value, pages targeting high-volume keywords with no real expertise on the topic. Conversely, HCU rewards: the author's direct experience with the topic, original reviews and first-hand accounts, and content that directly answers a precise search intent.

To implement FAQPage schema, each question/answer pair is wrapped in a JSON-LD object with the properties @type: "Question", name (the question) and acceptedAnswer (the answer). Google enforces constraints: the answer must not exceed 300 words, the content must be visible on the page (not only in the code), and the questions/answers must match between the HTML and the schema. Beyond its direct SEO impact (rich snippets), FAQPage schema is particularly important for GEO: generative AI reads structured data to identify high-factual-density content, and preferentially cites pages marked up with FAQ schema.

HowTo schema contains key properties: name (the tutorial's title), step (an array of steps, each with text and optionally an image), totalTime (estimated duration), tool and supply (required tools and materials). Pages with valid HowTo schema also rank very well in AI-engine answers, which look for procedural content to answer "How to..." questions asked by users.

Placed at the root of the site (gomyseo.com/llms.txt), the llms.txt file is a Markdown document readable by both humans and AI. It typically contains: a short overview of the site and its purpose, a list of key pages with their URLs and descriptions, and useful metadata (language, author, last-updated date). The llms.txt file does not replace robots.txt or sitemap.xml but complements them specifically for language models. It is a positive GEO signal that improves how generative AI understands the site.

Domain Trust is calculated by analyzing several signals: the quantity and quality of referring domains, the dofollow/nofollow ratio of inbound links, domain age, the absence of toxic links or past penalties, and the site's topical consistency. A Domain Trust of 50+ is considered good for a mid-sized site. A Domain Trust below 20 indicates a poorly established site that would benefit significantly from an active link-building strategy.

A backlink is evaluated on several criteria: the Domain Trust of the source site, the source site's topic (a link from a topically related site carries more weight), the link attribute (dofollow passes "link juice", nofollow does not), the anchor text used, and the link's position on the page. A healthy link-building strategy aims to earn dofollow links from authoritative sites relevant to your industry. GoMySeo analyzes the entire backlink profile: referring domains, anchors, toxicity and evolution over time.

A natural anchor profile should be diversified: brand anchors (site name), URL anchors (the bare URL), generic anchors ("click here", "learn more"), and topical anchors (containing keywords). An over-optimized profile (a majority of exact-match anchors on the same keyword) is a warning signal for Google's algorithms, notably Penguin. For internal linking, descriptive and varied anchors improve both user experience and search engines' understanding of the site's structure.

Targets: LCP < 2.5 seconds, INP < 200 ms, CLS < 0.1. To improve Core Web Vitals: optimize images (WebP format, lazy loading, appropriate size), reduce render-blocking JavaScript (defer, async), use a CDN, implement preloading of critical fonts, and avoid elements that shift during load (reserve space for images and ads). Google Search Console provides a Core Web Vitals report by URL group to identify pages to fix first.

Example: "running shoes" (short tail, high volume, strong competition) vs "women's beginner trail running shoes size 7" (long tail, low volume, low competition, precise purchase intent). Long tail accounts for 70 to 80% of searches on Google. An effective SEO strategy combines volume keywords (for awareness) with long-tail keywords (for conversions). For GEO/AEO, long-tail keywords matter even more: the questions asked of generative AI are almost always long, precise queries.

Understanding search intent is fundamental to creating content that ranks well. A sales page will not rank for an informational query, and a blog post will not convert on a transactional query. To identify intent: analyze the top 10 Google results for the target keyword (what type of page dominates?), review the "People also ask" and "Related searches" sections, and use keyword research tools that include intent classification, like GoMySeo.

To earn a featured snippet: answer the question directly at the start of a paragraph in 40-60 words, use the question's keyword in the H2 or H3 heading preceding the answer, and structure lists and tables clearly and completely. Featured snippets are the classic form of AEO for Google. In 2026, they also feed AI Overview answers (Google SGE), which amplifies their importance for content strategy.

Good internal linking follows several principles: every important page should be reachable in 3 clicks or fewer from the homepage, internal link anchors should be descriptive and contain relevant keywords, the most important pages should receive the most internal links, and orphan pages (no internal link pointing to them) should be avoided. Internal linking also plays a role in GEO: generative AI analyzes internal link structure to understand a site's topical hierarchy.

Key elements of a GBP listing to optimize: business name (exact, no keyword stuffing), primary category (as precise as possible), description (up to 160 characters, including services and local keywords), photos (at least 10 quality photos, updated regularly), hours (accurate and current, with special hours for holidays), customer reviews (solicit and respond to all reviews), GBP posts (news, offers), and listed products/services. The GoMySeo KRS Score measures a GBP listing's overall effectiveness across the targeted geographic area.

Local SEO rests on 3 pillars: 1) The GBP listing (optimization, photos, reviews, categories), 2) On-site SEO (location pages, consistent NAP — Name, Address, Phone — across the site, LocalBusiness structured data), 3) Local authority (citations in local directories, backlinks from local sites, mentions in local press). The GoMySeo GBP Heatmap is the market's most precise tool for measuring local visibility at the scale of a city or neighborhood.