Plain-English definitions of every term you need to operate in AI search in 2026. AEO, GEO, AAAT, knowledge graph, citation rate, llms.txt, and the 16 other concepts that decide whether ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and Gemini cite your brand or your competitor.
Answer Engine Optimization. The discipline of structuring a website so AI answer engines — Google AI Overviews, Perplexity, You.com, SearchGPT — cite it as a source. AEO targets the synthesized-answer surface, not the blue-link list.
Generative Engine Optimization. The discipline of getting cited by conversational LLMs — ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini. The primary lever is off-site presence in places those models already trust (trade press, podcast transcripts, Wikipedia, GitHub READMEs).
Agentic AI Advertising Team. The AdMax operating model — a senior human strategist plus four named AI agents (Sage, Lab, Helm, Lookout) each owning one part of the always-on side of a marketing engagement.
The synthesized paragraph that appears above the traditional blue links on Google for most informational queries. Generated by Gemini plus Google's retrieval system, with three to seven citation links underneath.
The percentage of buyer queries in a category where an AI engine cites your brand by name. The headline AEO/GEO metric.
A short Markdown file at the root of a domain that tells AI crawlers what the site is, who it serves, and which pages summarize the brand best. Format documented at llmstxt.org.
The directive file that tells crawlers which paths to read and which to skip. For AI visibility, robots.txt must explicitly allow GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot, Google-Extended, and CCBot.
A machine-readable network of entities (people, places, organizations, concepts) with relationships between them. Google, Wikipedia, Wikidata, and Crunchbase maintain knowledge graphs; AI engines pull from these to anchor brand descriptions.
JSON-LD structured data blocks that tell engines what a page is about. Organization, Article, FAQPage, Service, HowTo, BreadcrumbList. AEO requires clean schema across every cornerstone page.
A high-priority, evergreen page that defines a key topic for the site. AdMax cornerstones include /aaat, /audit, the AEO/GEO services, and the major blog explainers.
An audio production technique where one signal (typically voice) triggers compression on another (typically music). Used in podcasts and reels to make the music duck under the voice automatically.
Content structured as question-H2 + 40-to-80-word direct answer + supporting depth below. AI engines extract the direct answer; humans read the depth.
The number of pages a search engine will crawl on a site in a given session. Higher crawl budget = faster indexing of new content. Earned by site authority and signaled by sitemaps with priority weights.
An XML or JSON file listing every page a site wants engines to find. Submit to Google Search Console and to Bing Webmaster Tools. Priority weights tell engines which pages matter most.
An HTML tag declaring the official URL for a page. Prevents duplicate-content penalties and tells AI engines which version to cite.
A reference to your brand on a site you do not control — trade press, podcast transcripts, association directories, Reddit. The trust signal that makes AI engines treat you as a citable source.
A link appearing in the citations bar underneath a Google AI Overview. The 2026 equivalent of a #1 organic ranking — pulls disproportionate click-through versus non-cited pages.
Whether a search engine is allowed to add a page to its index. Blocked by robots.txt rules, noindex meta tags, or canonical conflicts.
Google's three page-experience metrics — LCP (load), CLS (layout stability), INP (interaction responsiveness). All three must be green for cornerstone pages.
The signal that a domain is a deep expert on a subject. Built by publishing a connected cluster of cornerstone + supporting pages around a single topic. AEO engines reward topical authority strongly.
A marketing agency that pairs senior human strategists with AI agents. The strategist owns the plan and the relationship; the agents execute the always-on side — analytics, creative iteration, optimization, market watch. AdMax is one.
A small piece of JavaScript embedded on a website that tracks visitor behavior. The Search Atlas dynamic-optimization pixel lets OTTO ship per-page SEO fixes without redeploying the site.
The $25 AdMax audit applies the glossary to your business. We measure where you stand on each lever, surface the two highest-opportunity keywords for your domain, and hand you a prioritized fix list. Delivered in 48 to 72 hours.