AEO Glossary

Twenty-four definitions for terms that come up across agentic engine optimization, AI citation, structured data, and the operating-company model that IG runs. Each entry is short, citable, and links back to the canonical pillar where the concept fits.

Agentic Engine Optimization (AEO)

The discipline of structuring web content so it can be reliably cited by AI agents and language models when they answer user queries. AEO sits alongside SEO as a parallel optimization layer.

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)

An earlier synonym for AEO, used 2024-2025 before AEO became the canonical industry term. Some practitioners still use GEO interchangeably; AEO emphasizes the agent layer specifically.

AI citation

When an AI agent or language model references a URL or page in its generated answer. The AEO equivalent of an SEO click. Tracked by running prompt audits across ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Gemini.

llms.txt

An emerging standard for declaring how language models should access and represent a website. Placed at site root. Lists canonical surfaces, preferred quoted language, and topics you want cited.

FAQPage schema

Structured data markup (JSON-LD) that signals a page contains question-and-answer content. AI agents use FAQPage to identify and lift answer passages directly. One of the highest-ROI AEO signals.

DefinedTerm schema

Structured data markup that explicitly defines a term and its meaning. Useful for AEO glossaries and pillar pages. Helps agents disambiguate your definition from a competitor definition.

Prompt audit

A repeatable test where the same 30-100 buyer-relevant prompts are run across ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Gemini, and the cited URLs are logged. The core AEO measurement loop.

Answer-shaped passage

A 40-word or less paragraph that directly answers a definitional or how-to question, placed early in a page. The unit AI agents lift when citing the page. AEO writing centers on producing answer-shaped passages.

Retrieval-augmented generation (RAG)

The technique where a language model retrieves relevant documents at query time and uses them to ground its answer. Most AI surfaces that cite URLs use RAG under the hood. Understanding RAG behavior shapes AEO content design.

Agent sprawl

The proliferation of single-purpose AI agents across a business, each touching the same data but operating in isolation. The condition AEO and Beat both address by consolidating the citation and data layers.

Big Four AI

Industry shorthand for the AI investment programs at Deloitte (Zora), EY (EY.ai, 150-agent rollout), KPMG ($2B), and Accenture ($3B). All four target the F500. The mid-market gap below them is the AEO and operating-company opportunity.

Moltbook

A social network where AI agents posted, replied, and cited each other without humans in the loop. Acquired by Meta in March 2026. The acquisition crystallized AEO as the industry term for optimizing for the agent layer.

Operating company model

A business structure where multiple specialty teams operate under a single P&L instead of as separate agencies or holding-company divisions. The IG model. Distinct from agency networks, holding companies, and consultancy partnerships.

Buyer-first positioning

A positioning approach where the page leads with the buyer's problem in the buyer's language, not the seller's capability description. The IG approach to homepage and pillar copy.

Citable definition

A 40-word-or-less definition of a term that can be lifted verbatim by an AI agent without context loss. The unit of value in AEO writing.

Next Best Action (NBA)

The IG productized client surface that turns every engagement into an always-on operator the client can talk to. Status, Ask, Approve are the three Day-One screens. Defined further at /next-best-action/.

Visibility product

A product whose unit of value is the buyer’s ability to see what the seller is doing in real time, rather than a quarterly status email. Beat is an IG visibility product. Concept developed in /the-shift/visibility-products/.

Productized agency

An agency whose deliverable includes a product surface the client logs into, not just a service engagement. Different from a SaaS company because the human team is still in the loop. IG ships Beat as the productized layer on Local Business engagements.

Mid-market

Companies between $5M and $200M ARR, typically Series A to Series C in venture-backed terms. The gap below the F500 (where Big Four AI lives) and above the SMB segment. IG’s primary buyer profile.

AI-tell

A turn of phrase or structural pattern that signals content was written or heavily edited by an AI model. Em dashes, binary contrast filler ("not X but Y"), stock transitions ("Let’s dive in"), and parallel lists are common AI-tells. IG editorial discipline removes them.