Glossary
Terms
The vocabulary I use on this site, defined once, cited from everywhere.
- Answer Engine
- An answer engine is a search interface that returns a generated response with citations, rather than a ranked list of links. ChatGPT search, Perplexity, Claude with web search, and Google's AI Overviews are answer engines.
- Answer Engine Optimization
- Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) is the practice of structuring web content so large language models can extract and cite it accurately in generated answers.
- Canonical Definition
- A canonical definition is a single self-contained sentence, placed at the start of a section, that names the subject and states what it is in a way an answer engine can lift verbatim.
- Citation Rate
- Citation rate is the share of a tracked query panel on which a given page or domain is cited by an answer engine over a defined window.
- Conversion Rate Optimization
- Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) is the practice of using experimentation, analytics, and design changes to increase the rate at which visitors take a defined action on a site.
- Experimentation Program
- An experimentation program is the ongoing operating practice of planning, running, analyzing, and archiving controlled tests on a web property, owned by a named team with a shared release cadence.
- Extraction-Optimized Structure
- Extraction-optimized structure is a page layout designed to minimize the cost for a language model of lifting a self-contained answer, including TL;DR blocks, question-formatted headings, and canonical definitions.
- Personalization
- Personalization is the practice of adapting web content, layout, or offer based on attributes of the visitor — inferred segment, referral source, account membership, or explicit preference.
- TL;DR Block
- A TL;DR block is a two-to-four-sentence summary placed at the top of a page or article, written to be extracted and cited by answer engines.
- Tracked Query Panel
- A tracked query panel is a stable list of prompts re-run on a schedule across a fixed set of answer engines to measure changes in citation rate for a domain.