AI Search Terms Explained
The reference library: definitions, categories, instructions and machine-readable term data.
Reference library · 62 terms
Understand the Language Behind AI Search
This is not another six-acronym overview. It is a working reference for the terms people use when discussing search engines, AI answers, retrieval systems, structured information, local business visibility and machine-readable websites.
Each definition includes an instruction: what the term means, why it matters and what a publisher, business owner or developer can actually do with it.
The vocabulary is expanding faster than the explanations
The same acronym may describe a marketing discipline, a Google feature, a technical architecture or an original framework. That creates confusion before anyone begins the actual work.
AIO may mean AI Optimization or AI Overviews. REG and RAG sound similar but describe entirely different things. An AI-search crawler and a model-training crawler may belong to the same company but follow separate controls. Structured data describes visible content; it does not replace it.
This site separates those meanings and connects them to practical decisions.
Six ways to enter the reference library
SEO · GEO · AEO · AIO · REG · RAG
Core Search Terms
Understand the six terms most often compared—and where the comparisons become misleading.
Open the guide →LLM · RAG · IR · EMBEDDINGSRetrieval and AI Systems
Learn how models, indexes, chunks, embeddings, retrieval and grounding fit together.
Open the guide →ENTITY · JSON-LD · SCHEMAEntities and Structured Data
Understand identity, entity resolution, knowledge graphs and machine-readable relationships.
Open the guide →ROBOTS · SITEMAPS · INDEXNOWCrawling and Indexing
See what open to AI actually requires beyond one robots.txt line.
Open the guide →LOCAL SEO · NAP · SERVICE AREALocal Business Search
Translate the vocabulary into locations, service areas, contact information and customer decisions.
Open the guide →DO THIS · CHECK THIS · AVOID THISImplementation Instructions
Use the terms as a checklist for content, technical access, identity and maintenance.
Open the guide →Three different sites with three different jobs
AI Search Explained
The deeper conceptual guide: longer explanations of SEO, GEO, AEO, AIO, REG and RAG.
The Great Morph
The business context: why the shift from being found to being chosen matters.
These are related projects by Dean Jessop, not independent third-party endorsements of one another.
See how the ideas apply to Google, Maps and AI search
IRefer Club’s local-business visibility guide explains how public business information, locations, maps, services, reviews and AI-assisted search fit together from the customer’s point of view.
Use the glossary as a dataset
Glossary JSON
Structured term records with categories, aliases, definitions and instructions.
Download JSONGlossary CSV
A spreadsheet-friendly version for editors, trainers and internal reference systems.
Download CSV