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Glossary

SEO Glossary

Plain definitions of the SEO and AI search terms you keep hearing. Each one is checked against its primary source and linked to a free Hawk Academy tool that puts it to work.

The glossary grows a few terms at a time, starting with AI search, where the vocabulary is newest and most confused. Where two words mean the same thing, the definition says so.

How the core AI search terms fit together AI crawlers fetch your pages SERP the list of results AI answer one written reply Zero-click search no visit follows Agentic search software acts on it AI hallucination the answer is wrong GEO, AEO, LLMO: three names for earning a place in that answer
Read left to right: a page is fetched, shown, then either clicked, not clicked, or acted on.

A

  • Agentic SearchAI Search

    Search where an AI agent works through the steps toward a goal for you, then hands back for you to confirm.

  • AI CrawlersAI Search

    Bots run by AI companies that fetch web pages, either to train models, to power AI search or to answer one user's request.

  • AI HallucinationAI Search

    A confident answer from an AI system that is false or not supported by any source.

  • Answer Engine OptimizationAI Search

    Making your content the answer a search engine or assistant gives, rather than one link among ten.

G

L

  • LLMOAI Search

    Improving how large language models such as ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini describe and cite your brand.

S

  • SERPSEO Fundamentals

    The page a search engine shows after a search: organic results, ads, AI Overviews and other features.

Z

  • Zero-Click SearchAI Search

    A search that ends without a click to any website, because the answer or next step is on the results page.

Want the long version?

These definitions are the short answer. For the method behind them, start with What Is AI SEO?, then Query Fan-Out and How AI Overviews Impact SEO. Every guide is in the SEO and AI Search Guides library.

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