Glossary
AI Commerce & GEO Glossary
Definitions of key terms in generative engine optimization, AI commerce readiness, and AI search.
A
Ad Labeling in AI Chat
Ad labeling is the practice of clearly disclosing sponsored content inside AI-generated responses. In the US, it is governed by FTC guidance; in the EU, by the AI Act and Digital Services Act disclosure rules.
Advertising for AI Agents
Advertising for AI agents is sponsored content placed inside, around, or attached to the output an AI agent produces on behalf of a user.
AI Ad Network
An AI ad network is a platform that connects advertisers with AI-powered applications and assistants, enabling the delivery of sponsored content within AI-generated responses across multiple AI products.
AI Advertising
AI advertising is the practice of placing paid promotional content within AI-powered platforms such as chatbots, AI search engines, and AI assistants, enabling brands to reach users at the point of AI-generated answers.
AI App Monetization
AI app monetization is the process of generating revenue from AI-powered applications through methods such as in-conversation advertising, subscription models, API usage fees, or affiliate integrations.
AI Brand Monitoring
AI brand monitoring is the practice of tracking how, where, and how often a brand appears inside AI-generated responses across ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews.
AI Commerce Readiness
AI Commerce Readiness is a measure of how likely AI assistants like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews are to recommend your products when users ask shopping-related questions. It scores your store on schema markup, crawlability, content quality, and entity consistency across the web.
AI Overviews
AI Overviews are Google's generative-AI answers that appear at the top of search results pages, synthesizing information from web sources into a direct response.
AI Search
AI search refers to search experiences powered by large language models that generate synthesized answers to user queries instead of returning a list of links, including platforms like Perplexity, ChatGPT Search, and Google AI Overviews.
AI Search Optimization
AI search optimization is the practice of structuring content, metadata, and site architecture so pages are selected, cited, and recommended by AI search engines — including ChatGPT search, Claude web search, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews.
AI Shopping
AI shopping is the use of AI assistants and AI-powered search engines to discover, compare, and purchase products through conversational interactions rather than traditional ecommerce browsing.
AI Visibility
AI visibility refers to how frequently and prominently a brand, product, or website appears in AI-generated responses across platforms like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, and other AI assistants.
AI-Native Advertising
AI-native advertising is advertising designed from the ground up for AI-generated surfaces — distinct from display, social, and native web ads retrofitted for AI contexts.
Answer Engine Optimization (AEO)
Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) is the practice of optimizing content, structured data, and brand signals so that AI answer engines (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google SGE/AI Overviews, Claude) are more likely to cite your brand in organic answers.
Answer Engine Optimization (AEO)
Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) is the practice of structuring content so AI-powered search engines, voice assistants, and featured snippets extract it as the direct answer to a user's question. AEO focuses on being the answer, not just ranking near it.
C
ChatGPT Advertising
ChatGPT advertising refers to the practice of placing paid promotional content within or alongside ChatGPT's conversational responses, allowing brands to reach users who ask ChatGPT for product recommendations, comparisons, and advice.
Citation Rank
Citation Rank is the position at which a source appears inside an AI-generated answer's cited references. Higher citation rank drives more click-through and more brand authority.
Contextual AI Ads
Contextual AI ads are advertisements served within AI-generated responses based on the topic and intent of the user's query, matching sponsored content to the conversational context rather than relying on user tracking or behavioral data.
Conversational Ad Unit
A conversational ad unit is an ad format native to AI chat — sponsored text, cards, or answers that appear inside or alongside an AI response in a conversational interface.
CPM in AI Advertising
CPM (cost per mille) in AI advertising is the pricing model that charges advertisers a fixed rate per 1,000 impressions of their sponsored content within AI-generated responses, adapted from traditional display advertising for the AI context.
G
Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)
Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is the practice of optimising digital content and technical infrastructure so AI-powered search engines and assistants — including ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, and Claude — cite, recommend, or reference a brand in their generated responses.
Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)
Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is the practice of optimizing a brand's content and presence so it is surfaced by generative AI systems — distinct from SEO for traditional search and from AEO, which focuses specifically on citations in AI-generated answers.
L
LLM Ad SDK
An LLM ad SDK is a developer library for integrating sponsored content into an AI app built on one or more large language models. It handles ad matching, disclosure, tracking, and revenue share with the ad network.
LLMO (LLM Optimization)
LLMO is the practice of optimizing a brand, product, or content for visibility inside large language model outputs. It is the umbrella term unifying GEO, AEO, and AI search optimization.
llms.txt
llms.txt is a proposed standard file placed at the root of a website that provides structured information to large language models about the site's content, products, and preferred representation, similar to how robots.txt communicates with search engine crawlers.
R
Revenue Share for AI Apps
Revenue share is the percentage of ad revenue paid to the AI app developer whose traffic generated the impression. Industry standard in 2026 ranges from 55% to 75%, with Surfacedd at 60% and Koah at 75%.
RPM (Revenue Per Mille) for AI Apps
RPM is the revenue an AI app earns per 1,000 ad impressions. It is the single most important unit economic for AI app monetization and the standard metric for comparing ad networks.
S
Share of Model
Share of Model is a proposed brand-measurement metric capturing the percentage of AI-generated responses about a category in which a brand appears. Coined by Tom Roach in Marketing Week, it is an AI-era counterpart to share of voice.
Share of Voice
Share of Voice is the percentage of a category's paid and earned media coverage attributable to a specific brand. In the AI era, it is increasingly measured alongside Share of Model and Share of Placement.
Share of Voice vs Share of Placement
Share of Voice measures how often a brand is mentioned across a conversation space; Share of Placement measures the percentage of disclosed sponsored surfaces a brand occupies in an AI ad network over a time period.
Sponsored AI Responses
A sponsored AI response is a disclosed commercial placement that accompanies a chatbot's or AI agent's organic output, marked as sponsored and rendered as a distinct unit — never an edit to the organic answer itself.
Sponsored AI Result
A sponsored AI result is a paid placement within an AI-generated answer, where a brand's product or service is surfaced to users as part of a conversational AI response, clearly labeled as sponsored.
Surface (Ad Unit)
A Surface is a single disclosed ad placement inside an AI-generated output. Surfaces are typed by modality: Text, Image, Voice, and Code.