GEO, AEO, MCP, AI Presence: The AI Search Vocabulary, Decoded
A clear glossary of AI and visibility terms: generative AI, LLM, agent, SEO, GEO, AEO, zero-click, MCP, AI presence, agentic web.
The vocabulary around AI is changing faster than the habits it describes, and it’s often used to impress rather than to explain. This glossary gives a short, usable definition for every term you’re likely to hear, whether from an agency, a vendor, or an article. Nothing to know beforehand.
Five terms worth remembering
- AI presence: the structured version of your business that assistants read directly.
- GEO: the effort to get cited inside AI answers.
- Zero-click: when the user gets their answer without visiting any website.
- MCP: the open standard that lets an AI connect to an information source.
- Agentic web: the web where assistants act for the user, instead of showing them links.
The basics: what we’re talking about
Generative AI
Artificial intelligence that produces original content (text, images, code) rather than simply classifying or retrieving information. It’s the technology behind conversational assistants. For a business, it’s what lets an AI phrase a recommendation in its own words.
LLM (large language model)
The engine behind conversational assistants. A model trained on vast amounts of text that predicts and composes answers in natural language. It doesn’t look up a fixed database, it generates, which is why two answers to the same question can differ.
AI assistant
The interface your customers talk to: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Mistral, Perplexity. It understands a question asked normally and returns a synthesized answer, often with a recommendation. Increasingly, the buying decision happens there, before any website.
AI agent
An assistant that doesn’t just answer but carries out tasks for the user: comparing, booking, ordering, filling in a form. The difference is action. An agent that books a table has to be able to interact with your business, not just talk about it.
Search has changed
Conversational search
Searching by asking an assistant a full question instead of typing keywords into a search engine. “Which Italian restaurant is open near here tonight?” replaces “Italian restaurant Marseille.” Answers are synthesized, and users rarely consult more than one.
Answer engine
A system that delivers an answer directly instead of a list of links to explore. It’s the deep shift of the decade: you’re no longer pointed toward sources, you’re answered. For a business, it changes who has to be convinced, the human or the machine.
AI Overviews
The AI-generated answers Google displays at the top of its results, above the classic links. They answer the question outright, which sharply reduces clicks through to the cited sites. A site can be mentioned there and receive no visit at all.
Zero-click
A search that ends without the user opening a single link, because the answer was enough. In 2026, 68% of Google searches end that way (SparkToro, 2026). The direct consequence: being a link is no longer enough, you have to be the answer. See how an AI conversation turns into a booking.
Visibility: three acronyms not to confuse
SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
Everything you do to rank well in a traditional search engine’s results. SEO targets humans who click a link and land on your website. It’s still useful, but it only covers the historical channel.
GEO (Generative Engine Optimization)
The effort to get cited in AI-generated answers, sometimes called AI SEO. GEO works from the outside: it tries to influence what the AI says about you, without ever controlling it. See why getting cited isn’t enough.
AEO (Answer Engine Optimization)
Optimizing for answer engines: structuring content so it can be lifted directly into a featured snippet, a FAQ result, or a voice answer. In practice, AEO and GEO overlap heavily and the terms are often used interchangeably.
Off-site mentions
What’s said about you elsewhere on the web: articles, forums, reviews, directories, videos. It’s one of the factors most correlated with visibility in AI answers (Ahrefs, 75,000 brands, 2026). In other words, your external reputation counts more than the length of your pages.
The connected layer: what’s new
AI presence
A structured representation of a business or organization that conversational assistants consult directly to obtain reliable, up-to-date, and actionable information. Unlike a citation, it’s controlled: you decide what it exposes. See what an AI presence is.
Structured data
Information labeled for what it is, so a machine can understand it without interpreting. An opening time identified as an opening time, a price as a price. It’s what lets an AI answer a precise question instead of guessing from a whole page.
MCP (Model Context Protocol)
An open standard that lets an AI assistant connect to an external information source and query it. It removes the need to build a different version for each assistant: you expose once, and any compatible assistant can read it. Official documentation: modelcontextprotocol.io.
MCP server
The component that makes your knowledge queryable. It receives the assistant’s questions and returns the matching structured information, following the MCP protocol. In a no-code approach, it’s provisioned and hosted for you. See how an AI presence works.
Tools
The capabilities a presence exposes to the assistant, beyond information: show an availability, offer a slot, record a booking, pass along a request. That’s what separates a presence that acts from a well-organized document.
MCP App
An interactive experience published through the MCP protocol, which the user handles directly inside their conversation with the assistant, rather than a plain exchange of text. The assistant becomes an interface, not just a responder.
Agentic web
The web in which assistants act on the user’s behalf: they search, compare, book, buy. A business’s counterpart is no longer only a human visitor, but also a machine that has to be able to understand it and interact with it.
Directory of AI-readable businesses
A repository of already-structured businesses, where assistants can discover new ones by sector and by area. It’s the mechanism that lets you be found by an AI without the customer already knowing you.
Create your AI presence
Now that the vocabulary is settled, the question gets concrete: is your business already readable by the assistants your customers use?
FAQ
What’s the difference between SEO and GEO?
SEO makes you visible in a search engine’s results, for humans who click. GEO tries to get you cited in AI-generated answers. Both target visibility, but on two different channels, and neither replaces the other.
What’s the difference between GEO and AEO?
GEO targets citation inside generative AI answers, AEO targets your content being lifted directly as the answer (featured snippet, FAQ, voice). In practice the two overlap heavily and the terms are often used interchangeably.
What’s the difference between being cited and being connected by AI?
Being cited means AI mentions you when it decides, from sources it can change at any time. Being connected means it queries your AI presence directly to read your information and act. The first you endure, the second you control.
What’s the difference between an AI assistant and an AI agent?
An assistant answers questions. An agent carries out tasks for you: comparing, booking, buying. The distinction is fading, as most assistants gradually gain the ability to act.
What’s the difference between an AI presence and a chatbot?
A chatbot answers on your site, to people already there. An AI presence makes you queryable inside the assistants your customers use before they ever reach you.
