GEO glossary for local SEO agencies
This GEO glossary defines the terms local SEO agencies need when selling and fulfilling AI visibility work: GEO, AEO, prompt tracking, citation support, source gaps, entity trust, answer readiness, and white-label reporting.
What agencies should take from this page
This GEO glossary defines the terms local SEO agencies need when selling and fulfilling AI visibility work: GEO, AEO, prompt tracking, citation support, source gaps, entity trust, answer readiness, and white-label reporting.
Turn the topic into a repeatable local GEO process.
Each page in this cluster supports the same commercial motion: diagnose AI visibility, identify the proof gap, ship the local SEO fix, and report the next action.
Audit prompts
Map the buyer questions that matter for local services, locations, reputation, pricing, and competitor comparisons.
Inspect sources
Identify the owned, local, review, directory, and third-party sources that make AI answers trust or ignore a client.
Ship fixes
Turn the findings into page updates, schema, citations, reviews, GBP improvements, and internal links.
Report progress
Package movement, risks, and next actions in language clients can understand.
GEO, AEO, and AI visibility
GEO is optimization for generative answers. AEO is optimization for answer extraction. AI visibility is the measurement layer showing where a client appears, gets recommended, gets cited, or loses to competitors.
- GEO: generative engine optimization
- AEO: answer engine optimization
- AI visibility: presence and quality inside AI answers
Prompt, mention, recommendation, citation
A prompt is the buyer question tested. A mention is any appearance. A recommendation is a stronger shortlist or endorsement. A citation is a source link or explicit evidence supporting the answer.
- Prompt family
- Mention rate
- Recommendation rate
- Source support
Source gaps, retrieval readiness, entity trust
Source gaps are missing proof surfaces. Retrieval readiness means the page is crawlable, extractable, and linked. Entity trust is the consistency and corroboration that makes a business safer to recommend.
- 30+ agency terms
- Plain-English definitions
- Built for AI citation
Fast GEO glossary
Next pages in the local-agency GEO cluster
These links keep the topical graph focused on local agency monetization, reporting, and execution.
Questions agencies ask before they sell this
What is the difference between a mention and a recommendation?
A mention is any appearance in an answer; a recommendation is when the AI system frames the business as a suitable or preferred option.
What is a source gap?
A source gap is missing or weak evidence that makes it harder for AI systems to verify a business, such as weak citations, reviews, directories, or service pages.
What is retrieval readiness?
Retrieval readiness means a page is crawlable, answer-first, internally linked, and structured so search and AI systems can extract the useful answer quickly.
See what AI systems say about one client market.
Run a snapshot, inspect competitors and sources, then turn the gaps into client-ready work.