Glossary
The words people use about AI answers and search, in plain English. You don't need any of them to use outshone, but you'll meet them elsewhere.
- AEO
- AEO, short for answer engine optimization, means the same as GEO, getting your product named in the answers AI tools give.
- AI crawler
- An AI crawler is a program an AI company uses to visit web pages and read them.
- AI Mode
- AI Mode is a separate mode of Google Search where Google answers with an AI-written reply instead of a list of results.
- AI Overviews
- AI Overviews are the short, AI-written summaries Google shows above the usual results for some searches.
- Alternatives page
- An alternatives page lists other products a buyer could use instead of a well-known one, like “Paperwren alternatives”, for buyers who want to see what else is out there.
- Being named
- Being named means an AI answer includes your product by name when a buyer asks for a tool like yours.
- “Best of” list
- A “best of” list is an article that picks several products for one need, like “Best CRMs for small teams.” It's the kind of page AI tools quote most.
- Citation
- A citation is a page that an AI answer points to as its source, usually with a link.
- Comparison page
- A comparison page sets two products side by side for buyers who are choosing between them, like “Kettlebook and Paperwren compared”.
- GEO
- GEO, short for generative engine optimization, is the work of getting your product named in the answers AI tools give when buyers ask ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity or Google's AI Overviews for a tool like yours.
- llms.txt
- llms.txt is a proposed plain-text file, at yourwebsite.com/llms.txt, that sums up a website for AI tools and lists its main pages.
- Review site
- A review site collects ratings and reviews of software from the people who use it, so buyers can compare products before they choose.
- robots.txt
- robots.txt is a small text file at the top of a website, like yourwebsite.com/robots.txt, that tells crawlers which pages they may visit.
- Structured data
- Structured data is code in a web page that describes things in a standard format machines can read, like your product's name, what kind of software it is, and its plans and prices.
Want the longer version? Our guides answer owners' questions step by step.
See what AI tells your buyers.
Type your product's name or website. In about a minute you'll see what ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews say when a buyer asks for a tool like yours.