Glossary
The AI visibility glossary
Every check in our checklist, explained — what it is, why it matters for AI search, and how to verify and fix it. One page per concept.
43 terms across 7 dimensions
Analytics & Tracking
5- Google Analytics 4Google's current web and app analytics platform, identified by a G-XXXX measurement ID and loaded via the gtag.js tag.
- Google Tag ManagerA free tag management system that loads and controls marketing and analytics tags from one container, identified by a GTM-XXXX ID.
- Duplicate Analytics TrackingWhen GA4 loads more than once on a page—for example hard-coded with gtag.js and again through GTM—causing inflated, unreliable data.
- Conversion Event TrackingMarking the high-value actions on your site—form submits, purchases, signups—as GA4 key events so they can be measured and optimized.
- Consent Mode v2Google's framework for adjusting how its tags behave based on a visitor's cookie consent, signaled by ad and analytics consent parameters.
Search Verification & Indexing
6- Google Search ConsoleA free Google tool that confirms you own a site and reports how Google crawls, indexes, and ranks it.
- Bing Webmaster ToolsMicrosoft's free tool for verifying site ownership and monitoring how Bing crawls and indexes your pages.
- robots.txtA plain-text file at the site root that tells crawlers which paths they may or may not request.
- XML SitemapAn XML file listing a site's canonical URLs to help search engines discover and prioritize pages for crawling.
- noindex TagA directive, set via meta tag or HTTP header, that tells search engines to keep a page out of their index.
- Canonical TagA link element that names the preferred URL for a page so search engines consolidate duplicate or similar versions.
On-Page SEO Foundations
10- Title tagThe <title> element in a page's <head> defines its canonical name, shown as the clickable headline in search results and as the browser tab label.
- Meta descriptionA <meta name="description"> tag that summarizes the page in one to two sentences and is often used as the snippet under the title in search results.
- Single H1 headingThe <h1> is the top-level heading that names the page's main topic; using exactly one gives the document a clear, unambiguous title for users, crawlers, and assistive technology.
- Open Graph and Twitter Card tagsOpen Graph and Twitter Card meta tags tell social platforms and chat apps how to render a link preview: its title, description, and image.
- HTTPS with HSTSServing every page over HTTPS encrypts traffic, and the HSTS response header forces browsers to use HTTPS for all future requests to the domain.
- Viewport meta tagA <meta name="viewport"> tag tells mobile browsers to match the layout width to the device screen, enabling responsive, mobile-friendly rendering.
- Custom 404 pageA branded, helpful page served for unknown URLs that also returns the correct HTTP 404 status so crawlers know the resource does not exist.
- Favicon and touch iconSmall site icons declared via <link rel="icon"> and <link rel="apple-touch-icon"> that appear in browser tabs, bookmarks, mobile home screens, and search results.
- Image alt textThe alt attribute on an <img> provides a text description of the image for screen readers, search engines, and cases where the image fails to load.
- Page performanceHow quickly and smoothly a page loads and becomes interactive, commonly measured by server response time, HTML weight, and Core Web Vitals.
Structured Data
4- JSON-LDJSON-LD is a JSON-based format for embedding machine-readable structured data in a page using a script type="application/ld+json" block. It is Google's recommended way to describe entities like organizations, products, and articles.
- Organization / WebSite SchemaStructured data that declares the entity behind a site using schema.org Organization (name, URL, logo, social profiles) and WebSite (site name, search action). It establishes who you are for search engines and answer engines.
- Structured Data ValidationConfirming that a page's JSON-LD parses cleanly and meets schema.org and Google requirements, with no blocking errors or missing required fields. Valid markup is a prerequisite for rich results and reliable entity extraction.
- FAQPage SchemaStructured data that marks up a list of genuine question-and-answer pairs using schema.org FAQPage, with each item as a Question and acceptedAnswer. Use it only when the page truly contains FAQs authored by the site.
AEO — Answer Engine Optimization
4- Question-Answer / FAQ StructureOrganizing key pages around the real questions users ask, each followed by a clear answer, so both readers and answer engines can locate responses quickly.
- Concise AnswersLeading each question-style heading with a direct 1-3 sentence answer before any elaboration, so the core response stands alone.
- Content FreshnessSignals such as accurate sitemap lastmod values and visible published/updated dates that show content is actively maintained.
- Entity ClarityStating plainly who the brand is, what it does, and its key facts so people and machines can identify the entity without ambiguity.
GEO / Agent Readiness
7- llms.txtA Markdown file at /llms.txt that gives LLMs a curated, plain-language map of your site and links to its most important content.
- AI-crawler policyExplicit robots.txt rules for AI user agents (GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot, Google-Extended) that deliberately allow or block them.
- Markdown content negotiationServing a clean Markdown representation of a page when a client requests it via the Accept: text/markdown header.
- Server-side rendering (SSR)Delivering the page's core text and markup in the initial HTML response, so it is readable without executing client-side JavaScript.
- brand-facts.json / ai-agent.jsonA machine-readable JSON file of authoritative brand facts published at a stable, well-known path for AI agents to consume.
- MCP endpointA discoverable Model Context Protocol server URL that lets AI agents call your tools, resources, and data through a standardized interface.
- Agent-readiness score (isitagentready)An optional reference number from Cloudflare's isitagentready.com that rates, roughly 0-100, how easily AI agents can access and use a site.
Launch Hygiene
7- Staging Blocks RemovedConfirming the production site has no leftover site-wide robots Disallow or global noindex carried over from staging.
- No Placeholder TextVerifying that no lorem ipsum, TODO notes, or obvious dummy copy remains on the homepage or other key pages.
- Sampled Internal Links OKA representative sample of internal links resolves with HTTP 200 rather than 404 or other errors.
- Legal Pages PresentPrivacy Policy, Terms of Service, and a Cookie/consent page are published and linked, typically from the footer.
- Contact Form SubmitsThe live contact form actually delivers a message end-to-end, reaching and routing to the right inbox.
- Certificate ValidityThe site's TLS certificate is valid, trusted, and not close to its expiry date.
- Email Authentication (SPF / DKIM / DMARC)DNS records that authenticate your outbound email so mailbox providers can verify it is genuinely from your domain.
Put this into practice.
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