Glossary
AI & SEO terms, explained simply.
Plain-English definitions of the terms that come up when discussing AI automation, SEO, GEO, and modern web development. No jargon within the jargon.
A
Agentic AI
AI systems designed to plan, reason, use tools, and autonomously execute multi-step tasks — going far beyond single-turn question-and-answer interactions.
AI Agent
A software system that can perceive its environment, make decisions, and take actions autonomously to achieve a goal.
AI Orchestration
The coordination of multiple AI models, tools, memory systems, and agents to complete complex multi-step tasks — managed by frameworks like LangChain or CrewAI.
AI Overviews
Google's AI-generated answer summaries that appear above organic search results, synthesising information from multiple sources to directly respond to a query.
API (Application Programming Interface)
A defined contract that allows software systems to communicate with each other — enabling one application to request data or trigger actions in another.
C
Context Window
The maximum amount of text an LLM can process in a single interaction — encompassing the full conversation history, system instructions, and documents provided.
Core Web Vitals
Google's set of user experience metrics (LCP, CLS, INP) that measure page loading, visual stability, and interactivity — used as a ranking signal.
F
Fine-tuning
The process of further training a pre-trained AI model on a domain-specific dataset to improve its performance, tone, or knowledge for a particular task.
Function Calling
A capability that lets LLMs trigger predefined functions or external APIs — the mechanism that enables AI agents to take real-world actions rather than just generating text.
H
Hallucination
When an AI model generates confident-sounding but factually incorrect, fabricated, or unsupported information.
Headless Architecture
A design pattern that decouples the frontend (presentation layer) from the backend — allowing each to be built, deployed, and scaled independently via APIs.
L
Large Language Model (LLM)
A type of AI model trained on vast amounts of text data, capable of generating, summarising, and reasoning about language.
llms.txt
A plain-text file placed at a website's root that provides structured, AI-readable information about the site — designed specifically for large language models and AI crawlers.
M
Multi-tenant SaaS
A SaaS architecture where a single software instance serves multiple customers, with each customer's data kept isolated from others.
MVP (Minimum Viable Product)
The simplest version of a product that delivers genuine value to early users — built specifically to validate core assumptions before investing in full development.
P
Prompt Engineering
The practice of designing and refining the instructions given to an AI model to produce better, more accurate, and more reliable outputs.
Programmatic SEO
A strategy where large numbers of SEO-optimised pages are automatically generated from structured data — enabling search visibility at scale without writing each page manually.
R
Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG)
A technique that combines an LLM with a retrieval system, allowing the AI to look up external documents before generating a response.
Revenue Cycle Management (RCM)
The end-to-end financial process healthcare organisations use to track patient care from registration through to final payment — a primary target for AI automation.
S
Search Intent
The underlying reason a user performs a search query — whether they want to learn something, find a website, research a purchase, or complete a transaction.
Semantic SEO
An approach to SEO focused on topic relevance and meaning rather than exact keyword matching — aligning content with search intent and the relationships between concepts.
Structured Data / Schema Markup
Machine-readable code added to web pages that helps search engines and AI systems understand page content and context.
Speech-to-Text (STT)
Technology that converts spoken audio into written text in real time — the listening layer of AI voice agents, powered by models like Deepgram and OpenAI Whisper.
Server-Side Rendering (SSR / SSG)
Rendering strategies that generate HTML on the server rather than in the browser — improving page load speed, SEO, and initial content visibility.
T
Technical SEO
The practice of optimising a website's technical infrastructure — crawlability, indexability, page speed, and site architecture — so search engines can find and rank it effectively.
Text-to-Speech (TTS)
Technology that converts written text into natural-sounding spoken audio — the speaking layer of AI voice agents, powered by models like ElevenLabs and OpenAI TTS.
Technical Co-founder
The founder responsible for technology strategy, product architecture, and engineering decisions in a startup — the person who owns how the product gets built.