AI search glossary for doctors

The terms you will hear when agencies, colleagues or articles talk about AI search, explained in plain English for physicians and practice managers. Free to quote with attribution.

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)

The practice of making content more likely to be used, cited and recommended in answers written by generative AI systems such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Gemini, Copilot and Google AI Overviews. The term comes from a 2023 research paper by Princeton University, Georgia Tech, the Allen Institute for AI and IIT Delhi.

Answer Engine Optimization (AEO)

Optimizing content to be selected as the direct answer to a question, originally for featured snippets and voice assistants. Now often used as a synonym for GEO.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Improving a website so it ranks higher in search engine results for relevant searches. For practices this includes technical health, content, local listings and authority.

LLM (large language model)

The type of AI model behind assistants such as ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini. It generates text based on patterns learned in training, and many assistants add live web search on top.

AI Overviews

AI-generated summaries that appear at the top of some Google search results, with links to sources. Built on Google's search index and ranking systems.

AI Mode

Google's conversational search experience, where users ask longer questions and follow-ups and receive AI-written answers with links.

Retrieval-augmented generation (RAG)

A method in which an AI system first searches for relevant documents, then writes an answer based on them. It is why being findable in search indexes matters for AI answers.

Citation

A link or reference to a source shown alongside an AI answer. Being cited puts your practice name in front of the user even without a click.

Entity

A distinct thing that search engines and AI systems recognize, such as a specific practice or physician. Consistent facts across sources strengthen the entity.

Entity consistency

The degree to which your name, address, phone, specialty and physicians are described identically across your website, listings and directories.

Knowledge graph

A database of entities and their relationships used by search engines. Structured data and sources such as Wikidata feed it.

Schema markup (structured data)

Code, usually JSON-LD, that describes a page's content in the schema.org vocabulary, for example MedicalClinic, Physician or FAQPage.

sameAs

A schema.org property listing URLs of other profiles that represent the same entity, such as Google Business Profile, Healthgrades or LinkedIn.

llms.txt

A proposed Markdown file at a site's root that summarizes the site and links key pages for AI systems. Proposed in 2024; not confirmed as an input by major AI companies.

robots.txt

A file at a site's root that tells crawlers which parts of the site they may access. It is where AI crawlers are allowed or blocked.

GPTBot

OpenAI's crawler that collects content that may be used to train models.

OAI-SearchBot

OpenAI's crawler that indexes pages for ChatGPT search results.

ChatGPT-User

The agent ChatGPT uses when it fetches a page on behalf of a user during a conversation.

PerplexityBot

Perplexity's crawler that indexes pages for its answer engine. Perplexity-User fetches pages live for user questions.

ClaudeBot

Anthropic's crawler for model training. Claude-SearchBot indexes for search and Claude-User fetches pages for user requests.

Google-Extended

A robots.txt token that controls whether content is used for Gemini training and grounding. It does not affect Google Search or AI Overviews.

Zero-click search

A search where the user gets an answer on the results page or from an assistant without visiting any website.

Share of voice (AI)

How often a practice is named across a fixed set of prompts, compared with competitors.

E-E-A-T

Experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness: the qualities Google's quality rater guidelines use to assess content, applied most strictly to health topics.

YMYL (Your Money or Your Life)

Google's category for topics where poor information could harm health, finances or safety. Medical content is YMYL.

Map pack

The block of local business listings with a map that Google shows for searches with local intent.

NAP

Name, address and phone number. NAP consistency across listings is a core local SEO signal.

Google Business Profile

Google's free business listing that appears in Maps and local results, including categories, hours, photos and reviews.

Bing Places

Microsoft's business listing service. Its data feeds Bing, Copilot and is widely reported to feed ChatGPT search.

AI referral

A visit to your website that arrives from an AI assistant, such as chatgpt.com or perplexity.ai.

For how these pieces fit together, start with GEO vs SEO vs AEO for doctors.

Frequently asked questions

What does GEO mean in medical marketing?

GEO stands for Generative Engine Optimization: making a practice more likely to be cited and recommended in answers from AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google AI Overviews.

What is the difference between GPTBot and ChatGPT-User?

GPTBot collects content that may be used to train OpenAI models. ChatGPT-User fetches a page live when a ChatGPT user's request needs it. Blocking ChatGPT-User stops ChatGPT from opening your pages during conversations.

Does blocking Google-Extended remove my site from AI Overviews?

No. Google-Extended controls use for Gemini training and grounding. AI Overviews are governed by regular Googlebot crawling and Search controls.