Search is becoming an answer engine. This glossary translates the new language of discovery—GEO, AEO, AI Overviews, entities, and zero‑click—into practical implications for healthcare practices.
GEO is the practice of optimizing content and site structure so AI systems can understand, trust, and cite your practice when generating answers.
AEO focuses on formatting and structuring content to win “answer placement” in systems like Google AI Overviews, voice assistants, and chat-based search.
Google’s AI Overviews summarize answers directly in the search results, often reducing clicks to websites.
A zero-click search is when the user gets what they need directly on the results page (AI summary, map pack, featured snippet) and never clicks a website.
An entity is a “thing” search engines can identify (a doctor, clinic, procedure, condition, location). Entities connect your brand to meaning.
E‑E‑A‑T stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trust. It’s how Google (and increasingly AI systems) decide what to trust—especially in healthcare.
Schema is machine-readable markup that helps search engines understand your pages (services, articles, organizations, FAQs).
Reputation signals include reviews, ratings, brand mentions, and sentiment across the web.