AI search
Discovery experiences where an AI system selects, retrieves, synthesises, compares, or recommends information in response to a person's request.
Field guide / Living glossary
The language of AI discovery.
The field has more acronyms than standards. This is the map York Studio uses.
Updated as the systems and evidence change.
The broadest useful public term.
AI discovery
The process by which people or autonomous agents encounter, evaluate, and choose entities through AI-mediated systems—including search, recommendations, commerce, local, and agent workflows.
AI visibility
Whether, where, how often, and in what context an entity appears, is cited, described, compared, or recommended in a defined set of AI observations.
GEO
Generative engine optimisation
Work intended to improve how an entity or its evidence is represented in generative or answer-engine outputs across owned and third-party sources.
AEO
Answer engine optimisation
Work intended to make information suitable for direct answers, from featured snippets and voice answers to current AI-generated responses.
LLMO
Large language model optimisation
Work focused on how language-model systems interpret, retrieve, cite, or represent entities and information.
AI SEO
An extension of search optimisation practice into AI-mediated search and answers, retaining useful technical and content disciplines while adapting the measurement model.
The hierarchy
EnvironmentAI search + discovery
OutcomeAI visibility
PracticesGEO · AEO · LLMO · AI SEO
The terms overlap because the market is still naming itself. York Studio avoids treating any acronym as a guaranteed mechanism.
Read the full field guide