The terms behind the investigation.

GEO

Generative Engine Optimization: work on how a business and its content are represented in generated AI answers. The scope must specify the systems, questions and tasks.

AEO

Answer Engine Optimization: a term used for direct answers and, by some providers, generative answers. Ask which concrete work an offer includes.

AI answer accuracy

Whether verifiable statements in an answer match current evidence. A positive tone and factual accuracy are different things.

Mention

The company name appears in the answer. That alone does not show a recommendation or a website visit.

Citation

A page is linked as a source. Its presence does not establish that every claim in the answer is supported.

Recommendation

A company is suggested as a possible provider for a specific task. This does not establish that a user contacted it.

Question sample

The agreed questions and observations used for an investigation. It does not represent every user or the entire market.

Monitoring

Repeating agreed observations, recording their conditions and reporting changes and uncertainties.

Responsive

A responsive website automatically adapts to different screen sizes, from a phone to a large monitor.

Relaunch

A substantial redesign of an existing website, often with a new structure, design and technology.

Landing page

The page people arrive on after clicking an ad or a search result.

Domain

Your website’s address on the internet, such as brandhoop.at.

Hosting

The space on a server where your website is stored and made available to visitors.

Indexing

For a page to appear in Google Search, Google must find it, read it and add it to its index — a vast directory of the web. This is called indexing.

Crawling

Search engine programs, called crawlers, automatically visit websites and follow links from page to page.

Google Search Console

A free Google tool that shows how Google sees your website: which pages are indexed, where there are problems and which searches your pages appear for.

Sitemap

A file listing a website’s important pages for search engines, like a table of contents.

robots.txt

A small text file that tells search engine crawlers which parts of a website they may or may not access.

Redirect

Automatically sends visitors and search engines from an old URL to a new one. Essential when page addresses change.

Page title & description

A page’s title and short description, which search engines often display in their results.

SEO

Search engine optimisation: work that helps a website get found in unpaid search results.

Structured data

Extra machine-readable information in a page’s code, for example about a business, service or FAQ. It helps search engines understand the content.

Core Web Vitals

Three measures Google uses to assess user experience: how quickly the main content loads (LCP), how quickly the page responds (INP) and how stable the layout is (CLS).

Search query

The words a person enters into a search engine. Knowing what your customers search for helps you plan relevant pages and ads.

Ranking

A page’s position in the search results for a particular query.

Google Ads

Google’s advertising platform. Ads can appear above or below search results and are labelled “Sponsored”. Advertisers usually pay per click.

ChatGPT Ads

Ads in ChatGPT, clearly labelled and separate from the answers. Available to advertisers in Austria since late August 2026 and currently in beta. Shown to users on the Free and Go plans.

CPC

Cost per click: the amount you pay when someone clicks your ad.

Conversion

A desired action on your website, such as an enquiry, a call or a purchase. Pages and ads can be designed and measured around these actions.

Conversion tracking

Measuring which ads or pages lead to enquiries, calls or purchases. Without it, it is difficult to tell whether advertising is worthwhile.

Daily budget

The average amount a campaign can spend per day. In Google Ads, you set this yourself.