Core concepts
AI search
AI search is searching by asking a question in natural language and receiving a written answer, usually with citations. It covers assistants like ChatGPT and Perplexity as well as AI summaries inside traditional search engines.
In more detail
Queries in AI search tend to be longer and carry more context than typed search queries — budget, team size, location, constraints. That context changes which brands get named, which is why tracking whole prompts works better than tracking keywords.
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Related terms
Answer engine
An answer engine is a system that responds to a question with a direct written answer instead of a list of links. ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, Copilot, Grok and Meta AI are all answer engines.
Conversational search
Conversational search is looking for information through a dialogue, asking follow-up questions rather than issuing a new query each time. The assistant carries context forward, narrowing toward a recommendation.
Prompt
A prompt is the question or instruction someone gives an AI assistant. In AEO, prompts take the place of keywords: they are whole questions, usually carrying context, and that context shapes which brands get named.
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