GEO glossary

The customer-facing vocabulary of Generative Engine Optimization, defined without exposing Solarly's private evaluation or execution systems.

GEO (Generative Engine Optimization)

Improving how accurately and usefully a business appears in generated answers.

GEO is the practice of helping search and AI systems understand, retrieve, represent, and sometimes cite a business when answering relevant questions. It builds on a sound SEO foundation and adds stronger evidence, clearer business context, and answer-level observation.

SEO foundation

The technical and content groundwork that makes a site accessible and useful.

Crawlability, indexability, clear page structure, useful content, accessible rendering, and a coherent site architecture remain important. GEO extends this foundation; it does not replace it.

Generated answer

A response assembled by an AI system from its model and available sources.

Generated answers may interpret a question, retrieve information, combine multiple sources, and present a recommendation or summary. Their behavior changes by provider, product, prompt, location, and time.

Discovery intent

The problem, question, or decision a potential customer is trying to resolve.

Discovery intent goes beyond a keyword. It describes what the customer needs to understand or decide, who the answer is for, and what useful action could follow.

Evidence-backed claim

A business statement supported by current, traceable proof.

Examples can include documentation, independently verifiable credentials, case studies, customer-approved testimonials, or measured results. The appropriate evidence depends on the claim and industry.

Cited page

A page identified as a source in an observed generated answer.

A citation is an observation for a particular system, question, and time. It is useful evidence, but it is not a permanent ranking or a guarantee that the same answer will be produced again.

AI referral

A website visit carrying an identifiable referral from an AI product.

Referral reporting depends on the data available from the visitor, analytics setup, and provider. Some discovery influence cannot be directly attributed, so responsible reporting distinguishes observed referrals from broader influence.

Monitoring window

The defined period in which a discovery observation is collected and compared.

AI and search results change. A useful measurement should identify when it was observed, what it covered, and whether the comparison uses the same scope.

Agent-led discovery

Research or selection performed partly by software acting for a person or team.

As agents compare services, summarize evidence, and recommend next steps, businesses benefit from accurate public information and governed ways for authorized systems to access relevant context.