GEO and AEO glossary for restaurants
What GEO, AEO, fact density, freshness, schema.org, llms.txt and review gating mean — in a restaurant owner's language.
- GEO (Generative Engine Optimization)
- Optimisation for generative engines: making a business easy to find and to cite by AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews. A citation is not guaranteed, and Google says there are no special requirements beyond good SEO practice to appear in AI Overviews and AI Mode.
- AEO (Answer Engine Optimization)
- Optimisation for direct answers: structuring content so search engines and voice assistants can pull out a ready answer — featured snippets, “people also ask” and spoken answers.
- Fact density
- The number of specific, verifiable facts per stretch of text: dish names, prices, opening hours, neighbourhood, how a dish is prepared. Text with a high fact density tends to be more useful to the reader and easier to cite than generic sentences. It is an editorial practice, not a confirmed ranking factor.
- Freshness
- The idea that the information about a business is up to date. For restaurants it includes recent reviews that have been answered, correct opening hours and the current menu. It matters mainly because it is what the guest sees; it is not confirmed as a ranking factor.
- Automatic reply checks
- The steps every review and every reply pass through at Renver before anything is published: detection of sensitive topics, an AI reading, sarcasm and manipulation, enough facts, and a review of the text by a second agent. What is safe is published; what is sensitive goes to the manager.
- Schema.org
- A vocabulary of structured data that search engines read to understand a page. For restaurants the main types are Restaurant, Menu, MenuItem and OpeningHoursSpecification. Google says structured data is not required to appear in its AI features; it serves to describe the business precisely.
- Google Business Profile
- The business's profile on Google Maps and Search, with opening hours, photos, reviews and the owner's replies. Google recommends it as the way to appear in local features of Search.
- llms.txt
- A proposed text file at the root of a site that describes, in Markdown, what the business does and which pages matter. Google says Search does not use it, and no major AI provider has confirmed that it reads it: we publish it because it costs little, without expecting any effect on visibility.
- Google AI Overviews
- AI-generated summaries shown in Google results, which cite the sources they used.
- Review gating
- The practice, prohibited by Google, of asking only satisfied customers for a public review and steering unhappy ones elsewhere. Renver does not do review gating.