Glossary
Glossary
Short, plain definitions of the terms that come up when a small business builds a website or software with us, from GEO to change orders.
Updated September 24, 2026
In short
This glossary defines the terms that come up when a small business builds a website or custom software with us. Each definition stands on its own in one paragraph, so you can read a single entry without the rest. Every term also has its own page, which covers where the term shows up in practice and which guide to read next.
Every term, defined
Search and AI answers
- Answer engine
- An answer engine is a search tool that replies to a question with a written answer instead of a list of links. It searches the web for pages that match the question and writes a response from what they say, usually with links to the pages it drew on. Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode, ChatGPT search and Perplexity work this way. For a business, the practical difference is that a customer may read a summary of your page before, or instead of, visiting it, so the words on the page have to hold up when quoted.
- GEO
- GEO stands for generative engine optimization, the work of making a website easy for AI answer engines to read and cite correctly. It rests on the same base as SEO, since an engine can only quote a page it is allowed to crawl and has indexed. On that base, GEO shapes each page so a passage still makes sense when it is quoted alone, with the answer stated before the detail and markup that describes only what a reader can see. It cannot buy placement or guarantee that an engine names a business.
- AEO
- AEO stands for answer engine optimization: shaping web pages so that tools which reply with a written answer, rather than a list of links, can find a page and quote it correctly. It covers the same ground as GEO, and the two names are often used for the same work. Google's own guidance treats both as part of SEO, since its AI answers rest on its ordinary index and ranking systems, while engines such as ChatGPT search and Perplexity read the web through their own crawlers.
- llms.txt
- llms.txt is a proposed Markdown file, usually placed at the root of a website, that gives AI tools a short summary of the site and links to its most useful pages. The idea is that a language model reading it gets clean text instead of menus and scripts. It is a proposal rather than a web standard, and Google says its AI features in Search need no special AI text file. For a small site it is cheap to add and easy to keep current, but it matters far less than the pages themselves.
- Structured data
- Structured data is code added to a web page that describes its content in a standard vocabulary, so software can read the facts without guessing. On most sites it is written as JSON-LD using the schema.org vocabulary, and it can say that a page is about a local business, a service, an article or a set of questions and answers. Search engines use it to understand a page and sometimes to show richer results. Google's rule is that the markup must describe what a reader can see on the page, never hidden or different information.
- FAQ markup
- FAQ markup is structured data, usually the schema.org FAQPage type written as JSON-LD, that labels the questions and answers on a page so software can read them as pairs. For years Google used it to show expandable questions under a search result, then limited that display to a few government and health sites, and its documentation changelog says FAQ rich results stopped appearing altogether from May 7, 2026. The markup still describes a page accurately, so sites that keep it do so for other readers, not for a feature in Google's results.
- Sitemap
- A sitemap is a file, usually XML, that lists the pages of a website a search engine should know about, often with the date each one last changed. It helps crawlers find pages that few links point to and notice when a page is updated, which matters most for new sites and sites with many pages. A sitemap is a hint rather than an order: it does not guarantee that a page will be crawled or shown, and a page left out of it can still be found through links.
- IndexNow
- IndexNow is an open protocol a website uses to tell search engines that a page was added, updated or deleted, instead of waiting for their crawlers to notice. The site sends the changed addresses, up to 10,000 in one request by the protocol's own FAQ, with a key that shows it controls the domain, and the participating engines share each notice with one another. Bing, Yandex, Naver, Seznam.cz and Yep are on its list; Google is not. A notice makes quicker discovery more likely, but it does not guarantee indexing.
Software and projects
- CRM
- A CRM, short for customer relationship management, is the system a business uses to keep track of its customers and every conversation with them. At its simplest it is a shared list of people, each with their history and the next step, so no inquiry sits unanswered because it lives in one person's inbox. Off-the-shelf CRMs suit many businesses. A custom CRM is built around one team's own steps and reports, which makes sense when the standard products need too many workarounds to fit how the business runs.
- Client portal
- A client portal is a private area of a business's website or app where each customer signs in to see what concerns them: the status of their order or project, their invoices and payments, and the files shared with them. It replaces the email threads and phone calls a customer would otherwise need to ask the same questions. Because every customer sees only their own records, a portal needs logins, roles and careful rules about who can see what, which makes it software rather than a page.
- Ordering system
- An ordering system is the software a food or retail business uses to take orders ahead of time, on its own site or app, and to get each one to the people who prepare it. It holds the menu or catalog with its options and limits, offers pickup or delivery times, takes payment where the business chooses, and shows staff the orders in the sequence they are due. Unlike a delivery marketplace, a system the business owns keeps the customer and the order history with it and takes no commission from each order.
- Automation
- In a small business, automation means letting software carry out a routine task on its own when something triggers it, such as a booking, a paid invoice or a date on the calendar. The software follows a fixed rule each time: it sends the confirmation, copies the details into the right tool, drafts the document or alerts the right person. Automation suits tasks with clear steps that repeat often, and it frees people for the work that needs judgment; a plain automation decides nothing a rule has not spelled out.
- Webhook
- A webhook is a message one application sends to another the moment something happens, such as a payment clearing or a form being submitted. The sending app makes a web request to an address the receiving app has set up, with the details of the event attached, so the receiver can act at once instead of checking for changes every few minutes. Webhooks are how many tools connect: a payment service tells a store that an order is paid, or a booking tool tells a CRM about a new appointment.
- Care plan
- A care plan is a monthly agreement with a developer to look after a site once it is live: monitoring, backups, tested updates to the code it depends on, and a set allowance of small changes. It pays for upkeep, not for hosting or the domain, which stay on the owner's accounts, and not for new features, which are priced separately. The point is predictability: a fixed monthly line instead of an emergency bill when an update breaks something or a form quietly stops sending.
- Change order
- A change order is a short written agreement that adds to or alters the work after a project's scope has been signed. It says what changes, what it costs and how it moves the timeline, and the work starts only once the client approves it. Change orders keep a project honest in both directions: the client never finds a surprise on the final invoice, and the team building it is never asked to absorb new work that the original price did not include.
Start with a written plan
Tell us about the business and what you need. We reply with questions, then a written plan that lists the work and its price, and nothing starts until you have read it.