Glossary Roles
Roles
Someone has to make your catalog show up when a buyer asks ChatGPT for a Parker hose cross-reference. These terms name that person: the AI search specialist, the citation engineer, the GEO specialist. Mostly the same scope under different labels, and for most distributors it's a service outcome, not a full-time hire.
3 terms
AI search specialist
An AI search specialist is the person responsible for getting a brand mentioned and cited in AI engine answers, working across content structure, entity data, and evidence. The role consolidates near-identical job titles such as GEO specialist, AEO specialist, and AI SEO specialist, which describe the same scope under different names.
Citation engineer
A citation engineer is an emerging practitioner role focused on getting a brand cited in AI answers (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews) — structuring extractable content, building entity consistency, and tracking citations. Distinct from local-SEO "citation building" (NAP directory listings). Today it is typically bought as a service outcome rather than filled as a standardized job title.
GEO specialist
A GEO (generative engine optimization) specialist makes a brand visible inside AI answer engines such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude and Google's AI Overviews — implementing structured data, building entity and corroboration signals, controlling AI-crawler access (GPTBot, PerplexityBot, ClaudeBot, Google-Extended), and prompt-testing how often the brand is cited. Roughly synonymous with "AEO specialist."
Find the hole. Then decide.
Most owners think they need more leads. They usually don’t. The calls that ring out and the quotes nobody chased are a bigger hole than the ad budget. Either way you leave with the numbers: the exact gap and the highest-payback fix, whether or not you hire us.