Explainability
How well a system can show why it reached a decision. It matters most where the decision affects somebody — a loan, a diagnosis, a job application — and “the model said so” is not an answer.
Related terms
Neural Network
A system of simple connected units, loosely inspired by the brain, that learns patterns from examples rather than following rules somebody wrote. Nearly all modern AI is built on one.
Prompt Engineering
The craft of writing instructions that get reliable results from an AI — being specific, giving examples, saying what to avoid. Less mysterious than it sounds, and mostly the same skill as briefing a new colleague well.
RDFa
Another attribute-based markup standard for embedding machine-readable facts in a page. Less common on business websites than JSON-LD, and largely equivalent in what it can express.
Long-Tail Query
A longer, more specific search — “boutique hotel Siem Reap near Pub Street with a pool” rather than “hotel”. Individually rare, collectively most of all searches, and far easier to answer well.
AI Referral Traffic
Visitors who arrive from an AI assistant rather than a search engine. Usually small in number and unusually well-qualified, because they clicked after reading a recommendation.
Zero-Click Search
A search where the person gets their answer on the results page and never visits a website. Common for opening hours, definitions and conversions — and increasingly common for everything else as AI answers grow.