Function Calling
When a model, instead of answering from memory, asks to run a specific tool — look up a price, check stock — and uses the result. It is what turns a chat assistant into something that can act.
Related terms
Grounding
Giving an AI real source material to answer from, instead of letting it rely on memory. A grounded answer can be checked and cited; an ungrounded one is where hallucinations come from.
Topical Authority
Being recognised as a reliable source on a subject rather than on a single keyword, usually by covering it thoroughly and consistently. It is what makes a small site beat a bigger one in a narrow field.
Training Data
The text, images or code a model learned from. It shapes everything the model knows and every bias it carries, and it is why what your website said two years ago may still be what an assistant repeats.
Content Freshness
How recently a page was published or genuinely updated. It matters most for things that change — prices, availability, guidance — and matters little for things that do not.
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.
AI Bias
When a system produces unfair results because its training data reflected an unfair world. It matters commercially as well as ethically: a biased model makes confidently wrong decisions about real people.