Funnel content glossary: 40 terms in plain English

This glossary defines 40 terms you will meet when planning content by funnel stage, from TOFU (top of funnel), MOFU (middle of funnel) and BOFU (bottom of funnel) to scaled content abuse, key events and IndexNow. Each definition is one to three sentences in plain English. Where Google has its own wording for a term, we quote it or follow it closely.

Terms are grouped alphabetically. Where a term is the subject of its own article in this chapter, the definition points you there. For AI search terms beyond the funnel, such as crawlers and llms.txt, see our GEO and AEO glossary.

A and B

AEO (answer engine optimization): Work that helps a page be used as a direct answer by search engines and AI assistants: a clear answer near the top, well-structured headings and accurate facts. Google says optimizing for its generative AI features "is optimizing for the search experience, and thus still SEO."

AI Overviews and AI Mode: Google's generative AI features in Search. AI Overviews appear on some results pages, and Google says they "often don't trigger"; in AI Mode, people can ask follow-up questions. Google says "There are no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode, nor other special optimizations necessary."

Anchor text: The clickable words of a link. Google describes good anchor text as "descriptive, reasonably concise, and relevant to the page that it's on and to the page it links to."

Answer box: A short, direct answer placed near the top of an article, before the detail. On one of our builds it was 40 to 70 words. It is a page element, not a Google feature.

BOFU (bottom of funnel): The decide stage. The reader is ready to choose a provider or product and wants pricing, proof, what to expect and an easy way to get in touch. Full definitions and examples are in what TOFU, MOFU and BOFU mean in search.

Byline: The line naming who wrote, and sometimes who reviewed, a page. Google says "We strongly encourage adding accurate authorship information, such as bylines to content where readers might expect it."

C

Call to action (CTA): The next step a page offers, such as reading another article, downloading a checklist, booking a call or filling in a form. A good CTA fits the reader's stage.

Canonical: The version of a page you want search engines to treat as the main one when several URLs carry the same or similar content. Google calls a rel="canonical" link "a strong signal," as it does a redirect, and treats sitemap inclusion as a weak one.

Cannibalization: When two or more pages on your own site try to answer the same question, so they compete with each other instead of supporting each other. The fix is usually to merge them or to give each a distinct job. See how to map every article to a money page without cannibalization.

Cluster: A group of articles on one topic, each answering its own question and linking to a pillar page and to each other.

Commodity content: Content that says what many other pages already say. Google's AI optimization guide contrasts a generic "7 Tips for First-Time Homebuyers" with a first-hand, non-commodity piece and encourages the latter.

Content group: A GA4 setting that lets you report on pages as a set. Google: "Content groups let you categorize pages and screens into custom buckets." Tagging pages by funnel stage is one use.

D to F

Dated-fact register: A list of facts in your content that are scheduled to change, such as a rule expiring on a set date, each with the date to recheck it. It is a house practice, not a Google requirement.

Doorway abuse: A Google spam policy. "Doorway abuse is when sites or pages are created to rank for specific, similar search queries." Pages "targeted at specific regions or cities that funnel users to one page" are a listed example.

E-E-A-T: Google's shorthand for content that "demonstrates aspects of experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness." Google says "E-E-A-T itself isn't a specific ranking factor" and "trust is most important." Our article on YMYL and E-E-A-T applies it to mental health sites.

Expert review: A check of a draft by a qualified practitioner, such as a doctor or attorney, before the page is published or made indexable. Recording the reviewer and date makes the step traceable.

FAQPage: A schema.org type for a page that presents frequently asked questions. Google stopped showing FAQ rich results for all sites on May 7, 2026, so the markup no longer earns a special result in Google. Visible FAQs can still help readers.

Funnel: A simple model of how a buyer moves from first learning about a problem to choosing a provider. Real buyers skip stages and go back, so treat it as a planning tool, not a fixed path.

G to I

Gap analysis: Comparing the content you have, tagged by stage and money page, with the questions customers actually ask, to find what is missing.

Generative AI performance report: A Search Console report rolled out to all websites as of August 31, 2026. As of October 2026 it shows impressions from AI Overviews and AI Mode, by page, country, date and device. Its help page lists impressions only, with no clicks or queries.

GEO (generative engine optimization): Work aimed at being accurately described and cited by AI systems such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Google's AI features. It builds on SEO, and no one can guarantee placement in an AI answer.

Hub: A page that lists every article in a guide, usually grouped and ordered by stage, so readers and search engines can find them all. See pillar pages, hubs and clusters explained.

IndexNow: An open protocol for telling participating search engines that a URL was added, updated or deleted. As of October 2026, participants include Bing and Yandex; Google is not on IndexNow's list of participating engines. Submitting a URL "does not guarantee immediate indexing."

Internal link: A link from one page on your site to another. Google: "Every page you care about should have a link from at least one other page on your site." A page with no internal links pointing to it is called an orphan page.

K to M

Key event: GA4's name for an important action, defined as "an event that measures an action that's particularly important to the success of your business." You mark an event as a key event under Admin, Data display, Events.

Lastmod: The last-modified date in an XML sitemap. Google "uses the <lastmod> value if it's consistently and verifiably … accurate," and it should reflect the last significant change, not a copyright date.

MOFU (middle of funnel): The compare stage. The reader knows what they need and is weighing options, approaches and costs. Comparison and cost pages live here.

Money page: The page that turns a reader into a lead or a sale, such as a service, product, location or booking page. Every funnel article should feed one.

N to P

Next link (read-next): A link at the end of an article that hands the reader to the next stage: TOFU to a MOFU article, MOFU to a BOFU article or service page, BOFU to the contact form.

Noindex: A rule that tells search engines not to show a page. Google "will drop that page entirely from Google Search results, regardless of whether other sites link to it." The page must not be blocked in robots.txt, or the crawler never sees the rule.

Pillar page: A long page that answers the head topic of a guide and links out to the cluster articles that go deeper. A pillar can also act as the hub.

Q and R

Query fan-out: A technique Google says AI Overviews and AI Mode "may use": "issuing multiple related searches across subtopics and data sources" to develop a response. Google warns that building separate pages for every fan-out variation, primarily to manipulate rankings or AI answers, violates its scaled content abuse policy.

Related list: A short set of links to other articles in the guide, chosen to cross stages so a reader can go forward or back.

Research file: A list of the facts an article may state, each with a first-party source URL and a check date, plus a list of what could not be verified. Writers state only what is in the file.

S to Y

Scaled content abuse: A Google spam policy: "when many pages are generated for the primary purpose of manipulating search rankings and not helping users," "no matter how it's created." Google sets no page count. See big content guides without breaking Google's scaled content policy.

Search intent: The reason behind a search. It is often grouped as informational, navigational, commercial or transactional, which map loosely to TOFU, MOFU and BOFU.

Sitemap: A file listing the URLs you want search engines to find. Google calls submitting one "merely a hint" and ignores the priority and changefreq values.

Structured data: Code, usually JSON-LD, that labels what a page contains. Google's rule: "Don't mark up content that is not visible to readers of the page." It also says structured data "isn't required for generative AI search."

TOFU (top of funnel): The learn stage. The reader has a problem or question and wants an explanation, not a sales pitch.

YMYL (Your Money or Your Life): Google's rater guidelines use this for topics that "could significantly impact the health, financial stability, or safety of people, or the welfare or well-being of society." They also say "Many or most topics are not YMYL."

Conclusion

Most of these terms describe simple ideas: what a reader needs at each stage, which page an article supports, and how to keep a large guide accurate and useful. Where Google has published a definition, use its wording rather than a paraphrase from a blog. To see how the terms fit together in practice, read our pillar on how we build TOFU, MOFU and BOFU content, and if you want help planning a guide, see our content marketing services. More guides are in our GEO and AEO Guide.

Frequently asked questions