diff --git a/.github/scripts/validate-changelog-yaml.py b/.github/scripts/validate-changelog-yaml.py
index 5664a37c404c..0b94cea019e1 100644
--- a/.github/scripts/validate-changelog-yaml.py
+++ b/.github/scripts/validate-changelog-yaml.py
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@
 - All top-level keys are valid (title, type, issues, links, important_notes, modules, authors)
 - Deprecated keys (merge_requests, configurations) are not used
 - Contains required 'title' field (non-empty string)
-- Contains required 'type' field (one of: added, changed, fixed, deprecated, removed, dependency_update, security, other)
+- Contains required 'type' field (one of: added, changed, fixed, optimized, deprecated, removed, dependency_update, security, other)
 - Contains required 'authors' field with at least one author
 - Each author has a 'name' field (non-empty string)
 - Contains either 'links' or 'issues' field (or both)
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@
 
 def validate_changelog_yaml(file_path):
     """Validate a changelog YAML file."""
-    valid_types = ['added', 'changed', 'fixed', 'deprecated', 'removed', 'dependency_update', 'security', 'other']
+    valid_types = ['added', 'changed', 'fixed', 'optimized', 'deprecated', 'removed', 'dependency_update', 'security', 'other']
     valid_keys = ['title', 'type', 'issues', 'links', 'important_notes', 'modules', 'authors']
     deprecated_keys = ['merge_requests', 'configurations']
     not_allowed_text = ['DELETE ALL COMMENTS UP HERE', 'Most such changes are too small']
diff --git a/changelog/logchange-config.yml b/changelog/logchange-config.yml
index c25458d09cb0..eacf040011f1 100644
--- a/changelog/logchange-config.yml
+++ b/changelog/logchange-config.yml
@@ -28,16 +28,18 @@ changelog:
       order: 3
     - key: fixed
       order: 4
-    - key: deprecated
+    - key: optimized
       order: 5
-    - key: removed
+    - key: deprecated
       order: 6
-    - key: dependency_update
+    - key: removed
       order: 7
-    - key: security
+    - key: dependency_update
       order: 8
-    - key: other
+    - key: security
       order: 9
+    - key: other
+      order: 10
   labels:
     unreleased: unreleased
     important_notes: Important notes
@@ -46,6 +48,7 @@ changelog:
         added: Added
         changed: Changed
         fixed: Fixed
+        optimized: Optimized
         deprecated: Deprecated
         removed: Removed
         dependency_update: Dependency Upgrades
diff --git a/dev-docs/changelog.adoc b/dev-docs/changelog.adoc
index ee503457a9ed..117c1a575fbf 100644
--- a/dev-docs/changelog.adoc
+++ b/dev-docs/changelog.adoc
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ Below is an example of a changelog yaml fragment. The full yaml format is https:
 [source, yaml]
 ----
 title: Fix nasty bug in CoreContainer shutdown
-# added, changed, fixed, deprecated, removed, dependency_update, security, other
+# added, changed, fixed, optimized, deprecated, removed, dependency_update, security, other
 type: fixed
 authors:
   - name: John Contributor
@@ -138,7 +138,7 @@ which will output to `stdout`:
 ----
 title: Removed TikaLanguageIdentifierUpdateProcessor. Use LangDetectLanguageIdentifierUpdateProcessor
   or OpenNLPLangDetectUpdateProcessor instead.
-type: other # added, changed, fixed, deprecated, removed, dependency_update, security, other
+type: other # added, changed, fixed, optimized, deprecated, removed, dependency_update, security, other
 authors:
 - name: janhoy
 links:
diff --git a/gradle/changelog.gradle b/gradle/changelog.gradle
index aa9c32a13a39..50c134bacb8a 100644
--- a/gradle/changelog.gradle
+++ b/gradle/changelog.gradle
@@ -69,8 +69,9 @@ task writeChangelog {
 
 # type:
 #  `added` for new features/improvements, opt-in by the user typically documented in the ref guide
-#  `changed` for improvements; not opt-in
+#  `changed` for behavior improvements; not opt-in
 #  `fixed` for improvements that are deemed to have fixed buggy behavior
+#  `optimized` for performance improvements with no functional changes
 #  `deprecated` for marking things deprecated
 #  `removed` for code removed
 #  `dependency_update` for updates to dependencies