As a digital marketer, getting overwhelmed by the amount of new and unfamiliar terms is easy. We know many terms but do not understand the function or correct meaning for those specific terms. This article will explain the “ins and outs” of SEO terms. This glossary will help clear any confusion with its informative definitions of standard SEO terms. You’ll be better equipped to make smart decisions about your digital marketing efforts.
A
Above the Fold
The content that appears on a website above the fold is critical. This is where people first see your site, and if something isn’t interesting there, they’ll go elsewhere. To ensure you have a positive impression with visitors, Google created the Page Layout Algorithm in 2012 to lower the rankings of websites featuring too many ads in this space.
Google developed the page layout algorithm to penalize websites with too many ads above the fold. This means you should consider moving your ads to a less prominent position on your website or avoid displaying adverts in this area altogether.
AJAX
AJAX, or Asynchronous JavaScript and XML, is a technique that allows a web page to send and receive data from a server without reloading it. This can provide an improved browsing experience by making Web pages more interactive and responsive.
Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP)
Created by Google, Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) is an HTML framework for creating stripped-down, fast-loading web page versions optimized for mobile. This enables you to load content quickly on any device and in any context.
Alt Text
Alt text is the text description of an image on a web page. It helps screen readers and search engines understand what an image is about so that anyone can get more out of the content they’re reading.
Anchor Text
Search engines use anchor text to help them understand what the linked page is about and for people visiting a website to understand what they will see when they click on that link.
Algorithm
Algorithms are a primary component of search engines and help determine which results are presented first, whether an image, a web page, or something else. Search engines use a combination of algorithms to deliver ranked web pages via a results page based on several ranking factors and signals. Learning how algorithms work can help you understand how your website’s position in search results is calculated and give you insight into industry trends that may influence future developments.
Algorithm Change
Algorithmic changes are a part of life for all users. They impact everyone but can be especially noticeable for those who use the platform frequently. Changes typically take several weeks to complete their roll-out across all users and platforms. Algorithm changes can come in the form of an update, refresh, or new algorithm. An update is a change that affects the signals used to rank content on a page. A refresh re-runs an existing algorithm using the same signals as last time. A new algorithm introduces fresh signals and methods to improve search quality.
Analytics
Analytics is collecting, analyzing, and interpreting data to take future action based on what has or hasn’t worked historically. Analytics helps you analyze your customers, understand their wants, and how they interact with your products.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Artificial Intelligence is a branch of computer science that deals with making computers mimic human intelligence, particularly learning. AI does not attempt to mimic biological brains; but instead uses large amounts of data to learn from experience and to achieve goals like driving cars, facial recognition, speech recognition, and language translation.
Article Spinning
Article spinning is a process of rewriting and paraphrasing a text to create unique versions of itself. It’s similar to article rewriting, but instead of rewording an entire article, the emphasis is on creating multiple versions without losing the original meaning or structure.
Article Syndication
Article syndication is a method of increasing your website’s visibility by publishing your content on other sites. When you syndicate an article, it shows up on another site, where readers can click through and read it. It is a content marketing strategy that can help you increase brand awareness and drive more traffic to your website. It can also provide positive ROI from organic search engine results when done correctly.
Auto-Generated Content
Auto-generated content is a type of machine-generated content that’s automatically created using a program or code. This can include descriptions of products and services, product lists, and social media posts.
B
Backlink
Backlinks are links from one page on one website to another. Search engines analyze the quality of a backlink to estimate how important a page is. They also consider how many other websites link to it and whether those links are from high-quality sites with relevant content.
Baidu
Baidu is the most popular search engine in China. Baidu was founded in January 2000 and quickly became one of the highest-traffic sites in China. Baidu has more than 500 million users, most of whom use it to search the web, look up images and videos, listen to music, and watch videos. It can be accessed through the desktop or mobile app and offers its users various functions, including news search and mobile maps.
Bing
Bing is a search engine developed by Microsoft. It was launched in June 2009 and replaced MSN Search and Windows Live Search. Bing allows users to search for information on the internet, including images, news, and video.
Black Hat
Black-Hat is an umbrella term for using strategies and tactics that violate search engine guidelines. Using Black Hat involves finding loopholes in search engine algorithms and leveraging them to rank higher than your competitors. Black Hat is effective but risky because it often results in penalties or other consequences by Google and other worldwide search engines.
Bounce Rate
Bounce rate is the percentage of visitors that take no further action after landing on a website. In other words, it’s the percentage of people who land on your home page and immediately leave without clicking through to look at any other pages on your site.
Branded Keywords
Branded keywords are the words and phrases associated with your brand, products, or services. They have the highest search volume and generate traffic and leads, so choosing the right ones is important.
Breadcrumb
Breadcrumb links are a navigational element that helps users quickly figure out where they are within a website. They show the user’s location in the site hierarchy and show how to return to the previous page.
Bridge Page
A bridge page is a specific type of landing page. It consists of a single, focused purpose: to send visitors elsewhere. Affiliate marketers commonly use them to direct visitors to an external website, where they can make purchases or sign up for a service.
Broken Link
Broken links are links to pages that have been moved or are no longer available. This can happen when the website has been redesigned or updated, leading to broken links. Broken links can be internal or external links. Broken links cause people searching for content to be misled and waste their time, who end up leaving the site without understanding its purpose.
C
Cache
A cache is a technology that temporarily stores web content, such as images, to minimize future page loading times by keeping resources on your device instead of downloading them again each time you visit the same site.
Canonical URL
A canonical URL is a single web address that a website owner has chosen as the preferred address for their content to reduce duplicity. This may differ from a page’s actual address on the internet, but it has the same content and can point to different pages on your site. Canonicalization helps search engines index your site more easily; most importantly, it ensures that visitors will stay aware of the links across various versions of your site.
Citation
Citations are an essential part of local SEO. Citations are simple lists of your business’s information that make up the foundation of your online presence and include your business name, address, phone number, and other contact information on other websites or directories. Citations can drive traffic to your website and improve your search engine ranking by improving your PageRank on Google Maps.
Click-Through Rate (CTR)
The click-through rate (CTR) is the average number of times people click on a search result. It’s calculated as the total number of clicks divided by the total number of impressions. A high click-through rate can help improve your ranking in organic search results, as Google pays more attention to websites that people actively want to visit.
CMS
CMS is an acronym for Content Management System. It’s a web-based application that lets people create, upload, and manage digital assets. CMS users can manage pages and content on their websites without writing code or learning how to use complex software applications.
Co-Citation
Co-citation is a method of establishing subject similarity on the internet. It works by two websites or webpages being mentioned together by a third-party website, and this information is recorded in search engine indexing.
Comment Spam
Comment spam is a problem in the comments section of websites and blogs, where automated scripts leave inappropriate, irrelevant, or promotional comments. They disrupt conversations, skew popular sentiment, and make it harder to find actual user feedback.
Competition
Every business has competition, but not all of them are the same. Some might be your direct competition, while others are indirect. You may not be able to compete with them directly, but they could affect your business in indirect ways that you need to realize. Knowing who they are and how they operate will help you make informed decisions about moving forward and staying ahead of the curve.
Content
Your content is the heart and soul of your website, so it must be engaging, informative, and relevant. Content is any form of text, image, or video that provides unique value to the user. It tells Google about your site and gives it something to rank you for. The more relevant and authoritative your content, the better your rankings will be
Conversion
Conversion is the action of a user completing a desired action on a website. A conversion can be as simple as clicking on an ad or purchasing a product or more complex as signing up for an email newsletter and later buying something from that site.
Conversion Rate
The conversion rate is the number of people who completed your desired action divided by total website visitors. In other words, it shows how often someone is converting on your website rather than just looking at it.
Core Update
When Google makes broad changes to its core algorithm, it’s considered a core update. Core updates happen several times a year and are non-specific. This help understands how your website’s performance on search engines and helps identify ranking issues or problems with bad links.
Core Web Vitals
The Core Web Vitals signals are a set of metrics that measure the page’s performance related to user experience. Containing metrics such as time on site, pages per session, and bounce rate, Core Web Vitals are the main signals that indicate a good user experience. Core Web Vitals is a tool that provides actionable insights into three vital areas: contentful paint (LCP), interactivity (FID), and visual stability (CLS). Each one is measured in milliseconds, so they can be used as a comparative tool to understand how each successive change impacts the overall site loading time.
Crawl Error
Crawl errors occur when a search engine bot cannot crawl a particular web page. This could happen for various reasons, including the website being temporarily down, the page has been removed from the site, or a URL not on the web anymore, but the most common are HTTP errors and a missing robots.txt file.
Crawler
A crawler, also known as a bot, spider, or web crawler, is a computer program that browses the web systematically and automatedly. Search engines use crawlers to visit web pages and collect information. Crawlers visit websites, retrieve the information they find on those pages, then add it to their databases. The crawler adds or updates a search engine’s index so that you’re shown relevant results from that site or domain when you search for keywords.
Crawling
Crawling is an essential part of indexing the web. It’s how search engines like Google get their information, by downloading it from billions of public web pages. They crawl the web daily and update their indexes to include all the most relevant content.
CSS
Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) let you describe the appearance of a webpage. HTML defines the structure of your document, while CSS provides the colors, fonts, and layout details that make it look nice.
D
Data
Data is key for every decision you make about your business. The correct data can help you understand and optimize your customers, identify new opportunities, and debunk myths. It gives you the who, what, where, when, why, and how of customers -all the complex numbers that represent real people.
Dead-End Page
A dead-end page is a single web page that links to no other web pages. The user or bot that visits the site will be able to see the content of your page, but will not be able to move forward.
De-index
De-indexing is when Google removes a website or webpage, either temporarily or permanently, from its search results. De-indexing can be the result of violating Google’s Webmaster Guidelines, or it may occur as punishment for manual actions taken against your site by Google.
Direct Traffic
Direct Traffic is traffic that arrives on your website directly. The term “direct” implies that this traffic did not come from any other website. It could be users typing the URL into their browser or clicking on a bookmark, but it also includes any traffic that Google Analytics can’t determine its source.
Directory
A directory is a collection of websites. They are often organized by category or subject and can be presented as a list categorized by topic or industry. Inclusion in a directory may be free or paid – some directories charge the site owner to be included, while others are just a list of sites that editors chose. A web directory can help visitors quickly find the necessary information by separating it into categories.
Disavow
Suppose your site’s link profile includes many spammy, artificial, low-quality outbound links. In that case, it’s possible that they may be hurting your rankings or reputation. The Disavow Tool allows you to tell Google not to count these links in its ranking algorithms.
Do-follow
A link that doesn’t use the nofollow attribute. This type of link, which is found in blogs, news articles, and all kinds of other places on the web, still counts toward your site’s ranking algorithm.
Domain
A domain is the name, or address, of your website. It ends with a suffix like .com, .org, or .net. A domain name is the website address you type in for any website. For example, www.semtitans.com is our domain, and www.google.com is for Google, the popular one.
Domain Age
Domain age is when a website was first registered up to the current date. This can give you an idea of how long a domain has been active and used by its owner.
Domain Authority
Domain Authority is a score, ranging from 0 – 100 that predicts how well a website will rank in search results. Website Domain Authority is a score for the overall strength of a website. It’s based on different aspects of the site, like who owns it and the number of links to it. The higher your domain authority, the easier it is for you to rank in search results.
Domain History
Domain history is a record of all the activity that has taken place on a particular domain. It includes backlinks, previous website content, and any penalties. If a prior website on a domain received a penalty, this will remain attached to the domain and cause issues for the new owner. Always check domain history before purchasing a domain.
DuckDuckGo
DuckDuckGo is an Internet search engine with built-in features that help users protect their privacy and avoid being tracked by sites, such as blocking third-party ads and scripts that track users’ personal information.
Duplicate Content
Duplicate content refers to a web page that contains substantially similar content to another web page. Duplicate content can take many forms, including image files with identical file names, articles with the same structure or body text but with different titles, and pages that have been created by search engine spiders crawling and indexing the same source code multiple times.
Dwell Time
Dwell time measures how long visitors stay on your site after clicking on a search result. It’s important because the longer someone spends on your site, the more likely they will take action and buy from you. Short dwell time can be an indicator of low-quality content to search engines.
E
E-A-T
E-A-T stands for expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. It is a signal that Google uses to determine the quality of content on the web and whether or not that page is likely relevant to their search query. E-A-T is not a direct ranking factor, but it impacts how well a page performs in search results and how your business will rank in SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages).
E-commerce
E-commerce is the buying, selling, or exchanging goods or services through electronic systems. It’s a great way to expand your market reach while reducing costs and improving customer service.
Editorial Link
A link is given by one website to another without the recipient asking or paying for it. This can be your editorial content or a reference within an article. The receiving website may be a news site, blog, or third-party publication. Bloggers often use editorial links when they want to share links to other websites with their readers.
.edu Links
Educational-focused institutions have a top-level domain (TLD) of .edu. These sites are thought to have more value for link building, so link builders targeted them. A .edu link has been considered a hard-to-get link and linked to higher rankings until Google devalued .edu links. As with all links, it is important to target relevant sites that fit with your brand and overall strategy
Engagement Metrics
Engagement metrics help us understand how our users engage with our content and what works and what doesn’t. These metrics can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of a specific piece of content, for example, click-through rate, conversion rate, bounce rate, and time on page/site.
External Link
An external link is a link from one website to another. You can use these links in your blog posts or on your site. An excellent way to cross-promote your site is by linking it to another site. If you’re linking to an external site, ensure that the link goes directly to the destination page rather than opening a new window or tab.
F
Featured Snippet
The featured snippet block is a particular block of text that appears above the organic search results. It includes a summary of what the page is about, along with relevant links and photos.
Findability
The findability of your content is of paramount importance to the success of your website. The more easily users can locate the information they need, and the more likely search engines will find and index that content, the better your website will perform.
First Link Priority
First Link Priority is the concept that Google treats links differently if two links on a webpage point to the same page. This means adding links to your site should be done on a user-first basis, with links added in cases where they would be relevant to the text. Google does not have a preference for which link it sees first.
Footer Link
Footer links are links that appear at the bottom of a website. These links are usually primary navigation links and may contain other important information such as contact info, legal disclaimers, etc.
Freshness
Freshness refers to how recently a piece of content was published online. Google considers fresh content more valuable, giving a higher ranking to sites with new content over stale pages.
G
Google is a search engine that allows people to find information online. Google also provides tools for webmasters to help them create and run websites, advertise their sites, find out about the traffic to their websites, and get information about the users of their websites.
Google Analytics
Google Analytics is a free web analytics program that allows you to monitor, analyze and track traffic to your website. You can view reports on user interactions, content performance, and more.
Googlebot
Googlebot is the web crawling system Google uses to find and add new websites and webpages to its index. It also allows website owners to add their sites to Google Search.
Google Hummingbird
Hummingbird is an update to Google’s search algorithm that was first announced in September 2013. Hummingbird was launched to improve Google’s understanding of the meaning behind queries. Previously, Google searched for particular keywords and only returned results based on those keywords. Hummingbird changed that by focusing on how words relate to each other to provide better answers.
Google My Business
Google My Business provides the tools you need to create and manage your Google Business Profile. It’s a free service that helps people find you, drives more traffic to your website and allows you to engage customers with customized information about your business, including opening hours, photos, and more.
Google Panda Algorithm
The Panda algorithm was initially launched in February 2011, to reduce the visibility of low-quality content, often produced by “content farms”. In 2016, Panda became part of Google’s core ranking algorithm and several other updates.
Google Penalty
A Google penalty means that your site has been found to be violating Google’s webmaster quality guidelines. A website can be penalized for many reasons, including having duplicate content on your site and buying links to boost your website’s ranking.
Google Penguin Algorithm
Google Penguin is a core Google algorithm that started running in real-time as part of the core ranking algorithm in 2016. The goal of the Penguin update was to reduce the visibility of overly-optimized sites or sites that excessively abused specific spammy tactics like building low-quality links and keyword stuffing.
Google Pigeon Update
Google Pigeon Update was a major update released in July 2014 by Google to improve the accuracy and relevance of local searches, by leveraging more traditional Google ranking signals. The update included distance and location ranking parameters improvements and focused on exact-match keyword results.
Google RankBrain
RankBrain was a significant Google algorithm change introduced in October 2015. It added machine learning to its algorithm and has been called the third most important ranking signal. In June 2016, it was revealed that RankBrain had been involved in every query and impacted rankings.
Google Sandbox
It is well-known that Google likes to see websites with established domain names and authority. The theory of the sandboxing effect is that new sites might be given a lower priority for ranking factors like link profiles or high-quality content just because they are new and have yet to prove themselves.
Google Search Console
Google Search Console is a suite of tools for monitoring and improving your site’s presence in Google Search. It provides several helpful features, including monitoring sites for indexing errors, site speed, and security issues. These pages are also used to communicate manual actions.
Google Trends
Google Trends lets you look at the latest search trends, stories, and topics. You can see how often a word or phrase has been searched in the past few hours or days and explore related searches and data visualizations of your results.
Google Webmaster Tools
Google Webmaster Tools, now Google Search Console, is a free tool by Google that allows users to check how their website is performing in the search results, understand how changes may impact their content on Google, and diagnose specific issues such as malware or hacked sites.
.gov Links
Government organizations have a top-level domain (TLD) of .gov. These links are trusted by search engines and can provide increased traffic to your site. They are also part of a branding strategy, demonstrating that your company is trustworthy and professional.
Gray Hat
Gray Hat is a term used to describe practices that don’t adhere strictly to the Google Webmaster Guidelines and are therefore considered questionable or even forbidden by Google. They’re not as bad as black hats because they aren’t trying to steal money from people and don’t use any malicious code to take over sites or damage them in any way. However, they still bring down the overall quality of search results by using spammy practices that Google will penalize if discovered, such as spamming.
Guest Blogging
Guest blogging is the practice of writing and publishing a blog post on another person or company’s website. Guest posts can be a great way to increase your brand visibility, build relationships with influencers in an industry, generate backlinks to your site, and drive traffic back to your content.
Guestographic
Guestographics are a great way to get your infographic published on another website. You have complete control over what you post and where it’s published.
H
Heading
Heading tags (H1-H6) separate your content into sections, based on importance. H1 is the most important, while H6 is the least important. Using titles in your headlines can help improve search engine rankings, so it’s worth ensuring that each headline includes a relevant keyword or phrase and is formatted correctly to match the heading level at which you want it to appear in search results.
Headline
Your headline is your best chance to grab a user’s attention and capture their interest. Use this tag to describe the page’s main topic or purpose, like the H1 tag.
Head Term
Head Term is a difficult keyword to rank for, but it has a high search volume and generally attracts many click throughs.
Hidden Text
Hidden text is any text that a user can’t see and is intended to manipulate search rankings by loading webpages with content-rich keywords and copy. This can be done using CSS or JavaScript to push text off-screen or too small to read, the same color as the background. This technique is against Google’s Webmaster Guidelines and can result in a manual action.
Hilltop Algorithm
Google adopted the Hilltop algorithm in 2003 to identify authoritative web pages to rank. The algorithm identifies authoritative pages based on three key signals: hub links, citation flow, and the importance of sites linking to you.
HITS Algorithm
HITS Algorithm is an algorithm that assesses the value of a website based on both content and inbound links, as well as its outbound links. With this information, we can see how influential a page is in terms of the number of sites linking to it and the quality of those sites.
Homepage
A homepage is the first page that shows up when you open a website. It can be considered a gateway to your website, allowing users to navigate all its pages and elements.
.htaccess File
The .htaccess file is a server configuration file that can be used to rewrite and redirect URLs. It is beneficial for website performance, security, and maintenance.
HTML
HTML stands for Hypertext Markup Language. HTML is a markup language that’s used to create webpages. HTML tags are specific code elements that can be used to improve the effectiveness of search engine optimization for web pages and websites. These tags define how information on your pages should be displayed in search results, making it easier for users to find what they’re looking for. They are written in the <> brackets, like: <div>, <b>, <span>.
HTTP
The Hypertext Transfer Protocol is a set of rules that define how data is transferred between a computer server and a web browser. This means that when you click on a link on a website, HTTP helps ensure that the page loads quickly and reliably.
HTTPS
HTTPS is a protocol that protects the transmission of data over a network, preventing others from seeing what you send or receive. HTTPS is a minor Google ranking factor, so if you want to be taken seriously as a business, you should use it.
Hub Page
A hub page is a central resource-like page or article continually updated with new content and links to other topically relevant web pages. Hub pages typically contain useful information and resources, organized to make it easy for people to find what they’re looking for quickly.
I
Inbound Link
An inbound link is a link to a webpage that originates from an external website. A link from an authoritative site to yours can help improve the authority and ranking of your site, as well as increase traffic.
Index
Indexes are used to store and retrieve information gathered during the crawling process. Indexes can be created for any website but are especially useful to search engines that rely on their indexes to quickly find the content they have indexed in the past.
Indexability
The indexability of a site is how easily a search engine bot can understand and add the page to its index. This is important because the higher a site is ranked in the search results, the more likely users will find it.
Indexed Page
When a search engine crawler finds a web page and adds it to the index, it is considered an indexed page. An indexed page is eligible to appear in search results for relevant queries.
Information Architecture
Information architecture is the structural design of a system. It concerns how a website is organized, where various content and navigational elements are located on web pages, and how users can access all this information.
Information Retrieval
Information retrieval is the process of searching for information in a large database, such as the web or an electronic library. The user enters a query in some form, like a word or phrase, and retrieves relevant documents from the database according to the criteria specified by the query.
Internal Link
Internal links connect one page on a website to another page on the same site rather than linking to content on another. Internal links can be an effective way for users to navigate your site and find what they’re looking for quickly.
IP Address
A dedicated IP address is a single address used by one website. It can be shared among multiple servers and hosted websites, but only one site can use the address at any given time. If you have a dedicated IP address, it can help speed up your site since there is no competition for its use with other sites.
J
JavaScript (JS)
JavaScript is a programming language that allows you to add interactivity to web pages. It can be used for many things, including making websites feel more responsive and providing users with more information about what they’re viewing on a page.
K
Keyword
A keyword is a word, set of words, or phrases that describe what users are searching for. The most successful websites include a variety of keywords in their content, such as long-tail keywords, i.e., three or more words, and short-tail keywords, i.e., one or two words.
Keyword Cannibalization
Keyword cannibalization occurs when a website has multiple pages ranking for the same keyword in search engine results. This can have negative impacts on CTR and conversion rates, as well as diminish your overall authority on the topic.
Keyword Density
The more times a keyword or phrase appears on a web page, the more important it is for that keyword. While it can still help understand what your potential customers might be searching for, there is no ideal percentage of how much of your content should include the keywords you want to target.
Keyword Research
Keyword research is the process of discovering any relevant topics, subjects, and terms searchers enter into search engines. This practice is made possible by a variety of free and paid tools. These tools allow you to discover what people are searching for on the internet, their intent behind these searches, as well as how competitive these keywords are.
Keyword Prominence
Keyword prominence is a way to influence the ranking of your website by placing a keyword in a higher position on the page. For example, putting your keyword at the beginning of a paragraph or above the fold can help you rank better for that search term.
Keyword Stemming
Keyword stemming is Google’s ability to understand the variations of a keyword and is part of its algorithm. Plural forms, such as “shoes” or “bikes”, are treated by Google as the same as singulars “shoe” or “bike”. This feature makes it easier for you to target specific terms in your content without worrying about different spelling variations for each variation.
Keyword Stuffing
Keyword stuffing is the practice of adding unrelated or repeating keywords beyond what is natural to a webpage to manipulate search engine rankings. This spam tactic is against Google’s Webmaster Guidelines and can result in manual action.
Knowledge Panel
The Knowledge Panel is a box that appears on the top or right rail of Google’s search results page for relevant queries. It displays facts and information about people, places, events, and things and links to related sites or Google searches.
KPI
A key performance indicator (KPI) is a metric used to evaluate the success of specific strategies, programs, and activities that contribute to an organization’s overall strategy. It can also be used to monitor one’s progress toward achieving a goal or objective.
L
Landing Page
A landing page is a type of web page that’s designed to convert visitors into leads and customers. A landing page should have a good call to action and focus on one or two things you want users to do.
Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI)
Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) is a method for analyzing keywords in a document or web page. It helps search engines identify the correct context of words and phrases because related terms often have similar contexts.
Lead
A lead is someone who has shown interest in your product or service and usually has provided their email address. Leads are typically further qualified by sales teams or used as an opportunity to convert into customers.
Link
Links connect one website to another and help users navigate the web. Links play an important role in how search engines evaluate and rank websites, so it’s important to not only choose your website’s name wisely but also to ensure all other pages on your site are linked together in a logical order.
Link Building
Link building is a process of getting other websites to link to pages on your website. Link building is a vital part of search engine optimization and can help increase rankings in Google, Bing, Yahoo and Ask, and other search engines.
Link Equity
Link Equity is a measure of a web page’s value in terms of its relevance, authority, and trust. Using Link Equity as an indicator, we can accurately identify which websites are important and have greater value to users than others by determining where their links come from across the web.
Link Profile
A link profile is a group of all links that point to a particular website. A site’s link profile quality can vary widely, depending on how they were acquired and the anchor text used.
Link Stability
Link stability measures how often links on a page are changed or updated. A link that consistently remains on a page over time and remains unchanged is considered to have high link stability.
Link spam
Link spam is the practice of intentionally creating and placing links to websites to improve search engine rankings. This can be done through various methods, such as purchasing links or posting irrelevant content on another website.
Local Search Marketing
Local search marketing is improving a local business’s online search visibility. It’s all about reaching out to potential customers searching for products and services like yours when they’re ready to buy.
Long-Tail Keyword
Long-tail keywords are precise multiple-word terms that often demonstrate higher purchase intent and have lower search volume.
M
Machine Learning
Machine learning is a subset of artificial intelligence and a key technology for enabling products and services to learn from data, understand it, and make predictions and decisions.
Manual Action
When Google manually reviews a website to confirm whether it has failed to comply with Google’s Webmaster guidelines, this action is referred to as a manual action. There are three types of manual actions: penalties, notices, and removals. The penalty may be assessed for the entire website or specific web pages.
Meta Description
Meta descriptions are short, descriptive summaries of the page that appear in search engine results. A well-written meta description can increase organic click-through rate by prompting users to click on the result link and visit your site.
Meta Keywords
Meta keywords are no longer used by search engines for ranking purposes but can still be used to help your web pages show up in more searches. It’s also a good way to add more information about the topic of your site.
Meta Tags
Meta tags are a primary method of providing search engines with information about the contents of your web pages. These tags describe the page content and can help search engines like Google find, interpret and display your site in their listings.
Metric
A metric is a measurable value, a standard against which you can assess performance. It can be any quantitative or qualitative measurement that helps a business define success. You can use a variety of metrics to determine whether your SEO efforts are improving traffic and leads, including rankings, traffic volume, conversion rate, and backlink data.
N
Natural Link
A link that occurs organically is one that you do not manually create. It occurs through a blog post or article about the product. It is free for the company and allows the user to click on your website naturally, without any advertising or spamming.
Negative SEO
Negative SEO is a rare but malicious practice where webspam techniques are used to harm the search rankings of another website, usually a competitor. This practice can prevent websites from losing traffic, business, and revenue.
Niche
A niche is a small market or area of interest consisting of a small group of highly passionate people, such as those interested in a specific sport, hobby, or hobbyists. A small but highly committed audience usually characterizes niches.
Nofollow
The nofollow attribute tells search engines not to follow one specific outbound link, like a link from your website. The most common use of nofollow is on links that take you to another site that promotes paid ads, such as AdSense advertisements or affiliate links.
Noindex Tag
The noindex tag is a meta tag that instructs search engines not to index a page. It prevents duplicate content and protects sensitive data from being indexed by search engines.
O
Off-Page SEO
Off-page SEO is link building that only takes place on your website. Instead, it involves promoting your business through channels outside your website, like social media and content marketing. The goal is to increase brand awareness, generate traffic, and increase sales.
On-Page SEO
On-page SEO is the practice of optimizing web pages to rank higher in search engine results. This includes publishing relevant and high-quality content, optimizing the HTML code, information architecture and website navigation, URL structure, and many others.
Organic Search
Organic search results are the natural or unpaid listings that appear on a SERP. Organic search results are designed to give users the most relevant result based on their query.
Outbound Link
An outbound link is a link that directs visitors to a page on a different website than the one they are currently on. Outbound links help users find related content, but it also takes them out of their current context and into another.
P
PageRank
Google uses the PageRank algorithm to rank web pages. The higher a page’s PageRank, the more likely it will appear at the top of search results. The algorithm was named after Larry Page, his friend, and his co-founder Sergey Brin.
Page Speed
Page speed is the amount of time it takes for a webpage to load completely. It affects your site’s user experience, conversion rate, and mobile readiness. Page speed is a ranking factor in Google’s search engine algorithms.
Pageview
A page view is the easiest way to measure your online presence. With it, you can track the number of views and visitors to your website. The webpage is loaded in the browser. The browser will automatically determine how to load and render the elements on the webpage.
Paid Search
Paid search is a way to generate traffic and leads by placing advertisements on search engines. The ads will appear above or below organic results and on the right side of the page.
PDF is an acronym for Portable Document Format and is a file format that allows you to share documents across several platforms. PDFs contain text, images, links, and videos.
PPC (Pay Per Click)
PPC (Pay Per Click) is an effective way to reach potential customers. You can target users based on various criteria, including demographic, interests, and location, which can help improve your Return on Investment (ROI). PPC ads are shown only when someone clicks on them, so you only pay for results.
Q
Quality Content
Quality content is any piece of information that helps you succeed in business or marketing. It could be a blog post that generates leads or an infographic that earns top rankings in Google and drives thousands of visitors to your site. Quality content can be used for SEO, social media promotion, email outreach, and more.
Quality Link
A high-quality link is an inbound link that originates from a relevant, authoritative website. The link can be either on-site or off-site and will help promote your site’s authority and trustworthiness.
Query
A query is a word or phrase a user enters into a search engine. A search engine then uses this information to return web pages that contain similar content to those requested by the user.
R
Rank
Rank or search engine ranking is a term used to describe the placement of a web page in your search results. Google ranks web pages based on their content and relevance to a specific query. The higher a webpage is ranked, the more likely it will be seen by people searching Google.
Ranking Factor
Ranking factors are a part of the more than 200 unique signals that help Google understand a web page’s relevance to the user. Ranking factors determine where web pages should appear with the organic search results for a specific query.
Reciprocal Links
A reciprocal link is an agreement between two website owners to exchange links. By exchanging links, both sites benefit because the number of inbound links to a site can significantly impact search engine rankings.
Redirect
Redirects are helpful when you need to keep your visitors on the same site but need to point them to a different page. There are two types of redirects: 301 and 302. The difference between them is that 301 is permanent and 302 is temporary.
Referrer
Referrer data identifies the source of a user’s webpage request. This information is typically used by search engines and analytics tools to identify the pages that users visit when they arrive at your site, as well as determine where visitors came from before they arrived on your website.
Relevance
Search engines use the relevance of a webpage to rank its search results. To determine this, they look at how closely connected the content of a webpage is aligned to match the context of a search query.
Responsive Website
Responsive websites are designed to adapt automatically to a user’s screen size, whether it’s being viewed on a desktop or mobile device. This flexible design makes content accessible to everyone.
Rich Snippet
Rich Snippets are little bits of information that you can add to the HTML of your website to provide contextually relevant information during search engine crawling. This is then displayed as an enhanced listing in SERPs, resulting in better click-through rates and enhanced SEO performance.
robots.txt
The Robots Exclusion Protocol (or Standard) is a text file, accessible at the root of a website, that tells search engine crawlers which areas of a website should be ignored. This helps to prevent crawling from inadvertently indexing password-protected pages or other sensitive information that shouldn’t be crawled.
Return on Investment (ROI)
The Return on Investment (ROI) is a way to measure the performance of SEO activities. This is calculated by dividing how much revenue you earned via organic search by the total investment cost, then multiplying by 100.
S
Schema
Schema is a way of adding structured data to your website so that search engines can understand the content. Through the use of structured data and semantic markup, webpages become more accessible for search engines to scan and index. By adding Schema to your site, you’re helping people find it more easily in search results.
Scrape
Scraping is a technique used to copy website content or information using a computer program or script. Search engines, such as Google, scrape data to build a searchable index of websites. A user can then use this index to find all the pages containing information about a topic.
Search Engine
A search engine is a computer program that enables users to enter a query to retrieve information from that program’s index, like files and websites. A search index is built and updated using a crawler, with items being analyzed and ranked by a series of algorithms.
Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is a collective term for organic and paid search engine marketing activities. SEM encompasses a wide array of techniques designed to increase the visibility of websites within the search results pages of search engines.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
SEO is the process of optimizing a website’s code and content so that it will appear in prominent positions in search engine results. Successful SEO requires understanding how search engines work, what people search for, like keywords and key phrases, and why people search, i.e., intent.
Search Engine Results Page (SERP)
Search engine results pages (SERPs) are the pages that search engines show in response to a user’s search query, generally featuring organic or natural listings. They are a key part of how users navigate the web, but their design and relevance have been criticized for years.
Search History
Every search you make, every website you visit, and every ad you click is recorded and shared with third parties. Search engines may use this data to personalize their results for signed-in users.
Search Intent
Search Intent is the reason why a person performs a search. It can be based on their intent, which drives them to search for something in the first place and is often related to their needs.
Sitelinks
Sitelinks are algorithmically chosen links below a search result that offer additional information about the app or search query. If your site includes site links, they must be approved by Google.
Sitemap
A sitemap is an XML file listing all the pages on your website that you want search engines like Google to index. A sitemap can help us find more of your content, and make it easier for people to find what they’re looking for.
Social Media
Social media is a technology that allows users to create, share, and interact with content. There are different platforms for different social media – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn are some examples.
Spam
Spamming is any action or practice that interferes with the ability of users to access genuine information or any method that exists solely to deceive or manipulate search engine algorithms or users.
Split Testing
Split testing is a controlled experiment used to compare at least two web pages on your site to measure the effects of a different variable on conversions. Split testing allows you to gather enough performance data by showing each page long enough for site visitors to respond.
SSL Certificate
A digital certificate is a file used to verify website identity and to encrypt information sent over the internet. It’s a security feature that can protect your data and your business. SSL certificates are used to issue digital certificates across the Internet.
Status Codes
HTTP Status Codes are the numerical codes sent by a server whenever a link is clicked, a webpage or file is requested, or a form is submitted. The status code indicates the result of an HTTP request. A 200 is an OK status code means that the request was fulfilled successfully, for example, by sending a response back to a web browser. Other statuses include 404 as Not Found, which means that the server did not find what it was looking for; 410 is Gone, which informs search engines they cannot index a page because it has been removed from its original location; along with 500 and 503 where both Service Unavailable when something went wrong while processing your request.
Subdomain
Subdomains are used to set up separate sections or sites on the same domain. This can be a useful way of organizing your web presence and separating various aspects of your business.
T
Time on Page
This metric is an approximate estimation of how long a user spends looking at a particular webpage. This can include time spent reading, scrolling, and interacting with any form on a page. The caveat is that pages with high exit rates can significantly skew this data.
Title Tag
Title tags help search engines determine a webpage’s relevance and are also the first thing visitors will see when they enter your website.
Top-Level Domain (TLD)
The top-level domain (TLD) is the highest level of a domain name. It is the second-rightmost segment in a web address, after the subdomain and before the domain. A typical top-level domain example is .com, which refers to commercial entities.
Traffic
Traffic includes people who come to your website, whether it’s from search engines or social media. Traffic can be measured in visits, page views, and other metrics.
TrustRank
TrustRank is a link analysis technique that uses the concept of web spam to identify good “reputable seed pages”. The algorithm works by identifying trusted domains and using them to find other similar pages.
U
User-Generated Content (UGC)
User-generated content (UGC) is any form of content created by users or customers. This includes videos, blog posts, comments, reviews, and more. Companies use all these to build their brand and engage with the public.
Universal Search
Universal Search combines results from multiple specialty databases to display on the same search engine page (SERP). It pulls images, videos, news, and other types of content into one search result.
Unnatural Link
Unnatural links within the content are links that appear to be included in a page’s text artificially and are not endorsed by the site owner. Unnatural links can be used to manipulate search engine rankings since they may pass link authority to the target site. Any links Google identifies as suspicious or manipulative can penalize your website. Unnatural links are risky for your page rankings and can tarnish your brand’s reputation.
URL
A URL (Uniform Resource Locator) is a specific string of characters that leads to a web resource. It’s usually short-hand for the letter-based web address entered into a browser to access a webpage. In addition to how we reach them, URLs help us track where each resource is located on the internet.
URL Parameter
The URL parameter is a value added to the end of a URL to track where the traffic came from. The value can be a link, image, or search term that brings visitors to your website or page.
Usability
A website’s usability is an essential factor in determining its success. The easier people find what they need and complete tasks, the more likely they are to keep using your site.
User Experience (UX)
A UX is the complete experience of a user interacting with your brand, its online presence, and its product/services. This includes everything from their first visit to your website to engaging with your product in person.
V
Vertical Search
Vertical search is a type of search engine that is dedicated to a specific area of focus. The most commonly known types of vertical search engines are those used for shopping and travel-related information, both of which help users identify products that are appropriate for their needs.
Virtual Assistant
A virtual assistant is a software that uses natural language processing to perform web searches, like Apple’s Siri or Microsoft’s Cortana.
Visibility
Visibility is a website’s prominence and position within the organic search results. This includes how many search results are displayed and their order on the page.
Voice Search
Voice search allows you to use your voice to interact with a search engine. It’s an alternative to tapping on a screen, so you can do it anywhere you’d use your phone.
W
Webpage
Webpages are documents that exist on the web and can be viewed by web browsers. Webpages typically contain HTML and other tags, which is a programming language for formatting text, graphics, and video.
Website
A website is a collection of web pages hosted on the World Wide Web. It usually contains text, images, and other multimedia content. The main purpose of a website is to make information available to users who want to access it. The website can also sell goods or services through e-commerce transactions.
Website Navigation
Website navigation is the way visitors can access different parts of a website. It includes the menu bar and tabs, search bar, and other navigational methods that help visitors find what they are looking for on your site.
White Hat
White Hat SEO is a term that refers to optimizing your website for search engines by using Google-approved tactics, techniques, and strategies.
Word Count
The total number of words that appear within the copy of the content. Search engines use this as a metric to measure how much attention has been paid to creating high-quality content.
WordPress
WordPress is a popular blogging and content management system. It’s free, easy to use, and works on all major web browsers, tablets, and phones.
X
XML
Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a language for structured data. XML is a markup language that search engines use to understand website data. XML helps search engines find and index your pages more quickly, which improves their rankings in search results.
XML Sitemap
A site map is a list of all the pages on your site. It’s also known as an XML sitemap, and it helps search engines understand what content to include when they crawl your website.
X-Robots-Tag
X-Robots-Tag is an HTTP header sent from a web server that contains the directives for the web crawlers such as Googlebot. It is used to tell search engines not to index certain pages on your website or only to use them for certain queries.
Y
Yahoo
Yahoo is one of the most popular search engines in the world. It was founded in March 1994 and began as a web portal, combining search results with news articles, email, weather, and stock updates. Yahoo powered its own organic search results until 2004, when it partnered with Microsoft to use Bing as its backend. In 2019, Yahoo rolled out an update to its user interface to make it simpler and easier to use.
Yandex
Yandex is the most popular search engine in Russia and also provides mapping services, mobile applications, cloud storage, and advertising solutions. Founded in 1997 by Arkady Volozh and Ilya Segalovich, Yandex has become a household name in this region of the world.
YMYL Pages
YMYL pages are about topics that could impact a person’s future happiness, health, financial stability, or safety. For example, medical sites provide information about diseases and treatments; financial sites educate people on how to invest their money wisely; and news websites provide current events from around the world.
Z
Zero Click Searches
Zero Click searches are queries in search engines such as Google, Bing, and Yandex that do not send you to a third-party website from an organic search result. In other words, these are searches that do not lead you to any external pages when performed on the respective search engines.
Wrapping up
