SEO

SEO Glossary: Your Quick Reference to Search Engine Optimization Terms

by Vinamra Singh

This glossary provides short descriptions of key terms related to Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

A

  • Algorithm: The complex set of rules and calculations search engines use to rank web pages.
  • Anchor Text: The clickable text in a hyperlink.
  • Analytics: Data and insights about website traffic and user behavior.
  • Authority: A measure of a website’s credibility and trustworthiness in the eyes of search engines.

B

  • Backlink: A link from one website to another.
  • Black Hat SEO: Unethical SEO practices that attempt to manipulate search rankings.
  • Bounce Rate: The percentage of visitors who leave a website after viewing only one page.

C

  • Canonical Tag: A tag that specifies the preferred version of a web page to avoid duplicate content issues.
  • Content Marketing: Creating and sharing valuable content to attract and engage a target audience.
  • Conversion: When a website visitor completes a desired action (e.g., purchase, signup).
  • Crawl: The process by which search engines discover and index web pages.
  • Click-Through Rate (CTR): The percentage of people who click on a link in search results.

D

  • Domain Authority (DA): A metric developed by Moz that predicts how well a website will rank in search results.
  • Duplicate Content: Identical or very similar content that appears on multiple pages or websites.

E

  • E-E-A-T: Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness – Google’s guidelines for evaluating content quality.

F

  • Featured Snippet: A concise answer to a search query displayed at the top of Google’s search results.

G

  • Google Algorithm Update: A change to Google’s search algorithm that can impact website rankings.
  • Google Search Console: A free tool from Google that provides insights into website performance and technical issues.

H

  • Header Tag (H1-H6): HTML tags used to structure content and indicate headings and subheadings.
  • HTML: Hypertext Markup Language, the code used to create web pages.
  • HTTPS: Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure, a secure protocol for transmitting data over the internet.

I

  • Index: A database of web pages that search engines have crawled and deemed worthy of inclusion in search results.
  • Internal Link: A link from one page within a website to another page within the same website.

K

  • Keyword: A word or phrase that people use when searching for information online.
  • Keyword Density: The percentage of times a keyword appears on a web page.
  • Keyword Research: The process of identifying relevant keywords to target in your SEO efforts.

L

  • Link Building: The process of acquiring backlinks from other websites.
  • Long-Tail Keyword: A longer, more specific keyword phrase.

M

  • Meta Description: A short description of a web page that appears in search results.
  • Mobile-First Indexing: Google’s approach of primarily using the mobile version of a website for indexing and ranking.

N

  • Natural Language Processing (NLP): A branch of AI that focuses on enabling computers to understand and process human language.

O

  • Off-Page SEO: SEO activities that take place outside of your website, such as link building.
  • On-Page SEO: SEO activities that take place within your website, such as content optimization.
  • Organic Traffic: Website traffic that comes from unpaid search results.

P

  • Page Authority (PA): A metric developed by Moz that predicts how well a specific page will rank in search results.
  • Page Speed: The time it takes for a web page to load.
  • Pillar Page: A comprehensive piece of content that covers a broad topic.

R

  • Ranking: The position of a web page in search results for a specific keyword.
  • Redirect: A way to forward users from one URL to another.
  • Responsive Design: A website design approach that makes web pages adapt to different screen sizes.
  • Robots.txt: A file that tells search engines which pages on a website to crawl and which to ignore.

S

  • Search Engine Results Page (SERP): The page displayed by a search engine after a user performs a search.
  • Schema Markup: Code that provides search engines with more information about the content on a web page.
  • Semantic Search: Search that focuses on the meaning and context of search queries.
  • Sitemap: A file that lists all the pages on a website, helping search engines discover and index them.
  • Structured Data: Data that is organized in a specific format, making it easier for search engines to understand.

T

  • Technical SEO: Optimizing the technical aspects of a website to improve its visibility in search results.
  • Title Tag: An HTML tag that specifies the title of a web page.
  • Traffic: The number of visitors to a website.

U

  • URL: Uniform Resource Locator, the address of a web page.
  • User Experience (UX): The overall experience a user has when interacting with a website.
  • User Intent: The reason behind a user’s search query.

W

  • White Hat SEO: Ethical SEO practices that follow search engine guidelines.
  • Black hat SEO: A set of unethical and disapproved practices that aim to increase a website’s ranking in search engine results pages (SERPs) in a way that violates search engine guidelines.
  • Gray hat SEO: Occupies a murky middle ground between the clearly unethical practices of black hat SEO and the ethical, sustainable strategies of white hat SEO.