This SEO glossary comprises the most important jargon you will be encountered with in the realm of search engine optimisation and related efforts.
SEO, like any specialized area, has unique set of terminology, definitions, and abbreviations. I have tried to include only those terms that can be viewed as relatively important to a general understanding or organic search engine optimisation. Any one of these terms could merit a lengthy article by itself and I have linked to pertinent resources where appropriate but for the purposes of this glossary I’ve tried to explain each concept as concisely as possible. That is this is a list of definitions not topics.
Table of Contents
A
Above the Fold
Content on a website before you scroll.
Algorithm
Program a search engine uses to rank web pages.
Algorithm Change
Changes to the program a search engine uses to rank web pages.
Alt Attribute
HTML code to understand the contents of an image.
Analytics
Tracking what has happened on your websites with regards to users who visit it.
Anchor Text
The words on a hypertext link.
Authority
A domain’s strength in terms of algorithmic reputation.
B
Backlink/Inbound Link
A link from another web page to a web page on your website.
Black Box
A program where the inputs and the outputs are known but the way the outputs are reached is unknown.
Black Hat
Tactics that violate Google’s Webmaster Guidelines.
Blog
Content published in chronological order.
Bounce Rate
How many people visit a web page and then leave without visiting any other pages on a websites out of 100 who visit.
Bot/Crawler/Googlebot
Software a search engine uses to read the contents of the internet automatically.
Branded Keyword
When a user’s query includes an exact match, or variation, of a company or brand name.
Broken Link
A link that brings up a 404 error message.
C
Cache
Temporarily stores content to reduce future page loading times.
Cached Page
A snapshot of a webpage when it was crawled.
Canonical URL
An HTML code element that states a preferred website URL to avoid duplicate content.
ccTLD
Country-code top-level domain.
Click Bait
Content that is designed to entice people to click, typically by overpromising or being intentionally misleading in headlines, so publishers can earn advertising revenue.
Click-Through Rate
How many people click on your search result out of 100 who could have done so.
Cloaking
Showing different content or URLs to people and search engines.
CMS
Content Management System.
Content
Words, images, videos, or sounds that convey information.
“Content is King”
Content is requiredfor you to have SEO success.
Conversion
When a user does what your want them to do.
Conversion Rate
How many times a user does what you want them to do out of every 100 times a user visits.
Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)
Increasing the number and/or quality of conversions.
Correlation
The extent to which a relationship exists between two or more elements. Usually given in the form of the Pearson correlation coefficient where 0 means there is no correlation or relationship at all between two elements and 1 means that both variables move in the same direction together. A correlation of -1 would mean that as one variable goes up, the other goes down.
Crawler
A program search engines use to read the internet.
Crawling
How search engine bots read the internet.
D
Deep Link
A link pointing to a non-home page page of a website.
De-index
Removal from the Index.
Directory/Web Directory/Link Directory
A list of websites, usually separated into categories.
Disavow
A way to tell Google to disregard an inbound link.
Do-follow
A link that doesn’t use the “nofollow” attribute.
Domain
A website address.
Domain Authority
The overall algorithmic strength of a website.
DuckDuckGo
A search engine with a focus on user privacy.
Duplicate Content
When a significant amount of content contained on one webpage matches, or is incredibly similar to, content that exists elsewhere on the same website or a completely different website.
Dwell Time
The amount of time that elapses between when a user clicks on a search result and then returns to the SERP from a website.
E
E-commerce
The buying and selling of products, all conducted online.
Editorial Link
A link that is given by one website to another out of free will (merit).
Engagement Metrics
Methods to measure how users are interact with webpages.
External Link
Link to a webpage on a website other than your own.
F
Featured Snippet
When for who/what/where/when/why/how queries Google shows a special box above the main search results.
Footer Link
Links at the bottom of a website.
G
The world’s number one search engine.
Google Analytics
Program to track traffic.
Google Search Console
Program that allows you to know how Google is crawling, indexing and serving your website in search results.
Google Webmaster Guidelines
Google’s best practices guidelines.
Gray Hat
Mix of ethical and on the edge of unethical SEO tactics.
H
Heading
Heading tags (H1-H6) separate content into sections.
Headline
An H1 tag.
Head Term/Head Keyword/Short-Tail
A popular keyword.
Hidden Text
Any text that can’t be seen by a user.
Homepage
The front page of a website.
.htaccess File
A server configuration file that can be used to rewrite and redirect URLs.
HTML
HTTP
Hypertext Transfer Protocol.
HTTPS
Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure uses a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) to encrypt data transferred between a website and web browser.
I
Index
The database search engines use to store and retrieve information gathered during the crawling process.
Indexability
How easily a search engine bot can understand and add a webpage to its index.
Indexed Page
A web page that has been crawled and indexed by a search engine and is qualified to be listed in a search engine results page.
Information Architecture
How a website is organized and where various content and navigational elements are located on webpages.
Internal Link
Link to a webpage on the same website.
IP Address
Internet Protocol Address.
K
Keyword
The word, words, or phrase that you seek to rank in search results for..
Keyword Cannibalization
When multiple pages from a website rank for the same search term.
Keyword Research
Finding topics, subjects, and terms searchers are likely to perform searches for in the future.
Keyword Stuffing
Repeating keywords more than is needed to try to rank for that keyword.
KPI
Key Performance Indicator.
L
Landing Page
The web page where a user enters your website.
Lead
A person expresses an interest in discussing a purchase of goods or services.
Link Bait
Content that entices links from other websites.
Link Building
Accruing links to a website.
Link Equity
The value of a link algorithmically.
Link Farm/Network
Outdated spam tactic where a group of websites link to each other.
Link Profile
Every link pointing to a website.
Link Velocity
Speed with which a website gets inbound links.
Long-Tail Keyword
Less popular keywords that are more specific.
M
Manual Action
A Google penalty.
Meta Description
A tag to describe what a webpage is about.
N
Nofollow Attribute
A meta tag that tells search engines bots not to follow a specific outbound link.
Noindex Tag
A meta tag that tells search engines not to index a webpage.
O
Off-Page SEO
Brand awareness that takes place outside of a website.
On-Page SEO
Publishing relevant, quality content along with optimizing HTML code, information architecture, website navigation, and URL structure.
Organic Search
Merit based search.
Outbound Link
A link that directs visitors to a page on a different website than the one they are currently on.
P
PageRank
PageRank is a measure of the importance of a page based on the incoming links from other pages.
Page Speed
How long a webpage takes to load completely.
Pageview
A webpage is loaded in a browser.
Paid Search
Pay-per-click advertisements that appear above (and often below) the organic results on search engines.
Portable Document Format.
Personalization
When search engines use search history, web browsing history, location, and relationships to create a set of search results tailored to a specific user.
PHP
Hypertext Preprocessor is a scripting language used to create dynamic content on webpages.
Q
QDF
Query Deserves Freshness.
Quality Content
Content that helps you successfully achieve business or marketing goals (e.g., driving organic traffic or social shares, earning top search rankings, generating leads/sales).
Quality Link
An inbound link that originates from an authoritative, relevant, or trusted website.
Query or Search
What a person types into a search engine.
R
Rank
Where a webpage appears within the organic search results for a specific query.
Ranking Factor/Signal
A single factor that is part of the several hundred ranking factors that makes up the Google algorithm.
Reciprocal Links
When two websites agree to exchange links to one another.
Redirect
Sends a user who requested one webpage to a different webpage.
Reinclusion
The process of asking a search engine to return a website or webpage(s) to its search index after de-indexing.
Relevance
A way search engines measure how closely connected the content of a webpage is aligned to match the context of a search query.
Responsive Website
A website that automatically adapts to a user’s screen size.
Rich Snippet
Structured data added to the HTML of a website to provide contextual information to search engines.
robots.txt
Robots Exclusion Protocol.
S
Schema
Microdata which creates an enhanced description for search engines.
Search Engine
A program that allows users to enter a query in order to retrieve information.
Search Engine Marketing
SEO & PPC.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
The process of optimizing a website for the purposes of heightened search engine visibility & traction.
Search Engine Results Page (SERP)
The page a search engine returns after a user submits a search query.
Search History/Browsing History
What you have searched for in the past.
Sitelinks
Algorithmically-selected links that appear below the listing for the same website of a #1 ranked search result.
Sitemap
A list of pages on a website.
Sitewide Links
A link that appears on all pages of a website.
Social Signal
Factors that infer authority and influence on social media.
SSL Certificate
Used for website identity authentication and to encrypt information sent to the server.
Subdomain
A separate section that exists within a domain.
T
Taxonomy
Organizing and categorizing a website.
Time on Page
How long a user spent looking at a webpage.
Title Tag
Tag used as the title of a webpage.
Top-Level Domain (TLD)/gTLD (Generic Top-Level Domain)/Domain Extension
The extension of a web address.
Traffic
People who visit a website.
TrustRank
A link analysis method to find reputable web pages.
U
User-Generated Content
Content created by users.
Universal Search
When search engines pull display images, videos, news, shopping, and other types of results.
Unnatural Link
Any link Google regards as suspicious, deceptive, or manipulative.
URL
Uniform Resource Locator.
URL Parameter/Query String
Characters added to a URL to track where traffic originated.
Usability
Ease with which people can use your website.
User Experience
How well your website services user needs and expectations.
V
Visibility
The prominence of a website within organic search results.
Voice Search
Voice-activated technology that lets users conduct an online search.
W
Webpage
A document on the World Wide Web and can be viewed by web browsers.
Website
A collection of webpages hosted together on the World Wide Web.
Website Navigation/Internal Links/Site Architecture
How a website connects its webpages to help users navigate efficiently around the site.
Webspam
Any methods that exist solely to deceive or manipulate search engine algorithms and/or users.
White Hat
Tactics that comply with Google’s Webmaster Guidelines.
Word Count
The total number of words that appear within the copy of content. Too little (or thin) content can be a signal of low-quality to search engines.
WordPress
A popular blogging and content management system.
X
XML
Extensible Markup Language.
References
What impact will voice search have on SEO in 2020?