SEO glossary: Terms, Abbreviations and Definitions

SEO Glossary

A

• Algorithm: A set of rules used by search engines to rank web pages in response to a search query.
• Alt Text (Alternative Text): A description of an image in the HTML code, helping search engines understand the content of the image.
• Anchor Text: The clickable text in a hyperlink, important for SEO as it gives context to the linked page.

B

• Backlink: A link from one website to another, crucial for SEO as they are considered a vote of confidence by search engines.
• Bounce Rate: The percentage of visitors who navigate away from the site after viewing only one page.

C

• Canonical URL: The preferred URL of a web page that should be indexed by search engines when multiple URLs have similar content.
• CTR (Click-Through Rate): The ratio of users who click on a specific link to the number of total users who view a page, email, or advertisement.

D

• Domain Authority (DA): A metric developed by Moz that predicts how well a website will rank on search engine result pages (SERPs).

E

• Engagement: Measures how users interact with a website, including metrics like time on site, pages per session, and bounce rate.

F

• Featured Snippet: A summary of an answer to a user’s query displayed on top of Google search results.
• Fresh Content: Recently updated or new content, which is important for maintaining or improving search engine rankings.

G

• Google Analytics: A free tool provided by Google that tracks and reports website traffic.
• Google Search Console: A free tool provided by Google that helps monitor, maintain, and troubleshoot a site’s presence in Google Search results.

H

• Header Tags: HTML elements (H1, H2, H3, etc.) used to define headings and subheadings within your content, helping with SEO by structuring the content.

I

• Indexing: The process by which search engines add web pages to their database.
• Internal Link: A hyperlink that points to another page on the same website, helping users navigate and search engines understand site structure.

K

• Keyword: A word or phrase that users enter into search engines, which SEO aims to rank for.
• Keyword Density: The percentage of times a keyword appears on a page compared to the total number of words on the page.

L

• Landing Page: A standalone web page created specifically for a marketing or advertising campaign.
• Link Building: The process of acquiring hyperlinks from other websites to your own to improve SEO.

M

• Meta Description: A brief summary of a web page’s content that appears in search engine results below the title tag.
• Mobile Optimization: Ensuring that a website performs well on mobile devices, important for SEO since Google uses mobile-first indexing.

N

• NoFollow: A value that can be assigned to the rel attribute of an HTML link to instruct search engines that the hyperlink should not influence the ranking of the link’s target.

O

• Organic Search: Results from a search engine that are not paid advertisements.

P

• Page Authority (PA): A metric developed by Moz that predicts how well a specific page will rank on search engine result pages.
• Page Speed: The amount of time it takes for a web page to load, an important factor for SEO and user experience.

R

• Ranking: The position at which a particular site appears in the search engine results pages (SERPs).
• Robots.txt: A file in a website’s root directory that restricts search engine robots from crawling certain pages of the site.

S

• Schema Markup: A form of microdata that helps search engines interpret the information on web pages more effectively.
• SERP (Search Engine Results Page): The page displayed by search engines in response to a query by a user.
• Sitemap: A file that provides information about the pages, videos, and other files on a site, and the relationships between them.

T

• Title Tag: An HTML element that specifies the title of a web page, important for both SEO and user experience.
• Traffic: The number of visitors to a website.

U

• URL (Uniform Resource Locator): The address of a web page on the internet.
• User Experience (UX): The overall experience of a person using a website, especially in terms of how easy or pleasing it is to use.

V

• Voice Search: A technology that allows users to perform searches by speaking into a device.

W

• White Hat SEO: Ethical SEO practices that conform to search engine guidelines and aim to provide good user experiences.
• Web Crawler: Also known as a spider or bot, it is a program used by search engines to scan and index web pages.

Y

• YMYL (Your Money or Your Life): Pages that could impact a person’s future happiness, health, financial stability, or safety. Google holds these pages to a higher standard of quality.

This glossary covers key terms and concepts in SEO, providing a foundational understanding for anyone looking to improve their website’s search engine performance.