If you’re new to the world of SEO, you might feel overwhelmed by the sheer amount of technical jargon and terminology used in the field. From “E-A-T” and “Google BERT” to “301 redirect” and “crawl budget,” the SEO Glossary is here to help you navigate and understand the most important terms and concepts related to search engine optimization. Whether you’re a beginner looking to get started with SEO or a seasoned pro looking to stay up-to-date with the latest trends and developments, this comprehensive glossary is your go-to resource for all things SEO. So, let’s dive in and explore the essential SEO terms you need to know to succeed in today’s digital landscape.
SEO Glossary 2023
SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
the practice of improving the quality and quantity of website traffic by increasing the visibility of a website or a web page in a search engine’s unpaid results.
Keyword
A word or phrase that people search for in search engines to find relevant information.
SERP (Search Engine Results Page)
the page that shows the results of a search query.
Backlink
a link from another website to your website. Backlinks are an important ranking factor in SEO.
Anchor text
the clickable text of a hyperlink. It provides context and helps search engines understand the topic of the linked page.
Meta tags
HTML tags that provide information about a web page to search engines. Common meta tags include the title tag and meta description tag.
Title tag
the HTML tag that specifies the title of a web page. It appears in the search engine results and in the browser’s title bar.
Meta description
the HTML tag that provides a brief summary of a web page. It appears in the search engine results below the title tag.
Robots.txt
a file on a website that tells search engine crawlers which pages or files they can or cannot crawl.
XML sitemap
a file on a website that lists all the URLs on the site. It helps search engines find and index all the pages on the site.
Canonical URL
the preferred URL for a web page. It is used to avoid duplicate content issues and to consolidate the link equity of multiple URLs.
301 redirect
a permanent redirect from one URL to another. It is used to redirect traffic and link equity from old pages to new ones.
Duplicate content
content that appears on more than one web page. It can harm SEO by diluting the link equity of a page and confusing search engines.
Organic search
the unpaid search results in a search engine. Organic search traffic comes from people clicking on these results.
CTR (Click-through rate)
the percentage of people who click on a link in the search engine results. It is calculated by dividing the number of clicks by the number of impressions.
Bounce rate
the percentage of people who leave a website after viewing only one page. A high bounce rate can indicate that the website content is not engaging or relevant to the visitor’s search query.
PageRank
a ranking algorithm used by Google to determine the importance of a webpage. It is based on the number and quality of backlinks to the page.
Alt text
a description of an image that appears in HTML code. It is used to provide context to search engines and assistive technologies.
Schema markup
a code added to a website that helps search engines understand the content on the page. It can be used to provide rich snippets and enhance the appearance of search results.
Local SEO
the practice of optimizing a website to appear in local search results. It includes optimizing for local keywords, creating a Google My Business profile, and building local citations.
Long-tail keywords
longer, more specific keywords that are less competitive and more targeted to a specific audience.
Internal linking
linking to other pages on the same website. It can help distribute link equity and improve site navigation.
External linking
linking to other websites. It can provide context and credibility to a website and help distribute link equity.
Domain authority
a metric developed by Moz that predicts how well a website will rank on search engine results pages. It is based on the quantity and quality of inbound links to the website.
Google Analytics
a free tool provided by Google that tracks website traffic and provides insights into user behavior and website performance.
Keyword density
the percentage of times a keyword appears on a page compared to the total number of words. It is important to avoid overusing keywords, which can be seen as spammy by search engines.
SERP features
special features that appear in the search engine results, such as featured snippets, knowledge panels, and local packs. Optimizing for these features can improve visibility and drive more traffic to a website.
Mobile optimization
the practice of optimizing a website for mobile devices. It includes designing for smaller screens, using responsive design, and optimizing page load times.
Google Search Console
a free tool provided by Google that helps website owners monitor and maintain their website’s presence in Google search results.
Black hat SEO
unethical SEO practices that violate search engine guidelines, such as keyword stuffing, cloaking, and link schemes. Black hat SEO can result in penalties or even a ban from search engines.
White hat SEO
ethical SEO practices that adhere to search engine guidelines and focus on improving user experience and providing high-quality content.
Gray hat SEO
SEO practices that fall somewhere between black hat and white hat. They may not violate search engine guidelines but still have the potential to be seen as manipulative.
Keyword research
the process of identifying and analyzing keywords that are relevant to a website’s content and audience. It helps in creating content that is more likely to be discovered by search engines.
Crawling
the process by which search engine bots (also known as spiders or crawlers) discover and index web pages.
Indexing
the process by which search engines add web pages to their database and make them available to show in search results.
Site speed
the amount of time it takes for a web page to load. Site speed is an important ranking factor in SEO and can affect user experience.
Rich snippets
enhanced search results that provide additional information, such as star ratings or recipe ingredients. They can help a website stand out in the search engine results and drive more traffic.
Click depth
the number of clicks it takes to reach a particular page on a website from the homepage. A lower click depth can improve site navigation and user experience.
User experience (UX)
the overall experience that a user has when interacting with a website. A good UX is important for both SEO and user engagement.
Link building
the process of acquiring backlinks to a website from other websites. It is an important ranking factor in SEO and can be done through a variety of methods, such as guest posting and broken link building.
Content marketing
the practice of creating and sharing high-quality content to attract and engage a target audience. It is an important part of SEO and can help build brand awareness and authority.
Canonicalization
the process of choosing the preferred URL when multiple URLs can access the same content. It helps avoid duplicate content issues and consolidate link equity.
Domain name
the unique name that identifies a website on the internet. Choosing a good domain name can improve a website’s brand identity and SEO.
Keyword cannibalization
when multiple pages on a website target the same keyword. It can dilute the ranking power of a page and confuse search engines.
Meta robots tag
a tag that provides instructions to search engine crawlers on whether to index a page or follow links on the page. It can be used to prevent duplicate content issues and conserve crawl budget.
CTR (click-through rate)
the percentage of people who click on a link after seeing it in search results or elsewhere. It is an important metric for measuring the effectiveness of SEO and advertising campaigns.
Google My Business
a free tool provided by Google that allows businesses to create a listing and appear in local search results. It includes information such as business hours, reviews, and contact information.
Robots.txt
a file that provides instructions to search engine crawlers on which pages of a website should be crawled and indexed. It can be used to prevent crawling of sensitive or duplicate content.
Sitemap
a file that lists all of the pages on a website and provides information on how they are related. It helps search engine crawlers discover and index all of the pages on a website.
SSL (Secure Sockets Layer)
a security protocol that encrypts data between a website and the user’s browser. It is important for website security and can also be a ranking factor in SEO.
Backlink
a link from another website to a page on your website. Backlinks are an important ranking factor in SEO and can help improve a website’s authority and visibility.
Anchor text
the visible text of a hyperlink. It can affect how search engines interpret the relevance and authority of the linked page.
Keyword stuffing
the practice of overusing keywords on a page in an attempt to manipulate search engine rankings. It is considered a black hat SEO tactic and can result in penalties or even a ban from search engines.
Duplicate content
content that appears on multiple pages or websites. It can be unintentional, such as when a website has multiple URLs for the same content, or intentional, such as when someone copies content from another website. Duplicate content can dilute the ranking power of a page and confuse search engines.
Conversion rate
the percentage of visitors to a website who take a desired action, such as making a purchase or filling out a form. Improving conversion rates can help a website achieve its goals and improve ROI.
Google Search Console
a free tool provided by Google that helps website owners monitor and improve their website’s performance in search results. It provides information on search traffic, indexing, and potential issues.
Schema markup
a type of code that helps search engines understand the content and context of a web page. It can enhance search results by providing additional information, such as product prices or event dates.
SERP (search engine results page)
the page that displays search results for a query. It can include various types of results, such as organic listings, ads, and featured snippets.
Bounce rate
the percentage of visitors to a website who leave after viewing only one page. A high bounce rate can indicate a poor user experience or irrelevant content.
301 redirect
a permanent redirect from one URL to another. It is used to redirect traffic from an old URL to a new one and can preserve search engine rankings and link equity.
404 error
a status code that indicates that a web page cannot be found. It can occur when a page is deleted or moved without a redirect, and can negatively affect user experience and SEO.
Mobile-friendly
a website design that is optimized for mobile devices. It is an important factor in SEO and user experience, as more and more people access the internet on mobile devices.
Internal linking
Linking from one page on a website to another page on the same website. It can help improve site navigation, distribute link equity, and improve user experience.
External linking
linking from one website to another website. It can help improve authority and relevance signals for a website.
Alt text
a description of an image that appears when the image cannot be displayed. It is important for accessibility and can also provide information to search engines on the context of an image.
Meta description
a short description that appears below the title tag in search results. It can influence click-through rates and should accurately describe the content of a page.
Keyword density
the percentage of times a keyword appears on a page compared to the total number of words on the page. It was once considered an important ranking factor, but is no longer as important as providing high-quality content.
E-A-T
E-A-T stands for Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness. It is a framework that Google uses to evaluate the quality of a website’s content. Websites that demonstrate high levels of E-A-T are more likely to rank higher in search results.
Topical Authority
Topical authority refers to the level of expertise a website or individual has on a specific topic or subject. It is an important factor in search engine rankings, as search engines aim to provide users with the most relevant and high-quality content.
Webmaster
A webmaster is a person or team responsible for the maintenance and operation of a website. Their responsibilities can include designing, coding, updating, and optimizing the website for search engines and users.
Entity
In the context of SEO, an entity refers to a person, place, or thing that is identified and recognized by search engines. Entities can include people, companies, products, and more, and can help search engines understand the context and relevance of a page.
NLP
NLP stands for Natural Language Processing. It is a branch of artificial intelligence that helps computers understand and interpret human language. NLP is used by search engines to better understand the intent behind search queries and provide more accurate and relevant results.
Google BERT
BERT (Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers) is a natural language processing algorithm developed by Google. It helps search engines understand the context and nuances of language, allowing them to provide more accurate and relevant search results.
Google penalty
A Google penalty is a negative action taken by Google against a website that violates its guidelines. Penalties can result in a drop in search rankings or even removal from search results.
Google Panda
Google Panda is a search algorithm update that focuses on improving the quality of search results by penalizing low-quality and spammy websites. It was first introduced in 2011 and has since been integrated into Google’s core algorithm.
Google Penguin
Google Penguin is a search algorithm update that focuses on identifying and penalizing websites that engage in manipulative link building practices. It was first introduced in 2012 and has since been integrated into Google’s core algorithm.
Google Hummingbird
Google Hummingbird is a search algorithm update that focuses on understanding the meaning and intent behind search queries, rather than just matching keywords. It was first introduced in 2013 and has since been integrated into Google’s core algorithm.
Link building
Link building is the practice of acquiring links from other websites to a website. It is an important factor in SEO, as links can improve a website’s authority and visibility in search results.
Shopify SEO
Shopify SEO refers to the process of optimizing a Shopify e-commerce website for search engines. This can include optimizing product pages, improving site speed, and building high-quality backlinks.
E-commerce SEO
E-commerce SEO refers to the process of optimizing an e-commerce website for search engines. It can include optimizing product pages, improving site speed, and building high-quality backlinks.
Wix SEO
Wix SEO refers to the process of optimizing a Wix website for search engines. This can include optimizing page titles and descriptions, improving site speed, and building high-quality backlinks.
Weebly SEO
Weebly SEO refers to the process of optimizing a Weebly website for search engines. This can include optimizing page titles and descriptions, improving site speed, and building high-quality backlinks.
Squarespace SEO
Squarespace SEO refers to the process of optimizing a Squarespace website for search engines. This can include optimizing page titles and descriptions, improving site speed, and building high-quality backlinks.
Small business SEO
Small business SEO refers to the process of optimizing a small business website for search engines. It can include optimizing page titles and descriptions, improving site speed, and building high-quality
Enterprise SEO
Enterprise SEO refers to the practice of optimizing large, complex websites with multiple pages and products. It involves developing a comprehensive SEO strategy, including on-page and off-page optimization, content creation, and technical SEO, to improve visibility and traffic to the website.
10x content
10x content is a term coined by Rand Fishkin, which refers to content that is 10 times better than any other content on the same topic. It is high-quality, comprehensive, and provides unique insights or perspectives that can’t be found elsewhere. 10x content is more likely to generate backlinks and social shares, improving a website’s search engine rankings.
https
HTTPS stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure, and it is a protocol used to encrypt data transmitted over the internet. HTTPS is becoming increasingly important for SEO, as Google considers secure websites to be more trustworthy and therefore more likely to rank higher in search results.
302 redirect
A 302 redirect is a temporary redirect used to redirect users and search engines from one URL to another. It indicates that the original URL has moved temporarily to the new URL, and search engines will continue to index the original URL.
401
A 401 error occurs when a user attempts to access a page that requires authentication. It is typically seen when a user tries to access a password-protected page without the correct login credentials.
404
A 404 error occurs when a user attempts to access a page that no longer exists on a website. It is a common error that can occur when a page is deleted or moved without proper redirection.
410
A 410 error occurs when a user attempts to access a page that has been permanently deleted from a website. Unlike a 404 error, a 410 error indicates to search engines that the page will not be returning, and it is no longer necessary to index it.
Crawl budget
Crawl budget refers to the amount of time and resources search engines allocate to crawling and indexing a website. It is influenced by factors such as site speed, server performance, and the size and complexity of the website.
No Index
No index is a tag that can be added to a page’s HTML code to instruct search engines not to index the page. This can be useful for pages that are not important for SEO or that contain duplicate content.
Nofollow
Nofollow is an attribute that can be added to a hyperlink to instruct search engines not to follow the link to the target page. This can be useful for avoiding link spam and preventing the transfer of authority to low-quality pages.
noopener
Noopener is a tag that can be added to a hyperlink to prevent the target page from accessing the window.opener object, which can be used for malicious purposes such as phishing attacks. It is a security feature recommended by Google for all external links.