Are you tired of looking for the meanings of SEO terms you hear daily? No need to Worry! This blog post is an SEO glossary that covers 35 essential SEO terms. 

If you are familiar with SEO or search engine optimization, you know that it is a wide area with many concepts, terms, abbreviations & definitions. To get the maximum outcome from your SEO efforts, you should have an idea of the SEO glossary. In this blog post, you can see 35 essential SEO terms with definitions.

If you are on a journey to learn SEO (Search Engine Optimization) here is an ultimate guide for you,

SEO glossary :40 SEO terms

Let’s start our SEO glossary. But 1st things 1st. Let’s see what SEO is,

SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. It is the practice of optimizing a website to enhance its visibility and rankings in search engine results pages (SERPs). In simple terms, SEO involves changing a website’s design, structure, and content to make it more appealing to search engines like Google.

The main goal of SEO is to increase organic (non-paid) traffic to a website. When a website ranks higher in search results, it receives more clicks and visitors. SEO helps businesses & website owners draw relevant and targeted traffic to their websites, & increase brand visibility, engagement, and possible conversions.

A

Algorithm:

A complex set of rules or instructions that search engines like Google use to rank web pages. Algorithms consider keywords, content quality, backlinks, user experience, and other ranking factors to determine search results.  

For example, Google’s algorithm helps decide which websites appear at the top of a search result page when you type a search term like “best coffee in Melbourne.”

AdWords (Now Google Ads):

This is Google’s advertising platform where businesses bid on keywords to display clickable ads in search results. These are usually pay-per-click (PPC) ads.  

For example, a coffee shop might bid on the keyword “best coffee near me” to show its ad at the top of Google’s search results.

Alt Text (Alternative Text):

Alt text or alternative text is a short description that you can add to images on a website to help search engines and visually impaired users understand the content of those images. Adding alt text is an important part of image SEO. Make sure to add every specific detail into the alt text. Also, it is important to add the main keyword (target keyword)

For example, if you add an image of a red car, you can use alt text like “red sports car in a parking lot.”

Alt text is known as Alt attribute & Alt tag as well. Alt text should be straightforward, clarifying, and relevant to the image. 

For example, if there is an image of a black car on a white background, the alt text could be ” A black car on a white background.”

Alt-text is an amazing way to boost the search engine ranking of your website. 

Anchor Text:

If you are familiar with adding links within your content, you might be familiar with this. Anchor text is the clickable text in a hyperlink. This text must be relevant to the linked content to improve SEO.  

For example, in the below image, the highlighted text “Google Ads Keyword Planner” is the anchor text.

For example, if you want to guide people to one of your previous blog articles, you can use the name of that blog article.

example: Ultimate SEO checklist you must know

Authority of a Website:

The authority of a website is a metric to measure a website’s credibility or trustworthiness. This is based on factors like the number of high-quality backlinks, content quality, and user experience. If your website has a higher authority, it can achieve higher rankings.

There are five factors to take into account while determining the authority rating. backlink profile, page age, traffic patterns, the caliber of the content on the page, and technical SEO

Government and educational websites typically have more authority.

B

Backlinks:

Backlinks are the links from one website to another website. These are also known as inbound links. Search engines consider these backlinks as votes of confidence. When your website has high-quality backlinks, it will help improve its search engine ranking.  

For example, let’s say The New York Times website links to your blog post. That’s a high-quality backlink that boosts your website’s credibility.

Black Hat SEO:

Black Hat SEO is not an ethical method that website owners use to rank their websites. Those are SEO practices that are unethical or violate search engine guidelines. These include tactics like keyword stuffing, cloaking, and buying links. Using black hat SEO practices is highly risky as they can result in penalties from search engines.  

You can learn more about Black Hat SEO in our blog: Click here to read the blog.

Bounce Rate:  

The percentage of visitors who leave a website after viewing only one page. A high bounce rate could mean that the content isn’t engaging or relevant to what the visitor is looking for.  

If 100 people visit a page and 60 leave without clicking anywhere else, the bounce rate is 60%. To reduce this bounce rate, you could create and publish more engaging and high-quality content that adds value to the readers.

The average bounce rate could be between 26% & 70%. If you can, it would be better to bring it between 26% & 40%. You must keep a lower bounce rate for your website. The causes for a higher bounce rate can be slow loading, low-quality content, too many ads on the page, no relevant content, or an unresponsive landing page.

Bot:

Bots are also known as “crawlers” or “spiders.” A bot is an automated program used by search engines to browse and index web pages.  

Googlebot crawls your website to determine which pages should appear in Google’s search index.

Blog Commenting

Commenting on blogs was a common link-building strategy used by many. Website owners used to find blog posts relevant to their industry & posted comments with a link to their websites. 

But this strategy is a cause for debate these days. Now Google bans links from useless & spam websites. 

As you can see, this strategy can do more harm than good. Having said that, there are still times when this is suitable. Leaving an insightful comment on a blog post can help you create connections in your market segment and lead to guest posting opportunities. You may not receive link equity, but you can expect increased traffic.

C

Click-Through Rate (CTR):

The percentage of users who click on a link after seeing it in search results or an ad. If 1,000 people see your ad in Google search results and 50 of them click it, your CTR is 5%.

Content:

Any form of information on a webpage, including text, images, videos, and infographics is known as content. High-quality, relevant content is the key to good SEO. Since content is the King in this era, you need to pay more attention to the content you publish.

Conversion:

The completion of a desired action by a website visitor, such as making a purchase, filling out a form, or signing up for a newsletter.  

For example, if a visitor buys a product from your website after reading a blog post, that’s a conversion.

Crawl:  

When a search engine’s bot visits web pages and collects data to index them in the search engine. Googlebot crawls your website’s pages to analyse their content and rank them in search results.

Crawlability:

Crawlability is the search engine’s ability to crawl and index web pages. Search engine bots, also known as crawlers or spiders, visit websites to find and explore their content. If a website is crawlable, the bots can access and navigate its pages efficiently. 

A clear website structure, fewer technical issues & proper internal linking helps to have good crawlability. When a website is easily crawlable, search engines can index its pages and show them in search results. On the other hand, if a website is not crawlable, search engines will struggle to comprehend its content & it leads to poor visibility and lower rankings.

Crawler:

Crawlers, often known as spiders or bots, are programs that search engines utilize to investigate and index web pages. Crawlers are automated software agents that surf the web in a systematic way, tracking links from one website to the next. Their main goal is to find fresh content, update old data, and collect information about websites.

A crawler analyzes the content of a webpage, including text, graphics, and links, when it visits it. Following such links to other pages, the crawler builds a network of interconnected web pages. This approach enables search engines to uncover and index a massive volume of material on the internet.

Canonical URL:  

A way of telling search engines which version of a URL is the main one, avoiding duplicate content issues.  For example, if you have two similar pages, one at `www.example.com` and another at `www.example.com/home`, you can set `www.example.com` as the canonical URL to show search engines it’s the main page.

Core Web Vitals:

A set of metrics used by Google to measure user experience on a website, including page load time, interactivity, and visual stability.  A website with a fast loading time and no shifting elements will score higher on core web vitals, improving its SEO ranking.

D

Directory:

A website that lists and categories other websites, businesses, or resources. Being listed in high-quality directories can help with SEO.  

For example, Yelp is a directory submission site where businesses like restaurants can be listed, and these listings can help improve search rankings.

Here are some directory submission sites lists you can refer to,

Free Directory Submission sites

Best Directory submission sites

Australian Business Listing Sites

Domain:  

The main web address of a website, like `www.example.com`. It’s an essential part of a URL and can affect SEO, especially if it contains relevant keywords.  

For example “www.bestcoffeeshop.com” is a domain that might rank well for coffee-related searches.

Domain Authority (DA):

A ranking score (on a 0-100 scale) developed by Moz that predicts how well a website will rank in search engine results. It’s based on factors like the number of backlinks and content quality.  

For example, a website with a DA of 80 is more likely to rank higher than one with a DA of 20.

Duplicate Content:

Content that appears on more than one page, either within the same website or across different websites. Search engines may penalise sites with duplicate content.  

If you copy and paste a blog post from one page to another without modification, you may face duplicate content issues.

Direct Traffic:

Visitors who come to a website by typing the URL directly into their browser or via a saved bookmark.  

For example, someone typing “www.example.com” into their browser and going straight to your website is considered direct traffic.

E

External Link:

An external link is a hyperlink that points to a page on a different website. External links can pass authority and improve SEO if they link to reputable sources.  

Event Tracking:

A method of tracking user interactions with elements on a website, such as clicks on a button, video plays, or form submissions.  

Example: Tracking how many people click the “Buy Now” button on your product page.

F

Featured Snippet:

A box at the top of Google’s search results that provides a direct answer to a query, often in the form of a short paragraph, list, or table.  

For example, if you search for “how to make coffee,” Google might display a featured snippet with step-by-step instructions before the regular search results.

Follow Link:

A hyperlink that passes SEO value (also known as link juice) from the linking site to the destination site. If a high-authority blog links to your website using the following link, it can improve your search engine rankings.

Freshness (Fresh Content):  

Search engines prefer fresh, regularly updated content. Keeping your website content up-to-date can help with SEO rankings.  

For example, updating an old blog post with new statistics and relevant information can improve its SEO performance.

G

Google Analytics:

A free tool from Google that helps website owners track and report website traffic, visitor behaviour, and conversion data. Google Analytics can tell you how many people visited your website last month and which pages were the most popular.

Google Search Console:

A free tool that helps monitor your site’s presence in Google search results and identifies issues like crawling errors, mobile usability problems, or manual penalties.  

For example, if your website has a broken link or a page that isn’t indexed, Google Search Console can alert you.

Google My Business (GMB):  

A free tool that allows businesses to manage their online presence on Google, including search results and Google Maps. Optimising your GMB listing is crucial for local SEO.  

For example, a local bakery can list its hours, location, and customer reviews on GMB, making it easier for nearby customers to find them.

 Google

In 1998, Larry Page & Sergey Brin founded Google. Google is the most popular search engine in almost every country on Earth. Google has become a part of millions of people daily. 

Google Panda Algorithm

Google Panda Algorithm is a major algorithm update by Google in 2011. The purpose of this algorithm was to reduce the visibility of low-quality content. In 2016, this algorithm became a core ranking algorithm.

H

Heading Tags (H1, H2, H3, etc.):

HTML tags are used to structure content on a webpage. The H1 tag is usually the main title, while H2, H3, etc., are used for subheadings.  

In a blog post about SEO, “What is SEO?” could be an H1, while “Why SEO is Important” could be an H2.

Hyperlink:

A clickable link that directs users to another webpage.  

Example: The text “click here to learn more” might link to a separate page with more information.

I

Image SEO:  

Optimising images on your website for search engines by using descriptive filenames, alt text, and compressed file sizes.  

Example: Naming an image “SEO-strategy-diagram.jpg” instead of “IMG123.jpg” and adding alt text can improve the image’s chances of ranking.

Inbound Link:

Another term for a backlink is a link from another website that points to your site. Inbound links are crucial for improving domain authority.  

Example: If a well-known marketing blog links to your post on SEO tips, that’s an inbound link.

Internal Link:

A link that connects one page of your website to another page on the same website. Internal links help users and search engines navigate your site.  

Example: Linking to your “Services” page from your homepage.

Impressions:  

The number of times your content, link, or ad appears in front of users in search results.  

Example: If your webpage is shown 500 times in search results, it has 500 impressions.

J

JavaScript:

A programming language used to create interactive effects on websites. It’s important to ensure that JavaScript content is crawlable by search engines for better SEO.  

Example: Features like image sliders and pop-up forms are often powered by JavaScript.

k

Keyword:

A word or phrase that users type into a search engine to find information. Optimising a website’s content around relevant keywords is essential for SEO.  

Example: “Best coffee in Sydney” is a keyword someone might use when searching for a coffee shop.

Finding the most useful and relevant keywords for a website’s content is made easier by keyword research. SEO success depends on selecting the right keywords because they help match a website’s content with users’ search intentions. 

Website owners improve their chances of ranking in search results when visitors type in relevant keywords by focusing those keywords on their content. For instance, appropriate keywords for a website selling running shoes may be “best-running shoes” or “athletic footwear.”

The website can draw organic traffic from those looking for terms by properly including these keywords across its content.

Keyword Density:

The percentage of times a keyword appears on a page compared to the total word count.  

Example: If you mention “SEO strategy” 10 times in a 1,000-word article, the keyword density is 1%.

Keyword Research:

The process of finding and analysing search terms that people use in search engines to create relevant content.  

Example: Using tools like Google Keyword Planner to discover popular search terms related to your niche.

Keyword Stuffing:  

An outdated SEO tactic where a webpage is overloaded with keywords in an attempt to manipulate rankings.  

Example: Writing “best coffee in Melbourne” repeatedly in every sentence of a blog post would be considered keyword stuffing.

L

Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI):

A technique used by search engines to understand related concepts and synonyms for a particular keyword. Using LSI keywords can improve relevance and search rankings.  

Example: If your keyword is “digital marketing,” LSI keywords might include “online advertising,” “SEO,” and “content marketing.”

Link Building:

The process of acquiring backlinks from other websites to boost a site’s authority and ranking in search engine results.  

Example: Reaching out to other bloggers and asking them to link to your content is a form of link building.

Local SEO:

Optimising a website to rank for local search queries, like “plumber near me” or “restaurants in Brisbane.” Local SEO often involves creating or optimising a Google My Business listing.  

Example: A dentist’s website optimised for the keyword “dentist in Sydney” to attract local patients.

Long-Tail Keywords:  

Keywords or phrases that are more specific and usually longer than common keywords. They tend to have less competition and are highly targeted.  

Example: Instead of targeting “shoes,” a long-tail keyword might be “women’s running shoes for flat feet.”

They are useful for focusing on a certain audience, and as there is frequently less competition, it is simpler to rank higher in search engine results. Long-tail keywords are more precise and represent users’ exact search intentions as opposed to generic or broad keywords. 

The broad keyword “shoes,” for instance, might be used, but a long-tail keyword might be “men’s blue running shoes with arch support.” 

By including long-tail keywords in content, website owners can target a more focused audience and capture useful traffic that is more likely to convert into customers.

Link Juice:

A term used to describe the SEO value or authority passed from one webpage to another through a hyperlink.  

Example: If a high-authority website links to your blog, the “link juice” from that site can boost your page’s ranking.

M

Meta Title (Title Tag):  

The HTML element that specifies the title of a webpage. It’s one of the most important on-page SEO factors. Google suggests that the optimal character limit for the meta title is 55-60 characters. Also, you need to add the main target keyword within the title tag.

Example: A meta title for a blog post might be “Top 10 SEO Tips for Beginners | DigiFix.”

Meta Description:  

A short summary of a webpage’s content that appears under the title in search engine results. It helps users understand what the page is about. Google suggests the optimal character limit for the meta description is 155-160 characters. Also, you need to add the main target keyword within the meta description.

Example: “Learn the top SEO tips to improve your website’s ranking and drive more organic traffic in this comprehensive guide.”

Mobile-First Indexing:

Google’s approach to crawling and indexing the mobile version of a website first, instead of the desktop version.  

Example: If your site is mobile-friendly, it will likely rank better under mobile-first indexing.

MozBar:

A free browser extension that provides SEO metrics like domain authority, page authority, and backlinks for any website.  

Example: Using MozBar to analyse your competitors’ domain authority.

N

Nofollow Link:

A type of link that does not pass SEO value or link juice to the destination page.  

Example: Links in blog comments are often nofollow to prevent spam.

Negative SEO:  

Unethical tactics aimed at lowering a competitor’s search rankings, such as building spammy links to their website.  

Example: Creating hundreds of low-quality backlinks to a competitor’s site to trigger a penalty from Google.

Natural Link:

A natural link is a backlink given by another website without being asked, typically because your content is valuable or helpful.  

Example: A blogger links to your infographic because they found it useful for their readers.

O

Organic Traffic:

Organic traffic refers to the visitors who come to your website through unpaid search engine results.  

Example: If someone finds your blog post via a Google search, that counts as organic traffic.

Outbound Links:

Links that direct users from your website to another site.  

Example: If your blog links to a source like Wikipedia, that’s an outbound link.

Outreach Marketing:

Reaching out to influencers, bloggers, or other websites to promote content, build relationships, or acquire backlinks.  

Example: Send an email to a popular blogger asking them to share your latest article.

Off-Page SEO:

Off-page SEO includes the tactics that are used outside of your own website to improve rankings, primarily through link building, social media marketing, and influencer outreach.  

Example: Guest blogging on other websites to build backlinks is a common off-page SEO strategy.

On-Page SEO:

The process of optimising individual web pages to rank higher in search engine results. It includes using relevant keywords, optimising meta tags, and improving content structure.  

Example: Adding keywords in the title tag, headings, and body text is part of on-page SEO.

P

PPC (Pay-Per-Click):

A type of online advertising where advertisers pay a fee each time someone clicks on their ad, such as Google Ads.  

Example: If you run a Google ad targeting the keyword “buy running shoes,” you pay each time someone clicks on the ad.

Pageviews:

The total number of pages viewed by visitors on a website.  

Example: If a visitor navigates through 5 pages on your website, you have 5 pageviews.

Page Authority (PA):  

A score created by Moz that predicts how well a specific webpage will rank in search engine results. It’s measured on a scale of 1 to 100.  

Example: A blog post with a PA of 50 is expected to perform better than a page with a PA of 20.

Penalties (Google Penalties):

Manual or algorithmic punishments imposed by Google for violating its webmaster guidelines. These can cause significant drops in search rankings.  

Example: If a website is caught buying links, it may receive a penalty, causing it to drop in rankings or be de-indexed.

Position Zero:

A term for the featured snippet that appears at the very top of Google’s search results, above the first organic result.  

Example: If you search for “how to bake a cake,” and Google displays a recipe at the top of the page, that’s position zero.

Q

Query:  

A word or phrase entered into a search engine by a user.  

Example: A query like “best Italian restaurants in Sydney” will return a list of restaurants that match the search.

R

Robots.txt:

A file that tells search engines which pages of your website they should or should not crawl.  

Example: You might use robots.txt to prevent Google from crawling pages with duplicate content.

Ranking Factor:  

Any element that influences where a website appears in search engine results, such as content quality, backlinks, page speed, and mobile-friendliness.  

Example: High-quality backlinks are a strong ranking factor for SEO.

Rich Snippets:  

Search results with additional information such as ratings, images, or event dates. Rich snippets are powered by schema markup.  

Example: A product search might show a rich snippet with a star rating and price.

S

Searcher Intent (Search Intent):

The goal or purpose behind a user’s search query, such as finding information, making a purchase, or looking for a specific website.  

Example: Someone searching for “buy sneakers online” has transactional intent, meaning they want to make a purchase.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO):

The process of optimising a website to improve its rankings in organic search engine results. SEO includes on-page, off-page, and technical strategies.  

Example: Writing a blog post optimised for the keyword “best SEO tools” to rank higher in search results.

Search Engine:

A program that searches a database of information and returns relevant results to the user. Popular search engines include Google, Bing, and Yahoo.  

Example: When you search for “how to tie a tie” on Google, the search engine returns a list of relevant websites.

Search Engine Results Page (SERP):

SERP is the page displayed by a search engine after a user submits a search query. It contains organic results, paid ads, and sometimes rich snippets or featured snippets.  

Example: If you search for “best coffee near me,” the SERP might show local business listings, maps, and related blog posts.

Sitemap:

A file that lists all the pages on your website, helping search engines crawl and index them.  

Example: A sitemap.xml file helps Googlebot understand the structure of your website.

Schema Markup:

A type of structured data that helps search engines understand your content better and can improve the appearance of search results with rich snippets.  

Example: Adding schema markup to a recipe blog post might allow Google to display cooking times and ratings in the search results.

SEO Audit:  

A process of evaluating a website’s performance in search engines by analysing factors like page speed, mobile-friendliness, content, and backlinks.  

Example: An SEO audit might reveal that a site’s load time is too slow, affecting its ranking.

SERP Features:  

SERP features are Special results displayed on a search engine results page that goes beyond the traditional blue links, such as featured snippets, knowledge panels, and image carousels.  

Example: When searching for “weather in Sydney,” the SERP feature might show a weather forecast directly in the results.

Site Speed:  

The time it takes for a web page to load. Faster sites tend to rank higher in search results because they provide a better user experience.  

Example: A site that takes more than 3 seconds to load may lose visitors and rank lower.

T

Title Tag:

The HTML element that defines the title of a webpage. It appears in the browser tab and search engine results as the clickable headline.  

Example: A title tag for a page about SEO might be “The Ultimate Guide to SEO in 2024.”

Traffic:

The number of visitors to a website. There are different types of traffic, including organic, direct, referral, and paid traffic.  

Example: Organic traffic comes from search engines, while referral traffic comes from other websites linking to your site.

Trust Flow:  

A metric from Majestic SEO that measures the trustworthiness of a site based on the quality of backlinks.  

Example: A site with backlinks from reputable sources like government websites will have a higher trust flow.

U

URL (Uniform Resource Locator):

The web address used to access a specific page on the internet.  

Example: `https://www.example.com/about-us` is a URL leading to the “About Us” page.

User Experience (UX):

The overall experience a visitor has when interacting with a website, including how easy it is to navigate, how fast it loads, and how relevant the content is.  

Example: A website with intuitive design, fast load times, and useful content will provide a better UX and rank higher in search results.

V

Voice Search:

Searches made using voice commands on devices like smartphones or smart speakers. Optimising for voice search involves using natural language and answering questions directly.  

Example: A user might ask their phone, “What’s the best pizza place nearby?” and voice search will return relevant results.

Vertical Search:

A type of specialised search engine that focuses on a specific industry or type of content, such as images, videos, or job listings.  

Example: YouTube is a vertical search engine for videos, while Google Images focuses on image search.

W

Webmaster Tools:

A set of tools provided by search engines like Google and Bing to help webmasters monitor and improve their site’s performance in search results.  

Example: Google Search Console is an example of a webmaster tool.

White Hat SEO:

Ethical SEO practices that comply with search engine guidelines. These tactics focus on improving the user experience and providing valuable content.  

Example: Writing high-quality content and building natural backlinks is a white-hat SEO strategy.

WordPress:  

A popular content management system (CMS) used to build and manage websites. It’s SEO-friendly and offers many plugins to enhance SEO efforts.  

Example: Many bloggers and businesses use WordPress because it’s easy to optimise for search engines.

X

XML Sitemap:  

A file that helps search engines index your website more effectively by listing all its pages in a structured format.  

Example: An XML sitemap might include URLs for all your blog posts, product pages, and other important content.

Y

Yoast SEO:

A popular WordPress plugin that helps website owners optimise their content for search engines.  

Example: Yoast SEO provides suggestions for improving your content’s readability and keyword usage.

Z

Zero-Click Search:

A search result that provides the answer to a user’s query directly on the search engine results page, without the need for the user to click on a link.  

Example: A search for “current time in Sydney” might show the time immediately in Google’s featured snippet, resulting in a zero-click search.

301 Redirect:

A 301 redirect is a permanent redirect from one URL to another. 301 appears when a web page has been moved or permanently removed. And it ensures that users and search engines are directed to the new URL. 

For example, if a website changes its domain name, implementing a 301 redirect will automatically send visitors and search engine bots to the new page. That helps preserve the SEO value and ranking of the original page.

Conclusion

Search Engine Optimization is a collection of techniques you can use to improve the ranking of your website. This topic may be a complex area for you to understand. That is why we have created this SEO glossary which contains 35 essential SEO terms. I hope this SEO glossary helped you to understand the SEO terms you need for your SEO efforts. 

If you need any assistance on your company’s  SEO efforts, our team at DigiFix is more than happy to help you. Contact us for more information.

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