GLOSSARY

Search Marketing
Glossary.

Every term you'll hear in an SEO pitch - explained in plain English. No jargon walls. No filler. Just the definitions that actually matter.

69
Terms Defined
22
A-Z Categories
0
Jargon Walls

A

Above the Fold
The visible part of a web page before scrolling - where first impressions happen.
Alt Text
Image descriptions that help search engines and screen readers understand visuals.
Anchor Text
The clickable words in a hyperlink - a relevance signal Google actually uses.

B

Backlink
A link from another site to yours - still one of Google's top ranking factors.
Black Hat SEO
SEO tactics that violate search engine guidelines - fast gains, brutal penalties.
Bounce Rate
Percentage of visitors who leave after viewing just one page on your site.
Breadcrumbs
Navigation showing a page's position in your site hierarchy - useful for users and Google.

C

Canonical Tag
Tells search engines which version of a page is the original when duplicates exist.
Click-Through Rate (CTR)
The percentage of searchers who see your listing and actually click it.
Cloaking
Showing different content to search engines than to users - a fast path to penalties.
Content Cluster
A group of related pages around a core topic, connected by internal links.
Conversion Rate
The percentage of visitors who take a desired action - the metric that actually matters.
Core Web Vitals
Google's page experience metrics - loading speed, visual stability, and interactivity.
Crawl Budget
How many pages Google will crawl on your site in a given timeframe.
Crawling
How search engine bots discover and download your pages - the first step to ranking.
CMS
Content Management System - the software running your website (WordPress, Shopify, etc).

D

Domain Authority (DA)
Moz's third-party metric predicting ranking potential - useful, but not a Google factor.
Domain Rating (DR)
Ahrefs' version of domain authority - measures backlink profile strength on a 0-100 scale.
Duplicate Content
The same content appearing on multiple URLs - confuses Google about which to rank.

E

E-E-A-T
Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness - Google's quality framework.

F

Featured Snippet
The answer box at the top of search results - position zero above organic listings.

G

Google Business Profile (GBP)
Your business listing on Google Maps and local search - essential for local visibility.
Google Search Console (GSC)
Google's free tool showing how your site actually performs in search - essential data.
Googlebot
Google's web crawler that discovers, downloads, and indexes your pages.
Grey Hat SEO
SEO tactics in the murky middle ground between white hat and black hat - risky but common.

H

Header Tags (H1-H6)
HTML heading elements that structure content hierarchically for users and search engines.
Hreflang
Tells search engines which language version of a page to show in different countries.

I

Impressions
How many times your page appeared in search results, whether anyone clicked or not.
Indexing
Adding a crawled page to Google's database so it can appear in search results.
Internal Link
Links between pages on your own site - the most underrated SEO lever available.

J

JavaScript SEO
Optimising JS-heavy sites so search engines can actually see and index the content.

K

Keyword Cannibalisation
When multiple pages on your site compete for the same keyword, splitting authority.
Keyword Density
How often a keyword appears relative to total word count - an outdated metric.
Keyword Difficulty (KD)
A tool-generated estimate of how hard it is to rank for a specific keyword.
Keyword Research
Finding what your audience searches for - the foundation of every SEO strategy.
Knowledge Panel
The information box Google shows for recognised entities - people, businesses, places.

L

Landing Page
The page a user arrives on from search - where intent matching either works or fails.
Link Building
Acquiring backlinks from other sites to build authority - effective when done right.
Link Equity
The ranking value passed through links from one page to another - also called link juice.
Local Pack (Map Pack)
The three local business listings with a map that dominate local search results.
Long-Tail Keyword
Longer, more specific search queries - lower volume but higher intent and easier to rank for.

M

Meta Description
The text snippet below your title in search results - your ad copy for organic search.
Meta Robots
HTML directives telling search engines whether to index a page and follow its links.
Meta Refresh
An HTML tag that automatically redirects or reloads a page after a set delay.
Mobile-First Indexing
Google uses the mobile version of your site for indexing and ranking - not desktop.

N

NAP Consistency
Keeping your Name, Address, Phone identical across every listing on the internet.
Nofollow
A link attribute telling search engines not to pass ranking credit through that link.

O

Organic Traffic
Visitors from unpaid search results - traffic that doesn't stop when the budget does.
Orphan Page
A page with no internal links pointing to it - invisible to search engines and users.

P

Page Speed
How fast your pages load - a confirmed ranking factor that affects conversions too.
PageRank
Google's original link-based algorithm for measuring page importance - still a factor.
PBN (Private Blog Network)
A network of fake sites built to manipulate rankings with links - don't do this.
People Also Ask (PAA)
Expandable question boxes in search results - a growing source of SERP visibility.

R

Redirect (301 vs 302)
301 is permanent (transfers ranking signals), 302 is temporary - use the right one.
Robots.txt
A file telling search engine crawlers which parts of your site they can access.

S

Schema Markup
Structured data that helps search engines understand your content and enables rich results.
Search Intent
The reason behind a search query - matching it is more important than matching keywords.
SEM (Search Engine Marketing)
The broader practice of marketing through search - includes both SEO and paid search.
SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)
Improving your site's visibility in organic search - an ongoing system, not a project.
SERP (Search Engine Results Page)
The page Google shows after a search - the competitive landscape you're fighting in.
Sitemap (XML)
An XML file listing all pages you want search engines to discover and index.

T

Technical SEO
Optimising your site's infrastructure so search engines can crawl, render, and index it.
Thin Content
Pages with little useful content - Google devalues them and they drag your site down.
Title Tag
The clickable heading in search results - one of the strongest on-page ranking signals.
Topical Authority
How comprehensively your site covers a subject - depth beats breadth for rankings.

U

URL Structure
How your page URLs are organised - clean and descriptive beats messy and cryptic.
User Experience (UX)
How easy and enjoyable your site is to use - bad UX directly hurts rankings.

W

White Hat SEO
SEO that follows search engine guidelines - sustainable, penalty-free, and worth the wait.

Z

Zero-Click Search
Searches where the answer appears on the SERP itself - no click to any website needed.

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