SEO glossary
The terms you'll hear from an SEO agency, defined plainly, with Google's own definition linked wherever one exists.
What is search engine optimisation?
Search engine optimisation (SEO) is the work of making a website easy for search engines to find, understand and show to the right people. Google describes it as helping search engines understand your content, and helping users find your site and decide whether to visit it. Google is also clear that there are no secrets that automatically rank a site first.
- Technical SEO Can Google crawl, render and index the pages?
- On-page SEO Does each page match what people search for?
- Off-page SEO Do other sites link to and mention you?
SEO terms, A to Z
- 301 redirect
- A permanent redirect from one URL to another. Google treats it as a signal that the destination should be the canonical page, which is why it's the right choice when a page moves for good. Site migration checklist Google on 301 redirect
- AI Overviews
- AI-generated summaries Google shows above some results, with links to supporting pages. Google says there are no additional requirements to appear in them beyond normal SEO best practice. Google on ai overviews
- Anchor text
- The visible, clickable words in a link. Google describes good anchor text as descriptive, reasonably concise and relevant to the page it's on and the page it links to. How backlinks work Google on anchor text
- Backlink
- A link from another website to yours. Google uses links to find pages and as a signal of relevance. One relevant, editorial link counts for more than many unrelated ones. How backlinks work
- Canonical tag
- A tag naming the preferred version of a page when the same content is reachable at several addresses. Google treats it as a hint, not a rule. Google on canonical tag
- Cannibalisation
- Two or more of your own pages targeting the same search, so neither ranks as well as one combined page would. Search Console shows it as several of your URLs getting impressions for one query. What is a content audit?
- Core Web Vitals
- Three measures of real users' experience: loading (LCP), responsiveness (INP) and visual stability (CLS). Google uses them in ranking, but says relevance comes first. Core Web Vitals explained
- Crawl budget
- Roughly, how much crawling Google gives a site. It matters on very large sites, where filters and parameters can use it up; Google's crawl budget guide isn't aimed at small ones.
- Crawling
- Google downloading pages it has found, mostly by following links. A page nothing links to is hard to discover. Technical SEO guide Google on crawling
- Doorway pages
- Pages created to rank for specific, similar searches that funnel visitors elsewhere, such as near-identical pages for every suburb. They break Google's spam policies. Google on doorway pages
- E-E-A-T
- Experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness. Google says E-E-A-T itself isn't a specific ranking factor, that trust is the most important part, and that it matters most on topics affecting health, money or safety. Google on e-e-a-t
- Filters on a category page, such as size, colour or brand. Every combination can create a URL, which makes it the largest source of wasted crawling on many online stores. Ecommerce SEO guide
- Featured snippet
- A result shown in a highlighted box near the top of the page, quoting part of a page that answers the search directly.
- Google Business Profile
- A business's listing on Google Search and Maps: name, address or service area, hours, reviews and photos. The main asset in local SEO. What is local SEO?
- Google Search Console
- Google's free tool for site owners, showing which searches your pages appear for, clicks, impressions, indexing problems and more. SEO reporting guide
- Hreflang
- Markup telling Google which language or country version of a page to show. Only needed when you have genuinely separate versions for different markets. International SEO
- Indexing
- Google analysing a page and storing it so it's eligible to appear in results. Crawled isn't the same as indexed, and Google doesn't index every page it crawls. Technical SEO guide Google on indexing
- Internal link
- A link from one page on your site to another. Internal links help Google find pages and understand which matter most.
- Keyword
- A word or phrase people type into a search engine. In practice, SEO targets the intent behind a group of similar keywords with one page.
- Local pack
- The map with a short list of businesses shown for local searches. Google says local results are mainly based on relevance, distance and prominence. What is local SEO?
- Meta description
- A short summary in a page's HTML that Google may show as the text under the result. A clear, accurate one can earn more clicks.
- NAP
- Name, address and phone number. Should be the same everywhere it appears, on your site, Business Profile and directories.
- Nofollow
- A link attribute for links you don't want to vouch for. Google also has sponsored for paid links and ugc for user-generated content; links with these are generally not followed. How backlinks work Google on nofollow
- Noindex
- An instruction that a page shouldn't appear in Google's results. It only works if robots.txt doesn't block the page, because Google has to crawl it to see the instruction. Google on noindex
- Off-page SEO
- Work outside your own site that affects how it ranks: mainly links and mentions from other sites, and reviews. Link building services
- On-page SEO
- Work on the page itself: the words, headings, title, internal links and images, matched to what people search for. SEO copywriting
- Organic search
- Unpaid search results, as distinct from ads. The channel SEO works on.
- Rendering
- Google running a page's JavaScript to see it as a browser would. Content that only appears after rendering depends on it working, which is why Google recommends server-side rendering where possible. Technical SEO guide
- Robots.txt
- A file telling search engine crawlers which URLs they can access. Google says it's not a way to keep a page out of its results; use noindex for that. Google on robots.txt
- Schema markup
- Another name for structured data, using the schema.org vocabulary.
- Search engine optimisation (SEO)
- Google describes SEO as helping search engines understand your content and helping users find your site and decide whether to visit it from a search engine. It covers technical, on-page and off-page work. SEO guides Google on search engine optimisation
- Search engine positioning
- An older term for the part of SEO concerned with where specific pages rank for specific searches. In practice it's the same work as SEO, measured page by page and search by search.
- SERP
- Search engine results page: everything Google shows for a search. Read it before targeting a search, because what already ranks tells you whether you can compete. SEO competitor analysis
- SERP features
- Anything on the results page beyond standard links, such as the local pack, featured snippets, AI Overviews, images, videos, sitelinks and related questions. Google on serp features
- Sitemap
- Google defines a sitemap as a file where you provide information about the pages, videos and other files on your site, and the relationships between them. It helps discovery but doesn't guarantee every page is crawled or indexed. Google on sitemap
- Soft 404
- A page that returns a success status but looks like an error or empty page to Google. Search Console reports these; return a real 404 or give the page real content.
- Structured data
- A standard format for describing a page's content so search engines can understand it, such as a product's price or a business's hours. Google says it makes a rich result possible, not guaranteed. Google on structured data
- Technical SEO
- The work that lets search engines crawl, render and index your pages: site structure, status codes, robots rules, canonicals, speed and mobile layout. Technical SEO guide
- Title link
- Google's name for the clickable headline of a search result. It usually comes from the page's title tag, though Google can rewrite it.
- The idea that covering a subject thoroughly helps a site rank across it. Widely observed, though not a metric Google publishes.
SEO glossary FAQs
What is search engine optimisation, in simple terms?
Making your website easy for search engines to understand and useful enough to show, so more of the right people find it in unpaid search results.
What's the difference between SEO and search engine positioning?
Search engine positioning is an older term for where specific pages rank for specific searches. It's part of SEO rather than something separate.
What is a sitemap, and does every website need one?
A file listing your site's pages and files for search engines. Small sites with good internal links can be found without one, but most sites benefit, and it should list only pages you want indexed.
Is E-E-A-T a Google ranking factor?
Google says E-E-A-T itself isn't a specific ranking factor. It describes what Google's systems try to reward, and trust is the most important part.
What does SERP mean?
Search engine results page: everything shown for a search, including standard results, ads, the local pack and features such as AI Overviews and featured snippets.
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