A to Z
SEO glossary for buyers.
Plain definitions for the terms that show up in proposals, audits, and monthly reports. If a provider cannot explain a term this simply, ask again.
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- 301 redirect
- A permanent forward from one web address to another. It tells search engines the page has moved for good and passes most of the old page's ranking value to the new one, which is why redirects matter during site redesigns and migrations.
A
- Algorithm update
- A change Google makes to how it ranks pages. Large updates happen several times a year and can move rankings up or down across many sites at once, sometimes with no change on your end.
- Alt text
- A short written description of an image, stored in the page code. It helps people using screen readers and gives search engines context about the image, which can help pages appear in image results.
- Anchor text
- The visible, clickable words in a link. Search engines use it as a hint about what the linked page is about, so natural, descriptive anchor text is preferred over repetitive keyword phrases.
B
- Backlink
- A link from another website to yours. Backlinks from relevant, credible sites act as a signal of trust and remain one of the stronger influences on rankings. Quality matters far more than quantity.
C
- Canonical URL
- The preferred version of a page when the same content is reachable at more than one address. A canonical tag tells search engines which version to index, avoiding duplicate content problems.
- Citation (local)
- A mention of your business name, address, and phone number on another website, such as a directory or industry listing. Consistent citations support local search visibility, particularly in the map results.
- Click-through rate (CTR)
- The percentage of people who see your page in search results and click on it. A page can rank well yet earn few clicks if its title and description are unclear or unappealing.
- Content audit
- A structured review of the pages on a site to decide what to keep, improve, merge, or remove. It is commonly done at the start of an engagement to set priorities.
- Conversion
- An action you want a visitor to take, such as calling, filling in a form, booking, or buying. Conversions from organic search are the most direct way to judge whether SEO is producing business value.
- Core Web Vitals
- A set of Google measurements of how a page performs for real users: how fast the main content loads, how quickly the page responds to interaction, and how much the layout shifts while loading. Poor scores can hold back rankings, though they are one factor among many.
- Crawl budget
- The amount of attention a search engine gives to crawling a site in a given period. It mainly matters for very large sites, where wasted crawling on low-value pages can delay important pages being indexed.
- Crawling
- The process by which search engines send automated programs to discover and read pages on the web. A page must be crawlable before it can be indexed and ranked.
D
- Domain authority
- A score from a third-party SEO tool that estimates how strong a site's link profile is. It is not a Google metric and Google does not use it, so treat it as a rough comparison tool rather than a goal in itself.
- Duplicate content
- The same or very similar content appearing at more than one web address. It is rarely penalized outright, but it can dilute rankings and confuse search engines about which page to show.
E
- E-E-A-T
- Short for experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. It comes from the guidelines Google gives its human quality raters and describes the qualities Google wants to reward, especially on topics that affect health, money, or safety.
F
- Featured snippet
- A highlighted box at the top of some search results that shows a direct answer pulled from a web page. Earning one can bring visibility, though it may also answer the question without a click.
G
- Google Analytics
- Google's free tool for measuring visits, behavior, and conversions on your website. It shows what visitors do after they arrive, while Search Console shows how they found you.
- Google Business Profile
- The free listing that controls how your business appears on Google Maps and in local search results. Keeping it accurate, complete, and active is one of the most important tasks in local SEO.
- Guest post
- An article written for another website, usually with a link back to your own. Legitimate guest posting on relevant sites is a common link-building tactic; paid or mass-produced guest posts on low-quality sites are not.
I
- Indexing
- The step where a search engine stores a crawled page in its database so it can appear in results. If a page is not indexed, it cannot rank no matter how good it is.
- Internal linking
- Links between pages on your own site. Good internal linking helps search engines find and understand your pages and helps visitors move to related content.
K
- Keyword cannibalization
- When several pages on your site compete for the same search term, so none of them ranks as well as one strong page would. It is usually fixed by merging or clearly differentiating the pages.
- Keyword difficulty
- An estimate, produced by SEO tools, of how hard it is to rank for a given search term based on the strength of the sites already ranking. It is a useful guide for prioritizing, not a precise prediction.
- Keyword research
- The process of finding the words and phrases people use when searching for what you offer, and estimating how often they search and how competitive each term is. It informs which pages to create and what to focus them on.
L
- Link building
- The work of earning links from other websites to yours. Approaches range from creating content people want to reference, to outreach and digital PR, to directory listings. Buying links violates Google's guidelines.
- Local pack / Map pack
- The block of map results, usually three businesses, shown for searches with local intent such as "electrician near me". Appearing here depends heavily on your Google Business Profile, reviews, and proximity to the searcher.
- Long-tail keyword
- A longer, more specific search phrase, such as "family dentist that takes Delta Dental in Oakland". Each is searched less often, but long-tail terms are usually less competitive and tend to signal clearer intent.
M
- Manual action
- A penalty applied by a human reviewer at Google when a site is found to violate its guidelines. Manual actions appear in Search Console and must be fixed and then submitted for review.
- Meta description
- A short summary of a page that search engines may show below the title in results. It does not directly affect rankings, but a clear description can improve how many people click through.
N
- NAP consistency
- Keeping your business name, address, and phone number identical everywhere they appear online. Inconsistencies can undermine local search visibility and confuse customers.
- Nofollow
- An attribute added to a link that asks search engines not to treat it as an endorsement. Commonly used for paid links, user comments, and some directories. Nofollow links can still send visitors but pass little or no ranking value.
- Noindex
- An instruction in a page's code telling search engines not to include it in results. It is useful for thank-you pages, internal search results, and other pages that should not appear in Google.
O
- Off-page SEO
- Activities outside your own website that influence rankings, mainly earning links, mentions, citations, and reviews. It is the counterpart to on-page SEO.
- On-page SEO
- Optimizing the content and code of individual pages: titles, headings, body text, images, internal links, and structured data. It is the part of SEO most directly within your control.
- Organic traffic
- Visitors who reach your site by clicking an unpaid search result. It excludes paid ads, social media, email, and direct visits, and is the main traffic measure in SEO reporting.
P
- PBN (private blog network)
- A group of websites controlled by one party and used to link to a client site in order to manipulate rankings. PBNs violate Google's guidelines and can lead to penalties. A provider offering them is a serious warning sign.
- Programmatic SEO
- Creating many pages automatically from a data set or template, for example one page per city or product variant. It can work when each page is genuinely useful, and it can backfire when it produces thin, near-duplicate pages.
R
- Rank tracking
- Monitoring where your pages appear in search results for a chosen set of terms over time. Rankings vary by location and device, so tracking should reflect where your customers actually search.
- Retainer
- A fixed monthly fee for ongoing SEO work. It is the most common pricing structure for continuing engagements and should come with a clear description of what is included each month.
- Rich results
- Search listings enhanced with extra elements such as star ratings, prices, event dates, or FAQs. They are typically enabled by schema markup and can make a listing stand out.
- Robots.txt
- A small file on your site that tells search engine crawlers which areas they may or may not visit. A mistake in this file can accidentally block an entire site from being crawled.
S
- Schema markup
- Structured code added to a page that labels its content for search engines, for example marking up a business's hours, a product's price, or an article's author. It supports rich results and helps machines understand the page.
- Search Console
- Google's free tool showing how your site performs in Google search: which queries bring impressions and clicks, which pages are indexed, and any technical problems or penalties. Every business should have its own access to it.
- Search intent
- The goal behind a search, such as learning something, finding a specific site, comparing options, or buying. Pages rank best when they match the intent of the query rather than just the words in it.
- SERP
- Search engine results page, the page you see after entering a search. It can contain ads, map results, AI summaries, featured snippets, videos, and standard links, and its layout affects how much traffic any single position receives.
- Site audit
- A systematic review of a website's technical health, content, and links to identify problems and opportunities. Audits are often sold as a one-time project at the start of an engagement.
- Site migration
- Moving a website to a new domain, platform, or structure. Migrations are high-risk for SEO and need careful planning, redirects, and monitoring to avoid losing rankings.
- Sitemap
- A file, usually XML, that lists the pages on your site to help search engines find them. It supports crawling but does not guarantee that listed pages will be indexed or ranked.
T
- Technical SEO
- Work on the underlying structure and performance of a site: crawlability, indexing, speed, mobile usability, redirects, and structured data. It ensures search engines can access and understand the content you publish.
- Title tag
- The page title shown in the browser tab and usually as the headline in search results. It is one of the more important on-page elements and should describe the page clearly and specifically.
- Toxic links / disavow
- Toxic links are low-quality or manipulative backlinks that could harm a site's standing. The disavow tool lets you ask Google to ignore specific links. Google says most sites do not need it, and overuse can do more harm than good.
W
- White-hat vs black-hat
- White-hat SEO follows search engine guidelines and focuses on genuine quality; black-hat SEO uses manipulative tactics such as bought links, hidden text, or private blog networks. Black-hat methods may work briefly but carry real risk of penalties.
Y
- YMYL
- Short for "your money or your life", Google's term for topics that can affect a person's health, finances, safety, or wellbeing. Pages on these topics are held to a higher standard of expertise and trustworthiness.
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