Glossary
I am a quick description of a glossary made by RMG and coded by Andrew! :]
0-9
- 301 Redirect - A permanent redirect from one URL to another. It is often used when a web page has been moved or changed. It transfers most of the link equity of the old page to the new one.
- 404 Error - An HTTP status code that signifies a requested webpage could not be found on the server (often because it's been moved or deleted).
A
- Algorithm - Algorithms are formulas that calculate the rankings of search engine result pages (SERP). Algorithms are routinely updated to provide the most relevant content based on any specific search.
- Alternative Text - Background tags that provide search engines and screen readers with a written description of an image. Also known as "alt text" or "alt tags." Including alt text is, first and foremost, a principle of accessibility, but alt text also helps with SEO.
- Anchor Text - This is the clickable text in a hyperlink.
- Authority - A measure of a website's credibility and relevance for specific search terms, often used by search engines to rank pages, gets built up over time via backlinks. Moz has a free measurement tool for "domain authority," which calculates your website's authority in Google's eyes. A website with a higher authority score will rank more quickly and easily on Google SERPs.
B
- Backlinks - Links on other websites that point to yours. These links are valuable because of their ability to pass authority (ranking power) from one website to another. Links act as votes of confidence between websites. The higher the website's authority giving the link, the more authority it will pass to the website it points to.
- Black Hat SEO - Unethical SEO practices that try to increase search engine rank by violating Google's quality guidelines and terms of service, such as keyword stuffing and link schemes.
- Blog - A blog is a place to publish your expert content. It is a frequently updated section of a website, typically written in a more conversational manner. Blogs offer websites a means to rank for keywords via non-transactional pages.
- Bots - Another name for search engine spiders, web crawlers, or any automated software that can perform tasks on the internet - essentially, bots scan web pages for content.
- Bounce Rate - The percentage of visitors who leave a website after viewing only one page—used to measure user interaction with your site. A "good bounce rate" varies from industry to industry and depends on the traffic source.
- Breadcrumb - A navigation element that shows your current location in relation to the website's structure. Often found just above a page title but below the navigation bar. They help users understand the hierarchy of a page.
- Broken Link - A link that points to a page that has moved or is nonexistent. Search engines frown upon broken links because the crawlers are directed to dead ends, which wastes resources.
C
- Cache - A temporary stash of website content; used to improve the load time of web pages.
- Citations - Online business listings include your business name, address, and phone number; imagine Yellowpages.com or Apple Maps.
- Click-Through Rate - The ratio of people who click through to your website when they see it appear in Google search results. A higher click-through rate indicates more clicks or visits. The closer your website is to the top of Google, the higher its click-through rate.
- CMS - Content Management Systems (CMS) are software platforms that help you create and manage digital content. The most common content management systems include WordPress, Wix, and Squarespace.
- Community Management - The practice of building and managing an online community around a brand or cause.
- Competition - In SEO, other websites also trying to rank based on the exact keywords as your site. Other websites trying to reach the same audience as you are online. It can differ from your direct competition.
- Content Curation - The process of gathering information relevant to a particular topic or area of interest.
- Content Marketing - This is a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly-defined audience.
- Conversion - A visitor who completes a desired action on your website — such as making a purchase, filling out a form, or signing up for a newsletter.
- Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) - The process of optimizing your site to increase the likelihood that visitors will complete a specific action.
- Crawling - How search engines explore the internet and index (keep track of) web pages. If a page is not indexed, it is not being crawled.
- CSS - Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) make websites look good (or bad) by controlling fonts, colors, etc. independent of its content.
D
- Direct Message (DM) - A private form of communication between social media users.
- Domain Authority (DA) - A search engine ranking score developed by Moz that predicts how well a website will rank on search engine result pages (SERPs).
- Duplicate Content - Content that appears on the Internet in more than one place.
- Dwell Time - The length of time a visitor spends on a page after they've arrived from a search engine.
E
- Engagement - This measures the public shares, likes, and comments for an online business' social media efforts.
- Evergreen Content - This is SEO content that is continually relevant and stays "fresh" for readers.
F
- Featured Snippets - Answers that appear at the top of a search engine results page, featuring content pulled from another web page and displayed on Google SERPs. Featured Snippets offer incredible visibility and traffic.
- Follower Count - The number of people who follow your social media profiles.
G
- Google Ads - An advertising platform from Google that powers the paid listing space on google.com, YouTube, etc. Google Ads are sold on a cost-per-click basis, and businesses of all sizes can pay to display advertisements, service offerings, product listings, etc.
- Google Analytics - A free web analytics tool powered by Google; allows you to monitor your website's performance.
- Google Analytics 4 (GA4) - Google Analytics 4 is the latest version of Google Analytics. It's built on the foundation of the App + Web property type and uses a different, more flexible approach to data collection compared to Universal Analytics. GA4 provides more integrated insights across platforms and devices and has more powerful predictive capabilities. It is designed to provide insights based on customer lifecycle rather than isolated by platform or device. GA4 is also designed to adapt to a future with or without cookies or identifiers. Will become standard July 1st, 2023.
- Google My Business - Google My Business (GMB) allows businesses and organizations to manage their online presence across Google, specifically Search and Maps. Claiming your Google My Business profile is vital to any local SEO strategy, and using GMB posts increases your company's online presence.
- Google Search Console - A free service provided by Google that helps you monitor, maintain, and troubleshoot your site's presence in Google Search results. Used to understand which keywords drive traffic to your website and how well the search engines are crawling and indexing your content.
- Guest Posting - This refers to writing and publishing an article on someone else's website or blog.
H
- H1 – H4 - Tags within a page's content which define the header of a page and organize sections of content. Headers provide structure to your pages, and Google rewards structure. Headers also help visitors since they break your content into easy-to-read parts.
- Hashtag - A word or phrase preceded by a hash mark (#), used within a message to identify a keyword or topic of interest and facilitate a search for it.
- Holistic SEO - Forward-thinking, sitewide long-term SEO practices that position your website for success today and years down the road.
- HTML - HyperText Markup Language (HTML) is the programming code used to create web pages.
I
- Inbound Link - Also known as a backlink, it is a link from one website to another.
- Index - A database of all the content the search engine crawlers have collected. Think of it as a library of organized website data.
- Influencer Marketing - A type of social media marketing that uses endorsements and product mentions from influencers–individuals who have a dedicated social following and are viewed as experts within their niche.
- Internal Links - Links on your website that point to other pages within your website. Help create a content hierarchy and lead visitors to other valuable webpages.
K
- Keyword Research - Identifying the words and phrases your audience uses to search for your products, services, or expertise, and ultimately, your website.
- Keyword Stuffing - The overuse of keywords on a webpage, often resulting in a poor user experience and potential penalties from search engines.
- Keywords - The words and phrases users enter into the search bar. Also known as "search queries." The search results for these words and terms will direct people to your brand, products, and services.
- KPI - A Key Performance Indicator(KPI) is a measurement of how well your marketing met the overall campaign goal.
L
- Landing Page - Any page on your website that serves as the first page a person will view, often designed to prompt a specific action or result.
- Local Pack - The group of three local business listings that appear on the first page of Google's search results for local searches - appearing on the top of a search engine results page.
- Local Search - Online searches that are intended to find something within a specific geographic area. Local search begins with Google Maps but includes anything you do online to promote a business with a physical presence or service range.
- Long-Tail Keywords - Multiple-word phrases that are entered into the search bar for a specific reason. An example is "wireless earbuds for the gym" vs. "wireless earbuds". Long-tail keywords are often less competitive than shorter phrases and tend to have higher conversion rates because of the intent.
M
- Meta Descriptions - A snippet of about 155 characters that summarizes a webpage's content, often displayed below the page title in search engine results. Meta descriptions directly contribute to the likelihood of a person clicking (or not clicking) on your listing in the search results.
- Mobile-First Indexing - In 2018, Google started crawling and indexing your pages based on your website's mobile version instead of the desktop version. All content and updates must keep mobile in mind.
O
- Off-Page SEO - This refers to actions taken outside of your own website to impact your rankings within search engine results pages (SERPs).
- On-Page SEO - This refers to the practice of optimizing individual web pages in order to rank higher and earn more relevant traffic in search engines.
- Organic Search - The free search listings displayed on Google, Yahoo, and Bing, not paid advertising.
- Outbound Link - This is a link from your website to another website.
P
- Page Speed - How quickly a webpage loads, which can affect both a site's ranking in search results and user experience. An additional measurement within page speed, First Contentful Paint (FCP), measures perceived load time.
- Page Titles - Also known as title tags or meta title. Page Titles are tags in the header code of each web page. Page titles are used by search engines to craft the linked titles on a search engine results page. Page titles influence the likelihood of a person clicking on your listing.
- Personalization - The search engines' ability to customize the results you see based on factors such as your location or your past search history.
Q
- Query - A word or phrase entered into the search bar.
R
- Ranking - The order of webpages on a search engine results page, with the featured snippet (position #0) being the best and located at the top of the page.
- Relevancy - How closely a webpage matches the intent of a user's search query. The more relevant your content, the more likely your web page will rank higher in search results.
- Responsive Design - A method of building website layouts with content blocks that adapt to the visitor's screen size and orientation (desktops, tablets, and phones) by automatically adjusting the layout to the screen size.
- Robots.txt - A file on your website that directs search engine crawlers which pages or files the crawler can or can't request from your site.
S
- Search Engine Marketing (SEM) - A form of Internet marketing that involves the promotion of websites by increasing their visibility in search engine results pages primarily through paid advertising.
- Search Volume - The estimated average number of monthly searches for a term in a search engine. Search volume is measured separately for each keyword.
- SEO - Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the practice of increasing the quantity and quality of traffic to your website through organic search engine results.
- SERP - A Search Engine Results Page (SERP) is what you see after entering something in the search bar on Google, Yahoo, or Bing.
- Short-Tail Keywords - Searches performed online using short phrases — keywords like "headphones" or "routers." These keywords tend to be high volume and very competitive, and are often out of reach.
- Site Speed - A measurement of how quickly your web pages load.
- Site Structure - How website content is organized, including how pages are grouped and linked together. For example, the homepage is the top page, followed by those located in your main navigation.
- Skyscraper Technique - A content marketing strategy where a marketer identifies content that has done well in terms of gaining links, creates a better version of that content, and reaches out to people who've linked to the original content and asks them to link to the new piece.
- Social Listening - The process of monitoring social media channels for mentions of your brand, competitors, product, and more.
- Social Media Algorithm - A set of rules used by social networks to determine what content is displayed and what is hidden or given a lower priority.
- Social Media Analytics - The practice of gathering data from social media websites and analyzing that data to make business decisions.
- Social Media Automation - The process of optimizing social interactions using automated tools. This can include scheduling social posts ahead of time or republishing popular articles.
- Social Media ROI (Return on Investment) - A measure of the effectiveness of social media marketing. It's calculated by dividing the total revenue by the total cost (including time, ads, and any other expenses) multiplied by 100.
- Social Proof - The concept that people will conform to the actions of others under the assumption that those actions are reflective of the correct behavior.
- Stories - A feature on social media platforms, like Instagram and Facebook, where users can share short-lived content that disappears after 24 hours.
- Structured Data - Snippets of code that give search engines precise information about a web page's content. Structured data allows search engines to organize web pages in the search results.
T
- Technical SEO - This refers to the process of optimizing your website for the crawling and indexing phase, making it easier for search engines to understand your site.
- Traffic - The number of visitors and visits (sessions) a website receives.
U
- Universal Analytics - This is a version of Google Analytics that set a new standard for how user data is collected and processed. Introduced in 2012, Universal Analytics introduced a set of features that changed the way data was collected and organized in Google Analytics, including: user ID tracking, cross-device tracking, custom dimensions and metrics, and more advanced data collection methods. Will be sunsetted July 1st, 2023 and no longer usable.
- URL - The web address of an individual web page.
- User Experience (UX) - This is a user's overall experience when using a product such as a website or computer application, especially in terms of how easy it is to use.
- User-Generated Content (UGC) - Refers to content—text, videos, images, reviews, etc.—created by people rather than brands.
V
- Viral Content - Content that becomes very popular by being shared many times by users on social media.
W
- White Hat SEO - Ethical SEO practices that are in line with Google's quality requirements while maintaining your website's integrity and staying within the search engine's terms of service.
X
- XML Sitemap - A file on a website that helps search engines understand the site structure while they are crawling the site. It lists the URLs for a site along with additional metadata signaling bots which sections to explore and which to ignore.