SEO Glossary
Don’t Speak SEO?
This A-Z guide covers a wide range of SEO terms and topics that will help you better understand the SEO universe.
A
Above the Fold
Originally used to describe the top half of a newspaper, for websites it’s considered the content you see “above the scroll”. Important elements should be responsive and placed above the fold.
Algorithm
A complex series of rules that are weighted and calculated to solve a problem. Specific to SEO, algorithms are a ranking factors used by search engines that decide which results to return for a specific query.
Alt text
Image descriptions placed within <img> tags that are used by search engines (and screen readers) to understand the content of images.
B
Black Hat SEO
The opposite of White Hat SEO, this involves the use of intentionally deceptive practices in an attempt to improve search engine visibility. Tactics include keyword stuffing, duplicated and automated content, hidden links and text, purchased low quality backlinks, etc.
Bounce Rate
Calculated as the percentage of users that start a session then leave your site quickly (typically <10 seconds) and don’t engage in any further actions on your site (like navigating to another page, filling out a form, or making a purchase). This is the inverse of engagement rate.
C
Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)
Enhancing your existing content to increase the rate of visitors to conversions (leads). This could include a/b testing content options, improving SEO for the right target audience, and generally improving the user experience (UX) to ultimately increase conversions.
Cost-Per-Click (CPC)
Average cost-per-click advertisers will pay for a click on the given keyword for paid search. A high CPC can be an indicator that it would also be a great organic keyword, while no CPC data can indicate the keyword isn’t competitive or is simply too new to have reliable CPC info associated with it.
D
Domain Authority
Each domain has a score from 1-100 that predicts how well a website will rank in search engines. Developed by Moz, it’s not a ranking factor but can be used to compare different websites within the same industry.
Duplicate Content
In the context of SEO, this refers to a significant amount of content that is replicated across a single site or across multiple sites. Having too much duplicate content on your site confuses search engines and they don’t know which url to prioritize. It can also point to site structure issues if this is above 20% (Siteliner is a great free tool you can use to check yours).
E
Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (E-E-A-T)
Part of Google’s quality rater guidelines. Google uses E-E-A-T signals to evaluate the quality of content and its placement in search results, but it is not a direct ranking factor.
Engagement Rate
Calculated as the percentage of users that stay on your site for a certain length of time (typically >10 seconds) and/or engage in some additional action on your site (like navigating to another page, filling out a form, or making a purchase). This is the inverse of bounce rate.
F
Featured Snippet
SERP results that appear at the top of the page and summarize answers for some queries, typically questions. This SERP feature placement is also known as position zero.
G
Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)
The practice of optimizing your content to increase visibility in AI-generated searches. Think of GEO as an enhancement to SEO. Many principles are the same - GEO emphasizes technical structure and content quality.
Google Business Profile
Creating/claiming your Google Business Profile can help your SEO as well as brand visibility when your brand name is searched. It can also increase trust before someone ever visits your website, and is another great place to get and display reviews.
H
Headings
H1-H6 heading tags should be used in order of importance to separate sections of a page. They not only make your site more indexable, they also visually break up your content, allowing visitors and search engines to more easily understand what the page content is about.
I
Indexed pages
All pages that search engines have crawled and can appear in search results. Google Search Console is where you can manage indexed pages and see why pages expected to be indexed are not.
J
JavaScript (JS)
A programming language that is widely used to create dynamic elements on websites.
JSON (JavaScript Object Notation)
A lightweight data interchange format that is easy for humans to read and write.
JSON-LD (JavaScript Object Notation for Linked Data)
A lightweight Linked Data format. JSON-LD in the context of SEO is used to provide structured data to search engines for certain types of website content (like articles, recipes, events, FAQs, videos, etc.).
K
Keyword
A word, word, or phrase that is queried in search engines by a user. Keywords are used strategically in SEO to match website content with relevant user search intent, and to get specific website pages to rank in organic results for given keywords.
Keyword Difficulty
Estimation from 1-100% of how difficult it will be to rank on page 1 of search results.
Keyword Research
Extensive research to identify relevant and high-performing keywords for your industry, target audience, and your business goals.
L
Landing page
Refers to the page users “land on” when clicking a link, whether in search results or elsewhere.
Long-tail Keyword
Relatively lower search volume words that are highly specific. While these keywords generate less searches, search intent is high and they are typically easier to rank for.
M
Meta Description
Page-level HTML that describes to search engines and users what a page is about.
Metadata
At a basic level this is data that describes other data. In the SEO world, it covers things like title tags, meta descriptions, headings and URLs. These elements describe to search engines (and users) the content on your page.
Mobile-first Indexing
The shift of Google using mobile versions of website content for indexing and ranking.
N
Navigation
A grouping of links that show site visitors how to get to specific pages or areas of the website. This is typically found at the top of the website (main navigation), bottom of the website (footer), and sometimes on the side (sidebars or side navigation).
Noindex
Tag that tells search engines not to index the page it’s placed on
Number of Results
In SEO terms, refers to the total amount of URLs displayed in search results for a given keyword.
O
Off-page SEO
Optimization that takes place outside of the website. Includes backlinks, branding, content marketing, and social media marketing, and any other activities off of the website with the intent of ranking in organic search results.
On-page SEO
Optimization that takes place on a webpage. Includes visible content as well as page-level code: title tags, headings, URLs, meta descriptions, content, internal and external linking, etc.
Organic Traffic
The amount of traffic to a given webpage or website generated from organic search.
Orphaned Pages
Any website page that is not linked to via navigation or any internal pages.
P
PageRank
One of Google’s algorithm factors. It measures the importance of a page based on the quality and quantity of incoming links to that page.
Page Speed
The length of time it takes for a website page to fully load.
Pay-per-click (PPC)
Online advertising in which the advertiser pays a price each time someone clicks on their ad.
Personal Keyword Difficulty
Estimation from 1-100% of how difficult it will be for your site to rank on page 1 of search results. Similar to the Keyword Difficulty metric but it factors on the current content on your website.
Q
Query
Word, words or phrase (keyword) entered into a search engine.
R
Ranking
Where a page organically ranks in Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). Presented as a value from 1-100, 1-10 being the first page, 11-20 the second page, and so on.
Robotx.txt
This file helps search engines determine what content on your website they should crawl, should include your sitemap, and has an important impact on your overall SEO website's performance. You can check to make sure yours is coming up and looks correct by going to yourdomainname.com/robots.txt. Managing this file varies by platform.
S
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
The process of improving your website to increase qualified organic traffic from Google, Bing, and other search engines. SEO helps search engines understand your content, and helps users find your website.
Search Engine Results Page (SERP)
The listing page that includes all webpages, ads, and SERP features for a given search engine query.
Search Engine Results Page (SERP) Features
SERP features are unique results on Google's search engine results pages (SERPs) outside of traditional organic listings, including elements like review stars, featured snippets, People Also Ask, and knowledge panels. This can be useful in planning content creation and deciding which type of content to match with desired keywords.
Search Intent
The reasoning for searching a particular keyword (performing a query). Intent is typically grouped into these categories:
Navigational - the searcher wants to get to a specific page or website.
Informational - they want to learn something new.
Commercial - they’re doing research before making a purchase.
Transactional - they are ready to make a purchase or subscribe to your services.
T
Technical SEO
Optimizing the backend of websites and webpages to help search engines crawl and index them properly. Deals with site health issues like mobile friendliness, proper page indexing, site structure, and page speed.
Traffic
The amount of users that visit your website from any source.
U
URL (Uniform Resource Locator)
The address in the form of characters entered into a browser that lead to a particular page on the internet (for example, this page’s url is https://www.stargazerseo.com/seo-glossary).
User Experience (UX)
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) defines user experience as “A person's perceptions and responses that result from the use or anticipated use of a product, system or service.” Positive UX is important to the continued success of any SEO strategy.
V
Volume (or search volume)
Average amount of monthly searches for a given keyword.
W
Website SEO Audit
Evaluation of a website to gauge how well it’s performing in organic search. A great audit will uncover any technical issues that need to be resolved as well as organic growth opportunities.
White Hat SEO
Optimizing websites using “good” strategies as opposed to strategies that are intentionally deceptive or designed to try to game the system.
X
XML Sitemap
This is a file that lists out all of your important pages, providing easier navigation and visibility to search engines (and users). It’s important to keep your sitemap updated as you add (or remove) pages that you want to be crawled. You can see your sitemap by going to yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml and you can manage your sitemap in Google Search Console.
Y
YouTube
Since YouTube is owned by Google, building out well-optimized video content around keywords works to enhance your SEO strategy. Optimizing all of your videos including title, description, thumbnail, etc. help you rank higher in search results and increase user engagement with your brand both on and off of the platform.
Z
Zero Click Search
When a user performs a search, and either ends their search or starts a new query without clicking on a link. As search behavior changes and search engines themselves answer more and more queries, more searches result in zero clicks. This isn’t all bad and there are many caveats which Search Engine Land does a great job of explaining.
#
404 page
A page a user lands on when the link they clicked on doesn’t go to a page that publicly exists. A 404 page should include a link back to your home page, and have the same styles and website navigation as your website to let visitors know they are not completely lost.
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