SEO Glossary

Do you know the difference between On-Page and Off-Page SEO? How about a Sitemap and a SERP? Find out by searching through our SEO Glossary below.

The glossary is being updated all the time. If you think there is anything missing, please get in touch to let us know at justin@theonlineadvertisingguide.com

Please note: The below contains terms, acronyms, abbreviations and synonyms related to SEO.

If you’re looking for something specific, we recommend you use the search box.

 

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  • a

  • An acronym for Ask to Answer. On Quora users can request answers to questions from specific...   Learn More >
  • Content that is generated by a machine 'reading' other content. While AI Content is...   Learn More >
  • A bit of text that is attached to an image on a webpage appears when the image doesn't load....   Learn More >
  • The measurable statistics of a website or an ad campaign (such as impressions). Typically...   Learn More >
  • A provider of website analytics such as Google Analytics.
  • Also known as a Link Label. Anchor Text is the text which has a hyperlink attached to it. For...   Learn More >
  • The mapping website from Apple. It can be found here. Businesses with physical locations can...   Learn More >
  • Apple Maps Connect is how businesses with physical locations get their businesses on Apple...   Learn More >
  • An acronym for Ask to Answer. On Quora users can request answers to questions from specific...   Learn More >

  • b

  • A backlink is a link from another website. Backlinks are different to inbound links, which...   Learn More >
  • What Does BERT mean? BERT stands for Bidirectional Encoder Representations from...   Learn More >
  • A search engine made by Microsoft.
  • Bing Maps is the mapping website from Bing (Bing is the search engine from Microsoft). You can...   Learn More >
  • Adding a business to mapping services is a key part of local SEO. Bing Places is how businesses...   Learn More >
  • Black Hat refers to dodgy (or even illegal) methods of practice. In digital marketing, it is...   Learn More >
  • A hierarchical way of describing to a user where they are on the site (usually with hyperlinks)....   Learn More >
  • A type of algorithm update from Google which works to improve search results based on...   Learn More >

  • c

  • A Canonical Link is a link added to the metadata of the code of a page which indicates what the...   Learn More >
  • What is a Click? When it comes to online advertising, a click refers to a user clicking on an...   Learn More >
  • Last updated May 2023 What does CTR mean? CTR stands for Click-Through Rate. It is the...   Learn More >
  • Cumulative Layout Shift is one of Google’s Core Web Vital metrics, which is to be used as a...   Learn More >
  • Core Web Vitals are a set of metrics introduced by Google in 2019 that were meant to become...   Learn More >
  • Crawling refers to the process where an automated program goes through a website and maps it out...   Learn More >
  • Last updated May 2023 What does CTR mean? CTR stands for Click-Through Rate. It is the...   Learn More >
  • Cumulative Layout Shift is one of Google’s Core Web Vital metrics, which is to be used as a...   Learn More >
  • Core Web Vitals are a set of metrics introduced by Google in 2019 that were meant to become...   Learn More >

  • d

  • The amount of time it takes for a browser to actually receive the HTML code (pre-loading the page).
  • A search engine with a focus on privacy in that it doesn't personalise results, and doesn't...   Learn More >

  • e

  • eCommerce refers to buying or selling goods or services online, as well as online transactions....   Learn More >
  • An online sale. A subset of conversion in general, which don't have to be sales or money related...   Learn More >
  • The conversion rate of online sales (as opposed to other types of conversions).
  • Last updated February 2023 E-E-A-T stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and...   Learn More >

  • f

  • FAQs stands for Frequently Asked Questions. It is a section added to most websites to improve...   Learn More >
  • The icon that appears on a tab in a browser when visiting a website. Usually just the websites logo.
  • Featured snippets are a small portion of a webpage's text that Google displays at the top of...   Learn More >
  • First Input Delay is one of Google's Core Web Vital metrics, which is to be used as a ranking...   Learn More >
  • Field Data is data that is collected from real users rather than from a lab. Google is now using...   Learn More >
  • First Input Delay is one of Google's Core Web Vital metrics, which is to be used as a ranking...   Learn More >
  • A service that has a basic version that is free to use, but for which a premium version of the...   Learn More >
  • FAQs stands for Frequently Asked Questions. It is a section added to most websites to improve...   Learn More >

  • g

  • Google Analytics is one of the most commonly used providers of web statistics. It's free and...   Learn More >
  • Google Business Profile is a way of managing how your business appears on Google Maps and in the...   Learn More >
  • A glossary is a list of definitions of words that appear in the attached text. They are useful...   Learn More >
  • NOTE: Google My Business was renamed Google Business Profile in November 2021. Google My...   Learn More >
  • Google is the largest and most popular search engine. They also have a wide range of...   Learn More >
  • Google Analytics is one of the most commonly used providers of web statistics. It's free and...   Learn More >
  • Google Business Profile is a way of managing how your business appears on Google Maps and in the...   Learn More >
  • Google Discover is a feed on Google.com (on mobile) and the Google App which surfaces content...   Learn More >
  • Google Maps is an online mapping service owned by Google that includes the location of...   Learn More >
  • NOTE: Google My Business was renamed Google Business Profile in November 2021. Google My...   Learn More >
  • The new name for Google Webmaster Tools. Google Search Console is a free service that lets...   Learn More >
  • Google Trends is a free tool from Google which lets people explore the relative popularity of...   Learn More >
  • The new name for Google Webmaster Tools. Google Search Console is a free service that lets...   Learn More >
  • A Guest Post is a post in a blog from someone who is not one of the authors of a blog. Guest...   Learn More >

  • h

  • An acronym meaning Help A Report Out. HARO is a website that helps reporters find expert sources...   Learn More >
  • Keywords that are one or two words long (usually less than 15 characters in total), which...   Learn More >
  • An acronym meaning Help A Report Out. HARO is a website that helps reporters find expert sources...   Learn More >
  • Hreflang is a piece of code that you add to a webpage that tells search engines which language...   Learn More >

  • i

  • Made by Microsoft, Internet Explorer is one of the oldest browsers available. It has now been...   Learn More >
  • What does Impression mean? Impression means when something (usually content, an ad or post) is...   Learn More >
  • An inbound link is a link that leads to your webpage. In SEO it is important to have lots of...   Learn More >
  • Inbound marketing refers to trying to get customers to come to you as opposed to going out and...   Learn More >
  • A query on a search engine that is looking for specific information. Creating content for these...   Learn More >
  • A way of including code (such as CSS) directly in the body of a program (or webpage). While this...   Learn More >
  • An internal link simply means a link that goes from one page within a site to another page...   Learn More >
  • Made by Microsoft, Internet Explorer is one of the oldest browsers available. It has now been...   Learn More >

  • k

  • A keyword means something that is entered into a search engine. They can be targeted by Paid...   Learn More >
  • A plugin for Google Chrome that provides keyword suggestions for free within search results. You...   Learn More >
  • Keyword Stuffing is the act of filling a page with keywords in an attempt to rank higher on...   Learn More >
  • Keyword targeting is the process of targeting marketing activities at specific sets of useful...   Learn More >
  • A knowledge base that is used by Google to serve information directly into search results. These...   Learn More >
  • In Digital Marketing, K-Weight refers to the size of an ad or piece of content in kB...   Learn More >

  • l

  • When data is collected under lab conditions. For example, when testing page loading speed, Lab...   Learn More >
  • The page where a person enters a website (ie the page they "land on"). In online advertising,...   Learn More >
  • Largest Contentful Paint is one of Google's three Core Web Vital metrics. It is a type of page...   Learn More >
  • Sometimes referred to as Last Touch, this is the most common type of attribution for conversions...   Learn More >
  • Largest Contentful Paint is one of Google's three Core Web Vital metrics. It is a type of page...   Learn More >
  • LTV (often called Customer Lifetime Value or CLTV) is an attempt at predicting the amount of...   Learn More >
  • A link is when clicking on something on one webpage leads to another webpage.
  • Also referred to as Link Juice, this is an informal measure of how much a link affects the...   Learn More >
  • When two or more websites put each others' links on their pages in order to artificially improve...   Learn More >
  • An algorithm update from Google in 2021 formalising the need to mark outbound links that are not...   Learn More >
  • The rate at which a site gets new inbound links, usually measured as the number of linking...   Learn More >
  • Any mention of a business address online. These are vital in local SEO.
  • Also referred to as a Snack Pack. The section on a search engine results page related to a...   Learn More >
  • The process of making a webpage or website more visible on search engine results pages due to...   Learn More >
  • A long click is when a user clicks on a site on a search engine, then doesn't make that search...   Learn More >
  • The Long Tail refers to the vast majority of websites that get comparatively little traffic, but...   Learn More >
  • Multiple word keywords which really define the company targeting it.  These keywords have low...   Learn More >
  • Low hanging fruit is an expression that means the easiest things to do. For example, the low...   Learn More >
  • LSI stands for Latent Semantic Intent keywords. LSI keywords are possibly the most controversial...   Learn More >
  • LTV (often called Customer Lifetime Value or CLTV) is an attempt at predicting the amount of...   Learn More >

  • m

  • A way of tagging a webpage (or elements of a webpage) to explain what they are. This is most...   Learn More >
  • A Meta Description is a summary of a webpage that doesn't appear on the page. It is instead read...   Learn More >
  • A tag that is used to define what something online is about. While there is still an HTML meta...   Learn More >
  • Metrics are measurable statistics that are used in digital marketing to improve performance such...   Learn More >
  • A technology company founded by Bill Gates. Microsoft makes a wide variety of the software...   Learn More >
  • A technology company founded by Bill Gates. Microsoft makes a wide variety of the software...   Learn More >
  • Sometimes referred to as multi-channel attribution, this is a way of attributing conversions...   Learn More >

  • n

  • A search aimed at finding a specific website or webpage. While these searches generate a lot of...   Learn More >
  • A specific or specialised interest or section of the population. Websites are often spoken about...   Learn More >
  • A type of link marked so that no link equity passes from the webpage the link is on to the...   Learn More >

  • o

  • An SEO term for things that affect where web pages rank in search engines that are not on the...   Learn More >
  • An SEO term for things that affect where web pages rank in search engines that are on the...   Learn More >
  • On-Page SEO means optimising what is on a webpage (including things that aren't visible - eg...   Learn More >
  • What does optimising mean? Optimising means making changes to improve performance. It is a...   Learn More >
  • Organic Search refers to non-paid-for traffic which comes to a website from a search engine.
  • Organic traffic means website traffic that is not paid for - ie users finding your site through...   Learn More >
  • The process of getting in touch with other websites or businesses. Seemingly simple, due to the...   Learn More >

  • p

  • A Google search feature that includes questions (and answers) relevant to the search used. In...   Learn More >
  • The Page Experience Update was a Google algorithm update for search that rolled out in Summer...   Learn More >
  • The name of the algorithm Google uses to count links to a webpage, and judge how important those...   Learn More >
  • Page Speed is how fast an individual webpage loads. It can be measured in many ways but is...   Learn More >
  • A Google search feature that includes questions (and answers) relevant to the search used. In...   Learn More >
  • Public Relations (or PR) is the process by which a company tries to manage its image or...   Learn More >
  • A statement sent out to the press explaining some new development. Usually used in order to...   Learn More >
  • Public Relations (or PR) is the process by which a company tries to manage its image or...   Learn More >

  • q

  • A guide provided to Google's army of Search Quality Raters. Search Quality Raters are tasked...   Learn More >
  • People hired by Google to rate the quality of search results. The purpose of this to check if...   Learn More >
  • The Quality Raters Guide is a document that provides guidelines for human evaluators who are...   Learn More >
  • A guide provided to Google's army of Search Quality Raters. Search Quality Raters are tasked...   Learn More >
  • A query is any request for information. For example, a search in a search engine is a query, as...   Learn More >
  • Founded in 2009, Quora is a social network based around knowledge. Users of the site may post...   Learn More >

  • r

  • A machine learning algorithm used by Google to improve search results.
  • Referral Traffic is traffic from a link on another website (not including search or social media...   Learn More >

  • s

  • A business model where users are charged a subscription fee for using software as opposed to a...   Learn More >
  • An excellently named SEO tool that scans websites for SEO related issues. It's the best.
  • SEA is a rarely used acronym that stands for Search Engine Advertising. It is generally referred...   Learn More >
  • A search engine is a website that attempts to index all websites and then allows users to search...   Learn More >
  • SEA is a rarely used acronym that stands for Search Engine Advertising. It is generally referred...   Learn More >
  • Search Engine Marketing (or SEM) is a type of marketing where you focus on improving the...   Learn More >
  • SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation and is the process of improving where your webpages...   Learn More >
  • SERP stands for Search Engine Results Page. A SERP is a webpage loaded by a search engine in...   Learn More >
  • The actual words used in a search engine by a user. Contrasts to keywords, which are groups of...   Learn More >
  • Search Ranking refers to how high up in search results a website appears for a certain term on...   Learn More >
  • Search Engine Marketing (or SEM) is a type of marketing where you focus on improving the...   Learn More >
  • SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation and is the process of improving where your webpages...   Learn More >
  • SERP stands for Search Engine Results Page. A SERP is a webpage loaded by a search engine in...   Learn More >
  • SERPs Domination is when a single website is returned for all the results on the first page for...   Learn More >
  • A sitemap is a list of all the web pages on a site, arranged in a useful manner.
  • A general term for the speed at which a site loads. Site speed can be broken down into multiple...   Learn More >
  • A business model where users are charged a subscription fee for using software as opposed to a...   Learn More >
  • A spider is a type of bot deployed by search engines that crawls websites to index their...   Learn More >
  • An SSL Certificate is a digital key that creates a secure connection between a website and a...   Learn More >
  • A business listing on a directory. Important for SEO.
  • A subdomain is part of a larger domain, usually separated by a dot and at the beginning of a...   Learn More >

  • t

  • Content on a website that has little to no value to a user. This is generally thought of as very...   Learn More >
  • A measurement of how long it takes for a webpage to become interactive after it starts to load....   Learn More >
  • The title of webpage. This is what search engines typically use as the link to the page on their...   Learn More >
  • TLD stands for Top-Level Domain. Top-Level Domain refers to the most important part (rightmost)...   Learn More >
  • A group of related topics. A tactic in SEO is to find a target topic to create content about,and...   Learn More >
  • TLD stands for Top-Level Domain. Top-Level Domain refers to the most important part (rightmost)...   Learn More >
  • Traffic in online advertising is a catch-all term for visitors to a site (the online equivalent...   Learn More >
  • The process of systematically testing for, finding and fixing problems (such as broken ads,...   Learn More >
  • A measurement of how long it takes for a webpage to become interactive after it starts to load....   Learn More >

  • u

  • The web address of a website or webpage. For example, the address of this website is...   Learn More >
  • A mention of a website or business which doesn't provide useful details (such as the URL,...   Learn More >
  • The web address of a website or webpage. For example, the address of this website is...   Learn More >

  • v

  • When a search is made vocally as opposed to through text. This can occur on either voice-only...   Learn More >

  • w

  • In online advertising, White Hat refers to practices which are above board or "good". For...   Learn More >

  • x

  • An XML Sitemap is a file that lists all of a sites URLs so that Search Engines can properly...   Learn More >

  • y

  • One of the oldest search engines.
  • An acronym for Your Money or Your Life, which encompasses all websites which give health or...   Learn More >
  • Yoast is the most popular SEO plugin for WordPress.
  • YouTube is a video network owned by Google. It runs the most VOD ads of any video network, and...   Learn More >
  • YouTube is a video network owned by Google. It runs the most VOD ads of any video network, and...   Learn More >

  • z

  • Searches on Google where the user does not leave properties owned by Google. For example, a...   Learn More >