SEO is full of acronyms and strange terms.

A

Algorithms: Rules and calculations search engines use to determine search rankings. Learn more about Google’s algorithms.

ALT Text: Alternative text for images to improve accessibility and SEO. Moz guide to ALT text.

AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages): Google-backed project for faster mobile page loading. Official AMP Project.

Anchor Text: The clickable text in a hyperlink. Ahrefs guide to anchor text.

B

Backlink: A link from another website to yours, impacting SEO rankings. Backlinko’s backlink guide.

Black Hat SEO: Unethical optimization techniques that violate search engine guidelines. Black Hat vs White Hat SEO.

Bounce Rate: Percentage of visitors who navigate away after viewing only one page. Google Analytics bounce rate explanation.

Breadcrumbs: A navigation aid showing the hierarchy of a webpage. Google’s guide to breadcrumbs.

C

Canonical Tag: A tag used to prevent duplicate content issues. Moz guide to canonical URLs.

Conversion Rate: Percentage of visitors who complete a desired action. Think with Google conversion insights.

Core Web Vitals: Google metrics measuring page experience and loading performance. Web.dev Core Web Vitals guide.

Crawl Budget: The number of pages a search engine will crawl on your site in a given timeframe. Semrush crawl budget guide.

CTR (Click-Through Rate): The percentage of users clicking a link compared to impressions. Google Ads CTR guide.

D

Deep Link: A link that points to a specific page rather than a homepage. Branch.io deep linking guide.

Domain Authority: A score predicting a site’s ability to rank. Moz Domain Authority explanation.

Duplicate Content: Content appearing in more than one location, which can harm SEO. Google’s guide to duplicate content.

Dwell Time: Time visitors spend on a page before returning to search results. SEJ on dwell time’s importance.

E

EEAT (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness): Google’s content quality evaluation criteria. Google’s helpful content system.

Entity SEO: Optimization focused on people, places, things and concepts rather than just keywords. SEJ’s entity SEO guide.

Evergreen Content: Content that remains relevant and valuable over time. HubSpot’s evergreen content guide.

External Link: A link pointing to a different domain. Ahrefs on external linking.

F

Favicon: The small icon displayed in browser tabs that can appear in search results. Google’s favicon guidelines.

Featured Snippet: A highlighted search result appearing at the top of Google. Ahrefs guide to featured snippets.

Focus Keyword: The main keyword targeted on a page. Yoast guide to focus keywords.

Freshness Factor: The recency of content as a ranking signal. Moz on content freshness.

G

Geotargeting: Delivering content based on a user’s geographic location. Google Business Profile location targeting.

Google Analytics: A tool for tracking website traffic and user behaviour. Google Analytics home.

Google Penalties: Manual or algorithmic actions against sites violating guidelines. Google Search quality guidelines.

Google Search Console: A free tool for monitoring a site’s performance in search results. Google Search Console.

H

Heading Tags (H1-H6): HTML tags used to structure content. Google’s guide to HTML tags.

Hreflang Tag: Code that tells search engines which language you’re using on a specific page. Google’s hreflang guide.

HTML Sitemap: A structured list of all pages on a website. Semrush HTML sitemap guide.

HTTP Status Codes: Numeric codes indicating the status of a web request. Moz guide to HTTP status codes.

I

Image Optimization: Improving images for better loading and search visibility. Web.dev image optimization guide.

Impressions: Number of times a page appears in search results. Google Ads impressions explanation.

Indexing: The process of a search engine storing pages in its database. Google indexing processes.

Internal Links: Links connecting pages within the same website. Semrush internal linking strategies.

J

JavaScript SEO: Optimising JavaScript-heavy sites for search engines. Google’s JavaScript SEO guide.

JSON-LD: A method of implementing structured data that Google prefers. Google structured data guide.

K

Keyword Cannibalization: When multiple pages target the same keyword, competing against each other. Ahrefs keyword cannibalization guide.

Keyword Density: The percentage of times a keyword appears on a page. Semrush on keyword density.

Keyword Research: The process of finding valuable search terms. Backlinko’s keyword research guide.

Keyword Stuffing: Overloading content with keywords, which can harm rankings. Google’s guidance on keyword stuffing.

L

Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI): A technique search engines use to identify related keywords. SEJ on LSI keywords.

Link Building: The practice of acquiring backlinks to improve SEO. Moz beginners guide to link building.

Link Juice: The SEO value passed from one page to another via links. Semrush link juice explanation.

Local SEO: Optimization strategies for local search visibility. Moz local SEO guide.

Long-Tail Keywords: Specific keyword phrases with lower competition. Ahrefs long-tail keyword guide.

M

Meta Description: A short description of a webpage appearing in search results. Moz meta description guide.

Meta Robots Tag: Directives telling search engines how to crawl or index a page. Google’s meta robots tag guide.

Mobile-First Indexing: Google’s approach of using the mobile version of a site for indexing. Google mobile-first indexing guide.

Multimedia SEO: Optimizing videos, images, and audio for search engines. Google’s video SEO guide.

N

Natural Language Processing (NLP): How search engines interpret human language patterns. SEL on NLP in SEO.

NoFollow: A link attribute preventing link juice from passing. Ahrefs nofollow links guide.

Noindex: A directive preventing search engines from indexing a page. Google’s indexing control guide.

O

Off-Page SEO: Optimization activities conducted outside your website. Moz off-page SEO guide.

On-Page SEO: Optimization of individual webpage elements. Backlinko on-page SEO guide.

Organic Traffic: Visitors coming from search engines naturally. Semrush organic traffic guide.

Orphan Pages: Pages with no internal links pointing to them. Semrush orphan page guide.

P

PageSpeed: How quickly a webpage loads. Google PageSpeed Insights.

PASO (Problem, Agitation, Solution, Outcome): A content structure addressing user needs. PASO framework guide.

Pogo-Sticking: When users quickly return to search results after visiting a page. SEJ pogo-sticking guide.

Q

Query: A search term entered into a search engine. SEJ search query explanation.

Query Deserves Freshness (QDF): Google’s approach to showing recent content for certain queries. SEJ QDF explanation.

Query Intent: The purpose behind a user’s search query. Backlinko search intent guide.

R

Rankbrain: Google’s AI system helping process search results. SEL RankBrain FAQ.

Responsive Design: Website design that adapts to different screen sizes. Google responsive design guide.

Rich Snippets: Enhanced search results with additional details. Google structured data guide.

robots.txt: A file instructing search engines which pages to crawl. Google robots.txt guide.

S

Schema Markup: Code added to websites to help search engines understand content. Schema.org documentation.

Search Volume: The number of searches for a keyword over a defined period. Google keyword planner guide.

Semantic Search: Understanding user intent and contextual meaning of search terms. SEL semantic search guide.

SEO (Search Engine Optimisation): The practice of optimising content for better rankings. Moz beginners guide to SEO.

SERPs: Search Engine Results Pages – the results page for a search in the search engines. Semrush SERP features guide.

SSL (Secure Sockets Layer): A security protocol impacting SEO. Google HTTPS as ranking signal.

T

TF-IDF (Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency): A method to determine word importance in content. SEJ TF-IDF guide.

Title Tag: The main title of a webpage appearing in search results. Moz title tag guide.

Topical Authority: Expertise established around a specific subject area. Semrush topical authority guide.

U

URL Structure: The organization and formatting of website addresses. Moz URL structure guide.

User Intent: The goal behind a user’s search query. SEJ search intent optimization.

UX (User Experience): The overall experience of a website visitor. Google page experience guide.

V

Vertical Search: Search focused on specific content types like images or videos. Semrush vertical search guide.

Visibility: How prominently a website appears in search results. Semrush visibility metrics.

Voice Search Optimisation: SEO techniques for voice search queries. Backlinko voice search guide.

W

Web Crawler: A bot used by search engines to index pages. Google’s Googlebot guide.

White Hat SEO: Ethical optimization techniques that follow search engine guidelines. SEL white hat SEO guide.

Word Count: The number of words on a page, which can impact SEO. SEJ word count and SEO.

X

XML Sitemap: A file that helps search engines index a website. Google XML sitemap guide.

X-Robots-Tag: HTTP header used to control indexing of non-HTML files. Google X-Robots-Tag guide.

Y

Yandex: A popular search engine in Russia and some European countries. Yandex Webmaster guidelines.

YMYL (Your Money or Your Life): Pages impacting a user’s health or finances. SEJ YMYL pages guide.

Z

Zero-Click Search: A search where the answer is displayed on the results page. Semrush zero-click search guide.

Zombie Pages: Low-traffic, outdated pages that don’t contribute to SEO goals. SEJ zombie pages guide.