SEO Glossary

.htaccess file is a directory-level configuration file that is used to manage the server's settings without needing to modify the server's global configuration files.

10x content is a term used to refer to exceptionally high-quality content that delivers a value that is 10 times greater than other content available on the same topic.

2xx status code means that the request from the client - web browser - was received and processed by the server successfully. These are the most common HTTP codes.

A 301 redirect is an HTTP status code that is sent by web servers to instruct browsers & search engines that a particular webpage has permanently moved to another URL.

A 302 redirect is used to implement a temporary redirect from one URL to another. It signifies that the move is temporary & the original URL may be restored later on.

4xx status codes are used to indicate errors that occur on the client's side when a server processes a request. They help inform the users about the type of error.

5xx status codes – “5xx server error” - indicate the errors that happen when someone tries to access your website but the server is unable to complete the request.

The area of a website that a visitor sees right after landing and before scrolling down is called "Above the Fold." This idea directly has no connection with the web.

An absolute link or URL is a complete web address that includes the protocol, an optional subdomain, the domain, and the path, which can include the directory and slug.

An absolute path is a complete URL needed to access a specific resource, like a page or file, on the website. This term is also used interchangeably with absolute URL.

"Ad heavy" refers to a situation where a website, app, or other media platform displays many ads, to the point where it can negatively impact the user's experience.

A search operator (search parameter) is a special character, a short command, or a string of characters used in a search engine bar to narrow down the search results.

Agile Content Development is a cyclic innovative methodology to content creation with a goal of continuous improvements.  It addresses the needs of a target audience.

An algorithmic penalty is a negative impact on a website's rankings based on updates to Google's search algorithms. This penalty is automated, unlike Manual Action.

The alt attribute - also known as alt tag, or alt text - is a piece of HTML code used within the image tag to describe information about an image on a website page.

Ambiguous intent is when a statement, request, or question has many possible meanings. It can occur in natural language processing (NLP) and conversational AI systems.

Accelerated Mobile Pages are pages designed specifically for mobile users to ensure fast speed. It involves enabling web pages to load quickly on mobile and tablets.

In SEO, amplification involves leveraging various channels & platforms to share and promote your content, aiming to generate more views, shares, comments, & backlinks.

Anchor text is visible, clickable, and usually blue-coloured text in a hyperlink. This text is different from the surrounding text in appearance and is underlined.

Article spinning (content spinning) is a technique used to generate multiple versions of an article or piece of content by altering its words, phrases, and sentences.

Article syndication is distributing a single piece of content, such as an article or blog post, to multiple third-party websites, online platforms, or media outlets.

An authority site is a website that has established itself as an expert in its niche. It provides high-quality content that is informative, engaging, and valuable.

Auto-generated (automatically-generated) content refers to content that has been generated automatically using a program or code, without human intervention or input.

Average Response Time is an important metric that refers to the average amount of time a server takes to respond to a request from a client, such as a web browser.

A backlink is a link that appears on another website and points to your website. The website having the link provides the backlink, while your website receives it.

Backlink authority is the strength or value of a particular backlink in terms of its impact on search engine rankings. A backlink is a link from one website to another.

The Backlink Gap - also known as Backlink Gap Analysis - refers to the difference in the number or quality of backlinks between your and the competitor's websites. 

A backlink type refers to the categorization of a backlink based on certain attributes. These attributes are the backlink's source, relevance, authority, and placement.

A Bad Neighborhood refers to a group of websites that have been severely penalized by search engines, usually due to engaging in prohibited or black hat SEO practices.

In SEO, the "bait and switch" involves optimizing a webpage for popular keywords to achieve high rankings. The intention is to mislead search engines to drive traffic.

Banner blindness is a phenomenon where website visitors intentionally or unintentionally ignore banner ads even if the information is about the user's current activity.

Ahrefs Batch Analysis tool is a feature of the Ahrefs SEO toolset that allows users to analyze several URLs or domains at once and gather data on various SEO metrics.

Behavioral targeting is a technique used in digital marketing that focuses on an individual's actions to decide the most effective ads and messages to present to them.

In terms of web design, "below the fold" is the portion of a webpage that a user cannot see without scrolling down. It is significant as it impacts users' engagement.

In the online advertisement, such as Google Ads, the billing threshold is a specific amount that serves as a threshold or a trigger point for billing advertising costs.

Black Box refers to the opaque nature of search engine algorithms. Search engines like Google, Bing & others use complex algorithms to determine how to rank web pages.

Black Hat SEO is the use of unethical techniques to improve a website's SERP ranking. It violates search engine guidelines and is intended to manipulate algorithms.

Blended search (universal search) refers to the display of different types of content from various sources on the SERPs, rather than just displaying text-based results.

The block-level analysis is an algorithmic method that dissects a web page into smaller parts (blocks) for examination with respect to their relevance and significance.

A blog refers to a type of website or online platform where an individual or a group of individuals regularly post written content on many different topics of interest.

Blog comments refer to user-generated responses, where readers can leave their thoughts, opinions, or questions in response to the content presented in a blog post.

A blogroll is a list of links to other blogs or websites on your website that you find interesting or want to promote. It is typically located on the sidebar of a blog.

A Boolean search is a type of search that employs certain words and symbols, referred to as Boolean operators, in conjunction with keywords to refine search results.

Bots (internet bots) are computer programs created by humans to execute specific tasks repeatedly and more efficiently. These bots can communicate over the internet.

Bounce rate is a metric used to measure the percentage of visitors who leave a website after only viewing one page, without interacting or navigating to any other page.

Branded keywords are specific words or phrases that include a company's brand name or a variation of it. They target customers who are already familiar with the brand.

In web design, Breadcrumb Trail or simply breadcrumbs refers to a navigational feature that shows a trail followed by searchers or their current location on a website.

Breadcrumbs are a navigational feature that shows a trail followed by a searcher on a website. It shows a path of all the pages viewed by a searcher hierarchically.

Broken links refer to the links that lead a searcher to a missing or error page. Broken links can lead to poor user experience and negatively impact your SEO efforts.

A business directory is an online listing that compiles a list of businesses. It offers detailed information such as a business's name, address, contact details etc.

A cached page is a version of a web page that is stored by a web server or search engine at a specific time - reducing server load and speeding up content delivery.

Caching is the process of temporarily storing data in a place - either software or hardware - to speed up its access. This data can be quickly retrieved and used again.

A Call to Action (CTA) is a prompt that encourages or directs visitors to take a specific action. It is usually found in marketing campaigns, sites, ads, or articles.

A canonical tag (or rel canonical) tells the search engine that this URL is the most definitive version of a page from a set of similar or duplicate pages on a website.

A canonical URL is an HTML link element, with the attribute of rel="canonical" found in the <head> section of a web page to designate the preferred version or URL.

CCTLD (Country Code Top-Level Domain) represents the two-letter domain extension associated with a specific geographical area. Every area is assigned a unique ccTLD.

Churn & Burn SEO is a short-term, risky strategy that involves quickly ranking a website in search results by creating a large number of backlinks within a short time.

Citation flow is a metric used to measure the influence or popularity of a page or URL based on the number of citations or links pointing to it from other websites.

In local SEO, citations are the reference or mention of your business details like name, address, and phone number on another website, commonly on business directories.

Click depth is the number of clicks a page is away from its homepage. The pages with greater depth usually do not perform well while a click depth of 1-2 is ideal.

Click-through rate is a metric used in digital marketing to measure the number of clicks an ad or link receives divided by the total number of times it was viewed.

Clickbait refers to the practice of creating catchy or controversial titles for web pages, with the aim of attracting more clicks, more clicks mean higher rankings.

Clicks Per Search (CPS) refers to a metric that measures the number of times a search result is clicked on, divided by the number of times that search result is shown.

A client error is a situation when the server cannot process a request due to an issue on the client side. They typically fall under the class of 400 status codes.

Cloaking is a black hat SEO technique used to get a high SERP ranking by deceiving the search engines and showing different content to both users and search engines.

Cluster content (Topic Cluster) is the supporting content pieces that are created around pillar pages within a website. These pillar pages focus on broader topics.

Co-citation refers to the occurrence of two or more websites being mentioned or cited together on a third-party webpage when both are cited as a source of information.

Code swapping refers to the strategy where a website page initially presents a text-only version to search engine crawlers to gain favourable search engine rankings.

The Code to Text Ratio (text content relative to the HTML code ) refers to the percentage of visible text compared to the total amount of code on a given web page.

A cold email refers to an unsolicited email sent without prior relationship or permission. It aims to initiate conversation, make sales pitch, or request a meeting.

Comment spam is a form of spamming that occurs on blog comments or any online platform & involves posting irrelevant comments, usually for the purpose of backlinks.

A comments tag refers to a piece of code used in HTML and other programming languages to include non-executable text within the code. They are text-based annotations.

The words or phrases a user types into the search bar for comparing different products or services to find a desired one are called commercial investigation queries.

Content gap analysis is the method of analyzing existing content on your website by finding gaps and opportunities to make improvements to the development strategy.

In SEO, a content hub is a comprehensive resource center that focuses on a specific topic. It helps to organize and optimize your content to make it easily accessible.

Content marketing refers to a strategy that involves creating and sharing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience.

Content Optimisation refers to the creation and optimization of online content with the purpose of improving its visibility and rankings in search engine results pages.

Content readability measures the ease with which readers understand and engage with your online content. It is assessed from the perspective of your target audience.

Content relevance refers to how closely the content on a webpage matches the intent behind a user's search query. Higher relevance results in higher page rankings.

The content score is the measure of content quality, relevance and the possibility of success. It helps you make a better content strategy that performs well in SERPs.

A content silo is a method of organizing related content on a site to improve SEO & user navigation by categorizing & subcategorizing content in a hierarchical manner.

Content spinning or Article Spinning is the process of rewriting existing content - typically using automated software - to create a unique version of the original.

Contextual backlinks are placed within the body of a webpage and within the relevant and meaningful text, providing value to the reader. They are valuable for SEO.

A Core Update refers to significant changes that Google makes to its search engine algorithm - a complex system it uses to sort and rank websites in search results.

Core Web Vitals represent a collection of key elements or quantifiable metrics that Google deems essential in determining the overall user experience on a webpage.

Cornerstone content refers to the central articles on a site that are deemed the most valuable. This content is strategically chosen to be for achieving high rankings.

Cost-per-click (CPC)  is a digital advertising pricing model where the advertiser pays each time a user clicks on one of their ads. It's used in paid search campaigns.

Crawl budget refers to the number of pages a crawler will crawl on a website within a given timeframe, based on the site's size, complexity, authority, and relevance,

Crawl depth refers to the level or the depth at which search engine spiders, crawlers, or bots explore a website's page hierarchy during their normal crawling process.

Crawl directives are instructions given to search engines to control their interaction with a site by telling crawlers which pages they should or shouldn't access.

Crawl errors occur when Users, Bots, Google, or another search engine cannot access your website pages. This prevents search engines from indexing your website pages.

Crawl frequency is how often search engine bots, like Googlebot, visit and scan a website to gather information from newly updated or added pages for indexing purposes.

The crawl rate limit is a set of rules that tell Google's web spiders, how often and how much they can visit a website at one time. This is different for each website.

Crawlability is the ability of a website or web page to be discovered and indexed by search engine bots. If that page is not crawlable, search engines may not find it.

"Crawled - currently not indexed" is a status that you see in GSC & it means that Google's crawlers have visited the page, but the page hasn't been added to its index.

Crawlers (aka spiders, or bots) are automated software programs that systematically browse the internet to index and gather information about the content on websites.

Cross-linking is the practice of linking your website or a page to another website or a page via external links to provide additional information or related resources.

Curated content differs from original content in that it is not created by the curator rather it is carefully selected, organized, and presented to a target audience.

A custom 404 page is a user-friendly error page - created to replace the default page - that visitors see when they try to reach a page on your site that doesn't exist.

Dayparting is an ad strategy where you schedule your ads to run at certain times or on specific days. It works in industries where consumer behaviours vary notably.

De-indexing is the process of removing a webpage or an entire website from a search engine's index. When a webpage is de-indexed, it will no longer appear in SERPs.

Delisting is the removal of a website or specific web pages from a search engine's index. When a site or page is delisted, it will not appear in search engine results.

A dead link (broken link) is a hyperlink on a website that no longer leads to a web page that has been deleted or moved. It typically redirects to a 404 error page.

A deep link is a hyperlink that directs users to a specific page or section within a website or app. They are useful for directing users precisely where you want to.

The deep link ratio is the proportion of inbound links to pages of your site versus those to your homepage only. This ratio helps to assess the distribution of links.

Directory submission is the practice of submitting your site's URL and relevant information to web or online directories for increased visibility and improved rankings.

Disavowing backlinks is the process of directing Google to ignore the low-quality and unwanted backlinks coming to your domain from low authority or spammy websites.

DNS (Domain Name System) is a system that translates domain names into IP addresses, which are numerical identifiers used by computers to communicate over the internet.

A dofollow backlink, also commonly known as follow backlink, does not have any of the additional link attributes (e.g. nofollow, ugc, or sponsored) in the HTML file. 

Domain age refers to the amount of time since a domain name was first registered. According to SEOs, domain age is an important ranking factor in SEO which is not true.

Moz developed domain authority & page authority metrics. DA and PA are the most popular SEO metrics that are used to study and evaluate the performance of websites.

Domain history is a list of all the past and present owners of a domain, along with their contact information and registration details as provided by WHOIS records.

Domain popularity refers to the number of domains that link to a specific website. It is considered a relevant KPI as it indicates the level of authority of a website.

Domain Rating (DR) and URL Rating (UR) are metrics developed by Ahrefs to see the ranking strength of a domain or a particular URL by examining its backlink profile.

Domain trust is a measure of the credibility and reliability of a website in the eyes of a search engine. However, there is no specific formula for calculating it.

Doorway pages, also known as gateway pages, are web pages that are designed to rank highly in search engine results pages (SERPs) for specific keywords or phrases.

Duplicate Content refers to content that is exactly or nearly identical to other content and exists on multiple pages on the same website or all over the internet.

Dwell time is the amount of time a user spends on a web page after clicking a link on search results before heading back to SERPs. It is an important metric in SEO.

A dynamic URL is a webpage address that is generated by a database-driven website in response to a user's request & used to retrieve specific content from the database.

E-E-A-T is a concept that Google uses to evaluate a site or a page's quality. Websites that exhibit high levels of E-E-A-T tend to perform better in search rankings.

Editorial links are backlinks that a website receives naturally and without any direct request or payment. They are given as a result of finding the content valuable.

Educational backlinks belong to the official websites of academic institutions, schools, colleges, universities, etc.  They originate from a .edu domain extension.

Email outreach is the practice of identifying relevant prospects or organizations who can potentially promote your business and reaching out to them through email. 

Ethical SEO - also known as white hat SEO - is the use of search engine optimization strategies or tactics that strictly follows search engine guidelines or policies.

Evergreen content is content that remains valuable, relevant, easily discoverable, and useful to readers indefinitely, regardless of current events or seasonal trends.

External links are hyperlinks that direct users to a web page outside the website they visit. They are a great way to direct users to other related and helpful content.

Faceted navigation - also known as faceted search - refers to a navigation feature commonly found on e-commerce websites that have numerous listings or categories.

A favicon (short for "favourite icon") is a small graphic icon that is displayed in the browser tab or address bar of a website. It is usually 16x16 pixels in size.

A featured image refers to an image that is chosen to represent a particular piece of content, such as a blog post or article, on a website or social media platform.

In SEO, a feed or RSS feed is a web feed in XML format to keep users up with updates from their favourite websites without having to constantly visit those websites.

A focus keyword, aka a focus keyphrase, is a term or phrase that represents the primary topic or subject of a piece of content for which you want your site to rank.

Footprints, aka digital footprints or SEO footprints, are identifiers that can be used to recognize sites or web pages with specific attributes or characteristics.

Forum submission (forum posting) - text-based or multimedia content - is the act of posting content, such as questions, answers, or discussions, on an online forum.

Gated content is online content i.e. articles, books, guides, PDFs, white papers, and videos, that are hidden behind a form users need to fill out before accessing it.

Geographic modifier, aka geo modifier or geotag, refers to a keyword that is used to locate a local business. For example, "near me" in the keyword "pizza near me."

Global volume is the total number of searches performed globally for a keyword or phrase. It is a metric that is used in SEO to assess the popularity of a keyword.

Google algorithm is a complex process by which Google retrieves the data from its index by looking at several factors and displays the best possible search results. 

Autocomplete is a feature in Google Search that helps you complete your search query. You start typing in the Google search box and it predicts relevant search terms.

Google bombing is a tactic used to manipulate search results by creating a large number of hyperlinks from various sites for influencing the ranking of a page or site.

Google Bowling is the practice of lowering the search engine ranking of a competitor's website typically by using malicious strategies or black hat SEO techniques.

Google Business Profile (formerly known as Google My Business) is a Google service that allows businesses to register & create an online listing for their company.

Google Caffeine was a change to the way Google updated its search index in order to return faster, more real-time results. It was officially announced in June 2010.

Google Dance is the period of time when Google's search engine rankings fluctuate significantly, resulting in dramatic shifts in search results for particular keywords.

Google Honeymoon Period is a theory that believes that Google temporarily ranks new websites for some particular targeted keywords to see if they perform well in SERPs.

Google Keyword Planner is a free tool offered by Google that helps in conducting keyword research for your SEO campaigns and providing a resource for PPC advertising.

Google Lighthouse is an open-source and free tool by Google that helps web developers, SEOs, and webmasters in improving the quality and performance of their web pages.

A Google penalty is a negative action, in the form of dropped organic traffic and ranking, against your website for not adhering to the Google Webmaster Guidelines.

The alleged probation period that restricts your website from ranking in Google's top search results is called Google Sandbox. Google denies but SEOs believe it exists.

Google SERP features are the search results that appear on the Google Search Engine Result Page (SERP) and are different from the typical blue-coloured website's link.

The Google Supplemental Index was a system, introduced by Google around 2003, to catalogue lower-quality or less significant pages. It was separate from the main index.

The Google Traffic Estimator tool was part of Google Ads. It was designed to forecast the performance of PPC ad campaigns helping marketers make informed decisions.

Google Trends is a free online tool that provides real-time data on what people are searching for. It was introduced in 2006 and the most recent version was in 2018.

Google Website Optimizer was created for website owners to analyse different variations of their web pages to determine the best variation and improve conversion rates.

Googlebot is a web crawler or spider of Google that collects information from different websites by crawling them making these web pages available for Google Index.

Government links (GOV links or gov backlinks) are backlinks that belong to official websites of governmental entities or organizations with domain extensions ".gov".

Grey Hat SEO refers to search engine optimization techniques that are somewhere between White Hat SEO techniques (ethical) and Black Hat SEO techniques (unethical).

Guest post outreach is the practice of contacting bloggers and websites with the aim of having your content published on their platforms and showcasing your expertise.

Guest posting is the method of creating content for another site or blog as a guest writer. It involves writing on a topic related to the host site or blog's niche.

A guestographic is an infographic that you offer to other websites to be included as part of their content. It is similar to guest blogging but with a visual component.

Header tags are hierarchical (ranging from H1 to H6) HTML elements for defining headings and subheadings within a webpage's content helping organize its structure.

In SEO, hijacking refers to various unethical practices where one website attempts to redirect traffic from another website to itself to get benefit from its ranking.

The Hilltop Algorithm by Google was developed to improve the way Google identifies and ranks the most authoritative and relevant web pages for a given search query.

Holistic SEO is a comprehensive approach for enhancing various vital elements of a website to improve its rankings. It's aimed at providing a holistic user experience.

Hreflang is an HTML attribute that is used to specify the language and geographic targeting of a webpage. It is handy for multilingual or region-specific websites.

Google Hummingbird is a major search algorithm update aimed to improve the accuracy and relevance of search results by better understanding the context and intent.

Image compression involves reducing image file size without losing its quality as much as possible. This is achieved by removing unnecessary metadata from the image.

An image sitemap is a sitemap that contains information about the images on a website. It is useful for images that are not easily found by Google's crawling process.

Image submission refers to the practice of sharing or uploading images on various online platforms, such as social media, image-sharing websites, blogs, or directories.

Inbound links are created when another website includes a hyperlink to your website that directs users to it. They are a connection from external sources to your site.

Index Coverage Report is found in Google Search Console, which provides a detailed indexing report of all your website URLs and informs you about various site issues.

Indexability is the ability of search engines to analyze your web pages and add them to their index. Without indexability, your web pages will be invisible in SERPs.

An indexing crawler is an internet bot used by search engines to visit websites and discover or read their web pages to add them to their index, such as Googlebot.

Influencer marketing refers to a strategy within social media marketing that involves partnering with influential individuals to promote a brand, product, or service.

Infographic submissions refer to the practice of submitting infographics to various online platforms, such as websites, directories, and social media channels etc.

These are the words or phrases that users type into the search bar to get information about anything. They are often written with “what”, “who”, “which”, “how”, etc.

Internal links are hyperlinks that point to another page on the same website. They connect various pages on a website making the website content easily accessible.

JSON-LD - JavaScript Object Notation for Linked Data - is a lightweight data structuring format or a scripting language that easily writes and reads structured data.

In the context of Search Engine Optimization, a keyword is a term that you want your website to rank for in search engine results to attract a specific target audience.

Keyword cannibalization occurs when multiple pages or posts on your website target similar keywords. As a result, a website's pages start competing with one another.

Keyword clustering refers to a process in SEO where related keywords are grouped together according to their relation to each other in terms of meaning and intent.

Keyword density, usually shown in percentage, is a way to measure how frequently a particular keyword is used in a piece of content, such as a web page or a blog post.

Keyword Difficulty (KD), aka SEO difficulty, is the assessment of the level of challenge in achieving a high ranking in Google's organic search results for a keyword.

Keyword frequency is the number of times a keyword is used within a web page. If a keyword is repeatedly used on a page, it is said to have a high keyword frequency.

A keyword funnel is a marketing strategy that involves using specific keywords or phrases to guide potential customers through different stages of the buying process.

Keyword Gap - also called Keyword Opportunity or Competitive Keyword Analysis - is a process used to identify keywords that your competitors are using but not you.

Keyword proximity refers to the distance or closeness between two or more keywords or keyphrases within a piece of content, such as a webpage, article, or blog post.

Keyword ranking is the position of a specific keyword or keyphrase in the SERPs for a website. It is crucial since it directly affects a site's visibility and traffic.

Keyword research involves identifying popular words and phrases people enter into search engines to find information, products, or services similar to what you offer.

Keyword stemming is a technique used by search engines to recognize and understand different variations of a search term. Its purpose is to avoid the overuse of a term.

Keyword stuffing is the practice of overloading a web page with excessive keywords in an attempt to manipulate rankings. It is considered a black-hat SEO technique.

A landing page is a specially created webpage where visitors land first by clicking on a link from various platforms like email, and ads on Google, Bing, YouTube, etc.

Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) is a natural language processing (NLP) technique used to understand word meanings based on how they are contextually related in text.

Lazy loading is a technique used in web design and development that delays the loading of non-critical elements until they are needed or the page is fully rendered.

Lemmatization is a process where words are reduced to their base or root form. For example, "runs", and "ran" are all variations of the base word, or lemma, "run".

Server capacity refers to the maximum amount of traffic, requests, or data that a server can handle at any given time without compromising its performance or stability.

Link bait is the practice of creating content with the intention of attracting backlinks from other websites. It involves developing content that is highly engaging.

Link building is the process of getting backlinks from other websites for your own website. These backlinks are the incoming links pointing from other sites to yours.

A link burst refers to a sudden increase in the number of backlinks a website receives within a short period. It provides a short-term boost to a website's rankings.

Link equity or juice refers to the idea of passing authority from one page to another. This is passed on to other pages via links that can be internal and external. 

Link exchange is the practice of exchanging links between two websites. For instance, there is website A linking to website B, and website B linking back to website A.

A link farm is a website or a series of websites that are made to link together to get more visibility in SE rankings which is totally against Google’s guidelines.

Link hoarding (PageRank hoarding) refers to the practice of acquiring and accumulating a lot of inbound links to a website while refraining from giving outbound links.

Link insertion, aka niche edits or link placements, is a link-building technique where a relevant backlink to your site is added to existing content on another site.

Link intersect is a method of analyzing and comparing backlink profiles of multiple sites, typically those of competitors to discover better link-building strategies.

In SEO, a link profile is the collection of inbound links that point to a particular website or webpage. A strong link profile can help to improve a website's rankings.

Link Reclamation is a process where you identify and recover lost or broken backlinks to your website. It positively impacts your website's SEO and online visibility.

Link reputation refers to the authority and value assigned to a hyperlink, impacting search rankings. This value reflects the credibility and relevance of a web page.

Link rot is the phenomenon where hyperlinks (outbound links) to other websites on your website become obsolete or inaccessible over time and affects user experience.

A link scheme - also called link spam - refers to any fraudulent technique or practice that is used to manipulate the number or quality of links pointing to a website.

Link velocity is the rate at which a website acquires new backlinks over a period of time. A sudden increase can indicate that a website is using manipulative tactics.

Link Volume refers to the total number of links to a web page or a website and is an important measure that can be used to see the overall performance of a website.

Linked domains are the domains to which a specific website links. For example, if your website links to another website, this website will be a linked domain for you.

Local Business Schema is a type of schema or structured data markup that is added to a local business website to help improve its appearance in local search results. 

A local citation is the online mention of your business's name, address, and phone number on various platforms, such as business directories, review sites, apps, etc. 

These are search queries that contain location-specific terms, such as a city name, zip code, etc. They work more for businesses that serve in a specific location.

Local SEO refers to a specialized aspect of search engine optimization that concentrates on improving the online presence of a local business in local search results.

Log File Analyzer is a tool for analyzing log files generated by web servers or web apps. The log files contain information about the activities occurring on a site.

Long-tail keywords are long and specific search terms that have a smaller search volume than shorter keywords. They are less-competitive and have a lower search volume.

Malicious backlinks refer to links that point to your website from untrustworthy websites. These websites are also known for participating in unethical SEO practices.

A manual action refers to a process undertaken by a human reviewer at Google to assess and potentially penalize a site for violating its webmaster quality guidelines.

A marketing calendar is a strategic planning tool, typically covering one year period or more, outlining all marketing activities and events over a specified period.

In SEO, metadata is the information embedded in the head section of a website's HTML code. It provides search engines with details about a page's content, purpose, etc.

A meta description refers to a brief introduction of the web page that you can find on SERPs, along with the URL and title. It usually consists of a sentence or two.

Meta keywords or tags are a set of keywords that are included in a webpage's HTML source code to help search engines understand the content of that specific webpage.

A Meta Refresh Redirect tells the web browsers to navigate to another web page after a specified time. It's implemented by adding a meta refresh tag in the HTML code.

A meta robots tag, aka a robots tag, is a type of HTML code that is inserted into the <head> section of a web page to control the indexing behaviour of web crawlers.

A meta-search term refers to a keyword or phrase that can be included in a website's HTML code to inform search engines about it. It is not visible on the website.

A meta title is a short phrase that appears as clickable blue text on search engine results pages. It describes the content of a webpage using as few words as possible.

A mirror site is a website that has been duplicated and hosted on a different server. It is an exact copy of the original site - maintaining its structure and content.

Mobile-first indexing is a process search engines use to rank websites based on their mobile version's content and user experience, rather than the desktop version. 

The MozBar is a free browser extension by Moz that provides website metrics and SEO insights in the browser. One can use MozBar to analyze the site's on-page elements.

A natural link is a backlink you get organically without having to ask someone for it. Such an organic backlink is not created but earned by presenting quality content.

A navigational query is a specific type of search query that a user enters into a search engine with the intention of navigating to a specific website or web page.

Negative SEO is the practice of using unethical and malicious means to ruin the reputation of a competitor's site and not to get a high ranking for one's own website.

A niche is a targeted subset of a larger market or audience that your website is specifically designed to appeal to - representing a specialized area or specific topic.

A nofollow backlink is a hyperlink that includes a "rel=nofollow" attribute in its HTML code. It tells search engines not to pass authority to the linking website.

A noindex tag is meta robots tag that blocks indexing a web page by crawlers. This tag is usually placed in the head section of a web page, or by using X-Robots-Tag.

Noopener or rel=noopener is an HTML tag used in the link to instruct the browser not to allow the newly opened browsing context to access the document that opened it.

The noreferrer attribute is added to <A> tag that prevents passing referrer info to the linked website. It stops targeted sites from seeing your website's details.

Organic keywords refer to specific words or phrases one strategically incorporates into a website's content with the intention to attract “unpaid” or "free" traffic.

Organic search results are the unpaid listings that appear on SERPs. They differ from paid search results which are displayed on SERPs through sponsored placements.

Organic traffic refers to the visitors who arrive at a website through unpaid search results. These visitors find and come to a site directly by using search engines.

Organic traffic value is the estimated cost that a website would incur each month if it had to pay for the traffic it receives from all the keywords it is ranking for.

Orphan pages are the pages on a website that are not connected with other pages through internal linking. These pages are not accessible through normal navigation.

Outbound links, aka outgoing links, are external links that direct users from your website to other websites or web pages. They point from your website to another.

Outdated content refers to content on a website that is no longer accurate, relevant, or useful. This can be old articles, expired events, or discontinued products.

Page speed refers to the time it takes for a web page to fully load which includes responding to a request, downloading the necessary resources, and rendering the page.

In the context of Google Search Console, "Page with redirect" refers to a web page that automatically sends or redirects users and crawlers to a different URL or page.

PageRank is one of Google's algorithms responsible for determining the ranking of a web page in search engine results pages. The PageRank score ranges between 0 and 10.

Pagination is the practice of showing a large set of search results (products, reviews, comments, etc) into more manageable subsets and showing them on separate pages.

Pagination loops refer to a situation when a webpage displays identical results regardless of changes in URL parameters. These loops can negatively affect a site's SEO.

Paid links are the hyperlinks on a website included as part of a paid agreement between the website owner and another party, usually intended to drive more traffic.

The Panda Algorithm is Google's ranking algorithm aimed at lowering the rank of low-quality sites and returning higher-quality sites near the top of the search results.

In SEO, a parent topic covers various subtopics. Fitness, for instance, is a parent topic with subtopics like strength training, cardiovascular exercise, and nutrition.

A PBN (Private Blog Network) refers to a group of websites that are created and controlled by an individual or entity for manipulating the search rankings of a website.

PBN (Private Blog Network) links are backlinks that originate from a network of privately owned websites and are directed towards another website outside this network.

PDF submission is the process of sharing or submitting a PDF file to various websites, directories, or platforms for the purpose of promotion or content distribution. 

The Penguin Algorithm was about decreasing the search rankings of websites that violate Google's Webmaster Guidelines by using spammy strategies for link-building.

"People Also Ask" is a feature that you often see on SERPs & typically presents a series of related questions that other people have frequently asked about a topic.

A permalink is a permanent and static link to a specific webpage or content on your website. It remains the same over time even if the content is updated or moved.

A pillar page refers to a type of content that serves as a comprehensive and authoritative guide to a specific topic. It is typically a long-form webpage or blog post.

Pogo-sticking, in the context of SEO, refers to user behaviour when a user clicks on a search result, visits the page, and quickly goes back to click on another result.

In terms of SEO, a "poison word" refers to a word or phrase that can negatively impact the ranking of a webpage in SERPs. The list of such words isn't public knowledge.

A Primary Crawler refers to the main bot that a search engine uses to index web pages. This crawler crawls websites, follows links and gathers data about the pages.

Progressive web apps (PWAs) are apps developed using web technologies such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, but offer a user experience similar to that of native apps.

Content pruning is the process of strategically removing unnecessary or low-performing content from a website or an online platform to improve the quality of a site.

In sales and marketing, a qualified lead is a potential customer who has been assessed and determined to have a higher likelihood of converting into a paying customer.

RankBrain is an important part of Google's core algorithm that uses machine learning to determine and present the most relevant search results to search engine queries.

In SEO, "ranking" is the position of a website or webpage in the search engine results pages for a specific keyword or search query. A high ranking is always better.

A ranking factor refers to the pre-defined set of criteria that search engines use to determine the order of results that are returned for a specific search query.

Redirects are a way to send website visitors and search engines from one URL to another ensuring that the content is accessible even if the original URL has changed.

Referral traffic refers to the visitors coming to a website by clicking on a link from another site. It provides insight into the effectiveness of your site's content

Referring IPs (referring IP addresses) are IP addresses that serve as hosts for one or more websites that include a hyperlink pointing to the target URL or domain.

Regional keywords are search terms that are specific to a particular geographical location. They are usually a combination of a general keyword and some location. 

Render-blocking scripts are static files causing the browser to pause the downloading of other resources until processed, resulting in delayed loading of a web page.

Reputation Management involves strategies and efforts to influence how a brand or business is perceived online by promoting positive and mitigating negative content.

Response codes, aka HTTP status codes, are three-digit numbers that servers use to communicate with a web browser about the outcome of its request to access a website.

Responsive design is an approach to web design that aims to create sites & applications that can adapt their layout & content to fit different screen sizes & devices.

A reverse index is a data structure used by search engines to produce fast searches by mapping keywords or terms to their locations enabling rapid full-text searches.

A rich snippet refers to a type of search result that provides additional information about the content of a web page beyond the standard title, URL, and description.

Rich Snippets Spam refers to the practice of using manipulative or deceptive methods in structured data to create misleading rich snippets - resulting in a penalty.

Robots.txt is a text file that helps crawlers determine which pages to crawl on a website. It prevents crawlers from overloading a website with excessive requests.

ROI (Return on Investment) is a metric used to measure the profitability of an investment by calculating the return or gain compared to the initial investment amount.

A root domain is a complete website address combining a unique domain name and a top-level domain extension. It represents the highest-level page in a site's hierarchy.

SafeSearch Filtering is a feature provided by Google that acts as a content filter to block explicit content in search results. This includes explicit violent content.

Schema Markup Validator is a tool to test the schema markup for structured data. It is the replacement for Google Structured Data Testing Tool and can test all types.

Schema markup is a code that is added to the HTML of a website and tells the search engines about your website's content and helps them present it to users efficiently.

Scraped content refers to data or information that has been automatically extracted or copied from websites using software tools known as web scrapers or web crawlers.

A search engine is a software system that helps users find information on the internet by searching relevant web pages, documents, as well as other types of content.

Search engine guidelines are a set of instructions or recommendations established by search engines to assist website owners in the optimization of their websites.

Search engine poisoning (SEO poisoning or search poisoning) is a deceptive technique used by cybercriminals to manipulate search results by creating harmful websites.

Search engine spam or spamdexing refers to the practice of using unethical or deceptive techniques to manipulate search engine rankings and the visibility of a website.

Search intent - aka user intent or keyword intent -  refers to the purpose or objective a user has when entering a specific query into a search engine's search bar.

Search marketing or search engine marketing (SEM) is a digital marketing strategy that involves promoting websites or their pages through both unpaid and paid ads.

Search personalization is the process of delivering the most relevant and individualized search results on the internet customized to the user's specific interests.

Search visibility is a metric that estimates the percentage of a website's organic clicks relative to the total number of searches conducted for specific keywords.

Search volume is the average number of times users search for a particular keyword over a given timeframe. It can vary depending on the type of keyword or a trend.

The seasonal trend refers to the fluctuation in demand for goods and services at specific times of the year, often tied to holidays, weather, and other annual events.

Secondary keywords are words or phrases related to the main keyword or topic but are not the primary focus and are used to provide context and additional information.

Seed keywords are short and simple primary keywords that usually consist of one or two words and contain a head noun. They are essential for achieving high rankings.

Sentiment Analysis refers to the process of identifying & evaluating the emotional tone behind content, specifically how users feel towards a brand, product or service.

An SEO audit is the evaluation process of assessing the effectiveness of a website's optimization for search engines. It involves identifying and addressing errors.

SEO Competitive Analysis is a simple yet vital practice whose primary purpose is to gain valuable insights from your competitors' SEO strategies by examining them.

SEO copywriting is an important component of SEO which involves creating high-quality and valuable content that is optimized for search engines and useful for readers.

KPI (Key Performance Indicator) refers to the measurable values that demonstrate the effectiveness of your SEO strategy - like organic traffic, ranking, backlinks etc.

SEO ontology is a structured representation of the knowledge within the field of SEO providing a framework that defines the interactions between many elements of SEO.

SEO silo is a website architecture strategy that involves grouping and organizing content based on topics. It creates distinct sections on a website by interlinking.

A server error refers to a type of error which occurs on the server side of a website. These errors are typically signified by the 500 series of HTTP status codes.

Share of voice (SOV) is a metric used to measure how much a brand dominates the market compared to its competitors. It's an indicator of brand visibility and influence.

Short-tail keywords, also known as head terms, are search terms consisting of no more than three words. These terms represent broad topics and have high search volumes.

Side ads refer to the ads that appear on the right-hand side of the search results page in Google's desktop search. In 2016, Google placed them at the top and bottom.

In the context of SEO, siphoning refers to the unethical practice of stealing or redirecting traffic from another website to your through various fraudulent means.

Website Architecture - also called Site Structure - refers to the way your website is structured. It includes how your website pages are organized and interlinked.

Site health is a term that describes the overall state and performance of a website. It is a way to monitor a site's performance-related and security-related aspects.

Sitelinks are additional links which appear under the main URL of a website on a SERP - leading to important pages, such as "About Us", "Contact Us", "Services", etc.

A sitemap index is a file that includes a collection of links to sitemaps for a website. Its main purpose is to surpass the size limitations of a single sitemap file. 

A sitemap is a file that lists all the pages on a website, serving as a roadmap that helps search engines crawl and index content on that website more efficiently.

A slug is part of a URL that identifies a particular page on your website. It typically comes after the domain name and is often referred to as the "URL extension".

Social bookmarking is a practice of saving and organizing web pages or online resources on a social bookmarking website rather than in a web browser's bookmark folder. 

Social media sharing is the act of sharing content, such as posts, photos, videos, or links, on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and others.

Spam Score is a metric developed by Moz in 2015 to check which websites are spammy and which ones are trustworthy. Usually, websites are assigned a score from 1-100.

Spamdexing (search engine spam, web spam or black-hat SEO) is a collection of techniques employed to manipulate search engine indexes to gain visibility and rank high.

In the context of SEO, spamming is a false practice that involves using manipulative or deceptive techniques to artificially improve search engine rankings of websites.

Spammy links are low-quality bad backlinks that you get from a spam website. These links can lower the authority of your website or the pages that get these links.

A splog, aka spam blog, is a blog that is created and filled with spammy content, often automated, plagiarized, low quality, and of little to no value to the reader.

Sponsored links are online ads displayed at the top or bottom of SERPs or on websites. Users can click on these links to visit the advertiser's website and learn more.

SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) is a type of digital certificate that ensures authentication and encryption of data transferred between the site and the user's web browser.

Static content refers to the parts of a website that remain the same across different pages and user sessions. It's different from "dynamic content" which can change.

Stop words refer to common words or phrases that search engines tend to ignore when indexing content or processing search queries helping provide more relevant results.

Structured data is organized and formatted data about a web page, typically stored in a database, that is readable and comprehensible by humans, programs, and machines.

A subdomain name is an extension added to the start of a site's domain name. It allows sites to segregate and organize content or functions from the rest of the web.

Taxonomy SEO is organizing and categorizing a site's content based on shared attributes or relevance. It involves creating a logical and hierarchical classification.

"Temporary Removals" is a feature in Google Search Console that allows you to request the temporary removal of a specific URL on your site from Google's search results.

Term Frequency tells how many times a term or keyword appears on a webpage or within a piece of content. It is part of the Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency.

Thin content refers to web pages or articles that contain little to no valuable or unique information. This content is usually short, and lacking in depth and quality.

A TLD or top-level domain, aka domain extension or URL extension, is the concluding portion of a domain name, appearing after the dot symbol i.e. .com in seodebate.com.

A top ad, aka a top-of-page ad, is a type of PPC ad that appears at the top of the SERPs when a user enters a relevant query. It is labeled as "sponsored" or "ad".

Top Heavy is the condition of a website where excessive ads or other irrelevant elements crowd the 'above the fold' area. It can result in a subpar user experience.

"Top pages" are the pages on your website that receive the most traffic or have the highest popularity among users. They are analyzed to improve the site's performance.

Total Clicks represent the total number of times users click on a specific element, such as an online ad, a link in an email, or a call-to-action button on a website.

Total Crawl Requests refer to the total number of requests made by search engine crawlers or bots - like Googlebot - to your website over a certain period of time.

In the context of Google Search Console, the "Total Impressions" metric shows how many times your website or webpage appeared in search results for specific queries.

Toxic links refer to harmful backlinks to your website that can significantly damage your search engine rankings and potentially lead to penalties from search engines.

Traffic potential is the estimated volume of organic search traffic that a single webpage or collection of webpages is expected to receive from Google's SERPs monthly.

Transactional queries are search queries that show that a user intends to perform a specific action. They usually include words such as "Buy," "Order," "Download," etc.

Trust Flow is a metric that measures the quality of a website's backlink profile based on the credibility of the linking domains. It is a score developed by Majestic.

There are 792 types of Schema, but, Google mainly relies on 32 types and recommends using them for website optimization; all other schemas are not required for Google. 

UGC (User-Generated Content) is the content created by users and not by brands or companies and is usually made available via social media or discussion forums, etc.

Underscore URLs refer to web addresses that incorporate the underscore character "_". However, such use is not allowed in domain names, according to Internet standards.

Unnatural links are links that are obtained in a way that violates search engine guidelines. These links are considered manipulative and can harm a website's rankings.

Uppercase URLs are internet addresses where capital letters are used, particularly in the section of the URL following the domain name and can lead to different pages.

URL parameters – aka query strings, URL query parameters – are the elements that are part of a URL and are used for traffic tracking, content structuring and sorting.

User Experience (UX) refers to the overall experience a user has when interacting with your website or pages. It focuses on making the site valuable and user-friendly.

Vertical search (speciality or topical search) is a type of search engine that focuses on a specific type of content. It narrows its scope to only a limited data set.

Voice search is a technology that enables users to search for the required information by speaking commands or queries instead of using traditional text input methods.

Web 2.0 is the second or current generation of the internet, characterized by its shift from static web pages to dynamic or user-generated and interactive content.

Webmaster Guidelines are the set of rules provided by search engines to webmasters to help them rank their websites in SERPs while following the best SEO practices. 

"Website age" refers to the length of time that a particular website has been in existence since it was first launched regardless of any changes to its domain name.

Website navigation is the system or arrangement of links and pathways that connect a website's pages. It enables users to easily access different sections of a website.

Website structure refers to the organization of a website's pages. It involves creating a hierarchy of web pages and connecting them through menus and internal links.

White Hat SEO refers to the use of ethical and legitimate techniques and strategies to optimize a website for search engines and improve its ranking in search results.

XML (Extensible Markup Language) sitemap is a file that contains a list of all the pages on a website and information thereof. It acts as a table of contents of a site.

YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) refers to a type of web content that can have a significant impact on a user's health, financial stability, safety & overall well-being.

Zero-click searches are search queries where the user is provided with an immediate answer on the SERPs, without having to click through to any external websites.