SEO Glossary
500+ search engine optimization terms, definitions, and best practices for digital marketing
What is an SEO Glossary?
Our comprehensive SEO glossary provides clear definitions and explanations for over 500 search engine optimization terms, concepts, and best practices. Whether you're new to digital marketing or an experienced professional, this resource will help you navigate the complex world of SEO.
From technical SEO elements like "robots.txt" and "canonical tags" to content strategy concepts like "E-A-T" and "cornerstone content," our glossary covers the full spectrum of search optimization terminology used by industry professionals in 2024.
Use the alphabetical navigation below to quickly find definitions for specific terms, or browse through categories to deepen your understanding of how search engines work and how to improve your website's visibility in search results.
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301 Redirect
A 301 redirect is a permanent redirect that automatically sends users and search engines to a new URL. It helps preserve your website’s SEO rankings and link equity when making changes to your site’s structure or content.
302 Redirect
A 302 redirect is a temporary HTTP status code that tells browsers and search engines a page has been moved temporarily. It preserves the original URL's SEO value and is useful when you plan to bring the original page back.
304 Not Modified
A 304 Not Modified status code tells the browser that a webpage hasn’t changed since the last visit, so it can load the version from cache instead of downloading it again. This improves page speed and reduces bandwidth.
404 Error
A 404 Error means that a webpage could not be found on the server. It’s one of the most common HTTP status codes and can affect user experience and SEO if not handled properly.
410 Gone
A 410 Gone status code tells browsers and search engines that a webpage has been permanently removed and will not be coming back. It's more definitive than a 404 and has specific SEO implications.
A
Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP)
Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) is an open-source framework developed by Google to create fast-loading web pages for mobile devices. It improves user experience by prioritizing speed, but comes with pros and cons for SEO.
Ad Impressions
Ad impressions refer to the number of times an online ad is displayed on a webpage or app, regardless of whether it is clicked. It’s a key metric used to measure the reach of digital advertising campaigns.
Alt Text
Alt text (alternative text) is a short description added to images in HTML to describe what the image shows. It improves accessibility for visually impaired users and helps search engines understand your content.
Anchor Text
Anchor text is the clickable, visible text in a hyperlink. It helps users understand what they’re clicking on and gives search engines context about the linked page, making it important for SEO.
B
Backlinks
Backlinks are incoming links from one website to another. They act as votes of confidence in the eyes of search engines and are a major factor in how websites are ranked in search results.
Bing Webmaster Tools
Bing Webmaster Tools is a free platform by Microsoft that helps website owners monitor and improve their site's performance in Bing search results. It offers insights, SEO tools, and indexing control.
Bingbot
Bingbot is the web crawler used by Microsoft’s Bing search engine to discover, scan, and index content from websites across the internet. It plays a key role in how your site appears in Bing search results.
Black Hat SEO
Black Hat SEO refers to unethical or manipulative tactics used to try to improve a website’s search engine rankings. These practices violate search engine guidelines and can lead to penalties or deindexing.
Bounce Rate
Bounce rate is the percentage of visitors who land on a webpage and leave without clicking on anything or visiting another page. It’s a key metric for understanding user engagement and content effectiveness.
Branded Content
Branded content is content created by or for a brand that delivers value to the audience while subtly promoting the brand’s message or values. It focuses on storytelling rather than direct advertising.
Branded Keywords
Branded keywords are search terms that include your brand name or a variation of it. These keywords are important for controlling your brand presence in search results and attracting high-intent visitors.
Breadcrumb Navigation
Breadcrumb navigation is a secondary navigation system that shows users their current location within a website's hierarchy. It improves user experience and can enhance SEO by helping search engines understand site structure.
Broken Link
A broken link is a hyperlink that no longer works because the page it points to is missing, moved, or deleted. Broken links harm user experience and can negatively affect SEO if left unchecked.
C
Cached Page
A cached page is a stored version of a webpage that is saved by a search engine or browser to improve loading speed and accessibility. It helps users access content faster and allows offline viewing when the live site is down.
Canonical Tag
A canonical tag is an HTML element that tells search engines which version of a page is the preferred one. It helps prevent duplicate content issues and consolidates SEO value to a single, authoritative URL.
Canonical URL
A canonical URL is the preferred version of a webpage that you want search engines to index when there are multiple pages with similar or duplicate content. It helps consolidate SEO value and avoid duplicate content issues.
Cloaking
Cloaking is a Black Hat SEO technique where different content is shown to search engines than to human visitors. It violates search engine guidelines and can result in penalties or deindexing.
Content Delivery Network (CDN)
A Content Delivery Network (CDN) is a network of servers distributed around the world that deliver website content faster by serving it from locations closer to the user. CDNs improve site speed, reliability, and SEO.
Core Web Vitals
Core Web Vitals are a set of performance metrics defined by Google that measure key aspects of user experience, including loading speed, interactivity, and visual stability. They influence SEO and page rankings.
Cornerstone Content
Cornerstone content refers to the most important, high-quality, and comprehensive pages on your website that cover core topics in-depth and are designed to rank well in search engines and guide internal linking.
Crawlability
Crawlability refers to how easily search engine bots can access, discover, and read the content on your website. It’s a key technical SEO factor that affects how well your site gets indexed and ranked.
Crawler
A crawler is an automated program used by search engines to browse, discover, and index content on the web. Also known as a spider or bot, it plays a crucial role in how websites appear in search results.
D
Dofollow Link
A dofollow link is a standard hyperlink that allows search engines to follow it and pass SEO value, or “link juice,” to the destination page. It helps improve search rankings and website authority.
Domain Rating (DR)
Domain Rating (DR) is a metric developed by Ahrefs that measures the overall strength of a website’s backlink profile on a scale from 0 to 100. It’s commonly used to evaluate website authority in SEO.
Domain Structure
Domain structure refers to the organized layout of a website’s domain, including elements like the subdomain, root domain, and top-level domain. A clean, logical domain structure improves SEO and user experience.
Duplicate Content
Duplicate content refers to blocks of text that appear in more than one place on the internet or within a website. It can confuse search engines and negatively affect SEO if not managed properly.
E
E-A-T in SEO
E-A-T stands for Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness — key factors used by Google to evaluate the quality of content and the credibility of the website and its authors, especially for sensitive topics.
Entry Page
An entry page is the first page a visitor lands on when arriving at a website. It’s often the starting point for user journeys and plays a key role in user experience, conversions, and SEO performance.
Evergreen Content
Evergreen content is content that remains relevant and valuable over time, without needing frequent updates. It consistently attracts traffic, engages users, and supports long-term SEO growth.
External Link
An external link is a hyperlink that points from one website to a different domain. It helps connect content across the web and can impact SEO by signaling trust, authority, and relevance.
G
Gated Content
Gated content is online material that requires users to provide information—such as an email address—before accessing it. It’s used in lead generation strategies but is hidden from search engines, limiting its SEO value.
Google Alerts
Google Alerts is a free tool by Google that notifies users whenever new content matching specific keywords appears online. It’s useful for brand monitoring, content research, SEO, and reputation management.
Google Algorithm
The Google Algorithm is a complex system used to rank web pages in search results. It evaluates hundreds of factors, including relevance, quality, and user experience, to determine the best results for each search query.
Google Analytics
Google Analytics is a free web analytics tool that helps website owners track and analyze traffic, user behavior, and performance. It provides data-driven insights to improve marketing, SEO, and user experience.
Google Autocomplete
Google Autocomplete is a search feature that predicts and suggests search queries as users type in the search bar. It helps speed up searches and provides insights for SEO, keyword research, and content ideas.
Google Business Profile
Google Business Profile is a free tool by Google that allows businesses to manage how their information appears in Google Search and Maps. It boosts local visibility, engagement, and trust with potential customers.
Google Search Console
Google Search Console is a free tool from Google that helps website owners monitor, maintain, and improve their site’s visibility in Google Search. It offers insights into indexing, traffic, errors, and more.
Google Webmaster Guidelines
Google Webmaster Guidelines are a set of best practices and rules provided by Google to help website owners create high-quality, search-friendly websites that follow ethical SEO practices and avoid penalties.
Googlebot
Googlebot is the web crawling bot used by Google to discover, scan, and index web pages. It plays a key role in how websites appear in Google Search by collecting and updating information from across the internet.
Grey Hat SEO
Grey Hat SEO refers to search engine optimization tactics that fall between ethical (White Hat) and unethical (Black Hat) practices. These methods exploit loopholes without directly violating rules, but they carry risk.
Guest Blogging
Guest blogging is the practice of writing and publishing content on someone else’s website or blog to build brand awareness, authority, backlinks, and reach new audiences. It’s a widely used content marketing and SEO strategy.
H
H1 Tag
The H1 tag is an HTML element that represents the main heading of a webpage. It helps structure content, improves accessibility, and signals the primary topic to search engines for SEO purposes.
Header Tags
Header tags (H1 to H6) are HTML elements used to structure web page content by separating headings and subheadings. They help improve readability, accessibility, and SEO by signaling content hierarchy to users and search engines.
Hreflang
Hreflang is an HTML attribute that tells search engines which language and regional version of a webpage to show in search results. It helps improve international SEO by serving the right content to the right users.
HTTP 200 Response Code
The HTTP 200 response code indicates that a web request was successful and the server returned the requested content. It’s the standard response for a properly functioning webpage and is essential for SEO and user experience.
HTTPS
HTTPS (HyperText Transfer Protocol Secure) is a secure version of HTTP that encrypts data exchanged between a user’s browser and a website. It improves security, builds trust, and is a confirmed ranking factor for SEO.
I
Inbound Link
An inbound link, also known as a backlink, is a hyperlink from another website that points to your website. It is a key SEO signal that can boost your rankings, credibility, and referral traffic.
Indexability
Indexability refers to a web page's ability to be added to a search engine’s index. If a page is indexable, it can appear in search results. It’s a key part of technical SEO and website visibility.
Internal Link
An internal link is a hyperlink that connects one page to another within the same website. It helps users navigate and allows search engines to crawl and understand the site structure, supporting SEO and user experience.
K
Keyword Cannibalization
Keyword cannibalization happens when multiple pages on the same website compete for the same keyword, causing confusion for search engines and weakening the site's overall ranking potential for that keyword.
Keyword Density
Keyword density is the percentage of times a keyword appears in a piece of content compared to the total word count. It helps measure keyword usage for SEO but should be balanced to avoid over-optimization.
Keyword Difficulty
Keyword difficulty is an SEO metric that estimates how hard it would be to rank on the first page of search engine results for a specific keyword. It helps guide keyword selection based on competition and authority.
Keyword Ranking
Keyword ranking refers to the position of a web page in search engine results for a specific keyword or phrase. Higher rankings lead to more visibility, traffic, and potential conversions.
Keyword Stuffing
Keyword stuffing is the overuse of keywords in web content in an attempt to manipulate search engine rankings. It leads to poor user experience and may result in search engine penalties.
Keywords
Keywords are the words or phrases that users type into search engines to find information. In SEO, they help guide content creation and optimization so pages can appear in relevant search results.
L
Landing Page
A landing page is a standalone web page created specifically for marketing or advertising campaigns. It’s designed to guide visitors toward a specific action, such as signing up, downloading, or making a purchase.
Link Building
Link building is the process of acquiring hyperlinks from other websites to your own. It's a key SEO strategy that helps improve search engine rankings, authority, and organic traffic.
Link Equity
Link equity refers to the value or authority passed from one webpage to another through hyperlinks. It influences search engine rankings and helps boost the SEO performance of linked pages.
Link Exchange
A link exchange is when two websites agree to link to each other to boost their search rankings. It can be beneficial when done naturally, but risky if used excessively or manipulatively.
Link Farm
A link farm is a group of websites that all link to each other, often artificially, to manipulate search engine rankings. These are considered spammy and can lead to SEO penalties.
Link Juice
Link juice is a slang term in SEO that refers to the value or authority passed from one webpage to another through hyperlinks, helping boost the linked page’s search engine rankings.
Link Rot
Link rot refers to the process where hyperlinks on a webpage gradually become broken or lead to unavailable content over time. This can harm user experience and negatively affect SEO.
Link Text
Link text, also known as anchor text, is the clickable word or phrase in a hyperlink. It helps users understand where the link leads and plays an important role in SEO.
Local Business Schema
Local Business Schema is a type of structured data markup that helps search engines understand important details about a local business, such as its name, address, hours, and services.
Local Citation
A local citation is any online mention of a local business’s name, address, and phone number (NAP). Citations help improve local SEO and build trust with search engines and customers.
Local SEO
Local SEO is the process of optimizing a business's online presence to attract more customers from relevant local searches, especially those happening on Google and map services.
Long-tail Keyword
A long-tail keyword is a more specific and longer search phrase that typically has lower competition and higher conversion potential, making it ideal for targeted SEO strategies.
M
Meta Description
A meta description is a short summary of a webpage's content that appears in search engine results. It helps users understand what the page is about and can influence click-through rates.
Meta Keywords
Meta keywords are an outdated type of HTML tag used to list important keywords for a webpage. They are no longer used by major search engines for ranking purposes.
Meta Robots Tag
The meta robots tag is an HTML snippet used to control how search engines index and follow a webpage. It helps manage SEO visibility directly from a page’s code.
Meta Tags
Meta tags are snippets of HTML code in a webpage’s head section that provide information about the page to search engines and browsers. They play a key role in SEO and page behavior.
Mobile-First Indexing
Mobile-first indexing means that Google primarily uses the mobile version of a website’s content for indexing and ranking in search results.
N
NAP
NAP stands for Name, Address, and Phone number. It refers to the key business information used in local SEO to help search engines verify and rank local businesses.
Negative SEO
Negative SEO refers to unethical tactics used to harm a competitor’s website rankings in search engines, such as spammy backlinks, content scraping, or fake reviews.
Nofollow
Nofollow is an HTML link attribute that tells search engines not to pass SEO value (link equity) to the linked page. It’s used to control how links are treated in SEO.
O
Off-page SEO
Off-page SEO refers to optimization activities that happen outside your website — like link building, social signals, and brand mentions — to improve your site’s authority and search engine rankings.
On-page SEO
On-page SEO refers to the practice of optimizing individual web pages to improve their search engine rankings and attract more relevant traffic through content, HTML, and technical improvements.
Open Graph Meta Tags
Open Graph meta tags are snippets of code that control how URLs appear when shared on social media platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, and X (formerly Twitter).
Organic Search Results
Organic search results are the unpaid listings on a search engine results page (SERP), ranked based on relevance to the user's query and SEO performance.
Organic Traffic
Organic traffic refers to website visitors who arrive through unpaid search engine results. It is driven by SEO efforts and is considered one of the most valuable sources of web traffic.
Orphan Page
An orphan page is a webpage that exists on a website but is not linked to from any other page. This makes it hard for users and search engines to find and index it.
Outbound Link
An outbound link is a hyperlink on your website that points to a different website. These links provide value to users and can help build credibility and SEO trust.
P
Page Speed
Page speed refers to how fast a webpage loads and responds to user interactions. It’s a key factor for user experience and SEO rankings.
PageRank
PageRank is a Google algorithm used to evaluate the importance of webpages based on the quantity and quality of links pointing to them. It was one of the original signals used to rank pages.
Paid Link
A paid link is a backlink placed in exchange for money or compensation. It can help with traffic but must follow Google’s guidelines to avoid SEO penalties.
People Also Ask
“People Also Ask” is a dynamic feature in Google’s search results that displays related questions users commonly search for, along with brief answers pulled from various websites.
Primary Keyword
A primary keyword is the main search term you want a specific page to rank for in search engine results. It guides your content focus, structure, and SEO strategy.
R
Reciprocal Link
A reciprocal link is when two websites agree to link to each other. While once common for SEO, excessive reciprocal linking can be seen as manipulative by search engines.
Related Searches
Related searches are additional keyword suggestions shown at the bottom of a Google search results page, offering alternative or expanded queries users commonly explore.
Relative URL
A relative URL is a link that points to another page on the same website using a path relative to the current page, rather than the full domain. It helps keep internal links consistent and flexible.
Resource Pages
Resource pages are curated collections of useful links, tools, or content around a specific topic. They offer SEO value by earning backlinks and providing helpful information to users.
Rich Snippet
A rich snippet is an enhanced search result that displays extra information like reviews, ratings, prices, or FAQs, pulled from structured data on the page.
robots.txt
The robots.txt file is a text file that tells search engine crawlers which parts of your website should or shouldn’t be crawled or indexed.
S
Schema Markup
Schema markup is a type of structured data that helps search engines understand the content of your web pages, enabling rich results like star ratings, FAQs, and product info.
Search Algorithm
A search algorithm is a complex set of rules and calculations used by search engines like Google to rank and deliver the most relevant results for a user’s query.
Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs)
Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) are the pages displayed by search engines in response to a user's query, showing a mix of organic results, ads, and rich features like maps or videos.
Search Intent
Search intent refers to the reason behind a user’s query — what they’re actually looking to find, learn, or do. Understanding it is key to creating content that ranks well in search engines.
Search Term
A search term is the exact word or phrase that a user types into a search engine. Understanding search terms is essential for targeting the right keywords in SEO and PPC campaigns.
Search Visibility
Search visibility is a metric that shows how prominently a website appears in search engine results, based on rankings, impressions, and keyword coverage.
Search Volume
Search volume refers to the number of times a specific keyword or phrase is searched for in a given period, typically measured monthly. It helps marketers gauge keyword popularity and potential traffic.
Secondary Keywords
Secondary keywords are supporting terms or phrases related to your primary keyword. They help expand a page’s relevance, reach, and visibility in search results.
Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)
Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) is a standard security technology that encrypts data between a user's browser and a website server. It ensures safe, private communication and is essential for website trust and SEO.
Seed Keywords
Seed keywords are basic, broad terms that serve as the starting point for keyword research. They help you discover more specific, long-tail keyword opportunities for SEO and content planning.
SEO
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization — the process of improving a website’s visibility in search engines like Google. It helps websites attract more organic (non-paid) traffic.
SEO Audit
An SEO audit is a detailed review of a website’s ability to appear in search engine results. It helps identify technical, on-page, and off-page issues that may be affecting SEO performance.
Share of Voice
Share of Voice (SOV) is a metric that measures how much of the conversation around a particular topic or brand is dominated by your business compared to your competitors. It's important for understanding brand visibility in the market.
Short-Tail Keywords
Short-tail keywords are broad, general search terms with a high search volume. They are typically one or two words and are highly competitive in search engine results.
Sitelinks
Sitelinks are additional links displayed beneath the main search result for a website, helping users navigate directly to important pages within the site.
Sitemaps
Sitemaps are files that provide information to search engines about the pages, videos, and other files on your site. They help search engines crawl your site more efficiently and improve indexing.
Sitewide Link
A sitewide link is a link that appears on every page of a website, typically in the header, footer, or sidebar. These links can help improve site navigation and SEO.
Srcset
Srcset is an HTML attribute used to specify different image sizes for different screen resolutions or viewport sizes, helping to ensure that the right image is served to the user.
Structured Data
Structured data is a standardized format for providing information about a webpage and classifying the content on the page. It helps search engines understand the content and improve search results.
Subdomain
A subdomain is a part of a larger domain, used to organize and navigate different sections of a website. It helps create a more specific URL for a particular page or service.
T
Taxonomy SEO
Taxonomy SEO refers to the process of optimizing a website's categories, tags, and other organizational structures to improve search engine visibility and user navigation.
Technical SEO
Technical SEO refers to the process of optimizing the technical aspects of a website to improve its crawling, indexing, and overall performance in search engines.
Thin Content
Thin content refers to web pages that have little to no valuable or original content. These pages provide little benefit to users or search engines and can negatively affect a website's SEO.
Title Tag
The title tag is an HTML element that specifies the title of a webpage. It is one of the most important on-page SEO elements and influences both search engine rankings and user clicks.
Top-Level Domain (TLD)
A Top-Level Domain (TLD) is the last part of a domain name, following the final dot. It helps identify the domain's category or country and plays a role in website identification and SEO.
Topical Relevance
Topical relevance refers to the alignment between a website's content and the specific topic or keywords that it aims to rank for. It plays a key role in SEO and user engagement.
U
Unnatural Links
Unnatural links are backlinks that violate search engine guidelines and are typically used in an attempt to manipulate rankings. They can result in penalties or decreased search engine visibility.
URL Slug
A URL slug is the part of a URL that comes after the domain name and describes the content of the specific page. It helps search engines and users understand the page's topic and improves SEO.
User Intent
User intent refers to the goal a user has when performing a search query. Understanding user intent is crucial for creating content that meets the needs of your audience and improving SEO.
W
Website Authority
Website authority refers to the overall credibility and trustworthiness of a website as perceived by search engines. It is a key factor in determining a website's ranking in search results.
Website Structure
Website structure refers to how a website's content is organized and linked together. A well-structured website is important for both user experience and SEO.
White-hat SEO
White-hat SEO refers to ethical search engine optimization techniques that focus on human-friendly content, following search engine guidelines to improve rankings sustainably.