SEO glossary of terms
Plain English explanations of the words SEO people use.
SEO comes with a lot of jargon. This glossary explains the terms you are most likely to hear, so you can ask better questions and understand your reports.
Common SEO terms in plain English
Cut through the jargon and understand what your SEO provider is talking about.
- Algorithm
- The set of rules Google uses to decide which pages show for a search and in what order.
- Alt text
- A short description added to an image so search engines and screen readers know what it shows.
- Backlink
- A link from another website to yours. Quality backlinks help build your authority.
- Canonical tag
- A line of code telling Google which version of a page is the main one when similar versions exist.
- Citation
- A mention of your business name, address and phone number on another website or directory.
- Core Web Vitals
- Google’s measures of how fast, stable and responsive a page feels to visitors.
- Crawling
- The process of Google’s bots visiting your pages to discover and read them.
- Domain authority
- A score from SEO tools that estimates how strong a website is. Google does not use it directly.
- Featured snippet
- A highlighted answer shown at the top of some Google searches, pulled from a web page.
- Google Business Profile
- Your free business listing on Google that shows in Maps and the local results.
- Indexing
- When Google stores a page in its database so it can appear in search results.
- Keyword
- A word or phrase people type into Google, such as plumber Lismore.
- Landing page
- The page a visitor arrives on from a search result or ad.
- Local pack
- The map and top three business listings shown for local searches.
- Long tail keyword
- A longer, more specific search phrase. Fewer searches, but often more likely to convert.
- Meta description
- The short summary shown under your page title in Google results.
- Nofollow link
- A link with a tag asking Google not to pass authority through it.
- Organic traffic
- Visitors who arrive from unpaid search results.
- Page title
- The clickable headline shown in search results and browser tabs.
- Redirect
- An instruction that sends visitors and Google from an old address to a new one.
- Schema markup
- Code that helps search engines understand details like your business type, address and reviews.
- Search Console
- Google’s free tool showing how your site performs in search and any problems it has found.
- SERP
- Short for search engine results page, the page you see after searching.
- Sitemap
- A file listing your pages to help Google find them all.
Related services
Put the theory into practice.
Want help with your SEO?
Get in touch for a free look at your rankings and the quick wins worth chasing first.