Glossary of Terms – MySearchGuru.com
A
Algorithm – A set of rules used by search engines to rank web pages based on relevance and quality.
Anchor Text – The clickable text in a hyperlink that helps search engines understand the linked page’s topic.
Alt Text (Alternative Text) – A description added to images to help search engines and visually impaired users understand their content.
Authority – A measure of a website’s credibility and trustworthiness, often influenced by backlinks and content quality.
B
Backlink – A link from another website that points to your site, helping improve SEO rankings.
Bounce Rate – The percentage of visitors who leave a website after viewing only one page.
Bot (Web Crawler, Spider) – An automated program that scans web pages for search engine indexing.
Black Hat SEO – Unethical SEO tactics that violate search engine guidelines, such as keyword stuffing and link farming.
C
Canonical Tag – A tag used to prevent duplicate content issues by specifying the preferred version of a webpage.
Click-Through Rate (CTR) – The percentage of users who click on a link after seeing it in search results.
Content Marketing – The practice of creating and sharing valuable content to attract and engage an audience.
Conversion Rate – The percentage of visitors who complete a desired action, such as filling out a form or making a purchase.
Core Web Vitals – A set of performance metrics that measure user experience, including loading speed, interactivity, and visual stability.
Crawl Budget – The number of pages a search engine bot is willing to crawl on a site within a given time.
D
Domain Authority (DA) – A score (from 1 to 100) predicting how well a website will rank in search results.
Duplicate Content – Content that appears in multiple places on the web, potentially causing SEO issues.
Dwell Time – The amount of time a visitor spends on a page before returning to the search results.
E
E-A-T (Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) – A framework used by Google to evaluate content quality.
External Link – A hyperlink pointing to another website.
F
Featured Snippet – A highlighted search result box that appears at the top of Google’s search results, providing a direct answer to a query.
Footer Links – Links placed at the bottom of a webpage, often used for navigation and SEO.
G
Google Analytics – A tool that tracks website traffic, user behavior, and performance metrics.
Google Search Console – A free tool that helps website owners monitor search performance and fix indexing issues.
Guest Blogging – Writing articles for other websites to gain exposure and backlinks.
H
Header Tags (H1, H2, H3, etc.) – HTML elements used to structure webpage content and indicate importance to search engines.
Hyperlink – A clickable link that connects one webpage to another.
I
Indexing – The process by which search engines store and organize content from the web.
Internal Link – A hyperlink that connects two pages within the same website.
K
Keyword – A word or phrase that users type into search engines to find relevant content.
Keyword Cannibalization – When multiple pages on a website compete for the same keyword, reducing SEO effectiveness.
Keyword Density – The percentage of times a keyword appears in content compared to the total word count.
L
Landing Page – A specific webpage designed for a marketing campaign, often focused on conversions.
Link Building – The process of acquiring backlinks to improve a site’s authority and rankings.
Local SEO – Optimization strategies focused on improving search visibility for local businesses.
Long-Tail Keywords – Specific, longer keyword phrases that often have less competition and higher conversion rates.
M
Meta Description – A short summary of a webpage that appears in search engine results.
Mobile-First Indexing – Google’s practice of primarily using the mobile version of a site for ranking and indexing.
MozRank – A metric developed by Moz that measures the popularity and authority of a webpage.
N
NoFollow Link – A link that tells search engines not to pass authority to the linked page.
NAP (Name, Address, Phone Number) – Critical information for local SEO that should be consistent across all listings.
O
Organic Traffic – Visitors who arrive at a website through unpaid search results.
On-Page SEO – Optimization strategies applied to individual web pages, including keyword usage and content structure.
Off-Page SEO – External factors that affect rankings, such as backlinks and social media signals.
P
Page Speed – How fast a webpage loads, an important ranking factor for SEO.
PPC (Pay-Per-Click) – A form of online advertising where advertisers pay for each click on their ad.
R
Ranking Factors – Criteria used by search engines to determine how web pages rank in search results.
Redirect (301, 302) – A way to send users and search engines from one URL to another.
S
Schema Markup – Code added to a website to provide search engines with additional context about content.
Search Engine Marketing (SEM) – Strategies used to increase visibility on search engines, including SEO and paid advertising.
Search Engine Results Page (SERP) – The page displayed by a search engine in response to a query.
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) – The practice of optimizing a website to improve its rankings in search results.
Sitemap – A file that lists all the pages on a website to help search engines crawl and index them.
Structured Data – Information formatted to help search engines understand and categorize content.
T
Title Tag – An HTML element that specifies the title of a webpage and appears in search results.
Traffic – The number of visitors to a website.
U
URL (Uniform Resource Locator) – The address of a webpage.
User Experience (UX) – The overall experience a user has when interacting with a website.
V
Voice Search Optimization – Adjusting content to perform well in voice-based search queries.
W
Webmaster Guidelines – Official recommendations from search engines on best SEO practices.
White Hat SEO – Ethical SEO strategies that comply with search engine guidelines.