SEO Glossary
40 essential SEO terms explained in plain English. Each definition links to relevant guides where applicable.
Alt Text
Descriptive text added to an image's HTML tag. Search engines use it to understand image content, and screen readers rely on it for accessibility.
Learn more →Anchor Text
The clickable text in a hyperlink. Descriptive anchor text helps search engines understand what the linked page is about.
Learn more →Backlink
A link from another website pointing to yours. Backlinks from authoritative, relevant sites signal trust and can improve rankings.
Learn more →Bounce Rate
The percentage of visitors who leave a page without interacting further. A high bounce rate may indicate poor content relevance or slow load times.
Breadcrumb
A navigational element showing the page's position within the site hierarchy. Breadcrumb schema helps search engines display structured navigation in SERPs.
Learn more →Canonical URL
An HTML tag that tells search engines which version of a page is the preferred one. Prevents duplicate content issues when the same content exists at multiple URLs.
Learn more →Content Architecture
The strategic organisation of pages, categories, and internal links to support topical authority. Hub-and-spoke is a common pattern.
Learn more →Core Web Vitals
Google's set of page experience metrics: Largest Contentful Paint (loading), Interaction to Next Paint (interactivity), and Cumulative Layout Shift (visual stability).
Learn more →Crawl Budget
The number of pages a search engine bot will crawl on your site within a given timeframe. Large sites need efficient crawl budget management via robots.txt and sitemaps.
Domain Authority
A third-party metric (Moz, Ahrefs) predicting how likely a domain is to rank. Not a Google ranking factor, but useful as a comparative benchmark.
E-E-A-T
Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. Google's quality rater guidelines use E-E-A-T to evaluate content credibility, especially for YMYL topics.
Entity
A distinct concept (person, place, organisation, thing) that search engines recognise and connect across the web. Entity-linked schema strengthens topical signals.
Learn more →FAQ Schema
JSON-LD structured data marking up frequently asked questions. Can trigger rich results in Google with expandable Q&A directly in the SERP.
Learn more →Google Search Console
Google's free tool for monitoring search performance, indexing status, crawl errors, and Core Web Vitals. Essential for any SEO workflow.
Learn more →Heading Hierarchy
The logical nesting of H1 through H6 tags on a page. A single H1 per page with properly nested subheadings improves both accessibility and SEO.
Learn more →Hub and Spoke
A content architecture pattern where a central hub page links to related spoke pages. Consolidates topical authority and distributes internal link equity.
Learn more →Indexing
The process by which search engines store and organise web pages in their database. A page must be indexed before it can appear in search results.
Learn more →Internal Linking
Links between pages on the same website. Strategic internal linking distributes page authority, establishes topic clusters, and helps crawlers discover content.
Learn more →JSON-LD
JavaScript Object Notation for Linked Data. The recommended format for embedding structured data in HTML. Placed in a script tag, separate from the visible content.
Learn more →Keyword Clustering
Grouping related search queries by intent so one page can target an entire cluster rather than a single keyword. Reduces cannibalisation and improves coverage.
Learn more →Keyword Research
The process of identifying search terms your target audience uses. Informs content strategy, page structure, and on-page optimisation priorities.
Learn more →Link Building
The practice of acquiring backlinks from external websites. Effective methods include digital PR, guest posting, and creating link-worthy content assets.
Local SEO
Optimisation for location-based searches. Involves Google Business Profile, local citations, geo-targeted content, and LocalBusiness schema.
Long-Tail Keyword
A specific, multi-word search query with lower volume but higher conversion intent. Easier to rank for and often more commercially valuable than head terms.
Meta Description
An HTML tag summarising page content. Not a direct ranking factor, but a well-written meta description improves click-through rate from the SERP.
Mobile-First Indexing
Google primarily uses the mobile version of a page for indexing and ranking. Sites must be fully responsive with identical content across mobile and desktop.
Noindex
A robots meta tag instructing search engines not to include a page in their index. Used for thin pages, staging content, or internal tools.
Learn more →Organic Traffic
Visitors who arrive at your site through unpaid search results. The primary metric SEO aims to grow.
Page Speed
How quickly a page loads and becomes interactive. Directly impacts Core Web Vitals scores, user experience, and rankings.
Learn more →Robots.txt
A text file at the site root that tells search engine crawlers which URLs they can and cannot access. Does not prevent indexing if pages are linked externally.
Learn more →Schema Markup
Structured data vocabulary (schema.org) that helps search engines understand page content. Enables rich results like FAQs, breadcrumbs, and review stars.
Learn more →SERP
Search Engine Results Page. The page displayed after a user submits a query. Features include organic listings, ads, featured snippets, and knowledge panels.
Sitemap
An XML file listing all indexable URLs on a site. Submitted to search engines to aid crawling and discovery of new or updated content.
Learn more →Static Site
A website built from pre-rendered HTML files served directly from a CDN. Faster than server-rendered sites, with perfect Lighthouse scores achievable out of the box.
Learn more →Structured Data
Machine-readable code (typically JSON-LD) embedded in HTML that describes page content to search engines. Powers rich results and knowledge graph entries.
Learn more →Title Tag
The HTML title element displayed in browser tabs and SERP listings. Keep under 60 characters, front-load the primary keyword, and make it compelling.
Topical Authority
The depth and breadth of content a site has on a given subject. Sites with deep topical coverage tend to rank higher for related queries.
Learn more →URL Structure
The format and hierarchy of page URLs. Clean, descriptive, keyword-relevant URLs improve both user experience and crawlability.
XML Sitemap
A structured XML file listing URLs with optional metadata (last modified date, priority). Helps search engines discover and prioritise pages for crawling.
Learn more →YMYL
Your Money or Your Life. Google's classification for content that could impact health, finances, or safety. YMYL pages face stricter quality evaluation under E-E-A-T guidelines.
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