SEO Glossary
Having a prominent physical store is no longer sufficient to gain customer footfall if your business doesn’t appear in online searches. In today’s digital world, customers perform detailed online research before deciding where to visit or dine, making “near me” searches and analyzing the online reviews before making a decision. This is where a local SEO services role comes into play. We make sure that your business is visible online when the customer performs local searches, and your business profile shows up on top.
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There are different types of caching.
- The browser saves the web page data on your device for faster loading the next time you visit the page.
Cloaking refers to the practice of presenting different content or URLs to search engine crawlers and human users. Cloaking is a technique used to manipulate search engine rankings by showing search engines content that is optimized for indexing.
Co-citation describes a time when 2 documents or web pages are cited together by other documents. It happens within the same document, or through different documents.
The customer journey is the complete experience a person has with a brand, from awareness to after-purchase. Every contact and choice a consumer makes over the journey is included. Our emotions, research, and engagement with the brand can influence it.
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A do-follow link refers to a hyperlink that allows search engine crawlers to follow it and pass link equity to the linked page. Nofollow, UGC, or sponsored attributes contribute to a site’s SEO by influencing its search rankings.
Domain Rating (DR) is an SEO metric that measures a website’s backlink profile on a logarithmic scale from 0 to 100. A website that scores higher indicates stronger authority backlinks.
The domain structure of websites refers to their hierarchical arrangement like domain name, subdomain, URL, and directory structure. The structure of the web pages ensures logical and easy navigation of the users while optimizing SEO.
A doorway page or gateway page is a webpage designed solely to rank for specific keywords and redirect visitors to another page. These pages are associated with black-hat SEO tactics and are considered web spam by Google.
Duplicate content refers to blocks of content that are identical or similar across multiple pages within a website or different on the domains.
A dynamic URL is a web address that is formed in real-time based on user input or database parameters. Dynamic URLs are different from static URLs since they get data from a database to send out to a page with unique content.
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An editorial link is an organic and inbound link, which means they are earned naturally, not requested, paid for, or exchanged. An editorial link is also known as an “earned link,”.
Entity-based SEO is an approach that focuses on customizing your content for entities. Search engine interpretation of meaning and context behind words is made possible by this strategy.
The entry page is the page on which a visitor lands on a site. The entry page can be any page on the site, not the homepage. For example, let’s say a blog post of the site ranks well on search results and a user clicks on it.
Evergreen content, as the name suggests, stays relevant for a longer time. Meaningful, evergreen SEO content is valuable and informative. It also holds a good rank on search engines for a longer period.
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Faceted navigation is a website interface feature, this feature allows users to filter down a large set of results by selecting multiple attributes (or “facets”) such as size, color, price, category, etc.
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There is so much content we go through on the internet. Gated Content is content that is accessible by the users only when they take action ( filling out the form, registering, signing up, or paying for access ).
A gateway page or doorway page. It is a webpage designed to rank for specific keywords on search engines. The purpose of these gateway pages is to rank keywords well and then redirect the user to another webpage on the website, despite offering valuable information to the user related to that keyword on the page.
Google Alerts are free services given by Google. In this service, Google sends alerts and notifications whenever a query related to your content appears online.
Google algorithms are the system of rules and systems in google used by Google to rank and evaluate content on search engine result pages.
Google Analytics is a web service provided by Google that is available for free to everyone. Google Analytics qualifies in many functions to track and analyze website traffic.
Google Autocomplete is an intelligent feature of Google Search; this feature suggests possible queries as you start typing related to terms typed.
Google Bombing is also referred to as Google Bomb. Google bomb refers to the manipulation of search engines by creating a large number of backlinks.
Google Business Profile is a free tool for hotels, restaurants, contractors, and other businesses of all sizes to manage their online presence on Google.
Google Dance means that Google sometimes briefly adjusts the ranks of websites on its search engine rankings pages. This is probably done to update its index or algorithm.
Google Hummingbird is the major update of Google Algorithms, launched in 2013. This update focuses on Google’s understanding of natural language and conversational queries.
The Google Panda update was a major change to Google’s algorithm that occurred in 2011. The update aims to improve the quality of the search results. It targets websites that contain low-quality or spammy content.
Google Pigeon was a Google search algorithm update launched in 2014. This update aims to improve local search results by refining Google’s rank signals for businesses and locations.
The “Google Sandbox” is the unofficial term. The tear of SEO describes the theory that when Google temporarily suppresses new websites from ranking in search engine result pages.
The Google Top Heavy Update was first launched in January 2012 and was a page layout algorithm update that aimed to lower the rankings of websites that contain too many ads above the fold, this makes it difficult for users to see the actual content.
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The H1 tag is a tag in the HTML heading element that represents the primary (H1) heading of a webpage. It is an important heading tag that helps define the main topic and structure of the content.
A header tag is a type of HTML element used to define the headings and sub-headings of a webpage. They help to give the content a structure. The content appears to be making sense and not easy.
The Hilltop Algorithm is one of the important search ranking algorithms whose purpose is to identify the authoritative web pages that are ranking well for the given topic.
Holistic SEO is the practice of optimizing a website with quality signals, user experience, and technical performance. It does not rely on things like keyword optimization or link building.
Hreflang is an HTML attribute. The role of this attribute is to signal search engines which language and regional versions of a webpage are available for use.
An HTTPS 200 Response Code, also referred to as HTTP 200 OK. Status code is a response from a site to the requested URL. HTTPS was successful. The request has been successfully received, understood, and accepted.
HTTPS full form is Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure. HTTPS is an encrypted and secure version of HTTP, the protocol. This version enables web browsers and servers to communicate securely.
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An inbound link also refers to a backlink or incoming link. An inbound link is a hyperlink from an external website that is pointing to your website.
When a large number of pages on a website offer little or no value to the search engine user, then the search engine calls it index bloat. Meaning they are not informative (not valuable) and relevant in terms of content.
New web pages are typically indexable. This means that search engines can discover, crawl, and index them. Thus making it eligible to appear in search results easily.
An informational query is a search query. The user wants information and wants to learn about what is referred to in the search query.
An interstitial ad is a type of advertisement that covers the full screen of an app. Moreover, the timing of this app appears between app screens and page transitions on a website.
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An inbound link also refers to a backlink or incoming link. An inbound link is a hyperlink from an external website that is pointing to your website.
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Keyword refers to the word that represents the main topic on which the content on the webpage is written, ad, or search query. Keywords play a major role in Search engine Optimization (SEO).
Keyword cannibalization is the term that refers to the occurrence on a website when multiple pages on a website compete for the same keyword. When the search traffic splits, it weakens overall rankings.
Grouping related keywords is called keyword clustering. It is an important search engine optimization technique. To create content that ranks not only for a single keyword or search term but rather for multiple search terms or keywords.
Keyword difficulty (KD), as the name suggests, is an SEO metric that calculates the difficulty of ranking keywords on the first search engine result page.
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A landing page is when a page is made in such a way that it serves as a marketing page or a campaign. When a visitor lands upon the page, they read this page and convert by clicking on the right call to action.
The Latent Semantic Analysis (LSA) is a technique that helps to identify the association among words and corresponding contexts of the data sets. A natural language processing technique to find hidden meaning is the Latent Semantic Analysis, which analyses the co-occurrence pattern of words.
Link bait is content that is designed strategically to attract backlinks from other websites. These link baits focus on the content to make it more engaging, valuable, relevant, and unique, which encourages t]other websites to link.
Link building refers to the process of acquiring backlinks or inbound links from other high-quality websites to improve search engine rankings and website authority of your website.
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A Manual Action is the term when used by the search engine if the human review determines that the website violates Google webmaster guidelines.
A meta description is an HTML attribute that serves as a summary (160 characters or less) of a webpage’s content. A meta description is displayed on websites’ SERPs (search engine result pages). It is present below the page title.
A meta redirect sends users to a different URL automatically after a set amount of time. Also known as a meta refresh redirect, it is a client-side redirect.
A meta redirect sends users to a different URL automatically after a set amount of time. Also known as a meta refresh redirect, it is a client-side redirect.
Meta tags are HTML tags that provide information to search engines about your page. The <head> section of an HTML document contains meta tags whose content only the metadata reader can see, not the user.
A mirror site is a replica of a website that has a different URL and is hosted on a different server. A mirror site copies the website’s files to a new web address so users may access the original content with better performance.
Mobile-first indexing means that search engines like Google mainly use a website’s mobile version when crawling, indexing, and ranking the site. It shows how one-sided smartphone browsing has become.
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NAP stands for Name, Address, and Phone Number. These are the essential details of a business that is available online and is visible to the customers.
Natural Language Understanding (NLU) is a subfield of artificial intelligence (AI) in natural language processing (NLP). NLU enables computers to understand human language.
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On-page SEO is what optimizes websites and web pages to improve visibility to search engine users in the results pages. On-page SEO is the process of optimizing the content and HTML source code of a page to make it relevant and engaging for search queries.
Off-page SEO is those things that you do away from your website for SEO and/or marketing purposes to boost the rankings of your website. This includes social engagement, influencer outreach, guest posts, and brand mentions, which help develop credibility.
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PageSpeed refers to the page load time of the website. The period that shows how fast a web page downloads and can be interacted with.
PageRank, an algorithm developed by Google’s co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin in 1997, is used to measure the importance of web pages based on the number of backlinks.
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RankBrain is Google’s powered machine learning system this system helps to interrupt and process search queries. Most search queries it processes are unfamiliar and come in the category of long tail keywords or queries.
A reciprocal link is a link when two websites are mutually linked to each other. Reciprocal links can occur naturally or as part of an agreement. On the other hand, links that are organic reciprocal links are generally harmless.
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Schema markup is a structured data code that helps search engines read web pages to Offer rich search results. It employs the standard vocabulary of schema .org. It improves search engine results with rich snippets and interactive elements.
A search algorithm is an intricate set of invisible codes or sets of rules that search engines use to rank websites. This system and rules are made to give accurate results.
Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) are the pages displayed by search engines in response to a user’s search query. These pages include paid and organic results and various search features designed to enhance user experience.
Search results refer to the listings that are provided by a search engine in answer to a user’s query or the keyword so typed in the search bar.
A search term is also referred to as a search query. The search term is a word or phrase entered into a search engine search bar with the intent to find, learn, or know about the specific term.
Search Visibility is the percentage of total possible organic clicks a webpage gets in search results. It shows how much a website appears in the search engine result pages (SERPS) of relevant keywords.
Search volume is the average number of times a specific keyword or search query is entered into a search engine over a given period. This metric is typically measured monthly.
Secondary keywords are the terms that are related to the primary keyword. These terms support primary keyword context in search engine optimization (SEO).
Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) is a protocol that is created to establish encrypted links between web servers and clients. Ensure data transmitted between the encrypted links between server and clients, remains private and integral.
Seed keywords as the name suggests is the foundational term when doing keyword research. These terms are usually short one or two words and are much related to fundamental search terms.
The process of optimizing the website is called Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). SEO means optimizing a website to get the website within the top results preferably on the first page of SERP.
An SEO audit assesses and reports a website’s performance, user experience, and usability as perceived by search engines and users.
An SEO silo refers to a website structuring technique that organizes related content into different, interlinked categories based on a specific topic.
Short-tail keywords refer to head terms. These short tail keywords are the broad search queries with high search volume and are more competitive.
Sitelinks are the extra links that show up below your website listing on the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) of Google. Shortcuts to main pages are provided by these site links that enhance the user experience.
A sitemap is like a blueprint of the website. A sitemap is a file that lists the pages on a site to enable the search engine to discover, crawl, and index them.
Spamdexing, also known as webspam or black-hat SEO. Spam index means the usage of manipulative designs to fool or manipulate the search engines and boost the ranking artificially for some time.
Spamdexing, also known as webspam or black-hat SEO. Spam index means the usage of manipulative designs to fool or manipulate the search engines and boost the ranking artificially for some time.
Srcset is the term that is an HTML attribute. This attribute enables responsive images by specifying its multiple image versions for different screen sizes and resolutions.
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The taxonomy SEO term refers to a strategic way of organizing website content into categories, subcategories, and tags.
Technical SEO means enhancing a website’s work mode or infrastructure both from the inside and the outside. Technical SEO improves search engines’ crawlability, indexability, and site performance.
As the term implies, “thin” content refers to content that has a low word count. Thin content means the website pages do not have enough content for the topic for the user.
For better SEO ranking, backlinks are placed in a series of layers known as tiers. The purpose is to enhance the strength and authority of primary backlinks.
TLD refers to the Level Domain. This domain is the segment of the domain that appears after the last dot. For example .com, .org, .net. To make it clear that .g .com in website.com is a TLD.
Topical relevance is a term that is used for the webpage. This term is used for the webpage’s content to match the theme or subject of the website. The search engines do not evaluate individual keywords.
A transactional query is a type of search query. This query signifies the buying intent or the desire to complete a transaction.
Transport Layer Security is a protocol that encrypts data for more security over the internet. It makes sure that our online messages and data stay private and accurate, stopping snooping and fake messages.
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The UGC link attribute UGC refers to User-generated Content ( UGC) attributed, written as (rel=”UGC”). This link attribute identifies links that are placed within the user-generated content ( UGC).
Universal Search is sometimes called Blended Search or Enhanced Search. This feature of a search engine integrates results from a variety of content types and, in the end, shows the most relevant search results.
Unnatural links are referred to as manipulative backlinks. These are the links that are created to artificially boost search rankings, and they violate Google’s Webmaster Guidelines.
The URL rating (UR) is an SEO metric that measures the strength of a page’s backlinked profile on a scale of 0 to 100. The higher the score, the stronger the backlink profile is, often resulting in better rankings.
User intent is referred to as search intent. User intent refers to the reason why a user types a query in a search engine.
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Vertical search also known as topical search refers specialty in the search engine that allows you to search regarding a specific topic. It is an online search on a search engine that focuses on a specific industry, content type, or topic.
Voice Search is a kind of technology that allows you to perform the kind of searches just by speaking and not typing. It uses ASR technology to turn words spoken into text.
Visibility in digital marketing and SEO refers to how easily a website, brand, or content can be found by users in search engine results and other online platforms.
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Website authority is the SEO term used to define the strength or credibility, trustworthiness, of the domain in search engines.
Website structure is another term for website architecture. The website structure refers to the blueprint of all the web pages on the website. It is a high-level view of all web pages that are connected to a website.
Webspam is a Black Hat SEO technique. The practice of spamming and cheating to improve rankings is an act against Google’s guidelines.
White-hat SEO refers to the use of organic search engine optimization techniques allowed by Google. To improve the ranking of your page on SERP use the white hat technique which conforms to the ethical code of Google.
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The X-Robots-Tag is an important HTTP header built by site owners that informs search engine crawlers how to handle the web resource.
