SEO Glossary
Every SEO term explained in plain English. No jargon, no fluff — just clear definitions you can actually use.
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A
B
Backlink
A link from another website pointing to your site, acting as a vote of confidence.
Black Hat SEO
Unethical SEO techniques that violate search engine guidelines to manipulate rankings.
Bounce Rate
The percentage of visitors who leave your site after viewing only one page.
Breadcrumbs
A navigation trail showing the user's location within a website's hierarchy.
C
Canonical URL
An HTML tag that tells search engines which version of a page is the 'official' one to index.
Click-Through Rate (CTR)
The percentage of people who click on your link after seeing it in search results.
Content Management System (CMS)
Software that lets you create and manage website content without coding, like WordPress or Shopify.
Core Web Vitals
Google's metrics for measuring page experience: loading speed, interactivity, and visual stability.
Crawl Budget
The number of pages a search engine will crawl on your site within a given timeframe.
Crawling
The process where search engine bots discover and scan your web pages.
D
E
F
G
Google Analytics
Google's free web analytics tool for tracking website traffic, user behavior, and conversions.
Google Search Console
Google's free tool for monitoring your site's search performance and fixing indexing issues.
Guest Posting
Writing content for another website to build backlinks and establish authority in your niche.
H
H1 Tag
The main heading of a page, telling users and search engines what the page is about.
Hreflang
An HTML attribute that tells search engines which language and region a page targets.
HTTP Status Codes
Three-digit response codes from web servers indicating whether a request succeeded or failed.
HTTPS
The secure version of HTTP that encrypts data between the browser and server using SSL/TLS.
I
J
K
Keyword Density
The percentage of times a keyword appears on a page relative to the total word count.
Keyword Research
The process of finding search terms people use so you can create content that matches their intent.
Keyword Stuffing
Overloading a page with keywords in an unnatural way to try to manipulate search rankings.
L
Link Building
The process of acquiring hyperlinks from other websites to improve your site's authority and rankings.
Local SEO
SEO strategies focused on improving visibility for location-based searches and Google Maps.
Long-Tail Keyword
A specific, multi-word search phrase with lower volume but higher conversion intent.
M
Meta Description
A short summary of a page's content that appears below the title in search results.
Meta Tags
HTML tags in a page's head section that provide metadata about the page to search engines.
Mobile-First Indexing
Google's practice of using the mobile version of your site for indexing and ranking.
N
O
P
Page Speed
How quickly a web page loads and becomes interactive for users.
PageRank
Google's original algorithm that measures page importance based on the quantity and quality of backlinks.
PPC
Pay-per-click advertising where you pay each time someone clicks on your ad in search results.
Programmatic SEO
Creating large numbers of targeted pages automatically using templates and data sets.
R
S
Schema Markup
Structured code you add to your pages to help search engines understand your content more precisely.
SERP
Search Engine Results Page — the page you see after typing a query into Google.
Sitemap
A file that lists all your website's pages to help search engines discover and crawl them.
SSL Certificate
A digital certificate that enables HTTPS encryption between your website and visitors' browsers.
Structured Data
Organized code that helps search engines understand your page content and display rich results.