Here are the i4 Web Services Web SEO Glossary - Part 2
Thanks for taking a moment to read a blog article on SEO terms. Like other specialized industries, search engine optimization has its own terms, abbreviations, and industry jargon. Many times, SEO professionals forget to explain this stuff to a new client, it can confuse them. So many times, we hear "I have no clue what you are saying". Hopefully, this blog article helps clear up some of the mystery.
Phrases like XML sitemap, page title, alternative text, white hat SEO, algorithm, and 301 redirects are puzzling for internet newbies. But do not worry we are here to help decode (and define) common SEO terms using everyday language. Our main goal is to set clear definitions for the complex jargon to make SEO more accessible and actionable. Hopefully, this blog article does just that!
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Page Jumps: Page jumping refers to clicking a link and instantly getting moved to a specific part on a web page. Also called jump links or anchor links, it is a smart and convenient way to link website visitors from one part of the content to another.
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Page Segmentation: Where keywords are placed on a webpage.
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Page Speed: The amount of time it takes for a web page to load. There are many additional measurements within page speed — like First Contentful Paint (FCP), which measures perceived load time.
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Page Title: The name you give your web page, which is seen at the top of your browser window. Page titles should contain keywords related to your business. Words at the beginning of your page title are more highly weighted than words at the end.
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Page Titles: Also known as title tags. Page Titles are tags in the header code of each web page. The search engines use these to craft the linked titles of the results you see on a search engine’s results page. Page titles influence the likelihood of a person clicking on your listing (the click-through rate).
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PageRank: A number from 0-10, assigned by Google, indicating how good your overall SEO is. It is technically known as ‘Toolbar PageRank.’ Note: PageRank relevancy is everchanging.
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Pay-per-click: An internet marketing system in which you place an ad on a website and then pay each time a visitor clicks on that ad. Advertising method in which an advertiser puts an ad in an online advertising venue and pays that venue each time a visitor clicks on his/her ad. Google AdWords is a classic example of this.
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People Also Ask Block: A block displayed on some search engine results pages, featuring questions and answers relating to the search query.
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Personalization: The ability of the search engines to customize the results you see based on factors such as your location or your past search history.
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Pixel: Tracking pixels sent information directly to servers, so they do not rely on the user’s individual browser.
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Podcast: Digital audio files that are usually part of a series, like radio shows.
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PPC: Also known as Pay-Per-Click. A model of marketing where a marketer pays for website traffic on a cost-per-click or cost-per-visit basis.
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Private blog network: A group of websites that are centrally controlled and used is gray hat SEO to generate backlinks.
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Query: A word or series of words entered into the search bar.
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RankBrain: A machine learning aspect of Google’s algorithm which rewards the most relevant search results.
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Ranking: The order of the search engine results, with #1 being the best and located at the top of the page.
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Ranking Factor: One element of how a search engine determines where to rank a certain page, such as the number of inbound links to a page or the contents of the title tag on that page.
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Raw URL text: Links that use the URL as anchor text.
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Referrer String: A piece of information sent by a user’s browser when they navigate from page to page on the web. It includes information on where they came from previously, which helps webmasters understand how users are finding their website.
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Rel=Canonical: A tag in the code of a web page that tells the search engines which version of the page is the original, and which are duplicates or copies.
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Relevancy: The relevance of the content on your website to search queries. The more relevant your content, the more likely your web page will perform well (appear higher) in the search results.
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Responsive Design: A method of building website layouts with content blocks that seamlessly reassemble depending on the size and orientation of the visitor’s screen.
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Rich snippets: The sample of content from your website that appears in search engine results.
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Robots.txt: A file on your website that tells the search engines where they are not supposed to go. Also known as the robot’s exclusion standard or robot’s exclusion protocol. A standard website uses to give instructions to web robots, such as search engine crawlers.
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RSS Feed: RSS stands for ‘really simple syndication.’ It is a subscription-based way to get updates on new content from a web source. Set up an RSS feed for your website or blog to help your followers stay updated when you release new content.
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Sales conversion cycle: The process by which a lead is turned into a customer. It starts with attracting a lead to your website, then converts leads into prospects and prospects into customers.
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Schema: Code that tags elements of your website with structured information that the search engines can then extract and display on the search engine results pages. For example, schema powers the recipes that show up directly in the search results.
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Search engine algorithm:
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Search engine crawlers: An internet bot that systematically scans the World Wide Web so that it can be indexed.
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Search Engine Marketing:
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Search engine optimization: Tools, techniques, and best practices related to improving a website’s ability to be found on the Internet and ranked highly among search engine results.
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Search Engine Ranking Page: The page that you are sent to after you run a query in a search engine. It typically has 10 results on it, but this may vary depending on the query and search engine in question.
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Search engine rankings: The ordered listing of organic search engine results.
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Search engine strategy: A company’s goal-driven plan for ranking well in search engine results.
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Search engine XML sitemap: A code-level file that assists search engines in locating and tracking your pages and lets them know how often they should check your site for updates.
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Search Volume: The estimated average number of monthly searches completed using a search engine like Google. Search volume is measured separately for each keyword.
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SEO: Search engine optimization is the art and science of getting your website found using the free (organic) keyword space.
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SERP: A Search Engine Results Page is what you see after you enter something in the search bar on Google, Yahoo, or Bing.
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Semantic Distance: How closely related words are in terms of meaning.
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Short-Tail Keywords: A more common or frequently searched keyword term, typically with two or three words in the phrase. Targeting short-tail keywords are more difficult and often has a broad search appeal. Common keywords such as ‘roofing’ are more competitive and extremely hard to rank high for them in search for newer websites. Approximately 30% of the searches performed online use short phrases — keywords like “tree removal” or “tree removal now.” This is called “the short tail of search” and the keywords used are called “short-tail keywords.” These keywords tend to be high in both volume and competition, so these phrases are often out of reach.
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Slideshare: A network for sharing presentations and infographics online.
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Site Speed: A measurement of how quickly a sample group of your web pages loads.
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Site Structure: How your website content is organized. For example, the homepage is the top (most important) page, followed by those located in your main navigation. Often described by the number of clicks away from the homepage a particular page is located.
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Sitemap: A special document created by a webmaster or a piece of software that provides a map of all the pages on a website to make it easier for a search engine to index that website.
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Social Media: Online media created by and shared among individuals. Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, Google+, and Twitter are popular social media websites. Links from many social media sites now appear in searches. It’s important to have links to your site spread throughout social media.
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Spider: A computer program that browses the internet and collects information about websites. Also known as a bot.
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Split testing: Split testing (also referred to as A/B testing or multivariate testing) is a method of conducting controlled, randomized experiments with the goal of improving a website metric, such as clicks, form completions, or purchases.
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SSL: An encryption protocol that renders a website safer for users. SSL-encrypted websites have an “s” added in their addresses; i.e. HTTPS://, rather than just HTTP://.
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Structured Data: Snippets of code that give search engines precise information about a web page’s content. Structured data allows search engines to easily organize web pages in the search results. Did you ever wonder how Google quickly displays recipes, movie times, or concert information? Structured data (Schema Markup) gets the credit.
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Structured data and schema: Special website code that gives search engines extra information about the content on your website; that information is sometimes displayed in search results, such as star ratings.
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Term frequency-inverse document frequency: A measurement used by Google to determine how important a keyword is on a webpage by comparing its frequency and usage on other web pages. This is also called TF-IDF.
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The Fold: The “fold” is the point on your website where the page gets cut off by the bottom of a user’s monitor or browser window. Anything below the fold can be scrolled to but isn’t seen right away. Search engines place some priority on content above the fold since it will be seen right away by new visitors. Having too many ads above the fold can be seen as a negative issue, too.
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Title: The title of a page on your website. This is enclosed in an