Glossary of SEO and Internet Terms

What is 301 Error:

This HTTP code is displayed when you are trying to reach a page which has been  permanently redirected.

What is 302 Error:

This HTTP code is displayed when you are trying to reach a page which has been  temporarily redirected.

What is 404 Error:

A HTTP status code that means a web page couldn’t be found. This could be either the page has been moved/deleted or the user has entered an incorrect address.

What is AMP – Accelerated Mobile Page:

a super speedy, stripped down page that’s delivered by mobile search on Google.

What is Black hat:

Search engine optimization techniques that do not follow and break Google’s quality guidelines.

What is Canonical tag:

Indicates where a content piece originated. Canonical URL enables you to point the search engines to the original version of an article/content/page.

What are Citations:

Also known as a “business listing,”  are details of a local business such as business’ name, address, and phone number (NAP data) on various free/paid directories available on the internet such as Google My Business, Yelp. Bing Places, Yell, Liverpool Echo etc.

What is Crawling:

The process by which search engines’ bots scan the content on your web pages.

What is De-indexed:

Means a page or group of pages being removed from Google’s search database.

What is Domain Authority:

This is a metric used to grade the search clout of a website. It was developed by industry leaders Moz and is scored from 1-100, using a logarithmic scale, which means it’s easier to grow your score from 20 to 30/100 than it is to grow from 30 to 40/100, and so on.

What are Featured snippets:

Organic answer boxes that are displayed at the top of SERPs (search engine results pages) for some queries e.g. Jobs, Flights etc.

What is Google My Business (GMB) listing:

A free listing on Google, available to all local businesses. whereby they can add their business details so people ca find them on Google search

What is HTML:

Hypertext Markup Language, a standardized system for tagging text files to achieve font, colour, graphic, and hyperlink effects on World Wide Web pages.

What is HTTP:

Hypertext Transfer Protocol is how data is transferred across the web, between a website and your computer or mobile phone screen.

What is HTTPS:

An adaption of the above, it enables secure communication over the internet.

What is Image carousels:

Image results in some SERPs that users can scroll.

What is Indexing:

The storing and organizing and adding of content found during crawling to a search engine database.

What is Intent:

In the context of SEO, intent relates to what a user really means when he/she types word/s in the search bar.

What is KPI:

A “key performance indicator” is a measurable value that indicates how well an activity is achieving a goal.

What is Local pack:

A pack of typically three local business listings that appear at the top of SERPs for local or location based searches such as “coffee shops near me” or  “local SEO company in Liverpool.”

What is Local SEO:

The processes done to increase the search visibility of bricks and mortar businesses — those with physical locations in their local/coverage area. For example creating/adding/claiming a listing on Google My Business (GMB).

What are Meta Tags:

Meta elements are tags placed in the head section of a web page’s HTML code that help define the contents of a web page. For example, a description meta tag is used by search engines to display a description of your page in their search results or a title meta tag tells the search engines what the title of the page is.

What is Organic:

Results that appear on SERPs, which are not because of paid advertising.

What is Pay-per-click (PPC):

What are People Also Ask boxes:

A box in some SERPs featuring a list of questions related to the query and their answers.

What is Query:

Words typed into the search bar.

What is Ranking:

Order in which the search results appear on the SERPs.

What is Search engine:

A program that searches for and identifies items in a database that correspond to keywords or characters specified by the user, used especially for finding particular sites on the World Wide Web. For example Google, Bing, Yahoo, Yandex etc.

What are SERP features:

Special results intended to offer users helpful information with the minimum necessity to click on the result, displayed in a non-standard format.

What is SERP:

Stands for “search engine results page” — the page you see after conducting a search.

What is Structured Data (AKA Schema):

A coded script, written in a format agreed by all major search engines, added in the programming (head section) of a web page, that allows a search engine to immediately and easily identify what that page is about and any additional details about that page.

What is Site Traffic:

Number of visits to a website.

What is URL:

Uniform Resource Locators are the locations or addresses for individual pieces of content on the web.

What are Webmaster guidelines:

Guidelines published by search engines like Google and Bing for the purpose of helping site owners create content that will be found, indexed, and perform better in search results.

What is White hat:

Search engine optimization practices that adhere to Google’s quality guidelines.