50. Crawler

These are also known as Google Bots and Web Spiders. Crawlers are smart computer programs that crawl through your site. The crawlers read your webpages to add and update information in Google's index.

51. Crawl Rate

Crawl rate is the limit crawlers follow for the number of websites they crawl on that particular day. Now, this influences the crawl budget per website. And the crawl rate for your website further depends upon its quality and relevancy.

52. Cross-Linking

Cross-linking is when you own more than one domain and share the link between your domains themselves. If these domains are relevant, you might benefit from them. But, you must do minimal cross-linking, or Google may count it as spam and penalize you.

53. CSS

CSS or Cascading Style Sheets define the look and feel of HTML elements. It represents the color, layout, animations, interactivity, etc., for the elements. Moreover, the CSS is responsible for how the webpages adapt to different device screens.

54. Curated Content

It is when you research and assemble different content pieces to form valuable content for your audience. Your source these content pieces from others as you find them hyper-relevant for your target audience. The curated content can be a combination of articles, advice from industry experts, stats, etc.

55. Data

In terms of SEO, data refers to all the analytical information about your SEO performance. From who your target audience is to how they interact with your business, everything is SEO data. It helps you with analyzing audience behavior, measuring your efforts, and planning future SEO tactics.

56. Dead-End Page

As the name suggests, this page has no way forward as it does not link to any other page. These pages typically do not perform well when it comes to rankings.

57. Deep Linking

It is the process of directly linking to specific content on a webpage instead of the home page. One can also establish a deep link by linking directly to an app rather than a store page. Deep links help users travel to a piece of hyper-relevant information directly. They do not have to invest their efforts in finding it among various webpages. It improves user experience and the site's conversion potential.

58. De-indexing

When you wish to remove your page from Google's index and search results, you de-index it. You can do it using the Remove URLs tool in Search Console or by marking the robots tag as "noindex." The thank-you pages, order confirmation pages, PPC landing pages, etc., are generally de-indexed. Google may also de-index your site if you encounter a manual penalty owing to violating guidelines.

59. Directory

It refers to a platform where human editors manage a list of websites or businesses. These websites are classified and listed under different categories so that one can sort the list quickly. People can call it a web directory, a link directory, or a business directory. These directories are either paid or free. Directory listing was a useful link-building method in the past, but it lost its value after significant abuse.

60. Direct Traffic

It includes all the visitors that landed on your site by directly entering your URL in the search.

61. Disavow

Some inbound links are not beneficial for a business. If many spammy or irrelevant sites are pointing backlinks to you, this is bad for your authority. So, you need to remove these links before Google penalizes you or they degrade your rankings.
But, as these links are from external sites, you might have no control over them. Therefore, Google offers a Disavow Tool where you can submit these disavow links. And the tool will help you remove them.

62. Do-follow Link

Any link that one does not mark as "nofollow" is a do-follow link. The do-follow links allow crawlers to follow the link path, and these links pass the "link juice." Therefore, a backlink can only impact your rankings when it is do-follow.

63. Domain

The location or address of a website is its domain. We express it as the domain name. The domain name is what your direct visitors type in the address bar to land on your website. For example, "www.domainexample.com" is a domain name.

64. Domain Authority

It refers to the relevance, strength, and value of a website in its particular niche. Domain Authority metric indicates the potential of a website to perform in the SERPs. Moz defined this SEO metric, and we calculate it as a score between 0-100.
The most significant way to grow your DA is by attracting more high-quality inbound links.

65. DuckDuckGo

Launched in 2008, DuckDuckGo is a search engine that strictly follows user privacy. It doesn't store user-profiles and does not follow any personalization scheme for search results. The search engine recently created a record of addressing over 100 million search queries in a day. The majority of DuckDuckGo's users are from the USA. And it uses over 400 information-gathering sources.

66. Duplicate Content

When a large chunk of content on a web page matches another page's content, it duplicates content. These webpages can be from the same website or different websites.
It is challenging for the search engines to decide which content is the original one. If you have created the duplicate copy intentionally, you can add a canonical tag to it. Or the search engine will penalize the content which it deems to be a duplicate one.

67. Dwell Time

It refers to the amount of time a visitor stays on your website after he lands on it. A longer dwell time indicates that he found your website valuable enough to stay or interact with. A longer dwell time results in better user engagement. With this, a very short dwell time means he bounced away from your site.

68. E-A-T

E-A-T resembles Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness. These are the three factors that Google analyzes to decide the ranking power of your website. Google considers E-A-T elements essential to offer the best results to its users.

• Expertise : Your website content should exude your in-depth knowledge of the industry you serve.
• Authority : It is a factor that answers why Google should choose you over your competitors.
• Trustworthiness : Can Google and the users trust your website? Is the content on your website unbiased and authentic?

69. Editorial Link

An editorial link is also known as a natural link. It is an authentic link where the recipient has not requested the backlink. But the editor gave the recipient a backlink as he found the linked resource valuable for his readers.
The editorial link generally exists in the body section of the content as a citation. And editorial links form a strong backlink profile.

70. Ego-Bait

When you link to a site hoping that they will give you a link back, it is called an ego-bait tactic. This link-building tactic is generally easy to execute.

71. Engagement Metrics

It includes crucial SEO metrics or SEO data that display how users are engaging with a specific site. The ideal engagement metrics would look like:

• High click-through rate;
• Low bounce rate;
• High time on webpage/site;
• High dwell time;
• More pages per session;
• High conversion rate; and
• High frequency and recency.

72. Favicon

Favicons are those small icons on your browser tabs that represent your business. These (16x16px) icons usually display your brand logo. One can also see these favicons in the bookmark list and browser history.
A favicon doesn't directly impact your SEO, but it is crucial for your brand representation. It improves the accessibility of your website, grows the returning visitors, and enhances the conversion rate.

73. Featured Snippet

When your search query sounds like a question, Google tries to answer it in the form of a featured snippet. A featured snippet is also widely referred to as position zero, and it is above all the organic search results. It is in the form of a box that has:

• The answer summary (paratext, table, image, or video);
• The page title with the webpage link;
• And the URL or the breadcrumb link.

One needs to optimize his content structure to rank for position zero.

74. Findability

It refers to the ease with which users and search engine crawlers can find a content piece on your website. Internal linking, deep linking, and the use of breadcrumbs improve the findability of your content.

75. Footer Links

Footer links are the links that we add in the footer section of our webpages. Footer links are generally quick-links to the leading webpages of our website. These improve the navigation, user engagement, and conversion rate on the website.

76. Freshness

Google checks the freshness of your content, and it is yet another Google ranking signal. When you update your content on your website, it is considered fresh content by crawlers. They also try to update the fresh content in Google's index.
However, you cannot keep on updating your evergreen or relevant content. You can update content on the newest trends, news, etc. Google appreciates freshness if you have updated your content in response to a relevant keyword trend.

77. Geotargeting

When you target people according to their geographical location, it is known as geotargeting. In geotargeting tactic, you show users different content or ads according to their geo-location. So the information is more personalized for the specific location where they search from.

78. Google

It is the most widely used search engine across the globe. It has a total search engine market share of 92.47 percent. It delivers search based on complex algorithms, web crawlers, and an extensive list of ranking factors. Google also offers a long list of SEO tools and online search-related services. It owns YouTube and offers search-based advertising platforms.

79. Google Ads

Google Ads is the paid advertising service offered by Google. Google Ads services allow marketers to bid on various keywords and show their ads on Google SERPs and its advertising network. You cannot bid on the keywords without a marketing budget.

80. Google Alerts

Google Alerts is yet another useful tool that helps you set up alerts for various terms. So, whenever anyone mentions these terms online, you get an alert about these mentions.
You can use this tool to set up alerts for your brand mentions, product mentions, or specific terms. People use it to track their competitors' mentions and plan their competitive marketing strategy.

81. Google Analytics

Google Analytics is a comprehensive search analytics tool offered by Google. The tool allows you to track various user metrics, SEO performance data, and site performance. It includes crucial SEO metrics like:

• User data – location, device, interests, new or returning visitor, traffic source
• SEO metrics – bounce rate, pages per session, dwell time, actions performed
• Website performance – speed, errors, CTR, content performance

82. Google Autocomplete

The autocomplete search feature provides suggested searches to users while they type their query. If the user's query is in suggested searches, he can directly click on it to get results. The autocomplete shows common search phrases relevant to the term user is typing. People use Google Autocomplete to find long-tail keywords pertinent to their focus terms.

83. Google Bomb

Some call it the search engine bomb and Googlewashing as well. Some people perform tactics to rank a website no. one in the SERPs for a controversial phrase in this practice. A common tactic is mass linking to a particular site for a specific (controversial) term.
It is an unethical practice that a group of people generally executes for humorous purposes.
For example: In 1999, virtual bombers ranked Microsoft's home page for the "More evil than Satan himself" phrase.

84. Google Bowling

It is a negative SEO technique that involves creating and pointing spammy backlinks to a competitor. People create a massive amount of backlinks to their competitors on several spam websites. When Google comes across these backlinks, it penalizes the competitor.

85. Googlebot

Google's web crawlers are known as Googlebots. These are responsible for gathering, adding, and updating new webpages to Google's index.

86. Google Fred Update

It is a major algorithm update launched by Google in March 2017. The Fred update penalizes the doorway pages. It checks and de-ranks the pages that people solely create to bombard with ads and affiliate links.

87. Google Hummingbird

Google announced the Hummingbird algorithm in September 2013. It allows Google to comprehend the actual context of a query and deliver results accordingly. Unlike the past, when Google focused only on the keywords, it now focuses on a query's intent. After this algorithm update, people started their content for semantic searches using LSI keywords.

88. Google Keyword Planner

This Google's free tool helps users find keywords relevant to focus terms or their business URL. The tool offers a list of keywords and various relevant data like search volume, competition, etc.
Marketers also use it for finding the expected clicks and impression metrics on their focus keywords.

89. Google Maps

Google Maps is a web-based map solution offered by Google. It offers street maps, satellite imagery, 360° panoramic street views, and real-time route planning. Listing their business on Google Maps is highly crucial for local businesses. It helps businesses grow their visibility and conversions. And it increases the chances of ranking in Google's Local 3-Pack. To list your business on Google Maps, you need an appropriate listing on GMB (Google My Business).

90. Google My Business (GMB)

GMB is a business listing service offered by Google to online businesses. Google uses your GMB listing's information for local search results and your Maps listing. GMB profile of your business is visible in local SERPs for hyper-relevant or branded search terms. This profile shows essential business information like:

• Business images;
• Map location;
• Website URL;
• Contact information;
• User-generated reviews;
• Opening hours;
• And a CTA in some cases.

Related : Benefits of a Google My Business Listing

91. Google Panda

It is a major algorithm update that Google released in Feb 2011. Panda update aims at de-ranking webpages with low-quality or thin content. It was a check on the practice of using content spinners and copied content. Panda update brought a significant change in the ranking pattern, and it is now among Google's core ranking algorithm.

92. Google Penalty

It refers to Google's punishment if you fail to follow its guidelines or an algorithm update. Google can pass down an algorithmic penalty or a manual action penalty.

93. Google Penguin

Google's Penguin algorithm came into existence in April 2012. With its release, Google wanted to punish websites that employed spammy tactics. These included building huge no. of low-quality links and stuffing exact match anchor texts and keywords.

94. Google Pigeon

It was a major algorithm update focussed on optimizing Google's local search results. It made local search results better by utilizing distance and location parameters through Google Maps. Pigeon update came into existence in July 2014.

95. Google Pirate

As the name suggests, this algorithm enables Google to de-rank websites that use pirated content. It is a major algorithm update that Google unveiled in October 2014.

96. Google RankBrain

Google rolled out the RankBrain algorithm update in October 2015. This update focuses on making the search results more context-focussed. It builds upon the Hummingbird update and uses machine learning and AI for better interpretation. RankBrain algorithm has a significant effect on rankings.

97. Google Search Console

Google offers an extensive list of free resources and essential tools through Google Search Console. One can use it to measure site performance, find crawl errors, manually index pages, and submit sitemaps. Google Search Console further communicates to you if there is any manual action penalty.

98. Google Trends

It is a free online tool that enables users to check the newest search trends and topics. Users or search strategists can also check trends for their focus keywords and phrases. They can study the search trend graph related to their focus term and plan their strategy.

99. Google Webmaster Guidelines

It is the list of best optimization practices that you must follow to help Google easily crawl, comprehend and index your website. It also lists the "illegal" methods that will attract a Google penalty. Check the Google Webmaster Guidelines here.

100. Grey Hat SEO

Some SEO practitioners try to find a grey area between ethical and black hat SEO practices. These tactics technically adhere to the Webmaster Guidelines but are unethical.
For example :

• Paying for backlinks to websites in your niche
• Buying followers on social media and purchasing trust signals

101. Guest Blogging

Guest blogging or guest posting proves useful for attracting backlinks from high or decent authority sites. Content marketers publish their blog or add to a content piece on an external site in this tactic. In return, this external site gives them a backlink to their relevant webpage.
One must do guest blogging only on relevant and decent-quality websites.

102. Heading Tags (H1-H6)

Heading tags are crucial for marking the headings, subheadings, and paragraph format of the content. H1 forms the main heading tag, and following it are the subheading tags (H2-H6). Heading tags play a significant role in structuring your content and making it look presentable.
One must use the focus keywords smartly in the heading tags. The inclusion of keywords in your H1-H6 tags should look natural and relevant. It gives a considerable boost to your SEO efforts.

103. Hidden Text

Some people use hidden text tactics to show different content to Google and the users. In this tactic, they hide a part of the content from the users. This hidden text includes keyword stuffing which can hinder the readability of the users. It is a black hat SEO tactic and, once found, can result in a manual action penalty.

• One can camouflage the text with the background.
• Keep the font size small and unreadable
• Or hidden from the screen using CSS

104. Homepage

The homepage is the starting node or the foremost page of your website. Your domain name forms your homepage URL. It is the page that upholds the highest authority on your website. We also call it the main page.

105. Hilltop Algorithm

The Hilltop Algorithm builds upon the HITS Algorithm that values outbound links along with inbound links. Hilltop Algorithm became a part of Google’s algorithm in 2003. The algorithm values pages that offer expert content on specific topics and provides outbound links to unaffiliated pages. It even marks these pages under the “expert” category.

106. HITS Algorithm

HITS is the abbreviation of Hyperlink-Induced Topic Search. HITS Algorithm sheds light upon the value of outbound links along with the inbound links and content.

107. .htaccess File

One can use the .htaccess file on the server to redirect and even rewrite a URL.

108. HTML Source Code

HTML or Hypertext Markup Language serves as the base code of your webpage. One can make Seo-related and content-related changes in its readable source code. These changes are then visible on the webpage.

109. HTTP and HTTPS

HTTP is the protocol followed to transfer data between a server and a browser. While HTTP stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol, HTTPS includes a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) security.
HTTPS employs SSL to encrypt all the data that the computer server transfers to the web browser. Search engines appreciate HTTPS over HTTP.

Related : Importance of SSL/HTTPS for an Ecommerce Website

110. Hub Page

Hub Page is a webpage that is the center of the most relevant information on a specific topic. And it gains and provides links to the most relevant resources in the same niche. An active hub is regularly updated with the newest data and generally ranks high in SERPs.

111. Image Sitemap

An XML sitemap file containing all the images that you want to index is your image sitemap. One can add this sitemap to your main XML sitemap, or you can keep both files as separate files.

112. Inbound Link

Inbound link refers to the backlink that an external website points to your website. When you add a link on your site pointing to any external source, it is an inbound link for that source. Gaining a fair amount of inbound links from quality sources helps boost your authority and rankings.

113. Index

Index refers to the database where search engine crawlers deposit the information about all the websites. Search engines retrieve information from this database to offer results.
Crawlers regularly update this search engine database. And you cannot find your webpages in the SERPs unless crawlers add them to the index.

114. Indexability

Your webpage’s indexability defines the ease with which search engine crawlers can index your webpage. One can stop the indexing of a webpage by adding the noindex value to the robots tag. All the pages that the crawlers read and add to the index are known as indexed pages.

115. Information Retrieval

It refers to the process of searching or sourcing the most relevant information from a repository or database and catering it to the searcher.

116. Internal Link

It refers to all the links that help the users and bots to navigate internally within your website. The right internal link strategy:

• Enables you to define the right page hierarchy on your website
• Enables you to establish the right website structure
• Improves crawlability and accessibility of your website
• Eliminates the chances of creating orphan pages

117. Interstitials

Interstitials are promotional elements or webpages that one integrates with a general webpage. For example: A large popup page or a large form that scrolls alongside the page.
The user needs to close these elements manually to view the actual webpage. People use interstitials for promotions, but they may hinder the user experience if one uses them promptly.

118. IP Address

It stands for Internet Protocol Address that can be either shared or dedicated. A shared address means multiple websites sharing the same address. While a dedicated IP address means a website has its address. A dedicated address generally delivers higher site speed than a shared address.

119. Keyword

Keywords are the several terms or phrases that the searchers use commonly to search for relevant content.
You need to analyze the keywords relevant to your offerings or topic and sprinkle them in your content. These keywords will help search engines comprehend the topic of your webpage. And they will rank your webpage for relevant search queries.

120. Keyword Cannibalization

It refers to the situation where two or more pages of your website start competing for the same keyword. This situation makes it hard for the search engines to choose which page to rank. Moreover, it can decrease your conversion rate.
For example : If your service page and blog page both target the same transactional keyword, Google might rank your blog page higher. In this case, you might not get the right conversions for your transactional keyword.
Two pages from one website ranking for the same query will decrease your authority and CTR too.

121. Keyword Competition

Keyword competition is a crucial metric that defines the popularity of a keyword among businesses. In other words, it defines the difficulty to rank for a specific keyword.

122. Keyword Density

Keyword density represents the percentage of keywords used among the total number of words in a content. There is no exact method to find the ideal keyword density, but people often tend to overdo it.

123. Keyword Research

As the name suggests, it is the practice of researching new key phrases and terms related to your business. You can filter and prepare your list according to the search volume and competition, specific to these terms. There are abounding free and paid tools to discover the most appropriate keywords for you. Choosing the right keywords is critically important for your reach, SEO, and conversions.

124. Keyword Stuffing

Keyword stuffing tactic involves overusing certain keywords repeatedly in an unnatural way in the content. People use this black hat tactic to deceive Google into thinking that the content is highly relevant. This tactic can attract a manual penalty and hinders readability significantly.

125. Knowledge Graph

To make the search experience impressive, Google uses the Knowledge Graph database. This database stores facts and authentic information related to people, things, and places.
Google displays this information for relevant queries in the form of a Knowledge Panel box.
One can see it on the right rail or as a carousel at the top of the SERP. It can include images, text, and links relevant to the query.

126. Landing Page

As depicted by the name, a landing page is a webpage on which a user lands after following a link. Standalone landing pages are optimized to promote specific business offerings using specific keywords. These keywords are generally to the point, offer a clear CTA, and target a specific audience.

Related : Benefits of Creating High converting Landing pages for Ecommerce

127. Latent Semantic Index (LSI)

It is a method used by Google to retrieve information by identifying a search query’s accurate context.

128. LSI Keywords

LSI keywords refer to all the terms and phrases that adjoins or adds context to the primary keywords. Incorporating LSI keywords with your content makes it more visible for relevant queries.
For example : The LSI keywords for “Dubai” include – Dubai time, Dubai hotels, Dubai flights, Dubai currency, etc.

129. Lead Magnet

It is a specially-designed content piece that attracts leads for a business. It encourages potential customers to fill your contact form or provide their contact information. It generally provides users something valuable in return.
For example : Offering free access to a whitepaper in return for the users’ email IDs. Or offering a downloadable rate card.

130. Link Bait

It is sensational, provocative content that offers exclusive value to the readers. Therefore, it attracts natural backlinks with ease. When you produce such sharable content, it elevates your off-page SEO efforts immensely.

131. Link Building

It is the most crucial off-page SEO tactic. Link building tactic involves attracting decent to high-quality links from relevant websites. The number and quality of your backlinks have a massive impact on your search rankings.
Ethical link building tactics include:

• Producing high-quality guest posts by connecting with media sites, popular bloggers, and niche hubs
• Creating sharable and stellar content that itself attracts editorial links
• Listing the website in niche directories and on trusted review platforms

132. Link Equity

Link equity is commonly known as Link Authority or Link Juice. It refers to the authority that a web domain passes to another domain via a do-follow backlink.
High authority and relevant domains pass higher link equity than a low authority or irrelevant website.

133. Link Farm

It is a highly risky black hat tactic that people use to grow their rankings quickly. In this tactic, a group of websites links to each other or a website opting for a link farm service. These websites use automated programs or services for this bulk linking process. Once Google tracks a link farming effort, it sends a hefty manual penalty to the culprit. It is also popularly known by the name of Blog Network and Private Blog Network.

134. Link Profile

Link Profile refers to the characteristics of all the inbound links you have earned. Your Link Profile is a product of the quality of the inbound links, anchor texts used, and link diversity. The way you earn your links is also a crucial aspect of defining your link profile.

135. Link Spam

It is a risky black hat SEO tactic where people try to grow their visibility by spammy off-page efforts. Link Spam includes aggressively adding links to blog comments, listings, forums, etc.
It does not offer any SEO value as most of these links are no-follow links. Moreover, Google can penalize your site and de-rank it owing to your link spam efforts.

136. Link Velocity

It refers to the speed at which your website is earning backlinks from external sources. If the link velocity is too high, Google doubts the spike as an unnatural spam activity. Viral content can also grow your link velocity.

137. Local Pack (Local 3-Pack)

Google displays a Local 3-Pack box that lists the top 3 results for the search query for local searches. This Local 3-Pack panel is either displayed at the top of the SERPs or just under the paid listings. The results of the Local 3-pack include:

• The name of the business and its address;
• The star ratings of the business;
• The phone number; and
• Quick access buttons to the business website and the directions in Google Maps.

138. Log File

It refers to a computer-generated database that stores detailed insights about the usage trends and user metrics. The file comprises insightful information about users:

• IP addresses;
• Browser users;
• Date & time information;
• Traffic source and journey;
• Interactions or clicks.

One can perform log file analysis to understand the users’ movements, usage trends, demographics, etc.

139. Long-tail Keywords

Long-tail keywords are specific search terms that have a clearer intent than shorter, high-volume keywords. These keywords are usually longer than three words and have higher conversion potential. The search volume of long-tail keywords is low, and therefore ranking for these keywords is easier.

140. Manual Action

Manual Action is the name given to Google’s penalty. Google issues it when a human reviewer from Google’s staff confirms that a business has failed to follow Google’s guidelines. When a company encounters manual action penalty:

• Google either de-ranks its website in the SERPs; or
• Google completely removes its website from the SERPs.

Google communicates the Manual Action through Google Search Console.

141. Meta Description

It is an HTML tag that describes a webpage’s content. Users can see your webpage’s meta description as a part of the page’s preview snippet on SERPs. The meta description does not affect the search rankings, but it is crucial for a page’s click-through rate. It must be engaging, highly relevant to the page, and must include the focus keyword.

142. Meta Tags

These are tags that we add in the HTML source code to describe our web page's contents. Meta description and title tag are essential meta tags for SEO. Search engines display these on the preview snippet of the webpage in search results.

143. Negative SEO

It refers to the malicious tactics that people follow to sabotage the SEO presence of their competitors. They may use different types of negative SEO tactics through automated web spam or hire spammers.

144. Noarchive Tag

One can use noarchive tag for obstructing search engines from storing a cached copy of a webpage.

145. Nofollow Link

To link Nofollow, we add a “nofollow” meta tag to that page's HTML source code. It instructs the search crawlers not to follow a specific link. We use the no-follow link when we do not want to pass our page’s authority to the external page. Every link is do-follow until we mark it as no-follow using the “nofollow” attribute.

146. Noindex Tag

We use a noindex tag to tell the crawlers not to crawl a page or add it to the search engine index. It can be your thank you page, your cart page, or a standalone landing page for paid advertising.

147. Off-page SEO

It refers to a wide area of SEO activities that we do outside our website. Offpage SEO is crucial for brand awareness, search rankings, demand generation, and networking. It includes:

• Link building efforts
• Content marketing
• Social media marketing
• Email marketing
• Blogger and influencer outreach
• Other external promotions

148. On-page SEO

On-page SEO involves all the SEO tactics that you perform on your website elements. It includes optimizing your website content, HTML code, website performance, and architecture.

149. Organic Ranking

It refers to the non-sponsored ranks (listings) you achieve in the SERPs through your SEO efforts. It does not include the paid or sponsored SEM ranks.

150. Organic Search Results

It includes the non-sponsored results that search engines display on the SERPs in response to a query.

151. Orphan Page

It is a page that is devoid of any backlink from any other webpage. No webpage (from the website or externally) links to this page.

152. Outbound Link

Outbound links refer to all the links on your website that point to an external website. Good outbound links to relevant, high-authority sources offer you an SEO advantage. Moreover, hyper-relevant outbound links add depth and value to your content. Search engines appreciate such links.

153. Outreach Marketing

Outreach marketing is a critically important part of your off-page SEO efforts. In it, you try to connect with individuals and companies that serve or share knowledge in your niche. The connections help you build backlinks on high-authority websites relevant to your domain. Common outreach campaigns include blogger, media, and email outreach.

154. Over-optimization

Over-optimization simply means to over-do your SEO inclusions to please the search engines. A significant amount of over-optimization is considered spammy by search engines.
An example of over-optimization is: Stuffing too many keywords in your content to make it more relevant for search queries. It can attract an algorithmic penalty from Google.

155. PageRank

PageRank is an influential ranking factor. It tells the value and authority of a webpage based on its inbound links (the links earned from external sites). Your site’s PageRank increases every time an external webpage links to a webpage on your site. Now, each link has different equity or value. So, you should attract inbound links from more relevant and trusted websites.

156. Page Speed

It is simply the loading time of your webpage or how fast does your entire webpage load. A slow page speed degrades your user experience and increases your bounce rate. Moreover, search engines do not appreciate a low page speed.

157. Paid Search Ads

Paid Search Ads include the sponsored listings or ads that one can see at the top or bottom of search results. These ads are pay-per-click ads where one bids on specific keywords to rank for the relevant queries.

158. Persona

It is a theoretical (but detailed) representation of your ideal target customer or prospect. It lists his interests, search or purchase behavior, requirements, pain area, and demographics. People commonly use its synonym – Buyer Persona.

159. Pogo-sticking

It is the act of switching back and forth between a SERP and the listings in that SERP. Pogo-sticking is when a user makes these switches too promptly. It is characterized by increased bounce rate and lower dwell time. It affects the user metrics and also the ranking potential.

160. Pay Per Click

Pay Per Click advertising is where every click on your ad costs you a certain amount. This amount depends upon the bid you set, competition, account history, and ad relevancy.
Businesses often use PPC in coordination with SEO, and it brings stellar results to the table. Moreover, businesses use PPC metrics to make informed SEO strategies.

161. QDD

QDD stands for Query Deserves Diversity. It is yet another Google ranking algorithm. According to it, Google offers diverse or broad match results to a user’s query. It is based upon the user’s search behavior and metrics where:

• He did not find the results valuable enough
• He did not interact with any search result and closed the query
• He bounced from one-page result to another and finally changed his query

162. QDF

The full-form of QDF is Query Deserves Freshness. This Google ranking algorithm offers the freshest (newest) search results to the user. QDF is triggered when the query is related to a keyword that has shown a surge in search volume. It can be owing to a new update, a hot discussion, an event announcement, etc. QDF is Google’s effort to provide the latest information to users on trending topics.

163. Ranking Factor

Ranking factors are the most influential SEO components. They, in precise coordination with search engine algorithms, decide the ranking of a webpage in SERPs. Google follows over 200 unique ranking factors that help it offer the most accurate search results.

164. Redirect

Redirection refers to the process of directing a user (or search crawler) who requested a certain URL to another URL. This new URL generally is a highly relevant alternative to the requested URL.
We categorize Redirects as:

• 301 Redirect – It is a permanent redirect from a page that no longer exists.
• 302 Redirect – It is a temporary redirect.

165. Referral Traffic

Referral traffic is the traffic that a website receives from various external sources other than search engines. These include the traffic through social media and external sites.

166. Reinclusion

In case your website receives a manual review, Google will remove the site the index. It allows you to fix the issue and send a re-inclusion request to add the page back to its index.

167. Reputation Management

It refers to the process of developing a positive sentiment around a person or business online. It also requires waving away or diluting the negative perception (if present).
Online reputation management is a prominent factor in shaping your SEO as well. It includes various tactics like:

• Encouraging more positive reviews.
• Tracking brand mentions and evading negative reviews.
• Establishing a dominating SEO presence
• Expanding listings and brand awareness
• Creating a stellar and positive social media presence with the help of influencers

168. Responsive Website

A responsive website design is such that it automatically adapts to a device’s screen size. Today, with the increasing internet penetration through various mobile devices, responsive design is a must. Responsive website design is critically important for any website.

169. Rich Snippets

Rich Snippets is a way to enhance the information on your organic listings in the SERPs. You can use structured data markup (Schema) in the HTML source code to present rich snippets. Rich Snippets has no impact on your search rankings, but they attract users better and grow the CTR. Various common types of Rich Snippets include:

• Reviews snippet
• Event
• Q&A, FAQs
• Recipe
• Breadcrumb
• Carousel
• Sitelinks Search Box
• Job Posting

170. robots.txt

It stands for robots exclusion protocol (or standard). A robots.txt file helps you instruct the search engine bots about the webpages that they need to crawl. The file also tells the bots about the pages that they need to ignore.

171. Schema

Schema or structured data markup refers to a list of informational elements added to the site’s HTML. These informational elements feed the Rich Snippets of your website in the SERPs.

172. Scraping

Scraping refers to employing a web script or program to capture the content from several websites. One may use this data for black hat SEO tactics. Search engines scape the website data to add it to their index.

173. Search Engine

Search Engine is an online software or program that allows users to search for answers to their queries online. It creates a huge database (index) by crawling through all the information (that is public) on the World Wide Web. And when a user enters a query, the search engine retrieves relevant answers from its index. Search engines display these answers in the form of various search results. With this, search engines rank the search results based on various algorithms and ranking factors.
Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, Baidu, Yahoo, etc., are some popular search engines.

174. Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

It refers to several tactics that marketers use to grow a website’s visibility in the search engines. It includes both search engine optimization tactics and paid advertising tactics.

175. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

SEO refers to the tactics that help marketers grow a site’s rankings in organic SERPs and its organic traffic. It includes optimizing the content and user experience of a site along with using off-page marketing efforts. SEO involves several technical optimizations and off-page optimization tactics, excluding paid advertising.
SEO focuses on enabling the crawlers and users to comprehend your content better. And it helps prove to the search engines why your content is the best result for a relevant query.

176. Search Engine Results Page (SERP)

When a user enters a query on any search engine, he lands on the Search Engine Results Page. A SERP lists the organic search results based upon various search algorithms and ranking factors. The Google search results page comprises of:

• Ten organic search results
• Google Ads search results (at the top and below organic results)
• Featured Snippet
• Knowledge Panels
• Related Questions
• Local 3-Pack with Map
• GMB Profile
• Related questions
• Images and Videos
• Product Listings
• Rich Snippets

177. Search Intent

It refers to the purpose of a user’s search. The purpose can be different:

• He can search for a product to buy it
• He can search for a product to compare prices
• He can do his search just for gathering information
• He can search for a product to just check its popularity

The intent of a search plays a crucial role in sourcing the right results for the query. Therefore, businesses use long-tail and LSI keywords to meet the relevancy of a search query.

178. Share of Voice

Share of voice represents the visibility of a business in the SERPs in comparison to its competitor. One can measure it by comparing the total impressions both businesses gain for certain search terms.

179. SEO Site Audit

It refers to an exhaustive analysis of a website’s performance in the search engines. It marks all the content errors, link profile issues, user experience loopholes, and technical errors. The SEO Site Audit includes an all-inclusive analysis of your content as well as your site’s technical status.

180. Sitelinks

Sitelinks are links displayed below your SERP listing and allow the users to navigate to your subpages directly. Sitelinks are visible for branded organic search results and the paid search ads results. They can be added manually for paid listings, while Google uses algorithmic indications for organic results.
Sitelinks can improve the click-through rate for a search listing. However, you need to make sure to optimize the subpages linked in the sitelink.

181. Sitemap

A sitemap is a place where you mention all the pages, videos, and other content on your site. It gives search engine instructions on how to crawl your site and how the pages are linked to each other. There are two types of sitemaps:

• HTML Sitemap : It is an additional sitemap to allow users to understand the various topic categories on a site. And help users navigate within the site with ease.
• XML Sitemap : It informs the crawlers about the various pages, media, and other content elements on your site. It also tells them when a webpage was last updated and if it requires translation to any other language.

182. Sitewide Links

A Sitewide link is present throughout a website or on its every webpage. These links are usually visible in the footer, sidebar, or header of a website.

183. Skyscraping

Skyscraping is a strategic link-building method that helps marketers gain high-quality links. Here, you find relevant webpages that have many high-quality links pointing to them. Now, you improve on the content offered by these pages. You then ask the sources linking to this page to link to your content instead (as it is better).
Marketers use the skyscraping technique to build links by competitor analysis. Sources that link to your competitor may easily link to you if you offer a better content resource to them.

184. Social Media Marketing (SMM)

It refers to the technique of using social media to grow your site traffic, business awareness, and visibility. The process involves optimizing social profiles, growing engagement, linking your website, etc.
People use various SMM techniques like influencer marketing, paid social marketing, etc. SMM does not have a direct impact on your website rankings in the SERPs. However, it can give you a great boost in visibility, reputation, traffic, conversions, and revenue.

185. Social Proof

It is a phenomenon where users choose a product or service based on the general sentiment about it. Users look for recommendations or approval from other users or friends before making a purchase decision. When a majority of users prefer something, users imitate their behavior, considering it as social proof.
A crucial part of your SEO responsibilities is to establish strong social proof for your brand. It includes your social media presence, trust signals, reviews & ratings, no. of customers, etc.

186. Social Signal

Social signal is a measure of the amount of engagement a brand receives on its social media profiles. As stated by Google, a business’s social signal has no impact on its search engine rankings. However, according to few surveys, brands with prominent social signals rank higher in SERPs.
Moreover, businesses with a notable social signal usually find it easier to build backlinks and grow authority.

187. Split Testing

You might also refer to it as A/B testing. It involves testing two or more webpages with a different variable under a controlled environment. After executing the test to collect enough data, you can compare the performance results of these pages. It helps experts analyze which strategy works the best for their business.

188. Status Code

It signifies the server’s response whenever a user requests a webpage, clicks on a link, or submits a form. The types of status code that are crucial for your SEO include:

• 200 – Request success;
• 301 – Moved Permanently; 302 – Moved temporarily; 307 – Temporary Redirect; 308 – Permanent Redirect;
• 404 – Not found;
• 500 – Internal service error
• 503 – Service unavailable.

You need to fix all your server response errors to rank higher in the SERPs.

189. Taxonomy

It refers to the practice of making various categories and topics to sort website content. It helps users to locate the information they wish to find with ease.

190. Technical SEO

Technical SEO is the first and foremost step to site optimization. It focuses on improving the website performance and enabling the crawlers to index your webpages with ease. The technical SEO tactics are crucial for:

• Optimizing the rendering phase and performance
• Eliminating any technical errors
• Establishing the right website structure
• Making the website responsive and user-friendly
• Enhancing the user experience of a website

Related : Best Technical SEO Tools

Related : Guide to Technical SEO for eCommerce Websites

191. Title Tag

The Title Tag is a meta tag that forms the SEO title of the webpage. A title tag is visible as the title to a webpage listing on the SERPs. It is advisable to keep your title tag shorter than 65 characters long. Your title tag must have the focus keyword of your page for high relevancy. It is crucial to create expressive and engaging title tags so to grow your click-through rate.

192. Universal Search

Google sources information from multiple specialty databases to offer enhanced results on the same SERP. The universal search results from Google include additional elements like:

• Videos and images
• News
• Local 3-pack results
• Knowledge panel
• Maps

The universal search results try to offer an insightful experience to the users.

193. Unnatural Link

All the links that are deceptive, spammy, or irrelevant are known as unnatural links. These links are generally paid and are people create these unethically to gain authority. Once Google tracks these links, it is likely to send a manual penalty to the business.
The best practice is to create high-quality content and follow natural link-building tactics.

194. Usability

It is a parameter that describes how much accessible and intuitive your website is for the users. It checks your site’s architecture, navigation, browser compatibility, responsiveness, and disability enhancements. All these parameters decide how easily various types of users can access your website.

195. User-Generated Content

It refers to the content a user adds to your website, your listings, or your social media profile. All the content a user produces relevant to your brand is known as user-generated content. This content can be reviews, product information, comments on your blogs, testimonials, social media posts, etc.
User-generated content on your website is fresh content for your business. It contains various long-tail keywords and LSI keywords, helping you rank for relevant queries. You can analyze this content to find important secondary keywords and add them to your content. Moreover, user-generated content grows social proof and brand awareness.

196. Vertical Search

It refers to a search process that focuses on a specific topic, media type, or segment. It includes vertical search engines like Google News, Google Maps, YouTube, Yelp, Amazon, etc.

197. Voice Search

It includes employing a voice-activated technology to ask queries or do searches online. The user can ask the voice-activated device or technology to find and dictate answers to his query. It is advisable to consider voice-search optimization by adding query-based keywords and structured data.

198. Website Structure

It defines the navigation, hierarchy, and content silos you use for your website. You need to define the home page, service pages, sub-service pages and create an internal link structure.
Search engines appreciate a good website structure that is easy to understand and navigate. It is critically important to creating an impressive user experience. The use of sitewide links, deep linking, and breadcrumbs also enhance your website structure.

199. Webspam

It refers to any tactic that violates search engine guidelines and people it to manipulate ranking algorithms. It includes all the black hat SEO tactics and other spamming methods.

200. White Hat SEO

201. XML

XML stands for Extensible Markup Language. We use this markup language to help search crawlers comprehend our website data.

202. Yahoo

Yahoo was popular in the 90s’ as a reliable news portal, email platform, and search engine. However, Google’s algorithmic-based and importance-based search overshadowed Yahoo later. And since 2010, Bing powers Yahoo’s search engine.

203. Yandex

Yandex is a prominent search engine in Russia. It offers geo-dependent and geo-independent search results. Yandex came into existence on 23rd September 1997.

204. Yoast SEO

Yoast SEO is a commonly used SEO plugin for WordPress. It offers some crucial capabilities like:

• Adding the title tag and meta description for the webpage
• Set a focus keyword for the webpage content
• Match the right keyword frequency for the content
• Mark cornerstone content
• Manage the various inbound outbound links and meta robots
• Check various SEO-related instructions for a content copy

Summing Up

We hope this all-inclusive SEO glossary helps you embark confidently with your SEO journey. We will update it regularly to help you understand the newest additions in the SEO industry.
Further, if you wish to discuss how SEO can bring results to your plate, please connect with us.