Search Engine Optimisation, or SEO, is a complex and ever-changing field that can be difficult to understand for those who are not familiar with the industry. In order to fully benefit from SEO, it is essential to understand the basics of SEO in order to improve the visibility and ranking of your website on search engines like Google. In this blog article, we will break down some of the most commonly used SEO jargon and explain what they mean in simple terms so you can start your SEO journey with confidence.
The Basics
SEO:
The term ‘SEO’ is the initialism or shorthand for Search Engine Optimisation.
Keywords:
Keywords are the words and phrases people use to search for something on a search engine. In order to rank higher on search engines, it is important to include relevant keywords in your website's content, meta tags, and URLs. This will help search engines understand what your website is about and show it to people who are searching for related topics.
On-page SEO:
On-page SEO is the process of optimising individual web pages to improve their search engine rankings and attract more relevant visitors. This includes optimising a website's content, meta tags, images, and URLs to make it more search engine friendly.
Off-page SEO:
Off-page SEO refers to the optimisation of a website's external links. This includes building backlinks from other websites to your own. Backlinks are like "votes" for your website and the more high-quality backlinks your website has, the more likely it is to rank higher on search engines.
Meta tags:
Meta tags are HTML tags that provide metadata about a web page. They are used by search engines to understand the content of a web page. The most important meta tags for SEO are the title tag and the meta description tag. The title tag is the text that appears in the browser's tab when a web page is open, and the meta description tag is the text that appears under the title in the search engine results.
Content optimisation:
Content optimisation refers to the process of making sure that your website's content is relevant, informative, and easy to read. This includes using keywords naturally throughout the content, structuring it in a logical manner, and making sure it is easy to read on both desktop and mobile devices.
Mobile optimisation:
Mobile optimisation refers to the process of making sure that your website is easily accessible and user-friendly on mobile devices. This includes making sure that your website is responsive, meaning it adjusts to the size of the device it is being viewed on, and that all the text and buttons are large enough to be easily read and clicked on a small screen.
SERP:
Search Engine Results Page (or SERP, depending on your preference) is the page that displays the results of a search.
KPI:
KPI stands for "key performance indicator," which is a full term. This metric reveals how effective a certain action was in meeting specific goals.
Traffic:
Traffic, also called web traffic, is the visits a website receives.
Query:
Queries are the terms or subjects that users enter into a search engine like Google or Bing. As an illustration, the question “Where is greyzip situated?" is a query.
Crawling:
Crawling is how a search engine finds web pages.
URL:
The abbreviation "URL" stands for "uniform resource locator”. It is the official term for a website's address.
Ranking:
Ranking refers to the order in which search results are presented to a user based on how closely they match the user's query.
PAA:
PAA is an abbreviation of "People Also Ask". These are the sections of certain search engine results pages that contain frequently asked questions and their answers.
Black Hat:
SEO strategies that go beyond Google's quality rules are known as "black hat" methods, and they can result in severe repercussions for the offending websites. It can also be referred to as spam.
White Hat:
A white-hat SEO strategy is the antithesis of a black-hat SEO strategy. It designates search engine optimisation methods that are ethical and cater to human users.
Intent:
The intent is the motivation behind a search, or the desired outcome, of a query.
Evergreen:
Content that is evergreen is timeless and useful in any context. An SEO jargon buster, for instance, will continue to be useful for the foreseeable future.
DA:
“DA” is an abbreviation of the term Domain Authority. Domain Authority is a tool used in order to gauge how well a website would do in search engine results.
PA:
The term ‘PA’ stands for Page Authority. This metric, like DA, is used to forecast a webpage's potential in search engine rankings.
Metadata:
Metadata is data that is typically found in an HTML page's header or description. It serves to provide a concise summary of the page's content. Metadata may also consist of titles, tags, and code.
Cache:
When you visit a website, the search engine retains a copy of that page in its cache to allow for easy access the next time you want to visit said page. The information stored in the cache will be used to help provide relevant search results and speed up the search process.
CMS:
CMS stands for "Content Management System". It refers to programmes that help keep blogs and other forms of online dynamic content up-to-date. There are many content management systems out there, but WordPress, HubSpot, and Drupal stand out as the most widely used and recognised.
CRO:
CRO is an abbreviation for "conversion rate optimisation,”. It designates techniques to maximise the proportion of website visitors who make a purchase. Conversion rate optimisation (CRO) can be accomplished in several ways, including page redesign, rewriting material, and the use of calls to action.
CTR:
The term CTR stands for "click-through rate”. The figure shows the ratio of the number of times a link was clicked on compared to the total number of times the page containing the link was viewed. It is helpful for producing meta descriptions and measuring the success of online content like blogs and emails.
Search Engine
Algorithms:
Search engines like Google utilise algorithms, which are essentially rules or formulas, to determine the order of results. Google’s algorithm changes relatively often, which means you often need to change your SEO strategy accordingly.
Paid Search:
With paid searches, one can boost the visibility of their web pages in search results by paying the search engine.
Organic Search:
Organic searches are non-paid sections and results in a search engine. Improving organic search rankings is the goal of SEO.
A/B Testing:
A/B testing is the process of comparing different iterations of a single page to increase response and conversion rates.
Bots:
Bots, also known as robots, spiders, or crawlers, are pieces of software that search the internet for pertinent content on websites, investigate its architecture, and then compile data for search engine indexes.
Canonical Tag:
The canonical tag indicates to a search engine which version of a website is preferred, which helps to cut down on duplicate information.
HTTP:
Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is an abbreviation for what is essentially how data is transported across the internet.
HTTPS:
HTTPS is similar to HTTP but is more secure. This makes it essential for websites that handle protected information, such as payment information.
NoIndex:
A page can be marked with the NoIndex tag to prevent Google from indexing it, which prevents it from appearing in search results.
HTTP Response Code:
HTTP Response Codes, sometimes called status codes, are issued by a server in response to a request made to said server.
200 Response Code:
200 Response Code indicates whether a request for a page has worked. If it has been received, understood and accepted you can engage.
301 Response Code:
301 Response Code indicates that you have landed on a different page than the one you were looking for. It is a permanent redirect from the page you originally searched for and clicked on.
302 Response Code:
When creating a website or webpage, the 302 Response Code is frequently used as a temporary redirect until everything is ready to use.
403 Response Code:
403 Response Code is used to show users that they do not have permission to access the webpage they are trying to reach.
404 Response Code:
404 Response Code will appear when a page cannot be found. You will most likely encounter it if you click on a broken link or if you enter a URL that does not exist in the search bar.
500 Response Code:
500 Response Code indicates that an unexpected issue is preventing the webpage from performing a request. This can happen because a server is permanently or temporarily out of service.
Keywords - Rank and Research
Short-Tail Keywords:
Short-Tail Keywords often have less than three words and are the cornerstone of keyword research.
Long-Tail Keywords:
More detailed than their shorter counterparts, "long-tail" keywords are longer search queries that typically consist of phrases of three words or more.
Link Building:
Link Building is the name of the technique of earning links to your website to build its authority in search engines. This can be achieved by getting links for your website added to blog articles, content campaigns and more. It may involve PR.
Backlinks:
Backlinks are hyperlinks linking one website to another. You use backlinks to do link building.
Engagement:
Engagement metrics reveal how users respond to and interact with your site after finding it through their search engine.
Keyword Difficulty:
A keyword's difficulty score provides an assessment of how challenging it is for a website to achieve a high search engine ranking for a given query relative to the competition.
NoFollow:
When one website wants to avoid passing on its authority to another, it can use a NoFollow link to do so. Doing so will also block crawlers from following the link to content that shouldn't be indexed.
Follow:
In contrast to a NoFollow link, a Follow link will cause the connecting page to transfer some of its credibility along to the linked-to website. These backlinks are essential for outreach efforts.
Core Keyphrase:
A Core Keyphrase is an extremely competitive search query that can be very difficult to rank for.
Search Volume
A keyword's search volume indicates how frequently that keyword has been used in online searches.
Onsite Optimisation
HTML:
HTML stands for "HyperText Markup Language". This language is commonly employed for the creation of websites and blogs.
Alt Text:
Alt Text or alternative text is the copy used in an HTML code to describe an image. It is especially important in terms of accessibility.
Anchor Text:
Anchor Text is the content that links to pages.
Interlinking:
Interlinking is the action of linking your content together with keyword-rich phrases.
Title Tag:
A Title Tag is a part of HTML text that establishes the title of a web page.
Header Tag:
Header Tags function similarly to title tags, however, they are used for headings and subheadings instead of titles.
Keyword Stuffing:
Overusing keywords in content and meta descriptions is known as keyword stuffing, and it is considered a form of spam in search engine optimisation (SEO). It is an outdated tactic.
Hopefully, this list of definitions will help you ease into the wonderful world of SEO! If you have any questions or need help starting your SEO journey, visit our website or get in contact with us.
