You’ve most likely seen that there’s lots of jargon and abbreviations in search engine marketing. So we curated and categorized all of the necessary search engine marketing phrases and their definitions beneath.
Click to discover a specific time period you’re inquisitive about, or preserve studying for all definitions.
# | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | Ok | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z
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10x content material
Content that’s at the very least ten occasions higher than the present top-ranking end result for the goal key phrase.
301 redirect
Redirect that takes customers to a brand new URL and tells engines like google that the web page has moved completely.
302 redirect
Redirect that takes customers to a brand new URL and tells engines like google that the web page has moved briefly.
404 error
HTTP standing code indicating that the server couldn’t discover the specified web page or useful resource.
A
Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP)
Open-source HTML framework for creating stripped-down variations of internet pages that load sooner on cell.
Ahrefsbot
Web crawler that powers Ahrefs’ backlink index and search engine marketing instruments.
Alt textual content
Descriptive textual content that seems rather than a picture if it fails to load.
Anchor textual content
Clickable phrase or phrase that hyperlinks one webpage to a different.
Article spinning
Spammy “writing” method that turns one article into many “new” articles.
Article syndication
When web sites republish content material that initially appeared on one other web site.
Auto-generated content material
Content that’s robotically generated utilizing a program or code.
B
Backlinks
Links from pages on one other web site.
Bing Webmaster Tools
Free service from Microsoft that helps you monitor and troubleshoot your web site’s look in Bing’s search outcomes.
Bingbot
Web crawler that powers Bing’s search engine.
Black-hat search engine marketing
The use of search engine marketing methods and techniques that violate search engine tips.
Bounce charge
The share of tourists that take no additional motion after touchdown on a web site.
Branded key phrases
Words and phrases related together with your model, merchandise, or providers.
Breadcrumb navigation
Internal hyperlinks that give customers (and engines like google) a transparent path to observe round your web site.
Bridge web page
Page designed to rank for a key phrase and redirect customers elsewhere.
Broken hyperlink
Link in your web site that factors to a non-existent useful resource. They will be inside or exterior hyperlinks.
C
Cached web page
What an internet web page appeared just like the final time Google visited it.
Canonical tag
HTML code that tells Google what you think about to be the “master” model of a web page.
Canonical URL
URL that Google sees because the “master” model of a web page or set of pages.
Co-citation
When a web site is talked about by two different web sites.
Content hub
Interlinked collections of content material a few related subject.
Core Web Vitals
Metrics which are a part of Google’s Page Experience alerts used to measure person expertise.
Cornerstone content material
The most necessary pages or posts in your web site.
Crawl funds
How quick and what number of pages a search engine desires to crawl in your web site.
Crawlability
A search engine’s capability to entry content material on a web page.
Crawler
The laptop bot engines like google use to find pages on the internet.
D
Dofollow hyperlink
Link that transfers PageRank. AKA a “followed” hyperlink.
Domain Rating (DR)
The relative power of a web site’s authority based mostly on its backlink profile.
Doorway web page
Pages designed to rank for related search queries.
Duplicate content material
Content that seems on the net in a couple of place.
Dwell time
How a lot time passes between you clicking a search end result and clicking again to the SERPs.
Dynamic URL
URL with content material that will depend on variable parameters.
E
Editorial hyperlink
Link that factors to your web site (that you simply didn’t ask or pay for.)
Email outreach
The strategy of placing your product or content material in entrance of related individuals by sending them personalised emails.
Entry web page
The first web page a searcher views in your web site.
External hyperlink
Link out of your web site to a different web site.
F
Faceted navigation
Type of navigation discovered on class/archive pages of web sites that take care of many listings.
G
Gated content material
Content that guests can solely entry after offering their contact info.
Gateway web page
Pages created to rank for particular, related search queries. Also often called doorway pages.
Google Alerts
Free service from Google that screens the net for content material modifications matching a selected search question.
Google algorithm
Set of guidelines utilized by Google to rank matching outcomes when a person performs a search.
Google Analytics
Free service from Google for monitoring and monitoring web site site visitors.
Google autocomplete
Search solutions given by Google when coming into a search.
Google bombing
Where you get a web site to rank increased in Google for irrelevant or unrelated search queries utilizing black-hat search engine marketing techniques.
Google Business Profile
Free enterprise itemizing from Google that reveals up in maps and internet search outcomes.
Google Caffeine
Search index launched by Google in 2010 that allowed them to index extra content material and supply more energizing search outcomes.
Google dance
Slang time period describing the volatility a brand new web site or web page experiences when Google is making an attempt to find out the place it ought to rank.
Google Hummingbird
Algorithm replace launched by Google in 2013 to return higher search outcomes. It emphasised the that means of search queries over particular person key phrases.
Google Knowledge Graph
Knowledge base of entities and the relationships between them.
Google Knowledge Panel
SERP characteristic that gives details about the primary topic of the question.
Google My Business
Free service from Google that permits enterprise house owners to create, handle, and optimize their Google Business Profile.
Google Panda
Algorithm replace launched in 2011 by Google that rewarded higher-quality websites and downgraded the presence of lower-quality websites of their search outcomes.
Google penalty
Penalty issued by Google to demote a web page or web site in its search outcomes. Can be algorithmic or handbook.
Google Penguin
Algorithm replace launched in 2012 by Google to downgrade websites that engaged in manipulative hyperlink schemes and key phrase stuffing.
Google Pigeon
Algorithm replace launched in 2013 by Google to enhance search outcomes for native search queries.
Google sandbox
Alleged filter by Google that forestalls new web sites from rating in Google’s prime outcomes.
Google Search Console
Free service from Google that helps you monitor and troubleshoot your web site’s look of their search outcomes.
Google Webmaster Guidelines
Best practices from Google to assist them discover, index, and rank your web site.
Google Webmaster Tools
Old identify of Google Search Console.
Googlebot
Web crawler that powers Google’s search engine.
Grey-hat search engine marketing
The use of search engine marketing methods and techniques that blur the road between white-hat and black-hat.
Guest running a blog
When you create content material for an additional web site.
Guestographic
Infographic created by you however revealed on different web sites.
H
H1 tag
HTML heading that’s mostly used to mark up an internet web page title.
Header tags
HTML components used to outline headings and subheadings on a web page.
Hilltop algorithm
Algorithm adopted by Google in 2003 to determine authoritative internet pages to rank.
Holistic search engine marketing
The follow of bettering all features of a web site to rank increased in engines like google.
Hreflang
HTML attribute used to inform Google about alternate variations of an internet web page for various languages and areas.
HTTPS
Encrypted model of HTTP that protects the communications between your browser and server from being intercepted and tampered with by attackers.
I
Inbound hyperlink
Link from one other web site to your web site.
Indexability
A search engine’s capability to research and retailer an internet web page in its database.
Informational question
Query the place somebody desires to seek out info, not merchandise.
Internal hyperlink
Link from one other web page on the identical web site.
Interstitial advert
Full-screen interactive adverts that cowl the interface of the web site or app.
Ok
Keyword cannibalization
When a single web site unintentionally targets the identical key phrase throughout a number of posts or pages.
Keyword density
Percentage of whole phrases on a web page which are a selected key phrase or phrase.
Keyword Difficulty
Metric utilized by search engine marketing instrument suppliers to estimate a key phrase’s rating issue.
Keyword rating
Your place in natural seek for a specific key phrase.
Keyword stemming
Process of decreasing a phrase to its ‘stem’ or ‘root’ (e.g., flowers, flowery -> flower).
Keyword stuffing
Repeating the identical key phrases (or related phrases) in your content material to attempt to manipulate rankings.
Keywords
Words and phrases that folks sort into engines like google to seek out what they’re searching for.
L
Link bait
Content particularly formulated to draw hyperlinks.
Link constructing
The strategy of getting different web sites to hyperlink to pages in your web site.
Link fairness
‘Authority’ that’s handed when one web page hyperlinks to a different.
Link change
Agreement between two web sites to hyperlink to every different.
Link farm
Group of internet sites created to hyperlink to one another to enhance search engine rankings.
Link reputation
The variety of backlinks that time to a web site.
Link profile
Assessment of all of the backlinks (amount, high quality, variety, and so forth.) a web site has.
Link reclamation
The strategy of making an attempt to get again misplaced hyperlinks.
Link rot
Natural tendency for hyperlinks to turn into damaged on the net over time.
Link scheme
Links supposed to control PageRank or a web site’s rating in Google search outcomes.
Link spam
Irrelevant hyperlinks positioned on pages to try to enhance search engine rankings.
Link velocity
The charge at which a web site’s backlink profile is rising.
Local enterprise schema
Type of structured knowledge markup to assist native companies optimize for native search engine marketing.
Local quotation
Any point out of your online business’s identify, tackle, and telephone quantity (NAP) on-line.
Local pack
SERP characteristic that seems for native queries and shows native Google enterprise listings.
Local search advertising
The strategy of bettering your presence in native search utilizing search engine marketing or paid adverts.
Local search engine marketing
The strategy of ‘optimizing’ your on-line presence to indicate up and rank increased in related native searches.
Log file evaluation
Where you analyze the crawl behaviour of search engine bots in server logs to find alternatives to enhance search engine marketing.
Long-tail key phrase
A low-volume search question.
LSI key phrases
Misnomer for semantically-related phrases and phrases. (LSI key phrases don’t exist.)
M
Manual motion
Demotion or removing of internet sites/webpages issued by Google to websites that don’t adjust to their webmaster tips.
Meta description
HTML attribute used to explain what a web page is about.
Meta key phrases
Meta tags that give some engines like google (not Google) extra details about a web page’s content material.
Meta redirect
Code that tells the net browser to redirect the person to a special URL after a set quantity of time.
Meta robots tag
HTML snippet that tells engines like google methods to crawl or index a web page.
Meta tags
Snippets of code that inform engines like google necessary details about your internet web page.
Mirror web site
A replica of a web site hosted on one other server.
Mobile-first indexing
Google’s shift to utilizing the cell model of content material for indexing and rating.
N
Natural hyperlink
A hyperlink that happens organically.
Navigational question
Query the place somebody is searching for a selected web site.
Negative search engine marketing
When a competitor makes use of black-hat techniques to aim to sabotage the rankings of a competing web site or internet web page.
Nofollow
Tag that tells Google to not take a hyperlink into consideration for rating functions.
Noindex tag
Tag that instructs engines like google to not index a web page.
Noreferrer
HTML attribute that forestalls referrer info passing by a hyperlink.
Not supplied
Keyword knowledge that Google omits from sharing with you in Google Analytics.
O
Off-page search engine marketing
Any efforts taken exterior of a web site to enhance its search engine rankings.
On-page search engine marketing
The follow of optimizing an internet web page’s seen content material and supply code to rank increased.
Organic search outcomes
Non-paid search outcomes from a search engine that may’t be purchased or influenced by advertisers.
Organic site visitors
Traffic from a search engine’s natural outcomes.
Orphan web page
Page with no inside hyperlinks pointing to it.
Outbound hyperlink
Link that factors to a web page not in your web site.
P
Page velocity
The period of time it takes for an internet web page to load.
PageRank
A components that judges the worth of a web page by trying on the amount and high quality of different pages that hyperlink to it.
Paid hyperlink
A backlink that you simply pay for.
People additionally ask
SERP characteristic that solutions questions associated to the person’s search question.
Pogo-sticking
Back-and-forth course of between the SERPs and its outcomes when a searcher is unable to seek out the content material they need.
Private Blog Network (PBN)
A community of internet sites designed particularly for linking to and bettering the rankings of different web sites.
R
RankBrain
Component of Google’s algorithm that makes use of refined machine studying algorithms to know the that means of unfamiliar phrases and phrases.
Reciprocal hyperlink
When two web sites hyperlink to every different.
Reconsideration request
Request to have Google evaluate your web site after fixing issues recognized in a handbook motion or safety points notification.
Related searches
Search solutions associated to your question that seem on the backside of the SERPs.
Resource pages
Web pages that curate and hyperlink out to helpful business sources.
Rich snippet
Google search end result with extra knowledge proven alongside it, often from structured knowledge on the web page.
Robots.txt
A file that tells engines like google the place they’ll and may’t go in your web site.
S
Schema markup
Code that helps engines like google to higher perceive and symbolize your content material within the search outcomes.
Search algorithm
List of guidelines utilized by engines like google to rank matching outcomes when a person performs a search.
Search engine poisoning
When malicious hackers create dummy web sites that seem like respectable search engine outcomes. Their objective is to steal private info or set up malware.
Search intent
The cause behind a search.
Search question
The phrases and phrases that folks sort into engines like google to seek out what they’re searching for.
Search visibility
How seen your web site and its associated pages are in a search engine’s natural outcomes.
Search quantity
How many occasions per thirty days, on common, individuals in a given nation seek for your goal key phrase.
Secondary key phrases
Terms intently associated to the key phrase you need to goal.
Seed key phrases
Keywords that outline your area of interest and allow you to determine your opponents.
search engine marketing
The follow of optimizing a web site or webpage to get extra high-quality site visitors from a search engine’s natural outcomes.
search engine marketing audit
The strategy of evaluating and assessing your web site to see how effectively it’s performing in engines like google.
search engine marketing silo
The grouping collectively of topically-related internet pages by way of inside hyperlinks.
Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs)
Pages that engines like google present in response to a person’s search question.
SERP options
Non-traditional search outcomes that present info instantly inside the SERP, so customers should not have to click on.
Share of voice
How seen your model is available in the market.
Short-tail key phrases
Terms with excessive search volumes.
Sitelinks
Links to different pages or sections of a web page that seem beneath some Google search outcomes.
Sitemap
XML file itemizing all of the necessary content material in your web site.
Sitewide hyperlink
Outbound hyperlink that seems on each web page of a web site.
Spamdexing
Deliberate manipulation of search engine outcomes utilizing methods which are in opposition to their tips.
Srcset
HTML attribute that means that you can show completely different variations of a picture for various display sizes and resolutions.
SSL
Protocols for establishing authenticated and encrypted hyperlinks between networked computer systems.
Structured knowledge
A standardized means to supply details about an internet web page.
Subdomain
The a part of a URL on the left of the foundation area, e.g., assist.ahrefs.com
T
Taxonomy search engine marketing
Optimizing for engines like google by organizing the construction of content material.
Technical search engine marketing
Making technical changes to assist engines like google discover, crawl, perceive, and index your pages.
TF-IDF
Statistical measure that goals to guage the relative significance of a phrase in a doc.
Thin content material
Content that has little or no worth for the person.
Title tag
HTML aspect used to specify the title of a webpage.
Top degree area (TLD)
Last phase of a website identify, like .com or .org.
Transactional question
Query the place somebody is seeking to buy one thing however hasn’t but determined the place to purchase it from.
TrustRank
Algorithm that analyzes hyperlinks to separate helpful internet pages from spam.
U
Unnatural hyperlinks
Links in a web page’s content material that aren’t editorially positioned or vouched for by the positioning’s proprietor.
URL Rating (UR)
The power of a goal web page’s backlink profile on a 0–100 scale, with 100 being the strongest.
URL slug
The finish a part of the URL that (sometimes) explains a web page’s content material.
v
Vertical search
Search engine devoted to a selected space of focus.
Voice search
The use of voice to work together with a search engine (relatively than looking out by textual content).
W
Website construction
How a web site is organized and its internet pages interlinked.
Webspam
Web pages created to control search engine rankings.
Website authority
A metric from search engine marketing instrument suppliers that measures the relative power of a web site. (Ours is Domain Rating.)
White-hat search engine marketing
The use of Google-approved web site search engine marketing methods, methods, and techniques.
X
X‑robots-tag
HTTP header despatched from an internet server that controls indexing of a web page.
Y
YMYL pages
Pages about subjects that would influence an individual’s future happiness, well being, monetary stability, or security.
Keep studying
If you’re simply getting began with search engine marketing and need to be taught the fundamentals, take a look at our newbie’s information to search engine marketing. It covers every little thing it is advisable know, together with:
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