Search Engine Optimization or SEO is the terminology given to the activity of ensuring a website can be found in search engines like Google, Bing, or Internet Explorer for words and phrases that are relevant to what the site is offering. 

It is a curated process, with careful consideration given to the type of content that is posted. 

Keywords are an important component of SEO, it sounds simple but there are many other aspects of these three important letters. 

SEO Glossary

We have created the ultimate SEO glossary that will help you get to grips with the relevant key terms associated with Search Engine Optimisation. You can use this page to help you understand SEO practices and learn how to optimise your own content to grow your digital presence. 

Many of these SEO terms will refer to specific SEO tactics, whilst other key terms will refer to the general scope of digital marketing. It is important to have a sound basis for digital marketing terms as it will help you understand the important role that SEO plays in digital marketing. 

Get to Know SEO

301 Redirect

The term 301 Redirect is used when there is a change within a website. It’s like forwarding a mailing address when someone moves. A 301 redirect is essential to maintaining a website’s domain ownership and search rankings when the web address is changed or updated.

AdWords

AdWords or Google AdWords is a Google advertising service that mostly uses keywords. Businesses that want to display their ads on Google’s advertising network can set a budget and only have to pay when someone clicks on the ad. AdWords gives businesses the opportunity to set ad budgets because different keywords and phrases can be bid on.

Affiliate Program

An affiliate program is a marketing program like pay per click, pay per sale, and pay per lead where an online merchant company uses others on the web to place advertising, banners and buttons on their website and in return for any clicks a commission will be paid. 

Affiliate programs started in 1996 when CEO of Amazon.com, Jeff Bezos started to post links to individual books for sale on their website by paying the seller (affiliate) a percentage of the profits if the book was purchased. It was so successful, more categories were added and the program is still in existence today.

Aggregate Data

Aggregate data details how different consumer groups interact with online marketing efforts. This data analyzes how different audiences view videos, photos, infographics, blogs, etc. and what the viewer did after viewing the material. This helps marketing professionals understand group engagement which is different from how an individual acts.

Algorithm

This is a mathematical term that has made its way into internet marketing and search engine optimization (SEO). An algorithm describes a formula for solving a problem. Google’s algorithm affects the whole internet by creating programs that analyze data to value the website’s content and will rate it to decide how high the page will appear on various searches.

Alt Text

Alt Text or Alt Tabs is a commonly used abbreviation of the text that is attributed to an image. Alt text on an image is necessary because search engines can’t view graphics, photos or images, so they use the alt text to understand it.

Every image on your website should include an alt text that describes, so when the mouse or cursor hovers over it, the alt text appears. Alt Text enables search engines to categorize the graphic. This description also helps the visually impaired.

Analytics  

Analytics, web analytics is the measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of web data to understand and optimize website use. Web analytics provide valuable information to online marketers like the number of visitors to a website, pages viewed, website paths, time visited and the dates and the amount of time spent on the site. Results are used to improve marketing, content and other parts of digital marketing strategies.

Anchor Text 

Anchor text is a very important component of SEO and strongly impacts search engine ranking. Anchor text or clickable words refers to the hyperlinked text that is underlined in blue words on a web page, blog or other marketing content. It’s an important part of SEO where strong keywords are used to anchor the text.

Astroturfing

Astroturfing is using deceptive communications to make a political message appear organic. The term is often used in politics but is common in online marketing where blog posts and social media posts are intentionally created to promote a company or share negative reviews on competition.

Authority Site

An authority site is a very high-quality website such as Wikipedia or the NHS website that is respected among audiences and trusted for its content. It is a website that posts content that is very useful so it becomes valuable to users and they will want to share it with their friends.

B2B

B2B refers to Business to Business. B2B digital marketing works a little differently compared to marketing to the general public, it is the exchange of products, information and services between businesses instead of consumers.

B2C

B2C refers to Business to Consumer. B2C marketing refers to the practices marketers use to introduce and share products and services with consumers. The internet has provided an important platform for generating information to educate prospects instead of just promoting products and brands.

Back Links

A back link, sometimes referred to as an incoming link or an in link is any link to a webpage or website that is generated from another external web page or website. It is important for SEO and suggests to algorithms that your content is worthy.  

The more visitors clicking on backlinks to a website, the higher the traffic which increases the chances of converting clicks into sales. You should regularly check backlinks to share they are coming from worthy sources. 

Blogs

A blog is a form of written content that is posted online. It is a fantastic method of targeting keywords and enhancing a website’s SEO performance. Blogs can help companies leverage their knowledge and expertise in an industry and position themselves as industry experts.

Blogs are used to create content about products, services and other information relating to an industry. You should also learn how to write a blog for SEO so it has the best chance of ranking in search engines.  

Bounce Rate 

Bounce rate is a term used to share single page visits or how many visitors came to a website’s landing page or home page but left the website before browsing any other pages within the site.

Content Marketing

Online content is the portion of a web page that distributes valuable, relevant and interesting content to an audience. For example, blog posts, videos, infographics, trend information and other non-promotional material is considered to be content marketing.

Conversion Rate

The conversion rate is the percentage of people who take a desired action. For example, answered a survey, bought a product, shared a social media post, or signed up for an email list. Conversion rate optimization helps you turn website visitors into consumers. 

Cookies

Cookies are small files which are stored on a user’s computer and designed to hold some specific data that can be accessed by the server or client’s computer. 

Cookie examples are remembering passwords and frequently visited websites. Cookies are a convenient way to carry information from one session on a website to another, or between sessions on related websites.

CPC/ Cost Per Click

CPC or pay-per-click is a business model where a company places ads on a website or search engine like Google and pays an agreed rate when a visitor clicks on the advertisement. It is the opposite of SEO which is organic marketing. 

Directory

A directory is a search engine devoted to directory pages or business listings and is used to strengthen SEO and generate traffic. Yahoo, Bing, Firefox and Google are examples of directories. 

Domain Name

A domain name is a naming system or web address that is assigned to web pages. The technical term is the IP address.

E-commerce

E-commerce is a website devoted to the retail sales of a product/service and is sometimes referred to as an e-tail website. Websites offering e-commerce embed calls-to-action shopping carts, UX, and other e-commerce features.

Email Marketing 

Email marketing or sending emails to groups of people with a standard look and feel. Email services like Mail Chimp and Constant Contact provide professional email campaign services complete with graphics, analytics and list segmentation. 

External Resources

External resources refer to the hyperlinked text that leads to content on another webpage or website. It is considered good practice for SEO and you should aim to include 1 external link per 1000 words of content. 

Feed

A feed is an extremely popular way for organizations to get their messages into the forefront of interested parties. It is an ongoing stream of structured data that provides users with updates of current information from one or more sources. Feeds include social media feeds, news feeds, and sports updates.

Focus Keyword

A focus keyword is a specific term or phrase that a webpage or piece of content is optimized for in order to improve its visibility and ranking on search engine results pages. It is the primary keyword that the content is centred around.

The focus keyword should be used strategically in the title, meta description, content, and other on-page elements to signal to search engines what the page is about. The focus keyword should be relevant to the content and user queries and should be selected based on thorough keyword research and analysis.

Hashtag

The pound sign “#” on a standard keyboard is known as a hashtag and is used in social media as a way to group posts by category and phrase. The # or hashtag is placed directly in front of the text. For example, #ValentinesDay, #contentmarketing, or #SEOstrategy.

Inbound Marketing

Inbound marketing is a process of attracting prospective customers to visit a website usually due to engaging content. Some examples are blogs, SEO, email marketing, Infographics, videos and podcasts.

Keywords

A keyword, in search engine optimization, is a word or phrase that describes the contents of a web page. Keywords are intended to act as shortcuts to a web page and they are extremely important for search engine optimization. They help you create content based on what audiences are currently searching for. 

Keyword Density 

Keyword density is the percentage of times a target keyword or phrase appears on a webpage or within a piece of content in relation to the total number of words. It is used to measure the level of keyword usage and relevance on a page and can impact the page’s ranking on search engine results pages. 

However, overuse of keywords can result in a penalty from search engines, so it’s important to use keywords naturally and focus on creating high-quality, engaging content that satisfies user intent, without appearing to be spam. 

Keyword Difficulty

Keyword difficulty refers to the level of competition for a particular keyword in search engine results pages (SERPs). A high keyword difficulty score indicates that it will be challenging to rank for that keyword organically, while a low score suggests that it may be easier to achieve a high ranking. 

Factors that contribute to keyword difficulty include the number and quality of competing websites, the relevance and authority of those websites, and the overall search volume and intent of the keyword.

Landing Page

A landing page is the portion of a website that is accessed by clicking on a hyperlink on another web page. It is usually the website’s home page.

Meta Description 

A meta description is a brief summary of the content on a webpage that appears in the search engine results page (SERP) beneath the page title. It is typically a 155-160 character snippet that provides a concise preview of the page’s content to help users determine if they want to click through to the page.

Positive or negative sentiment 

A positive or negative sentiment refers to the structure and tone of your blog or webpage title. It should convey a positive or negative statement in order to attract audiences and indicate the general message of your content. 

Power words

This refers to the quality of words used in the title of the online content. Power words are enticing adjectives such as successful, amazing, wonderful, fantastic, etc. They help make your title stand out and appeal to your audience. 

Search Volume

This refers to how many users on the internet search for that specific keyword per month. As a general rule of thumb, you should try to pick out keywords with a decent search volume i.e.) 100+ as you will attract a larger audience. 

However, that’s not to say that it isn’t worth your time to invest in some content for searches with a lower search volume as every single website visitor counts!

SEO Title 

An SEO title, also known as a page title or title tag, is a crucial element in search engine optimization (SEO). It is a brief and concise description of the content on a webpage that appears at the top of the browser window and on the search engine results page (SERP). An SEO title should never exceed 75 characters. 

A well-optimized SEO title should accurately reflect the content on the page while including relevant keywords to help search engines understand the page’s topic and relevance to user queries. It should also be enticing and engaging to encourage users to click through to the page, increasing the page’s visibility and driving more organic traffic.

SEMrush

SEMrush is an all-in-one digital marketing tool that offers a suite of SEO, advertising, and content marketing solutions. It provides keyword research, site audit, competitor analysis, backlink analysis, and other tools to help businesses improve their online presence and performance. 

SEMrush is used by digital marketing professionals, SEO agencies, and businesses of all sizes to streamline their online marketing efforts and stay ahead of their competition. There is both a paid version and a free version depending on the features you need and the frequency of using the site. 

Subheading

A subheading, also known as a header tag or H2/H3/H4 etc tag, is a text element that follows the main title and helps to structure the content on a webpage. Subheadings provide a clear hierarchy to the content, making it easier for users to read and navigate, and for search engines to understand the page’s structure and relevance. 

Including relevant keywords in subheadings can also help to improve the page’s SEO performance, as search engines use these elements to determine the page’s topic and relevance to user queries.

Uber Suggest 

Uber Suggest is an SEO tool that provides keyword research, competitor analysis, and backlink analysis to help improve a website’s search engine optimization. It provides data on search volume, keyword difficulty, and related keywords, as well as suggestions for content optimization and link building. The tool is designed to help website owners and marketers increase their organic traffic and improve their online visibility.

URL

The URL of a website is an important factor for SEO, as it provides search engines with a clear indication of the page’s content and relevance to user queries. A well-structured URL should be concise, descriptive, and include relevant keywords to help search engines understand the page’s topic and relevance. 

It should also be user-friendly, easy to read, and memorable to enhance user experience and encourage users to share the link. Additionally, a clear URL structure with logical hierarchy and proper use of slashes can help search engines crawl and index the page more efficiently, improving the site’s overall SEO performance.

User Experience UX

User experience (UX) is an important factor for SEO, as it directly affects user engagement and the audience’s behaviour on a website. A positive UX, such as fast load times, easy navigation, and high-quality content, can improve user satisfaction and increase the likelihood of return visits and social shares. 

Search engines use engagement metrics such as bounce rate and time on page to evaluate a website’s relevance and usefulness to users, so optimizing for UX can improve a site’s SEO performance and ranking on search engine results pages.

Frequently asked questions about SEO

Reading through these SEO key terms might have you feeling a little overwhelmed, but not to worry, you’ll soon feel confident creating SEO content once you’re in the swing of things. The best advice we can give you is just to throw yourself into it, because it’s one of those things that you just get better at the more you do it. 

Check out our answers to the frequently asked questions about SEO.

Why SEO is important for business?

SEO is important for businesses as it helps to improve their online visibility, attract more organic traffic, and increase their website’s ranking in search engine results pages (SERPs). Improved SEO can lead to increased brand awareness, customer trust, and higher conversion rates. It can also help businesses stay competitive and reach their target audience more effectively.

What are SEO keywords?

SEO keywords are specific words or phrases that are used to optimize a website or online content for search engines.

These keywords are chosen based on the intent of the search, and the target audience, they are then used to improve the website’s visibility and ranking in search engine results pages (SERPs). Effective SEO keywords help to attract more organic traffic to a website and improve its overall online visibility.

What are SEO backlinks?

SEO backlinks are links that point to a website from another website. Backlinks are an important aspect of search engine optimization (SEO) as they signal to search engines that a website is reputable and authoritative. High-quality backlinks from relevant and authoritative sources can improve a website’s ranking in search engine results pages (SERPs), while low-quality or spammy backlinks can have a negative impact on a website’s SEO.

What are SEO tools?

SEO tools are software applications or online platforms that help website owners and marketers improve their search engine optimization efforts. Examples of SEO tools include Uber Suggest and SEMrush.

These tools provide data and analysis on website traffic, keyword research, competitor analysis, backlink analysis, content optimization, and more. SEO tools are designed to help users improve their website’s search engine ranking, attract more organic traffic, and increase their online visibility.

How many SEO keywords should I use?

There is no fixed number of SEO keywords that should be used as it varies depending on the size and scope of your website, as well as your target audience and industry. It is important to use keywords that are relevant, specific, and have high search volume, but avoid overloading your content with too many keywords, as this can be considered as “keyword stuffing” and negatively affect your website’s ranking.

Focus on creating high-quality, informative content that addresses your audience’s needs and includes relevant keywords in a natural way.

How to SEO a youtube video?

Here are some tips for optimizing a YouTube video for SEO:

– Keyword research: Identify relevant keywords for your video and include them in the video title, description, and tags.
– Title: Use a catchy, descriptive title that includes your target keywords and accurately represents the content of your video.
– Description: Write a detailed description of your video that includes your target keywords and provides context and additional information.
– Tags: Add relevant tags to your video that accurately describe the content and help viewers discover your video.
– Thumbnail: Choose an engaging thumbnail image that accurately represents your video and captures viewers’ attention.
– Closed captions: Provide closed captions or subtitles for your video, as this can improve accessibility and make your video more searchable.
– Engagement: Encourage viewers to like, comment, and share your video, as this can increase engagement and improve your video’s ranking on YouTube.
– Promotion: Promote your video on social media, your website, and other relevant platforms to increase views, engagement, and overall visibility.

How can I do SEO with chatgpt?

ChatGPT cannot directly perform SEO for you, but it can provide you with information and suggestions on SEO best practices to help you improve your website’s search engine visibility. Here are some ways you can use ChatGPT to learn more about SEO:

– Ask questions: You can ask any questions you have about SEO, such as how to choose keywords, how to optimize your content, or how to measure your SEO performance.
– Get suggestions: You can ask for suggestions on SEO tools, resources, or strategies that can help you improve your website’s SEO.
– Learn from examples: You can ask the AI platform to provide examples of websites or content that are doing well in terms of SEO and analyze what makes them successful.
– Keep up-to-date: You can ask ChatGPT to provide you with the latest news and updates on SEO trends, algorithm changes, and best practices.

By using ChatGPT as a resource, you can gain valuable insights and knowledge on SEO that can help you improve your website’s search engine visibility and drive more traffic to your website.

Where can I do an SEO course?

You can do an SEO course with us at ProfileTree, check out our digital training and receive guidance from a leading SEO agency. We provide tailored support to meet the SEO needs of your business.

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