The SEO landscape is constantly evolving. Want to be found by your customers on Google in 2024? Then you need to know the SEO language and Qreativa’s SEO glossary 2024!
Algorithms, technologies, and best practices are updated quickly, leaving behind those who don’t keep up. Stay on top of your game!
In this article, you’ll find over 50 essential terms. Concise definitions, concrete examples, practical tips: everything you need to know to get the most out of your website.
Don’t waste time, start reading now!
Google Algorithms
They are a set of complex rules and processes that determine the position of a website in search results.
Each algorithm has a specific goal, and Google regularly updates them to improve the quality of search results.
Anchor text
Anchor text is the clickable text within a hyperlink. Google uses anchor text to understand the content of the linked page. Avoid generic anchor texts like click here
or see more
.
Instead, choose keywords and phrases that reflect the content of the linked page. Don’t always use the same anchor text for the same page. Use synonyms and related phrases to avoid appearing artificial.
Remember, don’t insert too many keywords into the anchor text. Aim for readability and naturalness.
ALT Attribute (Alternative text)
The “ALT attribute, in Italian ‘alternative text’, is a brief description added to images” within a web page.
Optimizing ALT attributes is important for web accessibility and understanding image content. Here are some tips for writing effective ALT attributes:
- Be concise and informative
- Include relevant keywords
- Focus on the image’s function
- Avoid generic descriptions
SEO Audit
It’s an in-depth analysis of a website aimed at assessing the health of its search engine optimization.
It’s like an X-ray that identifies strengths and weaknesses, necessary to implement the right strategies to improve your online visibility. The SEO Audit includes:
- Technical scan
- On-page optimization
- Content analysis
- Backlink analysis
- Mobile usability
Backlink
Literally “reverse link”, it’s a hyperlink that points from one website to another website.
In the world of SEO, backlinks are crucial: the more quality backlinks you get, the greater your online authority and visibility will be.
A single backlink from a high-authority website is more valuable than hundreds of backlinks from low-quality or irrelevant websites. Here are some factors that influence the quality of a backlink:
Black-hat
It refers to aggressive practices and techniques, contrary to search engine guidelines, used to manipulate algorithms and obtain a higher ranking in search results (SERP).
While black hat SEO techniques can quickly gain you positions in the short term, the long-term risks are significant and include Google penalties and damage to reputation
Bounce rate
The bounce rate is a web analytics metric that measures the percentage of sessions with a single page view on your website.
In simple terms, it indicates the number of visitors who leave your site after viewing only one page and without taking any further actions.
A high bounce rate can indicate some problems:
- Unmet expectations
- Poor user experience
- Unclear proposition
Breadcrumb
Translatable as “breadcrumbs”, it’s a graphical element used in the “user interface of websites and applications to show the hierarchy and position of the” user “within the site structure. Breadcrumbs help users and search engines navigate” within the website.
Canonical URL
A canonical URL, or Canonical URL, is an HTML tag used to specify the preferred version of a web page to search engines.
Essentially, it tells Google which of the duplicate pages (identical or similar content available on different URLs) to consider as “original” and index accordingly.
By using Canonical URLs, you can prevent Google from penalizing your website for duplicate content and focus on SEO for a single page for a specific keyword.
Cloaking
It’s a black hat SEO technique that involves showing different content to search engines compared to what is displayed to human users.
In practice, the website deceives search engines by showing content rich in keywords and optimized for ranking, while users are presented with completely different content. Cloaking is a very harmful practice, don’t use it!
Content is the King
This statement emphasizes the fundamental importance of high-quality content for online success.
Search engines, like Google, rely on content to understand what your website is about and determine its relevance to users’ searches. Today, to be king, you must focus on:
- Original and informative content
- Quality content
- SEO-friendly content
- Updated content
Conversion rate
Conversion rate measures the percentage of visitors who complete an action on your website or app.
This action could be anything, from purchasing a product to subscribing to a newsletter, downloading an ebook, or requesting a quote.
A high conversion rate indicates that your website or app is effective in convincing visitors to take actions that help achieve your business goals.
Conversion Rate Optimization
“Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO), also known as Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO), is the process of improving the percentage of visitors who complete a” desired action on your website or app.
This action can be “purchasing a product,” subscribing to a newsletter, or requesting a quote.
Core Web Vitals
Core Web Vitals (CWV) are metrics used by Google to measure the user experience (UX) of a website on mobile and desktop devices.
These key factors influence the loading speed, interactivity, and visual stability of your site, determining its ranking in search results. The three Core Web Vitals are:
- Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): measures the time it takes to load the main visible content on the web page. An LCP under 2.5 seconds is considered optimal.
- First Input Delay (FID): measures the time between when a user interacts with the web page (clicking a button, scrolling) and when the browser begins to respond. An FID under 100 milliseconds is considered optimal.
- Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): measures the amount of unexpected layout shift of the page during loading. A CLS under 0.1 is considered optimal.
Crawler
In the world of computer science, a web crawler, often translated as spider, is an automatic software program that systematically navigates the web. It scans web pages and indexes them in search engines.
Keyword density
Keyword density is the frequency with which a specific keyword or phrase appears within a text, usually expressed as a percentage. The ideal density varies based on several factors:
- Type of content
- Industry
- Search intent
Dofollow/Nofollow
Dofollow and Nofollow are attributes used in HTML links to indicate to search engines how to handle the link juice (SEO authority) transmitted from one page to another.
The dofollow and nofollow attributes are important for webmasters because they can influence the SEO ranking of their website.
Receiving dofollow links from authoritative websites can help increase your SEO authority and improve your ranking in search results. However, it’s important to build links naturally and avoid artificial links, which can be penalized by search engines.
Domain authority
Domain Authority (DA) is a metric that indicates the likelihood of a website ranking well in search results (SERPs) for various keywords.
It’s a score that ranges from 0 to 100, and the higher it is, the greater the probability of ranking high.
It’s important to note that DA is not an official Google ranking factor and that some factors influencing Domain Authority are:
- Number and quality of backlinks
- Website content
- Domain age
EEAT
EEAT stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness.
It’s a set of factors that Google uses to evaluate the quality and reliability of a website’s content, particularly for websites dealing with YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) topics, which can affect people’s lives or finances. What does Google evaluate for each EEAT factor?
- Experience: Whether and how much the “content author has direct experience or proven knowledge of the” topic. Also, if the website has an established history as a reliable source of information.
- Expertise: The “content author must have expertise and in-depth knowledge of the” topic. The website must present content written by qualified experts in the field.
- Authoritativeness: Google assesses whether the author is recognized as an expert in their field and if the website is cited by other authoritative sources or has recognition.
- Trustworthiness: The content must be accurate and error-free. The website must be transparent about its ownership and the team managing it, and have positive reviews.
Ranking factor
Ranking factors are the elements that Google and other search engines evaluate to determine the position of a website in search results (SERPs).
Some of the main ranking factors are: on-page optimization, mobile-friendliness, security, freshness, readability, backlinks, CTR.
Featured snippet
A featured snippet is a summary of a web page displayed directly within Google search results.
Its purpose is to concisely answer the user’s query, in some cases avoiding the need to click on the actual web page.
They can appear in different formats, including paragraphs, lists, tables. The advantages of featured snippets are:
- Increased visibility
- Improved click-through rate (CTR)
- Brand awareness
Keep in mind that featured snippets are not a guaranteed result. However, by focusing on creating high-quality content that directly answers users’ questions, you can increase the chances of your website appearing in these coveted search result positions.
Google Analytics 4
Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is the latest evolution of Google’s analytics platform, designed to provide more comprehensive and cross-platform insights into user behavior across websites and apps.
Compared to the previous version, Universal Analytics, GA4 focuses more on the user and their interactions, using an event-based data model rather than sessions.
This means that GA4 can track and report more detailed user activities and improve user journey analysis and personalization.
Google Search Console
Google Search Console is a free tool that helps website owners monitor and optimize their presence in search results.
It provides important data on how Google views the site, reports indexing errors, and allows webmasters to optimize their site’s visibility.
Guest Blogging
Guest blogging, or “guest article”, is a digital marketing strategy that involves writing content for someone else’s blog.
Guest blogging can be a valuable strategy to increase your online visibility, establish yourself as an expert, and attract new clients.
However, it’s important to do it strategically, focusing on creating high-quality content that is useful for both you and the hosting website.
Heading Tag
Heading tags, or header tags
, are HTML tags used to define titles and subtitles within a web page.
There are six levels of heading tags, indicated from H1 to H6, with H1 representing the main title of the page and H6 representing the smallest subtitle.
It’s important to use these tags hierarchically, with only one H1 tag per page and then using H2, H3, and so on for progressively more specific subtitles.
HTTPS
The HTTPS protocol (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure) ensures that data – payment and personal information – sent between the user’s browser and the website is encrypted and protected from interception or tampering.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
“Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the context of SEO refers to the” use of algorithms and machine learning models to optimize websites and improve their ranking in search engines.
AI can analyze large amounts of data, identifying trends that can be used to predict and influence a site’s ranking.
Keyword Research
Keyword research identifies the words and phrases that people use to search for information online.
It’s a fundamental step for any SEO and online marketing strategy. Why is keyword research important?
- It helps you understand what your customers are searching for.
- It allows you to optimize your website for search engines.
- It’s the first step in creating relevant and engaging content.
- It directs the right traffic to your website.
Keyword Stuffing
It’s a harmful SEO practice that involves “unnaturally inserting an excessive number of keywords, with the” aim of manipulating the site’s ranking in search results. It’s negative because:
- The content is difficult to read.
- The site is penalized by Google.
- The “user experiences a” negative user experience.
Knowledge Graph
The Knowledge Graph is a database created by Google to improve search results. It’s a vast collection of information about people, places, things, events.
Google gathers information from sources such as books, websites, and other public databases. Subsequently, it analyzes and links this information to create a knowledge network.
The Knowledge Graph plays a fundamental role in making Google search a more powerful and informative tool.
Landing Page
A landing page, or “destination page”, is a web page created specifically for a marketing or advertising objective.
Unlike a standard web page, a landing page is designed to persuade visitors to take a specific action, such as making a purchase, signing up for a newsletter, downloading an ebook, requesting a demo or free consultation, or registering for a webinar.
Landing pages are a very effective digital marketing tool because they allow you to increase conversions, provide a targeted message, and track results. Key elements of an effective landing page are:
- Clear and concise headline
- Persuasive copywriting
- Engaging images or videos
- Simple and clear lead capture form
- Strong and inviting call to action (CTA)
- Clean and professional design
Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI)
Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) is a technique used by search engines to understand the meaning of a text and identify terms related to a specific keyword.
Imagine writing an article about dark chocolate
. While the main keyword is dark chocolate
, LSI also considers related words such as cocoa
, percentage
, bitter
, and recipe
.
Link building
Link building is an SEO strategy that aims to obtain hyperlinks (backlinks) from other sites pointing to your site.
These backlinks signal to Google “the importance and” authority of your website.
Link building is one of the most important ranking factors for Google. The more high-quality backlinks you obtain, the more likely your website is to rank well in search results.
Link farm
A link farm (literally a farm of links
) is a group of websites artificially linked together with the sole purpose of manipulating search engine rankings.
These sites typically contain low-quality or duplicate content, and their main purpose is to exchange backlinks unnaturally.
Local SEO
It’s an optimization strategy that aims to increase the visibility of your business in local searches on Google and other search engines.
In practice, Local SEO helps your business be found by users searching for products or services offered in your geographical area.
Search engines use various factors to determine which businesses to show in local search results, including:
- Google My Business.
- NAP citations (Name, Address, Phone).
- Reviews.
- Proximity signals such as the user “’s IP address and search history”.
- Website optimization.
Machine learning
Translatable as automatic learning, it is a subfield of artificial intelligence (AI) that focuses on algorithms that learn from data and improve their performance over time. Examples of machine learning applications include facial recognition, personalized recommendations, and virtual assistants
Meta description
The meta description is a brief description that appears under your website’s title in search engine results.
It’s like a preview of your content that should convince users to click on your page.
By writing clear, informative, and persuasive meta descriptions, you can increase your website’s visibility and attract more qualified traffic.
Mobile SEO
It’s the process that optimizes your website to offer the best possible experience to users browsing from mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets.
With an ever-increasing number of users browsing from mobile devices, optimizing your website for mobile is now essential.
Invest in a responsive design, ensure high loading speeds, and provide a flawless user experience for mobile users!
Natural language processing (NLP)
Natural Language Processing (NLP) is a subfield of artificial intelligence (AI) that enables computers to understand and manipulate human language.
Imagine talking to a computer as if it were a friend. NLP is the technology that makes this scenario become a reality. Areas where it is applied include: virtual assistants, chatbots, automatic translation, automatic text writing.
Off-page SEO
Off-page SEO focuses on activities that influence search engines’ perception of your website externally.
In simple terms, it’s what you do outside of your website to improve its positioning in search results (link building, social media, reviews, influencer marketing, guest posts, etc.).
On-page SEO
On-page SEO refers to all the actions you can perform on your website to improve its positioning in search results.
On-page SEO activities include keyword optimization, website structure, technical SEO, UX, internal linking, etc.
PageRank
It’s Google’s voting system, which assigns an importance score to each web page. PageRank is based on a simple concept: a web page is important if other important pages link to it.
Imagine that every link on the Internet is like a vote of confidence. The more votes a page receives from authoritative websites, the higher its PageRank.
Although PageRank is still one of the factors considered by Google “s ranking algorithm, it’s no longer t” he only determining factor. Today, Google uses hundreds of signals to evaluate the quality and relevance of a web page.
PageSpeed Insights
PageSpeed Insights (PSI) is a free tool developed by Google that helps you analyze the performance of your web pages on both desktop and mobile devices. It provides suggestions on how to improve your website’s speed, consequently enhancing the user experience (UX).
Penalty
An SEO penalty occurs when Google applies a sanction to your website, reducing its visibility in search results.
This can happen for various reasons, including violation of Google’s guidelines, lack of updates, low-quality content, technical issues. How to know if your website has been penalized? For example, if you see a decrease in organic traffic, lower positioning in search results, or receive a message from Google Search Console.
Positioning
It’s the position a website occupies in organic search results for specific keywords. The goal of SEO is to improve the positioning of your website for relevant keywords in order to gain greater visibility and organic traffic.
PPC (Pay per Click)
PPC (Pay Per Click) is an online advertising model where advertisers pay a fee when users click on their ad. It’s mainly used on Google and platforms like Facebook.
Search query
These are the questions or requests for information that users enter into search engines like Google, Bing, or Yahoo. These queries can be simple or complex, and reflect the user “’s intent, which is what they hope to find or achieve with their search.”
Search queries are:
- Informational and used to search for information on a specific topic.
- Navigational, and are entered to find a specific website.
- Transactional and invite an action, such as purchasing a product or downloading software.
301 Redirect
A 301 redirect is an HTTP status code that tells search engines and browsers that a web page has been permanently moved to a new URL. Use a 301 redirect when you change URLs, remove a web page, or migrate to a new website.
Voice search
Voice search allows you to perform internet searches using your voice. Instead of typing keywords and queries, you speak directly to your smartphone, smart speaker, or smartwatch device.
It relies on voice recognition technologies and artificial intelligence to understand your command and return the most relevant results.
Rich snippet
Rich Snippets, literally “enhanced informative fragments”, are elements that appear in Google and other search engine results. They provide additional information in a more appealing format compared to the classic snippet composed of title, URL, and description.
Rich Snippets aim to improve the user’s search experience by providing more detailed and clear information at a glance about the web page to which the result points.
This can help users decide which result is most relevant to their search without necessarily having to open each individual page. There are different types of Rich Snippets, each suitable for providing specific information about certain types of content, for example:
- Reviews with stars.
- Product information, such as price, availability, and offers.
- Recipes with calories and preparation time.
- The date, time, and location of events.
- The author, publication date, and a brief summary of an article.
Organic results
Organic results are the search results that appear on search engine results pages (SERPs) based on their relevance to the user’s query, and not due to sponsorship or payment.
Search engines use complex algorithms to determine the relevance and quality of a website, and consequently its position in the SERP. The goal is to provide users with the most useful and relevant results possible for their query.
Schema markup
Schema markup, closely related to Rich Snippets, is a standard markup language used to provide search engines with detailed and organized information about the content of your web pages.
It uses microdata, RDFa, or JSON-LD to annotate your HTML with specific tags that define the meaning and context of your content.
For example, you can use schema markup to tell search engines that a specific page on your website is a recipe, specifying ingredients, preparation times, calories, and more.
It’s not a direct factor for search result ranking, but having well-structured and understandable content can still indirectly help your website’s SEO.
Schema markup is free and relatively simple to implement. There are numerous online tools and plugins for CMS (Content Management Systems) that can help you generate the necessary Schema markup code for your website.
Search intent
Search intent, or “search intention” or “user intent”, is the reason that drives a user to perform a particular search.
Essentially, it answers the question: what is the user trying to achieve with their search? By understanding search intent, you can optimize your website and content to better meet the needs of your target audience.
This can lead to improved SEO, higher click-through rates, and an overall more effective online presence.
SEA
Search Engine Advertising – Advertising on search engines. It involves placing paid advertisements at the top or side of search results. The most common advertising platforms for SEA are Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising.
SEM
Search Engine Marketing – Marketing on search engines, includes both SEO and SEA (Search Engine Advertising). The goal of SEM is to increase your website’s visibility in search results using both organic (SEO) and paid (SEA) methods.
SEO
Search Engine Optimization – Search engine optimization is the process that improves the structure and content of your website to organically position it higher in search results.
To do this, techniques such as keyword research, creating high-quality content, optimizing title tags and meta descriptions, and building backlinks are used.
SOCIAL SIGNALS
These are interactions that occur on social media and can be associated with a website or brand. They indicate how users interact with your content on social platforms.
Examples of social signals:
- Likes
- Shares
- Comments
- Mentions
By focusing on creating valuable content and interacting with your audience on social media, you can increase your social signals and improve your online presence.
SERP
SERP stands for Search Engine Results Page, which is the page of search results you see after performing a search on a search engine like Google.
It generally contains the following elements: organic results, paid ads, advanced search features.
By optimizing your website and creating high-quality content, you can increase your chances of ranking well in SERPs and reaching a wider audience.
Sitemap
A sitemap is a file that serves as a map or list of all the important web pages on your website. It provides information about the structure and content of your website to search engines. There are two main types of sitemaps:
- HTML sitemap which is a human-readable file.
- XML sitemap, an XML file that follows a specific format understood by search engines.
Title Tag
The title tag, or meta title, is a fundamental element for SEO and indicates the title of a web page. It is displayed at the top of the browser window, usually next to the website icon. It also appears in search engine results (SERP) as the main title for each search result. Finally, it’s shown on social media when a web page is shared.
An effective Title Tag should have:
- An ideal length of about 50-60 characters.
- The main keywords for which you want your web page to rank.
- Clarity.
- Uniqueness.
- Optional call to action.
Tone of Voice
Tone of Voice is the style, language, and way in which a company or professional communicates its values and personality across various communication channels. The tone of voice should align with the type of audience being addressed.
Technical SEO
Technical SEO includes the technical aspects of a website that affect its crawling, indexing, and overall visibility in search engine results.
It allows search engines to easily find, understand, and present your website’s content. Common areas of intervention in technical SEO are:
- Website speed.
- Mobile compatibility.
- Crawling and indexing.
- Structured data markup.
- HTTPS security.
Topical Authority
Topical Authority is the reputation and credibility that a website or brand obtains in a specific topic or sector. It is achieved through detailed, accurate, and useful content for the target audience.
Organic Traffic
It’s the traffic that comes to your website from search engines like Google, Bing, or Yahoo, without you having paid for ads or sponsorships. In other words, users land on your website because they found your content relevant and useful for their search query.
Increasing organic traffic takes time and effort, but it’s an investment that can pay off in the long term. By focusing on creating high-quality content and SEO, you can obtain consistent traffic of interested visitors to your website.
URL
A URL, acronym for Uniform Resource Locator, is “the address of a web page”, image, or file on the internet.
The main parts of a URL are:
- The Protocol for example, “https” for secure web pages or “http” for non-secure ones.
- The domain name for example “www.qreativa.com”.
- The path: for example, “/search?q=how+a+url+works”.
User Experience (UX)
User experience (UX), also known as User Experience, refers to the overall experience a user has when interacting with a product or service. It encompasses all aspects of interaction, including usability, accessibility, emotions, and efficiency.
UGC
UGC stands for User Generated Content. It refers to any type of content created by users or consumers, rather than professionals. This content can be an image, video, text, or audio.
By encouraging and leveraging UGC, companies can build stronger relationships with their customers, promote their brand, and achieve their marketing goals.
Loading Speed
Loading speed is crucial for the success of any website. A website that loads slowly can frustrate users and drive them elsewhere. Loading speed is important because it improves user experience, enhances SEO, optimizes conversions, and reduces site abandonment rates.
White Hat SEO
White hat SEO focuses on following search engine guidelines and creating a positive user experience to achieve high rankings.
Some common white hat SEO techniques include:
- High-quality content.
- Keyword research.
- On-Page optimization.
- Link building.
- Mobile compatibility.
- Website speed.
By focusing on these white hat SEO techniques, you can create a website that is both user-friendly and SEO-friendly.
Conclusions:
The SEO landscape of 2024 is constantly evolving, with artificial intelligence and machine learning taking on an increasingly important role.
However, the fundamental principles of SEO remain the same: creating high-quality content, building authoritative backlinks, and optimizing the website for search engines.
We will definitely update this list, so keep an eye on it! Happy SEO!
