SEO and marketing terms, in plain language.

Search basics

SEO

Search engine optimization: the work of earning higher, more visible placement in search results without paying for each click.

SEM

Search engine marketing: a broad term for earning visibility in search, covering both unpaid SEO and paid search ads.

SERP

Search engine results page: the page you see after you search, with ads, maps, answers and regular results.

Organic results

The regular, unpaid listings on a results page. They are earned through relevance and trust, not bought.

Keyword

A word or phrase people type or say into a search engine. Good keyword choices match what real buyers search.

Long-tail keyword

A longer, more specific search such as emergency plumber in Franklin on a Sunday. It has fewer searches and usually more buying intent.

Search intent

The reason behind a search: to learn, to compare, to find a place or to buy. Pages should match the intent of the search.

Ranking factor

Any signal a search engine uses to decide where to place a page, such as relevance, trust, speed or reviews.

Algorithm update

A change to the systems search engines use to rank pages. Strong, honest sites tend to weather updates well.

White hat

SEO methods that follow search engine guidelines and focus on real value for visitors.

Black hat

Tactics that try to trick search engines, such as hidden text or bought links. They carry a high risk of penalties.

Penalty

A demotion or removal from results that happens when a site breaks search engine rules, sometimes automatically.

PageRank

The original Google system that treated links as votes of trust. Its ideas still shape how authority is judged.

E-E-A-T

Experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness: qualities search quality guidelines describe for strong content.

YMYL

Your money or your life: topics such as health, law and finance where search engines look especially hard at trust.

AI and answers

AEO

Answer engine optimization: shaping your content so voice assistants, featured answers and AI tools quote you.

GEO

Generative engine optimization: improving the chance that AI search tools and chat assistants name your business in their answers.

LLM

Large language model: the type of AI behind chat assistants and many new search features.

AI Overview

An AI-written summary placed above regular search results, usually citing a few sources.

Featured snippet

A short answer shown in a box at the top of results, pulled from one page.

People Also Ask

A box of related questions with expandable answers, shown in many searches.

Zero-click search

A search that ends without a click because the answer was shown right on the results page.

Voice search

Searching by speaking to a phone, car or smart speaker. Voice answers usually name only one source.

Entity

A distinct thing a search engine understands, such as a business, a person or a place.

Knowledge graph

A search engine database of entities and how they relate, used to answer questions directly.

Citation (AI)

When an AI tool or answer box names or links to your page as the source of information.

Local search

Local SEO

Optimizing to appear in searches that have a place attached, including the map results.

Map pack

The group of three local businesses with a map shown above regular results for many local searches. Also called the local pack.

Google Business Profile

The free listing that shows your business on the map and in search, with hours, photos, reviews and calls.

NAP

Name, address and phone number. They should match exactly everywhere your business is listed.

Citation

An online mention of your business name, address and phone, often in a directory or listing.

Service area

The places a business travels to serve customers, set in the profile and supported by local pages.

Proximity

How close a searcher is to your business. It strongly affects who appears in the map pack.

Review velocity

How often new reviews arrive. A steady pace looks more trustworthy than a sudden burst.

Reputation management

Earning good reviews, replying well and keeping your business information accurate across the web.

Websites and technical

Crawl

When a search engine robot visits a page to read it and follow its links.

Index

A search engine database of pages it has read. A page must be indexed to appear in results.

Robots.txt

A small file that tells search robots which parts of a site they may visit.

XML sitemap

A list of the pages on a site, offered to search engines to help them find everything.

Canonical tag

A note in a page that tells search engines which version is the main one when similar pages exist.

Redirect

An instruction that sends visitors and search engines from one address to another.

301 redirect

A permanent redirect, used when a page has moved for good so its value follows it.

404 error

The message shown when a page cannot be found. A few are normal, and many broken links hurt visitors.

Meta title

The title of a page shown in search results and browser tabs. It is one of the clearest signals of a page topic.

Meta description

The short summary under a title in results. It does not rank pages directly, and it helps earn clicks.

Header tags

Headings such as H1 and H2 that organize a page and show what each section is about.

Alt text

A short description of an image, read by screen readers and used by search engines.

Schema markup

Structured data added to a page that labels what its content is, such as a business, a service or a question.

Structured data

Information in a standard format that machines can read easily. Schema is the most common kind.

Rich result

A search listing enhanced with extras such as stars, prices or questions.

Core Web Vitals

A set of measures of how fast a page loads, how soon it responds and how steady its layout stays.

LCP

Largest Contentful Paint: how long the main content of a page takes to appear.

CLS

Cumulative Layout Shift: how much a page jumps around while it loads.

INP

Interaction to Next Paint: how quickly a page reacts when someone taps or clicks.

Mobile-first indexing

Search engines mainly use the phone version of a page to decide how to rank it.

Responsive design

A design that adjusts to fit phones, tablets and computers.

CMS

Content management system: software such as WordPress that lets you edit a website without code.

SSL certificate

The technology behind secure web addresses that begin with https and show a padlock.

Hosting

The service that stores your website and delivers it to visitors.

Content and links

Backlink

A link from another website to yours. Credible ones act like votes of trust.

Anchor text

The clickable words of a link. Natural, descriptive anchor text helps explain what the target page is about.

Link building

Earning links to your site through relationships, useful resources and community involvement.

Internal link

A link from one page of your site to another. It helps visitors and shows search engines how pages relate.

Domain authority

A score from third-party tools that estimates a site strength. Search engines do not use it directly.

Thin content

Pages with little useful information. They rarely rank and can drag a site down.

Duplicate content

The same or very similar text on more than one page. It confuses search engines about which page to show.

Keyword cannibalization

When several pages on your own site compete for the same search, weakening each other.

Pillar page

A broad, thorough page on a main topic that links to more detailed pages.

Topic cluster

A group of related pages around one topic, linked together to show depth of coverage.

Evergreen content

Content that stays useful for a long time, such as guides and how-to pages.

Digital PR

Earning news coverage and online mentions that build awareness and links.

Analytics and tracking

Analytics

Tools that measure how many people visit your website, where they come from and what they do.

GA4

Google Analytics 4: the current version of the Google web analytics tool.

Search Console

A free search engine tool that shows how your site appears in search and flags problems.

Impressions

The number of times your page or listing appeared in results, whether or not anyone clicked.

CTR

Click-through rate: the share of people who saw a result and clicked it.

Bounce rate

The share of visits that leave without doing anything further. It is one signal among many.

Conversion

An action you want a visitor to take, such as a call, a form or a booking.

Conversion rate

The share of visitors who complete a conversion.

UTM parameters

Tags added to a link so analytics can tell which campaign or source produced a visit.

Call tracking

Using tracked phone numbers to learn which sources and pages make the phone ring.

Attribution

Deciding which marketing effort deserves credit for a customer.

ROI

Return on investment: what you earned compared with what you spent.

Social, paid and email

PPC

Pay-per-click advertising, where you pay each time someone clicks your ad.

CPC

Cost per click: the price paid for each click on an ad.

CPA

Cost per acquisition: the price paid to gain one customer or lead.

ROAS

Return on ad spend: the revenue earned for each dollar spent on ads.

Remarketing

Showing ads to people who already visited your site.

Landing page

A page built for one purpose, such as turning a visit from an ad or search into a call.

CTA

Call to action: the button or words that ask a visitor to take the next step.

CRO

Conversion rate optimization: improving a page so more visitors take action.

Funnel

The path a customer follows from first contact to purchase.

CRM

Customer relationship management: software that keeps your leads and customers in one place.

Marketing automation

Software that sends follow-up messages automatically at the right moments.

Drip campaign

A series of emails or texts sent over time to guide someone toward a decision.

SMS marketing

Sending text messages to people who have agreed to receive them.

Open rate

The share of recipients who open an email.

Social proof

Evidence that others trust you, such as reviews, testimonials and photos of finished work.