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If you're new to SEO terms, welcome! We'll soon have you feeling like a pro.
This guide is going to be comprehensive and easy to understand. It will give you the tools and knowledge you need to start making an impact on your website's search engine rankings today.
A/B Testing
Definition
A/B testing is the process of comparing two versions of a web page to determine which performs better. A/B testing can be used to test any aspect of your site, from the text on your homepage to the color of a button.
The basic format for A/B testing is that you create two versions of the same page, and see which version got more clicks or conversions etc.
Applying this SEO term
A/B testing is a great way to get the most out of your marketing efforts.
You can use A/B testing to test different titles, descriptions and keywords for your website. This will help you figure out what works best for your target audience and get more traffic from search engines like Google.
This SEO term a great way to measure whether or not your content marketing strategy is working. If you're conducting webinars or posting blogs that aren’t getting traffic, try changing up the title or description and see if it affects your rankings or conversion rates.
Alt Text
Definition
Alt text is the text that appears when you hover over an image on a web page. When an image fails to load, the alt text helps users figure out what the image was meant to be.
Applying this SEO term
Alt text is an SEO strategy that allows you to include extra information about the image on your page, which can help improve your site's rankings in organic search results. This is because the alt text helps provide context to the image.
Hacks for this SEO term: keep it short, concise, and to the point. Aim for less than 125 characters.
Anchor Text
Definition
If you're wondering what the heck anchor text is and how it can help your SEO, let us explain.
Anchor text is the clickable text in a hyperlink that links to a page on your website or to another website. It’s an SEO strategy used for link building (see what we did there?).
Applying this SEO term
Other than providing users with context to what they’re clicking, anchor text is also something that search engines use to determine what your page is about.
For example, if someone searches for something like "digital strategy agency" and clicks on a link from your site that has the anchor text "digital strategy agency," then Google’s search algorithm will understand what your page is about and rank for it accordingly.
To put this into simple terms: if you're trying to sell hamburgers, but all the links on your site say things like "our products" or "our company," then it doesn't matter how good those hamburgers are—Google won’t rank your website higher!
Backlinks
Definition
A backlink is a link from another website that points to your site. When your website has more backlinks, it helps it rank higher on Google and other search engines.
Applying this SEO term
Backlinks are a critical part of any SEO strategy.
But this SEO term is the hardest to implement.
To acquire backlinks, you need to have high-quality and informative content that other websites will reference in their articles.
This can either happen organically where your content is discovered by other websites through Google.
Or, you can reach out to websites and promote your content.
Bounce Rate
Definition
Bounce rate is the percentage of visitors who view only one page on your site and then leave.The higher your bounce rate, the more likely your visitors are leaving without engaging with your content.
For example, if a visitor arrives on your homepage from Google and then clicks back to their search engine results, your bounce rate will be 100%. If that visitor views multiple pages, such as reading an article or watching a video before clicking back to their search engine results, then your bounce rate will be lower.
Applying this SEO term
A high bounce rate means that you're losing your potential customers before they even see your products or services. This is especially problematic if you have an ecommerce business website, as it means that people are leaving without buying anything.
In order to increase your web traffic and reduce bounce rate, consider adding more high-quality and engaging content to each page. You can also add calls-to-action on each page so that visitors know exactly what you want them to do on their first visit to your site.
Breadcrumb Navigation
Definition
A breadcrumb trail is a list of links that shows the path to the current page. Breadcrumbs are usually placed at the top of a website.
We’ve included a client’s website as an example. If you visit Pedigree Painting, the breadcrumb trail might look like this: Home → Painting → Residential Painting.
Applying this SEO term
Breadcrumb navigation is a technique that can help your website's SEO.
It helps Google know what the content on each page on your site is about, so it can figure out whether or not that page is relevant to the search query that brought people there.
Breadcrumb navigation also helps users navigate between pages on your website. Making sure your website’s navigation is user friendly can decrease your bounce rate and increase your dwell time (yes, both of these SEO terms are on this list).
Call To Action
Definition
A call to action is a button, link, or graphic that encourages users to take some type of action. For example: subscribe, contact us, sign up for our newsletter, etc.
Applying this SEO term
A good call to action should be clear and concise. It should be used to help your users know what they can do on your page in order to get the most out of it.
A bad call to action will be hard to find or unclear.
Content Gap Analysis
Definition
Content gap analysis is a way to measure the difference between the content you have and the content you need.
This process is crucial in helping visitors find what they need on your website and also getting them to come back to your site.
Applying this SEO term
Content gap analysis is an effective way to see what information is missing from your marketing and how you can better fill those gaps. Here's how it works:
First, you'll need to identify the key points in your sales funnel.
For example:
1. Find out what people are hungry for (target audience)
2. Make them believe that you have exactly what they want (brand identity)
3. Get them to take action (call-to-action)
4. Deliver on your promise (delivery of product or service)
Content Marketing
Definition
Content marketing is an SEO strategy that uses the creation and sharing of valuable and relevant content to attract, engage, and retain a clearly defined audience.
The goal of content marketing is to help you build your brand and authority by creating something that is interesting and helpful for your target market.
Applying this SEO term
Content marketing is the best way to get your brand in front of potential customers.
It's all about creating a steady stream of quality, SEO-optimized content that addresses the needs of your target audience.
The goal is to create content that is easily found on Google, that people want to read—and then share it on social media. This means that you need to be able to write well and understand the needs of your target audience.
Conversion Rate
Definition
Conversion rate is a key metric for measuring the success of your SEO efforts. It's the percentage of site visitors who take the action you want them to take—for example, buying something on your site, signing up for a newsletter, or filling out the contact form.
Applying this SEO term
Conversion rate is the key to success online.
If you want to make money online, you need to get people to convert.
If they don't convert, they won't buy your product or sign up for your service – and you won’t make any money from these visitors.
So how can you optimize this SEO term?
To increase your conversion rate, you need to make sure that your website is easy to use and that it has a clear call to action (scroll up for more information about this SEO term). You also need to make sure that your website is optimized for mobile, so people can access it from any device.
Crawlers
Definition
Crawlers are sent out by search engines to travel the entire internet and index every page they find.
The main benefit to crawlers is that they can index your web pages without your participation, and they can do it very quickly. For example, if you add a new page to your site, it may take Googlebot (the most popular crawler) up to two weeks before it discovers and indexes the change.
Applying this SEO term
This is the most important SEO term.
Search engines are like giant warehouses full of products and when customers want something, they go on Google and type in what they want—and then they'll get back tons of results with links to websites that have exactly what they were looking for.
You want your website to be a part of that list.
So, if you want to be found by crawlers, you need to make sure your site is crawlable. This means you need a user-friendly site that can easily be navigated by crawlers (and visitors) so they can find all the information they need.
If your website is disorganized, not user-friendly, and hard to navigate, crawlers may not index the page.
To find out if any of your webpages have been crawled and indexed, Google Console has a helpful tool you can use.
Dwell Time
Definition
Dwell time is the amount of time a customer spends on your site before leaving. It's an SEO term that has become increasingly important because it shows how well you are engaging with your audience.
Applying this SEO term
Dwell time is an important SEO term because it's a direct measure of the quality of your content.
The higher the quality of your content, the more time visitors will spend on your website listening to what you have to say.
The longer people spend on your site, the more likely they are to find what they're looking for—and if they don't find it (or if they find something else), then they have more opportunity to interact with you and discover what you have to offer.
Moreover, the longer they're there, the more likely they're going to do what you want them to do: buy something, sign up for your newsletter, subscribe to your podcast, etc.
It's important to remember that dwell time is different from bounce rate: bounce rate simply measures how many people leave your website without interacting with it at all.
External Link
Definition
An external link is a link that points to a website outside of the current one.
Applying this SEO term
External linking is an SEO strategy that helps improve your website’s authority. Google assumes high-quality pages link to other high-quality pages. Therefore, your content will be favoured more and ranked higher.
The key to external linking is to link to reputable sources and ensure your anchor text is optimized for SEO (for more tips on this SEO term, scroll up to “anchor text”).
Featured Snippets
Definition
A featured snippet is a box that appears at the top of Google search results for certain queries. It's designed to show users exactly what they're looking for, instead of having to wade through other sites' content on their own.
The box contains a brief summary of the topic at hand, followed by a link back to the page where Google found that information. The summary can be a definition, list, table, instructions, or ranking.
You can see an example at the top of the image below:
Applying this SEO term
Featured snippets are considered “position #0” on the SERP page since it appears before other results.
Sites on featured snippets are able to rank higher on Google without increasing their ranking.
In terms of SEO, if you are just starting content creation, try to aim for keywords that don’t result in a featured snippet when searched. This is because featured snippets get 8% of clicks on the results page. Competition is fierce and you want to avoid that.
If you’re deep into content creation and are confident in your material, you can take a different approach. Look for keywords with featured snippets and see what type of content Google looks for. For example, for the keyword you chose, does Google feature lists, definitions, or tables? Then, you can go ahead and optimize your content for that format.
Googlebot
Definition
Googlebot is the name of Google’s crawler (to learn more about this SEO term, scroll up to “crawlers”).
There are 2 types of Googlebots: a mobile crawler and a desktop crawler.
The mobile crawler simulates a user going on your website on their mobile and the desktop crawler does the same but with a desktop.
You can choose which Googlebot you want to be the “majority” crawler and “minority” crawler for your website.
The majority crawler will crawl your website first and the minority crawler will crawl URLs that have already been crawled by the majority crawler.
Applying this SEO term
You cannot target the mobile or desktop Googlebot separately. This is because both use the same user agent token in robots.txt.
However, this shows the importance of having a website that is user-friendly on all devices: desktop, mobile, tablet, etc. Google ranks responsive websites higher on the results page since they are more user-friendly (for more information about this new SEO term, scroll down to “responsive website”).
Header Tags
Definition
Header tags are headings and subheadings in an article. They are used to separate sections to improve readability of an article.
Headers are numbered in a hierarchical order from H1 to H6. H1 is usually the title of the article.
Applying this SEO term
Header tags are an important place to insert keywords.
This is because Google uses headers to gather data and context about your article. Having keywords in headers will improve your ranking.
Secondly, if you have your eye on being a featured snippet, Google can pull your headings and subheadings to create its own list in a featured snippet. So, make sure you’re using your header tags wisely!
Indexing
Definition
Indexing is the process of adding a website to a search engine's database.
The easiest way to understand this is to think of the web as a library and each website as a book. Search engines send out crawlers to discover each of the books in the library. Then, they index the books so people can find them in the library.
Applying this SEO term
Indexing ensures your website appears on the results page. Along with crawlers, this is the most important SEO term.
In the “crawlers” section, we already talked about methods to optimize your website for crawling and indexing.
However, it is possible for your web page to be crawled but not indexed. The best way to find out if this is the case is to use Google Console for a summary of indexed and non-indexed pages. Google Console will also provide you with the reason your web page was not indexed.
After fixing the issue, you can request a re-crawl of the affected webpage. Google will usually fulfill these requests within 2 weeks.
Internal Link
Definition
An internal link is a link that points to another page within the same website.
Applying this SEO term
Internal links are an easy and effective SEO strategy.
When crawlers go through your website, they also follow links within your website. By following links, the crawlers can understand the context of the page and the relationship between various pages. This allows Google to figure out what subject your website is about. This, in turn, helps your website rank higher for keywords on that subject matter.
Key Performance Indicator (KPI)
Definition
Key performance indicators (KPIs) are the metrics that help you understand how you're doing. They can be used to measure your progress, or they can be used to measure if you need to do something differently.
Some examples of KPIs are: bounce rate, dwell time, conversion rate, etc. We’ve covered a lot of KPIs in this SEO terms guide!
Applying this SEO term
Key performance indicators give you a bird's eye view of where your business is right now, and how you're doing in comparison to where you want to go.
They allow you to identify problem areas and develop strategies to improve them. For example:
- Is the bounce rate on certain pages too high? This can be a reflection of low-quality content, poor readability of the content, or slow page speed.
- Is the dwell time on certain pages higher than others? Find out what you’re doing right on the high dwell time pages and implement it on the low-performing pages
We recommend Google Analytics or Google Console to find KPIs.
Keyword
Definition
A keyword is the search term your target audience uses to find your products/services.
Applying this SEO term
The first step is to think of a keyword that you want your page to rank for. We recommend Semrush for finding keywords.
When finding a keyword, consider the following factors:
Relevant Keyword
Keywords should be related to what people would search for when they're looking for your product or service. This will allow you to create content using the keyword in the form of blogs or articles.These blogs will bring your target audience to your website and have a higher chance of converting them to leads (yes, we have these SEO terms in this list!)
Competitiveness of the Keyword
If you’re a small to medium sized business, make sure the keyword isn’t too competitive. Google will rank sites with higher authority better on the results page.
For example, don’t use the keyword “iPhone” and expect to be in the top 10 results along with Apple.
Want More Guidance?
If you need a guide that shows you exactly how to conduct keyword research and use your results in creating content – we have you covered. We created a step-by-step guide on keyword research that you can follow along with!
Keyword Clustering
Definition
Keyword clustering is a method of organizing and classifying keywords into groups based on their semantic similarity.
This technique is used by search engines to group similar documents together and eliminate noise from the search results.
Applying this SEO term
Keyword clustering works by grouping certain words together based on their usage. For example, the words "SEO" and "lead conversion" are often used together in sentences about digital marketing.
By grouping these words together, you can optimize for any term that your target audience may search for.
For example, if you’re selling winter coats, your main keyword may be “winter coat” but you will accompany it by keywords like “warmest winter coat” or “affordable warm jacket.”
Keyword Stuffing
Definition
Keyword stuffing is when you force a certain keyword into your content so often that it becomes unnatural and hard to read. Keyword stuffing is an attempt by many websites to artificially inflate their search engine rankings.
Applying this SEO term
To optimize for SEO, avoid keyword stuffing at all costs!
Google penalizes keyword stuffing and your website’s ranking can suffer dramatically.
Use keywords naturally in your blog. Not only will this ensure your website doesn’t get penalized, but it will also increase the readability of your article. This can help in lead conversion, decrease bounce rate, and increase dwell time (don’t worry, we have all these new SEO terms in this guide).
Instead of keyword stuffing, use LSI keywords and keyword clustering to improve your website’s ranking (yes, we have these keywords too!).
Local SEO
Definition
Local SEO is a marketing strategy used to help your business’ visibility increase in your local geographic location.
Applying this SEO term
46% of Google searches are for local businesses.
Now that we have your attention, let’s talk about optimizing this SEO term.
Create a Google my Business page
Creating a Google my Business page ensures your business and its details show up when someone searches for local businesses. It will look like the Choquer Creative profile on the right side of the image.
Google verifies and supports its own content. So, creating a Google my Business page will place your business on your target audience’s profile.
Insert your location in front of keywords
Make sure your business pops up for your location. For example, instead of simply using the keyword “web development agency,” use “Surrey based web development agency.”
Create local content
Creating content is a great way to add keywords and optimize for your local area. Content can be in the form of blogs, instructions, community involvement, etc.
Long-Tail Keyword
Definition
Long-tail keywords are search queries that are 3 or more words.
Applying this SEO term
Long-tail keywords are very specific and often have less competition than single word keywords. And, because there’s less competition for them, they are easier to rank for.
Long tail keywords are a good marketing strategy for small businesses who don’t have enough content or authority to rank for shorter, more competitive keywords.
Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) Keywords
Definition
LSI analyzes the relationships between words, and finds patterns that indicate which terms are related and should be grouped together. For example: “snow” and “cold.”
Applying this SEO term
Using LSIs is a great way to improve your SEO ranking and avoid keyword stuffing. They add variation to your content while still adding related keywords.
Our favourite way to find LSIs is easy and free: Google.
Search for your target keyword and scroll to the bottom of the page. There, you will find keywords that Google considers to be related to yours. Use these keywords in your content!
Meta Description
Definition
The meta description is the short blurb under a website’s link on Google’s search result page. This provides users with a brief overview of the page.
Applying this SEO term
Meta descriptions don’t directly impact SEO.
However, when users are deciding what to click on in the search result page, they read the meta descriptions.
Therefore, meta descriptions may influence the number of visits your website gets from the search result page.
Organic Traffic
Definition
Organic traffic is a form of website traffic that comes from search engines, such as Google.
It’s referred to as “organic” because the website doesn’t pay for their link to be placed on the search result page. The visitors came to the website by finding it on their own while going through the search result page.
Applying this SEO term
Generating organic traffic is the best type of marketing strategy: simple, effective, and FREE.
This marketing tactic is a long-term strategy since the web page continues to pull in organic traffic long after it’s initially posted.
This means more people are introduced to your products!
There are no shortcuts to generating organic traffic. It takes good SEO skills and market research.
Page Speed
Definition
Page speed measures the time it takes for the content on a web page to load.
Applying this SEO term
It’s important to optimize for this SEO term because Google takes page speed into consideration during website ranking.
For optimal SEO, aim for page speed of less than 3 seconds.
Page Rank
Definition
Page Rank is Google’s method of ranking web pages on the search result page.
Applying this SEO term
You may have heard the running joke that page 2 of Google is the best place to hide a dead body.
This may have some truth to it. Studies have found that 95% of search traffic goes to websites on the first page of search results. People rarely (if ever) click past the first page.
In order to improve your website’s ranking, use good SEO techniques. Try to implement a few of the SEO terms we discussed in this guide.
Paid Traffic (PPC)
Definition
Paid traffic is a form of website traffic that comes from paid ads on Google.
Generally, companies will pay to have their websites placed at the top of the search results page. The link to the website has “Ad” written next to it.
Every time someone clicks on their website from the results page, the company gets charged a pre-set amount. Hence, it’s called pay per click (PPC).
The cost depends on the keyword the company wants the ad for.
Applying this SEO term
Generating paid traffic does not need SEO optimization. However, when developing a marketing plan, include both paid and organic traffic in your efforts. Using both strategies creates a cohesive marketing plan.
Before deciding to use paid traffic (PPC), consider the following conflicting (and useful) facts:
Responsive Website
Definition
Responsive websites are websites that are optimized for any device: phones, tablets, desktop, etc. They are user-friendly and functional on any device.
Applying this SEO term
When ranking websites, Google ranks mobile-friendly sites first. This means that if you have a terrible mobile site, your ranking may be affected.
The easiest way to create a responsive website is through Webflow. In Webflow, you only need to create one layout and the page is optimized for all devices.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Definition
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of optimizing a website so that it appears higher in search results when your target audience searches for a related keyword.
Applying this SEO term
SEO is a vast subject to learn. To help you out, we created a blog page with a variety of SEO topics and hacks.
Site Authority
Definition
Site authority is a metric that measures the relevance of a website in relation to its topic or industry. It is calculated by examining factors such as the number of links to and from a site, how often it's updated, and how much traffic it receives.
Applying this SEO term
To increase your website authority, there are a number of SEO terms you can apply:
- Increase backlinks
- Produce high-quality content
- Establish trust with your customers
- Create a user-friendly and functional website
Sitemap
Definition
A site map defines the relationships between pages on your website. It helps users navigate the structure of your website and find the page they need.
Applying this SEO term
A site map is important when Googlebot is crawling through your website. It helps both visitors and Google navigate your website and find relevant information.
Remember, if Googlebot can’t crawl your webpage, it won’t be indexed.
User Intent / Search Intent
Definition
User intent (or search intent) is a categorization of what the user’s goal is when they type the keyword into the search bar.
There are 4 types of user intent: transaction (T), commercial (C), navigation (N), information (I).
We’ve included an image of what this looks like on Semrush.
Applying this SEO term
Google’s primary goal is to satisfy a user’s search intent.
This means, when you use a keyword, take into consideration the search intent when making content. This will help your ranking.
Here’s a simple strategy for implementing search intent:
- Find a target keyword
- Find the search intent for the keyword
- Search for the keyword on Google and see what types of content Google is ranking highly
- Use the highly-ranked web pages along with the search intent to create your content
More Information
If you’re hungry for more SEO knowledge, web design hacks, or marketing strategies, head over to our blog page for more information!
If you’re interested in improving your SEO strategy and making sure your website ranks high on Google, contact us!
Plus, if you're looking for hassle-free web development and design, we've got you covered! We have an expert web development team that serves anywhere in Canada and the US.
