SEO Dictionary 2026
In the world of digital marketing, technical jargon and unfamiliar terms are everywhere, especially in SEO. Even experienced professionals sometimes get mixed up or overlook key concepts. It’s essential to have a reliable source where the most important definitions are explained simply and clearly.
That’s why we created our SEO glossary: to give you easy access to the core terms and their meanings — all in one place. Whether you’re just starting your SEO journey or refining your expertise, this resource will help you cut through the confusion with straightforward explanations built from real industry experience.
Now, you’ll be able to understand your SEO consultant with confidence— or even impress them with your knowledge! And who knows, maybe you’ll turn SEO lingo into your own winning strategy.
A/B Testing: A/B testing is a strategic process where two different versions of a webpage or specific element are shown to users to see which one performs better, helping you pick the most effective design or feature for your audience.
Accessibility: Accessibility means making your content easily usable by everyone, including people with disabilities. It’s about creating a digital environment that’s welcoming and navigable for all, whether on desktop or mobile devices.
Ads: Ads are digital messages crafted to capture attention and drive action—think of them like inventive commercials that follow you across websites to spark your interest and boost revenue for publishers and brands.
Adwords: Google Ads (formerly AdWords) is Google’s advertising platform showcasing sponsored results on search pages and other sites, letting businesses reach customers whether they’re browsing from their computer or smartphone.
Ahrefs: Ahrefs is a powerful SEO tool that helps you analyze competitors, research keywords, and track your site’s performance, making it a go-to resource for SEO professionals looking to boost search rankings.
AI (Artificial Intelligence): AI refers to the technology that simulates human intelligence using computers. In digital marketing, AI powers chatbots, image generators, and even content creation tools, revolutionizing the way marketers work.
Affiliate Marketing: Affiliate marketing is a model where you promote another company’s products, earning a commission if someone makes a purchase through your referral.
Algorithms: Algorithms are complex sets of rules and calculations used by search engines to determine what results, ads, and recommendations you see online.
Alt Text: Alt text is a description added to images to help search engines understand their contents and to make websites more accessible to users who rely on screen readers.
Analytics: Analytics is the science of gathering, analyzing, and interpreting website data to guide strategy and improve marketing outcomes—often powered by tools like Google Analytics (GA4).
Anchor Text: Anchor text is the clickable wording in a hyperlink, providing users with clues about the linked page’s content and helping search engines understand those connections.
API (Application Programming Interface): An API is a technical bridge allowing different software applications to connect and exchange information, enabling integrations like custom AI-powered tools with platforms such as ChatGPT.
Web Architecture: Web architecture is the foundational structure of your site, ensuring visitors can easily navigate and access information—much like thoughtfully designing the layout of a building.
SEO Audit: A site audit is a detailed examination of your website’s health and performance, pinpointing areas for improvement and helping ensure everything is optimized for search engines and users.
Domain Authority (DA): Domain authority measures the strength and credibility of your website, as recognized by search engines, based on the quality and relevance of your content and links.
Author Page: An author page showcases the credentials and expertise of your content creators, offering readers a place to learn more, build trust, and follow future work—while signaling to search engines that real people stand behind your content.
H1, H2, H3: HTML tags used to define headings on a webpage. The H1 tag is the main heading and should be unique for each page to clearly indicate the primary topic. H2 and H3 tags are used for subheadings to organize content into sections and subsections, improving readability and helping search engines understand the structure and hierarchy of your content.
Hosting: A service that provides space and resources to store and maintain a website, making it accessible on the internet. Good hosting ensures your website is available, secure, and performs well.
Hreflang: An HTML attribute that tells search engines the language and regional targeting of a webpage. This helps deliver the correct language or regional version of the page to users based on their location and language preferences.
HTTPS: A secure version of the Hypertext Transfer Protocol that encrypts data between the user’s browser and the server using SSL/TLS. HTTPS protects data integrity and privacy during transmission.
HTML: Hypertext Markup Language, the standard language used to create and structure content on the web. It uses tags and attributes to define elements like text, images, links, and multimedia.
Headings: HTML elements (H1, H2, H3, etc.) that organize content into a hierarchical structure, enhancing user experience and making it easier for search engines to interpret page content.
Indexing: The process where search engines store, organize, and analyze crawled content to be able to quickly retrieve it in response to user queries. It involves collecting data from a website, such as text, images, videos, and metadata, then storing it in a large database called the index. This allows the search engine to present relevant results efficiently.
Search intent: The goal a user has when typing a query into a search engine. Understanding whether the user wants information, to compare options, or to make a purchase helps tailor the content to meet their needs at the right moment, increasing engagement and conversions.
Interlinking: Connecting different pages within your own website through internal links. This enhances user navigation, encourages visitors to explore more content, and helps search engines understand the structure and hierarchy of your website, boosting overall SEO.
Keyword: A word or phrase that users type into a search engine. Keywords are the foundation of SEO strategies as they help connect your content with the audience’s search queries.
Keyword Research: The process of discovering and analyzing the search terms that people use to find information online. This research guides content creation and SEO efforts, ensuring your content is relevant and meets user demand.
Keyword Planner: A tool provided by Google Ads that helps marketers identify relevant keywords for their advertising campaigns. It provides data on search volume, competition, and cost per click, allowing for more effective campaign planning.
KPI (Key Performance Indicator): Measurable values that reflect how effectively an organization or campaign achieves its key objectives. KPIs help monitor performance and inform decision-making to ensure alignment with goals.
Landing Page: The web page where users arrive after clicking an ad or link, designed specifically to convert visitors into leads or customers. Optimizing landing pages is crucial to increase conversions and achieve marketing goals.
Link Building: The strategy of acquiring backlinks from other websites to enhance your site’s authority and improve its ranking in search engines. Quality link building can significantly boost your website’s SEO performance.
Link Juice: The value or authority passed from one webpage to another through hyperlinks. This concept is vital in SEO because high-quality inbound links distribute authority and relevance, improving page rankings.
Local SEO: An SEO strategy focused on improving a business’s visibility in local search results and map listings. Essential for physical businesses, it involves optimizing for location-based queries and garnering positive local reviews.
Long-Tail Keywords: More specific and usually longer keyword phrases that have lower search volume but less competition, attracting highly relevant traffic.
Looker Studio: A platform for data analysis and visualization that helps organizations create clear, insightful reports and dashboards, facilitating data-driven decision-making.
Loading Speed: The time it takes for a webpage’s content to fully load and become usable for users. Quick loading times are critical for good user experience and SEO rankings.
Link: A clickable connection between webpages, which can be internal (within the same site) or external (pointing to other domains). Links aid navigation and are essential for SEO.
Meta Description: A brief summary of a web page’s content that appears below the page title in search engine results. Meta descriptions are important for attracting clicks by providing a clear, concise, and compelling overview of the page. Including relevant keywords can improve visibility, but the description should primarily encourage users to visit the page.
Meta Tags: HTML elements that provide metadata about a web page to search engines and browsers. Key meta tags include the title tag (which defines the page title) and the meta description, both critical for SEO and user engagement.
Web Migration: The process of making significant changes to a website’s structure, design, domain, or platform. Proper planning and execution are essential during web migration to avoid traffic loss and maintain or improve search rankings.
Mobile: Refers to devices like smartphones and tablets. Optimizing websites for mobile involves responsive design, fast loading times, and user-friendly interfaces to accommodate the growing number of users accessing the internet via mobile devices.
Networking: The process of building and maintaining professional and personal relationships with individuals or companies. In marketing, networking is key for forming alliances, sharing knowledge, expanding business opportunities, and enhancing brand visibility and credibility. It can also be a social occasion often involving alcohol.
Newsletter: A regularly sent email publication to subscribers, containing news, updates, promotions, or relevant content. Newsletters are powerful digital marketing tools for engaging audiences, nurturing leads, and promoting products or services consistently.
Niche: A specific segment of a market with unique characteristics and needs. Targeting a niche allows businesses to specialize, offering tailored solutions that increase marketing effectiveness and customer satisfaction.
Noindex: A meta tag or HTTP header directive that instructs search engines not to index a webpage in search results. It helps manage visibility by excluding irrelevant, duplicate, or sensitive content.
Nofollow: A link attribute that tells search engines not to follow a link or pass SEO value (“link juice”) to the linked page. It is used to control link equity and avoid association with untrusted or irrelevant content.
Off-Page SEO: Techniques applied outside your website to improve its authority and ranking. This includes obtaining quality backlinks, mentions on social media, and other external signals that indicate to search engines that your site is popular and trustworthy.
On-Page SEO: Optimization strategies implemented directly on your website. This covers everything from keyword usage and content structure to heading tags and page loading speed—all aimed at making the site attractive to search engines and users.
Open Code: Software whose source code is freely available for anyone to view, modify, and distribute. In AI and other fields, open code encourages collaboration and innovation by offering open access to the underlying code, often via APIs.
Open Graph (OG): A protocol that controls how web content appears when shared on social media platforms. It optimizes titles, images, and descriptions to make shared links visually appealing and engaging on sites like Facebook and Twitter.
Organic Traffic: Visitors who arrive at your website through unpaid, natural search results. Organic traffic grows over time through quality content and SEO efforts and is often more valuable because it reflects genuine user interest.
Organic: Activities that bring visitors to your website naturally, without paid advertising. Organic growth typically reflects the long-term impact of quality content and effective SEO, creating a trusted and sustainable audience.
Paid Traffic: Visitors who arrive at your website through paid advertisements on search engines or other digital platforms. Paid traffic is essential for driving instant visitors and complementing organic strategies.
Page Experience: A set of ranking signals used by Google to assess how users perceive interacting with a web page. This includes factors like fast loading times, mobile-friendliness, security (HTTPS), and absence of intrusive pop-ups, all contributing to a positive user experience and better search rankings.
Page Rank: An algorithm developed by Google that ranks web pages based on the quantity and quality of links pointing to them. It works similarly to social network popularity, where links from reputable sources increase a page’s importance.
Penalties: Severe rank reductions or delistings imposed by search engines on websites that violate their quality guidelines. Penalties can dramatically harm visibility and traffic, so adhering to best practices is crucial.
Podcast: An audio content format available for download or streaming, similar to a radio show but accessible on demand. Podcasts cover diverse topics and engage audiences by delivering valuable or entertaining content over extended periods.
PPC (Pay-Per-Click): An advertising model where advertisers pay a fee each time their ad is clicked, commonly used in search engine marketing campaigns.
Presence on Social Networks and Relevant Platforms: A strategy to increase brand visibility and audience interaction across social media, forums, and other influential online communities.
Query: The word, phrase, or question that a user types into a search engine. Queries represent the user’s intent and are what search engines use to find the most relevant results. Understanding queries is essential for creating content that answers users’ needs effectively.
Q and A: A section dedicated to common questions and their answers. In SEO, Q and A can help position keywords naturally and increase the chances that users will find helpful information, which may encourage them to take desired actions such as making a purchase.
Redirection: A method used to send users and search engines from one URL to another. Redirections maintain user experience continuity and preserve SEO value when URLs change or content is moved or removed.
Regex: Short for Regular Expression, a sequence of characters that define a search pattern. Regex is used in programming and data processing to locate, extract, or modify specific text segments accurately and efficiently.
Relevance: How well a web page’s content matches the user’s search intent and query. Search engines prioritize showing the most relevant pages to provide valuable and useful results to users.
Robots.txt: A text file located in the root directory of a website that instructs search engine crawlers on which pages or areas of the site they can or cannot visit. It manages crawler traffic, protects sensitive content, and helps optimize which pages get indexed by search engines.
Sitemap: A file that lists the important pages on a website and provides information about the site structure, helping search engines efficiently crawl and index content.
Slug: The portion of a URL that uniquely identifies a specific page on a website. A well-crafted slug is concise, descriptive, and includes relevant keywords to aid both users and search engines.
Spam: Unsolicited or manipulative online content, often involving low-quality links or keyword stuffing, intended to manipulate search rankings but typically penalized by search engines.
SSL Certificate: A security protocol that encrypts communication between a website’s server and a user’s browser, ensuring data privacy and boosting user trust.
Screaming Frog: An advanced SEO tool that crawls websites to identify technical and SEO issues such as broken links, duplicate content, redirection problems, and more. It provides detailed audits enabling digital marketers to optimize site performance effectively.
Search Engine: An online platform that allows users to search for web content. Search engines use sophisticated algorithms to crawl, index, and rank web pages, delivering the most relevant results based on user queries. Examples include Google, Bing, and Yahoo.
SEO (Search Engine Optimization): The practice of optimizing a website to improve its visibility in organic (unpaid) search engine results. It involves a combination of on-page, off-page, technical, and content strategies aimed at increasing relevant traffic.
SEO Crawl: The process by which SEO software scans a website to gather data on site structure, performance, and SEO health. Crawling tools assist in reporting and business intelligence by uncovering issues and opportunities for optimization.
SEM (Search Engine Marketing): A marketing strategy that uses paid advertisements on search engines to increase a website’s visibility and attract targeted traffic.
Semrush: A comprehensive digital marketing platform offering tools for keyword research, competitor analysis, site auditing, and rank tracking, widely used by professionals to enhance SEO and SEM campaigns.
SERP (Search Engine Results Page): The page displayed by a search engine after a user submits a query, showing a list of ranked results including web pages, ads, images, and other features.
SERP Features: Enhanced elements on search results pages such as featured snippets, image carousels, knowledge panels, and maps that improve user experience and increase visibility beyond regular listings.
Server: A computer system that hosts websites and delivers content and services to users’ devices over the internet by responding to their requests.
Short Tail Keyword: A broad and general keyword consisting of one or two words, typically with high search volume and competition but limited specificity. Examples include “shoes” or “hotels.”
Schema Markup: Code added to a website to help search engines better understand the content and context of the pages. Using schema markup enables search engines to display enhanced results known as rich snippets, which can include ratings, reviews, event details, product availability, and more. This improved understanding helps increase your website’s visibility, click-through rates, and organic traffic by making your listings stand out in search results.
Scraping: The automated process of extracting data from websites using specialized software. It is commonly used for gathering large amounts of information for market research, competitor analysis, or feeding data into artificial intelligence projects.
Target Audience: The specific group of people a company aims to reach with its products, services, and marketing efforts. This group is defined by characteristics such as demographics, interests, behaviors, and needs. Knowing your target audience is crucial for crafting messages and strategies that resonate, optimizing conversions, and designing effective marketing campaigns tailored to that audience.
Technical SEO: The optimization of a website’s technical elements to improve search engine visibility and crawlability. This includes enhancing site speed, structuring site architecture, ensuring proper indexing, securing the site with HTTPS, and optimizing mobile usability. Technical SEO lays the foundation for effective on-page and off-page SEO efforts.
Teambuilding: Activities designed to enhance communication, cooperation, and motivation within a team. Teambuilding fosters a positive work environment and boosts productivity through exercises, workshops, and social events, sometimes involving fun with alcohol.
Title: The HTML element defining a web page’s title, shown in browser tabs and search engine results. An optimized title is clear, concise, keyword-rich, and enticing, playing a critical role in SEO and user click-through rates.
Traffic: The volume of visitors accessing a website over a period. Traffic analysis includes segments like organic, paid, referral, and direct traffic, essential for understanding user behavior and assessing marketing effectiveness.
Trends: The prevailing patterns or directions in markets, behaviors, or industries over time. In SEO and digital marketing, monitoring trends helps businesses adapt content, products, and strategies to stay competitive. Tools like Google Trends provide real-time insights into the most searched topics.
UGC (User Generated Content): Content created and shared by users rather than the company itself, including reviews, comments, photos, videos, and social media posts. UGC is valuable because it reflects authentic user experiences, fostering trust and engagement. It contributes to SEO by providing fresh, relevant content, increasing keyword diversity, enhancing organic search rankings, and improving user dwell time. User reviews and testimonials also serve as social proof, boosting credibility and conversion rates.
URL (Uniform Resource Locator): The unique web address that identifies a specific resource on the internet, such as a webpage, image, or document. URLs guide users and search engines to exact content and can be optimized for readability and keyword inclusion to improve SEO.
Usability: A key aspect of web design focused on making navigation and interaction intuitive and satisfying. Good usability ensures users can easily find information and perform tasks without confusion, enhancing overall user experience and engagement.
User Intent: The purpose or goal behind a user’s search query. Understanding user intent is crucial for creating content that directly addresses users’ needs, improving relevance, engagement, and search engine rankings.
UI (User Interface): The visual and interactive elements of a website or app that users interact with, including buttons, menus, images, and layouts. Effective UI design is essential for usability and contributes significantly to positive user experiences.
UX (User Experience): The overall experience and emotional response a user has while interacting with a product, system, or service. UX encompasses ease of use, satisfaction, and efficiency, aiming to create meaningful and enjoyable interactions.
Visibility: The degree to which a website appears in search engine results across relevant queries. Higher visibility means a site ranks well for more keywords and is seen more often by users, increasing the chances of clicks and traffic. Improving visibility is a core goal of SEO to attract more organic visitors.
WordPress: An open-source content management system (CMS) widely used for creating and managing websites and blogs. Known for its intuitive user interface, WordPress offers extensive themes and plugins, enabling users of all skill levels to develop custom websites with ease. Its flexibility supports everything from simple blogs to complex eCommerce sites, making it a popular choice for individuals and businesses alike.
Web: The World Wide Web is a global system of interconnected documents and multimedia content accessible via the Internet using protocols like HTTP. It allows users to browse and access information from anywhere in the world, forming the foundation of online content and communication.
White Hat SEO: Ethical SEO techniques that comply with search engine guidelines. These strategies focus on providing genuine value to users and building long-term website credibility and authority. White Hat SEO is the recommended approach for sustainable search engine success.
WPO (Website Performance Optimization): The practice of enhancing website speed and overall performance through technical improvements such as file compression, optimizing server responses, reducing resource sizes, and image optimization. Effective WPO improves user experience and can positively impact search engine rankings.
Yandex: A leading search engine and technology company based in Russia, dominating the Russian search market with over 55% share. Yandex offers a broad range of online services including search, maps, shopping, translation, email, music streaming, and ride-sharing. Its search algorithm is uniquely optimized for the Russian language and local user behaviors, providing highly relevant and context-aware results. Key features include real-time query responsiveness, a “Turbo Mode” for faster browsing on slow connections, and deep integration with local services. For businesses aiming to reach international customers, optimizing content for Yandex and other country-specific search engines is essential for better visibility in those markets.
Zero-click search: A phenomenon where search engines display answers directly on the search results page (SERP), allowing users to get the information they need without clicking through to any website. This includes features like featured snippets, knowledge panels, answer boxes, local packs, and AI-generated summaries. While zero-click searches reduce traffic to websites, they increase brand visibility and presence in search results. Optimizing for zero-click involves structuring content clearly, using schema markup, improving E-E-A-T, and focusing on local SEO to capture these prominent search features and maintain audience engagement.