The Ultimate SEO Glossary: 200+ SEO Terms and Definitions

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is filled with technical terms, abbreviations, and evolving concepts. Whether you’re just a marketer or a business owner looking to implement SEO in your business, this SEO glossary gives you an extensive collection of SEO terminology with clear explanations. Bookmark this page as your complete reference guide.

A

• Above the Fold: The portion of a webpage visible without scrolling.
• Algorithm: The set of rules search engines use to determine rankings.
• Alt Text: Descriptive text for images, aiding accessibility and SEO.
• Anchor Text: Clickable text in a hyperlink that signals relevance.
• Analytics: Tools (e.g., Google Analytics) to track and measure traffic and user behavior.
• Artificial Intelligence (AI) in SEO: Machine learning and algorithms shaping how search engines understand content.

B

• Backlink: A link from one website to another. Quality backlinks boost authority.
• Baidu: China’s leading search engine.
• BERT (Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers): Google’s AI model to better understand natural language.
• Black Hat SEO: Manipulative practices like cloaking and link schemes.
• Bounce Rate: The percentage of users leaving without further interaction.
• Breadcrumbs: Navigation links showing site hierarchy.
• Broken Link: A hyperlink that leads to a non-existent page (404).

C

• Canonical URL: Preferred page version to avoid duplicate content issues.
• CCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act): Privacy law affecting tracking and cookies.
• Click Depth: The number of clicks required to reach a page from the homepage.
• Click-Through Rate (CTR): Percentage of impressions that result in clicks.
• Cloaking: Showing different content to users vs. search engines.
• Content Pruning: Removing low-value content.
• Conversion Rate: Percentage of visitors completing a goal.
• Core Web Vitals: Google’s metrics on loading, interactivity, and visual stability.
• Crawl Budget: The number of pages a search engine crawls in a timeframe.
• Crawling: Search engines scanning and discovering web pages.
• CTR Manipulation: Tactics aimed at artificially inflating CTR (risky).

D

• DA (Domain Authority): Moz metric predicting ranking potential.
• De-Indexing: When pages are removed from search engine indexes.
• Disavow Tool: Tool for ignoring spammy backlinks.
• Dofollow Link: A standard link passing SEO equity.
• Domain Rating (DR): Ahrefs metric measuring backlink profile strength.
• Doorway Pages: Low-quality pages designed to rank for specific queries.
• Duplicate Content: Identical or highly similar content across URLs.
• Dwell Time: The length of time a user spends before returning to SERP.

E

• E-A-T: Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness.
• Entity: A concept, person, place, or thing recognized by search engines.
• Entity-Based SEO: Optimizing for entities rather than just keywords.
• Evergreen Content: Content that remains relevant over time.
• Exact Match Domain (EMD): Domains that exactly match a keyword.
• Exit Rate: Percentage of people leaving a site from a specific page.
• External Links: Links pointing to other websites.

F

• Featured Snippets: Answer boxes at the top of Google results.
• Fetch and Render: How search engines view a page’s content and code.
• Footer Links: Links in a site’s footer for navigation.
• Freshness Factor: Google’s preference for newer or updated content.
• FTP (File Transfer Protocol): A method to upload and manage website files.

G

• Geo-Targeting: Delivering content based on location.
• Google Analytics 4 (GA4): Google’s latest analytics platform.
• Googlebot: Google’s web crawling bot.
• Google Business Profile (GBP): Essential for local SEO.
• Google Sandbox: A theorized filter that prevents new sites from ranking quickly.
• Google Search Console (GSC): Tool for monitoring indexing and visibility.

H

• Heading Tags (H1-H6): Used to structure content.
• Hidden Text: Concealed text (spammy if misused).
• Hreflang Tag: Tells search engines about language/region targeting.
• HTML Sitemap: User-facing sitemap.
• HTTPS: Secure protocol with SSL certificate.
• Hub Page: A central resource page linking to related subtopics.

I

• Image Optimization: Improving image size, alt text, and formats for SEO.
• Impressions: Number of times a page shows up in SERPs.
• Inbound Links: Backlinks from other domains.
• Index Bloat: Excessive indexing of low-value pages.
• Indexing: Adding pages into a search engine’s database.
• Information Architecture: The way content is structured and linked.
• Internal Links: Links connecting pages within a site.

J-L

• JavaScript SEO: Optimizing JavaScript-heavy websites for crawling and indexing.
• Keyword: A word/phrase that users search.
• Keyword Cannibalization: Competing with your own pages.
• Keyword Density: The ratio of keywords to total words.
• Keyword Stuffing: Spammy overuse of keywords.
• Knowledge Graph: Google’s entity database.
• Knowledge Panel: Info box shown in SERPs with entity details.
• Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI): Semantic analysis for related terms.
• Link Building: Acquiring quality backlinks.
• Link Equity (Link Juice): Value passed through links.
• Local Pack: Map listings in local searches.
• Long-Tail Keywords: Specific, low-competition keywords.
• Log File Analysis: Reviewing server logs to understand crawler activity.

M-O

• Manual Action: Google penalty for violating guidelines.
• Meta Description: Snippet describing a page.
• Meta Keywords: Old tag, no longer a ranking factor.
• Mobile-First Indexing: Google indexes mobile versions first.
• NAP Consistency: Consistent business info for local SEO.
• Negative SEO: Malicious attempts to harm rankings.
• NoIndex Tag: Tells search engines not to index a page.
• NoFollow Link: Doesn’t pass link equity.
• Organic Reach: Unpaid visibility.
• Organic Traffic: Visits from natural search.
• Orphan Pages: Pages with no internal links.

P-R

• Page Authority (PA): Moz metric for individual page strength.
• PageRank: Google’s algorithm measuring link importance.
• PageSpeed: Loading speed, a ranking factor.
• Pagination: Dividing content across multiple pages.
• Passage Indexing: Google indexing specific passages of content.
• Penalty: Ranking drops due to violations.
• Pillar Page: A comprehensive page covering a topic, linking to clusters.
• Pogo-Sticking: Quickly returning to SERPs.
• Query Deserves Freshness (QDF): Fresh content favored for trending topics.
• RankBrain: Google’s AI system to interpret queries.
• Redirect (301/302): Sending users and bots from one URL to another.
• Referral Traffic: Traffic coming via external links.
• Robots Meta Tag: Page-level instructions for crawlers.
• Robots.txt: Site-level instructions for crawlers.
• ROI (Return on Investment): Profitability of SEO efforts.

S

• Schema Markup: Structured data for rich results.
• Scraping: Copying content from other sites.
• Search Engine Results Page (SERP): The page of results after a query.
• Search Intent: The purpose behind a query.
• Search Visibility: A measure of how often your site appears in results.
• Secondary Keywords: Supporting keywords for a page.
• Semantic Search: Understanding context and meaning.
• Session Duration: Time spent per session.
• Sitelinks: Additional links shown under a result.
• Sitemap (XML): A file listing pages for crawling.
• Slug: URL identifier for a page.
• Social Signals: Engagement metrics from social media.
• Spam Score: Metric predicting likelihood of spammy behavior.
• Spider: Another name for search engine crawlers.
• Split Testing (A/B Testing): Comparing variations for optimization.
• Structured Data: Data format helping search engines.

T-Z

• Technical SEO: Optimizing website infrastructure.
• Thin Content: Low-value, shallow content.
• Title Tag: The HTML title of a page.
• Topic Cluster: A content model organizing around pillar pages.
• Traffic: Visitors to a site.
• Trust Flow: Majestic metric measuring backlink trust.
• User-Generated Content (UGC): Content created by users.
• User Experience (UX): Overall usability and satisfaction.
• Voice Search Optimization: Optimizing for voice queries.
• Web Vitals: Core Web Vitals + other speed metrics.
• White Hat SEO: Ethical optimization practices.
• XML Sitemap: File to help crawlers.
• Yandex: Popular Russian search engine.
• Zero-Click Searches: Queries answered directly in SERPs.
• Zombies Pages: Outdated or unhelpful pages that add no SEO value.

Final Thoughts

This expanded glossary covers 200+ SEO terms and definitions, from beginner-friendly basics to advanced, technical concepts. Mastering these will help you communicate effectively, build stronger strategies, and keep pace with the evolving SEO landscape. Use it as your go-to reference for 2025 and beyond.