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SEO Glossary

SEO, or search engine optimization, is the practice of earning more visibility and traffic from search results. This glossary explains more than 120 SEO terms from A to Z in plain language, each tagged Beginner, Intermediate or Advanced, from keyword research to AEO and GEO.

Updated Written by Search Savvy’s SEO team Free to use, no sign-up

SEO terms from A to Z

ATerms starting with A

Above the Fold
The part of a webpage visible without scrolling. Google’s older page layout algorithm penalized pages that pushed content down with too many ads above the fold.
AEO (Answer Engine Optimization)
Optimizing content so AI assistants and answer engines can surface it directly as an answer. It is closely related to GEO.
AI Overviews
Google’s AI-generated summaries shown above traditional search results. They combine information from several sources to answer a query directly.
Algorithm Update
A change to how a search engine ranks pages, from minor tweaks to major named updates such as Panda, Penguin and the Helpful Content update.
Alt Text (Alt Attribute)
A short description added to an image’s HTML so search engines and screen readers can understand what the image shows.
AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages)
An open-source framework for building stripped-down, fast mobile pages. It has largely been superseded by Core Web Vitals as the way to measure page experience.
Anchor Text
The visible, clickable text of a hyperlink. Its wording gives search engines context about the page it links to.
Author Authority
The expertise and trust signals tied to the named author of a piece of content, an increasingly important part of E-E-A-T.

BTerms starting with B

BERT
A Google algorithm update that uses natural language processing to better understand the context and nuance of search queries.
Black Hat SEO
Manipulative tactics that break search engine guidelines to gain rankings quickly. They carry a high risk of penalties.
Bot (Crawler or Spider)
An automated program, such as Googlebot, that browses the web to discover and index content.
Breadcrumb Navigation
A trail of links, such as Home > Services > SEO, that shows users and search engines where a page sits in a site’s hierarchy.
Broken Link
A hyperlink that no longer works, usually leading to a 404 error. It hurts user experience and wastes crawl effort.

CTerms starting with C

Canonical Tag
An HTML tag that tells search engines which version of a duplicate or near-duplicate page is the primary one to index.
Click-Through Rate (CTR)
The percentage of people who click a result after seeing it in the SERP, calculated as clicks divided by impressions.
Cloaking
A black-hat technique that shows search engines different content from what users see. Search engine guidelines prohibit it.
Content Pruning
Removing, consolidating or updating low-performing pages to improve a site’s overall content quality signals.
Content Silo
A way of organizing a site that groups related content together to build topical relevance and internal link strength.
Core Web Vitals
Google’s metrics for real-world page experience: Largest Contentful Paint (loading), Interaction to Next Paint (responsiveness) and Cumulative Layout Shift (visual stability).
Cornerstone Content
The most important, comprehensive pages on a site, covering its core topics and usually linked to from many other pages.
Crawl Budget
The number of pages a search engine will crawl on a site in a given time. It matters mainly for very large websites.
Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)
A Core Web Vital that measures how much a page’s content unexpectedly shifts while it loads.

DTerms starting with D

De-indexing
The removal of a page from a search engine’s index, either on purpose with a no-index tag or because of a manual penalty.
Disavow File
A file submitted to Google asking it to ignore specific low-quality or spammy backlinks when assessing a site.
DNS (Domain Name System)
The system that translates domain names into IP addresses. DNS misconfiguration is a common source of technical SEO problems.
Domain Authority (DA)
A third-party metric from Moz that predicts how well a domain is likely to rank, on a scale of 1 to 100. It is not a Google metric.
Doorway Pages
Low-quality pages created only to rank for specific queries and funnel users elsewhere. They go against search engine guidelines.
Duplicate Content
Identical or near-identical content on more than one URL, which can confuse search engines about which version to rank.
Dwell Time
How long a user stays on a page after clicking a search result before returning to the results. It is often discussed as an engagement signal.

ETerms starting with E

E-E-A-T
Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness: the qualities Google’s quality rater guidelines use to judge content. It is a framework, not a single ranking score.
Editorial Link
A backlink earned naturally because another site’s editor found your content worth citing, rather than one that was paid for or requested.
Entity SEO
Optimizing for how search engines understand real-world people, places and things, rather than just keyword strings.
Exact Match Domain (EMD)
A domain name that exactly matches a target keyword. It was once a ranking shortcut and is now heavily discounted.
External Link
A hyperlink from your website to a different domain.

FTerms starting with F

Faceted Navigation
Filterable navigation, common on e-commerce sites, that can create huge numbers of near-duplicate URLs if it is not handled carefully.
Featured Snippet
A highlighted excerpt at the top of Google’s results, pulled from a webpage to answer a query quickly.
First Input Delay (FID)
A former Core Web Vital that measured the delay before the browser responded to a user’s first interaction. Google replaced it with INP in March 2024.
404 Error
The HTTP status code returned when a requested page cannot be found on the server.

GTerms starting with G

GEO (Generative Engine Optimization)
Optimizing content so it is more likely to be cited or summarized by AI-driven answer engines, such as AI Overviews and chat assistants.
Google Business Profile
A free listing for managing how a business appears in Google Search and Maps. It is central to local SEO.
Google Discover
A personalized mobile feed that surfaces articles based on a user’s interests, separate from traditional search results.
Google Sandbox
An unofficial theory that new websites face a temporary period of suppressed rankings before they earn Google’s trust.
Google Search Console
A free Google tool that shows how a site performs in search, including indexing status, queries and technical issues.
Googlebot
Google’s web crawler, which discovers and fetches pages so they can be considered for indexing.
Guest Post
An article written for another website and published there, typically to build backlinks and reach a new audience.

HTerms starting with H

Heading Tags (H1 to H6)
HTML tags that structure a page’s content in a hierarchy, helping readers and search engines understand how it is organized.
Hreflang Tag
An HTML attribute that tells search engines which language and regional version of a page to show users in different locations.
HTTPS
The secure version of HTTP, which encrypts data between browser and server. It is a confirmed, lightweight Google ranking signal.
Hub and Spoke Model
A content structure where a central hub page links to, and earns links from, related spoke pages, building topical authority.

ITerms starting with I

Image Sitemap
A specialized sitemap that helps search engines find images they might not discover through normal crawling.
Impressions
In Google Search Console, the number of times a page appeared in search results for a query, whether or not it was clicked.
IndexNow
A protocol that lets websites instantly notify participating search engines, such as Bing, when content is added, updated or removed.
Indexing
The process by which search engines store and organize crawled pages so they can appear in search results.
Intent-Based Content
Content created to match what a searcher is trying to accomplish at a particular stage of their journey.
Interaction to Next Paint (INP)
A Core Web Vital that measures how quickly a page responds visually after user interactions such as clicks and taps. It replaced FID in March 2024.
Internal Linking
Links that connect one page of a website to another, helping spread authority and guide users and crawlers through the site.

JTerms starting with J

JavaScript SEO
Making sure content rendered by JavaScript can be crawled and indexed, since JavaScript can delay or block content from search engines.
JSON-LD
A JavaScript-based format for adding structured data to a page. It is the method Google recommends for schema markup.

KTerms starting with K

Keyword
A word or phrase that describes a page’s topic and matches what people type into a search engine.
Keyword Cannibalization
When several pages on the same site compete for the same keyword, splitting ranking signals and often hurting all of them.
Keyword Density
How often a keyword appears on a page relative to its total word count. It was once a heavily used metric and is now far less influential.
Keyword Research
Finding and analyzing the search terms people use, to guide content and SEO strategy.
Keyword Stuffing
The outdated, penalized practice of overloading a page with keywords to manipulate rankings.
Knowledge Graph
Google’s database of real-world entities and their relationships, used to power Knowledge Panels and richer search results.
Knowledge Panel
An information box in search results that summarizes facts about an entity, drawn from the Knowledge Graph.

LTerms starting with L

Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)
A Core Web Vital that measures how long it takes for the largest visible element, usually an image or heading, to load. Google considers 2.5 seconds or less good.
Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI)
A term often used for conceptually related keywords. The original LSI technology is not used by modern search engines, but the idea of semantic relevance is.
Lazy Loading
A performance technique that delays loading images or content until they are about to enter the viewport, improving initial page speed.
Link Building
The ongoing process of earning backlinks from other websites to improve a site’s authority and rankings.
Link Equity (Link Juice)
The ranking value passed from one page to another through a hyperlink, shaped by the linking page’s authority and relevance.
Local SEO
Optimization that improves visibility in local search results, such as “near me” searches and Google Maps.
Log File Analysis
Reviewing a server’s raw access logs to see exactly how search engine bots crawl a site. It is a core technical SEO diagnostic.
Long-Tail Keyword
A longer, more specific keyword phrase that usually has lower search volume but higher conversion intent.

MTerms starting with M

Manual Action
A penalty applied by a human reviewer at Google when a site breaks its guidelines. It differs from an algorithmic ranking drop.
Meta Description
The short summary of a page shown under its title in search results. It encourages clicks rather than acting as a direct ranking factor.
Meta Title (Title Tag)
The HTML tag that defines a page’s title, shown as the clickable headline in search results and in browser tabs.
Mobile-First Indexing
Google’s practice of using the mobile version of a site’s content for indexing and ranking.

NTerms starting with N

NAP Consistency
Keeping a business’s Name, Address and Phone number identical across all online listings, which matters for local SEO.
Natural Language Processing (NLP)
The branch of AI that lets search engines understand human language, context and the intent behind a query.
NoFollow Link
A link with an attribute that asks search engines not to pass ranking credit to the linked page.
No-Index Tag
An HTML directive that tells search engines not to include a page in their index or search results.

OTerms starting with O

Off-Page SEO
SEO activity that happens outside your website, mainly link building, and influences how it ranks.
On-Page SEO
Optimization applied directly on a webpage, such as titles, headings, content and internal links, to improve its rankings.
Open Graph Tags
Meta tags that control how a page’s title, description and image appear when shared on platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn. Build yours with our Open Graph generator.
Organic Traffic
Visitors who reach a website through unpaid search results, as opposed to paid ads or referrals.
Orphan Page
A page with no internal links pointing to it, which makes it hard for users and crawlers to discover.
Outbound Link
A link on your page that points to another website.

PTerms starting with P

Page Speed
How quickly a webpage loads its content, a factor in both user experience and search rankings.
PageRank
Google’s original algorithm for ranking pages by the quantity and quality of links pointing to them. The idea still underlies link analysis today.
Pagination
Splitting content across multiple pages, such as page 2 and page 3, which needs careful handling to avoid SEO issues.
Panda and Penguin Updates
Landmark Google updates that targeted thin, low-quality content (Panda) and manipulative link schemes (Penguin).
People Also Ask (PAA)
An expandable SERP feature that shows related questions. It is useful for finding content and FAQ ideas.
Pillar Page
A comprehensive page on a broad topic, supported by linked cluster pages that cover subtopics in depth.
Progressive Web App (PWA)
A website built to behave like a native app, offering offline access and fast performance across devices.

QTerms starting with Q

Query
The exact word or phrase a user types or speaks into a search engine.
Query Deserves Freshness (QDF)
A ranking concept where Google temporarily favors newer content for queries tied to recent events or trending topics.

RTerms starting with R

Rank Tracking
Monitoring a website’s search position for target keywords over time.
Redirect (301 and 302)
A server instruction that sends users and search engines from one URL to another. A 301 is for permanent moves and a 302 is for temporary ones.
Rich Results
Enhanced search listings, such as star ratings, FAQs and recipes, generated from structured data markup.
Robots.txt
A text file that tells search engine crawlers which parts of a website they may or may not access. Create one with our robots.txt generator.

STerms starting with S

Schema Markup (Structured Data)
Code added to a webpage that helps search engines understand its content in more detail, enabling rich results such as star ratings or FAQs. Try our schema generators.
Sandbox Effect
See Google Sandbox.
Search Intent
The goal behind a search query: informational, navigational, commercial or transactional. Content should be built to match it.
SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
The practice of improving a website so it earns more visibility and traffic from unpaid search results, through technical health, quality content and credible links.
SEO Audit
A thorough review of a website’s technical health, content and backlink profile to find problems and opportunities.
SERP (Search Engine Results Page)
The page a search engine shows in response to a query, containing organic results, ads and other elements.
Server-Side Rendering (SSR)
Generating a page’s full HTML on the server before sending it to the browser, often preferred for SEO over client-side rendering.
Sitemap (XML Sitemap)
A file that lists a website’s important URLs, submitted to search engines so they can find and crawl pages more efficiently.
Skyscraper Technique
A link-building strategy: find high-performing content, create a more comprehensive version, then reach out to sites linking to the original.
Soft 404
A page that returns a 200 success code but has almost no content, so search engines may treat it as a low-quality error page.
SSL Certificate
A digital certificate that enables HTTPS encryption between a browser and a server, needed for secure, trustworthy websites.

TTerms starting with T

Technical SEO
Optimizing a website’s infrastructure, including crawlability, indexing, speed and structure, so search engines can access and rank it effectively.
TF-IDF
A statistical method (Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency) sometimes used to judge how distinctively a term is used compared with competing pages.
Thin Content
Pages with little unique value, depth or original content, which search engines may judge to be low quality.
Topical Authority
How far a website is seen as a trusted, comprehensive source on a subject, built through depth and consistency of content.
Trust Flow
A third-party metric from Majestic that estimates a site’s trustworthiness based on the quality of the sites linking to it.

UTerms starting with U

URL Slug
The final, editable part of a URL that identifies a page. A good slug is short, readable and relevant to the topic.
URL Structure
How a website’s URLs are organized, including folder hierarchy and readability, which affects usability and crawlability.
User Intent
See Search Intent.

VTerms starting with V

Vertical Search
Search focused on a specific content type or niche, such as image, video or local search, each with its own ranking factors.
Voice Search
Queries spoken aloud to a device or assistant. They are usually more conversational and question-based than typed queries.

WTerms starting with W

Web Crawler
See Bot.
Webmaster Guidelines
Google’s long-standing rules for how sites should be built and behave to stay in good standing in search. Google now publishes them as Google Search Essentials.
White Hat SEO
Ethical optimization that follows search engine guidelines and aims for long-term, sustainable results.
Word Count
The total number of words on a page. It is not a direct ranking factor, but it often reflects content depth and topic coverage.

XTerms starting with X

XML Sitemap
See Sitemap.

YTerms starting with Y

YMYL (Your Money or Your Life)
Topics such as health, finance and safety that Google’s quality rater guidelines hold to a higher E-E-A-T standard because they can affect wellbeing.

ZTerms starting with Z

Zero-Click Search
A search answered directly on the results page, through a featured snippet, AI Overview or Knowledge Panel, without the user clicking through to a website.
Zombie Pages
Indexed pages that get no traffic, links or engagement, which can dilute a site’s overall quality signals if left unmanaged.

What is SEO, and how do you use this glossary?

SEO (search engine optimization) is the practice of improving a website so it earns more visibility and traffic from unpaid search results. It combines technical health, useful content and credible links, and it now also covers how AI search tools find and cite your pages.

Start with the Beginner terms if you are new, such as SERP, keyword research, on-page SEO and backlinks. Move to Intermediate terms when you work on a site, and use the Advanced terms for technical audits and AI search.

Search by term or filter by level above. Terms that are closely related link to each other, so you can follow a topic from one idea to the next.

How the levels work

  • BeginnerEveryday SEO terms, and a good starting point.
  • IntermediateWorking knowledge for anyone managing a website.
  • AdvancedTechnical and pro-level concepts, including AI search.

What are the main types of SEO?

Most SEO terms belong to one of five areas. Knowing which one a term sits in tells you who usually handles it.

Most real projects combine all five areas.
TypeWhat it coversExample terms
Technical SEOHow easily search engines can crawl, render and index your siteCrawl budget, robots.txt, Core Web Vitals, canonical tag
On-page SEOWhat each page says and how it is structuredMeta title, heading tags, internal linking, alt text
Off-page SEOSignals from outside your site, mainly links and mentionsBacklink, link equity, anchor text, editorial link
Local SEOVisibility for nearby customers in local results and MapsGoogle Business Profile, NAP consistency, local pack
AI search (GEO and AEO)Being understood and cited by AI answer enginesAI Overviews, GEO, AEO, entity SEO, schema markup

SEO glossary questions, answered

Quick answers on the most searched SEO basics.

What is an SEO glossary?

An SEO glossary is a reference list that explains search engine optimization terms in plain language. This one covers more than 120 terms from A to Z and tags each as Beginner, Intermediate or Advanced, so you can learn at your own level.

What does SEO stand for?

SEO stands for search engine optimization. It is the practice of improving a website so it earns more visibility and traffic from unpaid search results on engines such as Google and Bing.

What is the difference between on-page, off-page and technical SEO?

On-page SEO improves what is on each page, such as titles, headings and content. Off-page SEO builds signals outside the site, mainly backlinks. Technical SEO makes sure search engines can crawl, render and index the site efficiently.

What are Core Web Vitals?

Core Web Vitals are Google’s metrics for real-world page experience. They are Largest Contentful Paint for loading, Interaction to Next Paint for responsiveness, and Cumulative Layout Shift for visual stability. Interaction to Next Paint replaced First Input Delay in March 2024.

What does E-E-A-T mean?

E-E-A-T stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness. It is a framework in Google’s quality rater guidelines for judging content quality. It is not a single ranking score, but the qualities it describes shape how content is evaluated.

What are GEO and AEO?

GEO (generative engine optimization) and AEO (answer engine optimization) are ways of making content easy for AI tools to understand and cite. They rely on clear answers, structured data, consistent brand facts and strong overall SEO.

Which SEO terms should beginners learn first?

Start with SERP, keyword, keyword research, search intent, on-page SEO, off-page SEO, backlink, meta title, meta description and Google Search Console. These ten cover how search works and how to measure it.

How often is this glossary updated?

We review it as Google and AI search change. It was last updated on 20 October 2026, and recent changes include Interaction to Next Paint replacing First Input Delay.

Is this SEO glossary free?

Yes. It is completely free to read, with no sign-up. You can search it, filter it by level and jump to any letter.

Explore our other glossaries

Looking for PPC, social media, web design or general marketing terms? Each has its own dedicated glossary.

Browse all glossariesThe full hub of 12 glossaries and 1,000+ terms. Social Media GlossaryInstagram, TikTok and paid social terms. Web Design and DevelopmentDesign, front-end, back-end and CMS terms. PPC and Google AdsBidding, targeting and campaign terms. Performance MarketingAttribution, growth and cross-channel terms. Content MarketingEditorial, writing and content strategy terms. AEO and GEO (AI Search)AI search, LLM and generative engine terms. Email MarketingDeliverability, automation and campaign terms. Analytics and ReportingGA4, statistics and dashboarding terms. E-Commerce MarketingCheckout, fulfillment and retention terms. Branding and IdentityBrand strategy, visual identity and positioning. Marketing AutomationWorkflow, CRM integration and orchestration.

Put the terms to work with our free tools: the Meta Tag Generator, Robots.txt Generator, Organization Schema Generator and the SEO Quiz.

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