Glossary of SEO terms

A

AI Overviews

AI-generated answers Google shows directly in the SERP above the regular results; they reduce click-through rates for some queries. Read more →

Anchor list

A pre-planned list of anchors distributed by type and target page. Read more →

Anchor text

The visible text of a link; its makeup directly affects the risk of an over-optimization penalty. Read more →

B

Bounce rate

The share of visits without meaningful interaction; a sign the page doesn't match the query. Read more →

Broken backlink

A backlink pointing to a page that doesn't exist (404); it loses its weight, but can often be reclaimed. Read more →

C

Canonical tag

A signal telling the search engine which of several similar pages to treat as the main one (rel="canonical"). Read more →

Cloaking

Showing different content to the search engine and to users; a prohibited method. Read more →

Core Web Vitals

A set of Google's technical metrics (LCP, INP, CLS) that measure loading speed, responsiveness and layout stability. Read more →

Crawl budget

The number of pages a crawler is willing to crawl on a site within a given time. Read more →

Crowd marketing

Natural mentions and links in real discussions: on forums, in reviews and comments. Read more →

CTR

The share of clicks on your result out of the number of times it was shown in search; affects traffic at the same rankings. Read more →

D

Disavow

A Google tool you use to ask it to ignore selected harmful links pointing to your site. Read more →

Dofollow / Nofollow

Link attributes: dofollow passes the donor's weight, nofollow marks the link as a "hint" without passing weight. Read more →

Domain Authority (DA)

Moz's predictive domain authority metric on a 0–100 scale; a third-party metric, not a Google signal. Read more →

Domain Rating (DR)

An Ahrefs metric that rates the strength of a domain's link profile on a 0–100 scale. Read more →

Domain spam score

An estimate of how polluted a site's link profile is; a high score is a reason to reject the donor. Read more →

Doorway page

A page or site created for search engine crawlers to redirect traffic; a serious guidelines violation. Read more →

Duplicate pages

Several URLs with identical or nearly identical content that dilute relevance. Read more →

E

E-E-A-T

Google's principles of experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness; especially important for YMYL topics. Read more →

G

GEO

Optimizing content for AI-generated answers (AI Overviews, ChatGPT) rather than the classic SERP. Read more →

Google Core Update

A major update to Google's core algorithm that can noticeably shift rankings for many sites at once. Read more →

Google Search Console

A free Google service for monitoring your site's indexing, queries, errors and links. Read more →

Guest post

An article published on someone else's site with a link to your resource. Read more →

H

hreflang

An attribute that tells Google about the language and regional versions of a page, so the right version is shown to the right audience. Read more →

I

Indexing

Adding a page to a search engine's database, after which it can appear in search results. Read more →

Internal linking

A system of links between pages of the same site that distributes link equity and improves navigation. Read more →

K

Keyword cannibalization

When two pages compete for the same query and keep each other from ranking. Read more →

Keyword clustering

Grouping keywords by page based on SERP similarity. Read more →

KPI (in SEO)

Measurable indicators of a contractor's work: traffic, rankings, leads, link quality, not "a report for the sake of a report." Read more →

L

Link building

Acquiring external links to grow a site's authority and rankings. Read more →

Link profile

All external links pointing to a site, together with their characteristics. Read more →

Local SEO

Ranking for location-based queries and in Google Maps for local businesses. Read more →

LSI keywords

Topically related words and synonyms that help a search engine understand the content of a page more precisely. Read more →

M

Meta tags

Page service tags (title, description, H1, alt) that affect how a page is understood and how often it gets clicked. Read more →

N

Negative SEO

An attempt to harm someone else's site with toxic links or other manipulation. Read more →

Niche edits

Inserting a link into an already published and indexed article on a relevant site. Read more →

O

Organic traffic

Visitors who come from unpaid search results rather than ads. Read more →

Outreach

Placing links and articles through direct agreements with site owners. Read more →

P

Pagination

Splitting long lists (catalog, blog) into pages; requires careful SEO setup. Read more →

PBN

A private blog network built for links; a gray-to-black-hat method with a risk of mass deindexing. Read more →

People Also Ask

The "People also ask" block in Google's SERP with expandable answers. Read more →

Permanent links

Links placed once that stay on the site without a monthly rental fee. Read more →

R

Redirect (301/302)

Forwarding from one URL to another: 301 is permanent (passes weight), 302 is temporary. Read more →

robots.txt

A service file in the site root that tells search engine crawlers which sections they may crawl. Read more →

ROI (in SEO)

Return on SEO investment: the ratio of profit from organic search to what you spend on it. Read more →

S

Schema markup

A structured data standard (usually JSON-LD) that helps a search engine understand content and show a rich snippet. Read more →

Search volume

How many times per month users search for a specific query. Read more →

Semantic core

The full set of queries a site is optimized for, grouped by page. Read more →

SERP

The search engine results page with all its elements: organic results, ads, snippets, maps, AI answers. Read more →

sitemap.xml

An XML sitemap listing URLs to make indexing faster and more complete. Read more →

Snippet

A page's listing in the SERP: title, description and URL; a rich snippet adds structured data. Read more →

T

Technical SEO audit

Checking a site for technical errors that hinder indexing and ranking. Read more →

Term

Definition

Term

Definition

Tier 1 / 2 / 3

A tiered link scheme: tier 1 points to your site, tiers 2–3 strengthen the links themselves. Read more →

Trust

A search engine's overall "confidence" in a site; built from link quality, age and history. Read more →

Trust Flow

A Majestic metric that rates "trust" in a domain based on the quality of the sources linking to it. Read more →

Y

YMYL

"Your Money or Your Life": topics on health, finance and safety that Google holds to higher standards. Read more →