117 plain-English definitions for UK business owners.
The practice of improving a website so it can be found in unpaid search results for relevant queries.
Search Engine Results Page — the page of results a search engine shows for a query.
A word or phrase people type into search engines, used to plan pages and measure visibility.
A longer, more specific search phrase, often closer to a decision and sometimes easier to rank for.
The likely goal behind a query: learn, navigate, compare or buy.
Optimising titles, headings, content, internal links and HTML on your own pages.
Signals outside your site that affect rankings, especially links and brand mentions.
Making a site crawlable, indexable, fast and structured so search engines can understand it.
When a search engine bot discovers URLs by following links and sitemaps.
The searchable database of pages a search engine may show in results.
Google's main web crawler that fetches pages for indexing.
A file that suggests which parts of a site crawlers may fetch.
A file listing important URLs to help search engines discover pages.
The preferred URL for duplicate or similar content, declared with rel=canonical.
HTML snippet that often appears under the title in results; not a direct ranking factor.
The HTML title of a page — important for relevance and click-through.
The main visible heading on a page; should describe the topic clearly.
Links between pages on the same site that help users and distribute crawl paths.
A link from another website to yours; a classic off-page signal.
The clickable text of a link, giving context about the destination.
A third-party score estimating ranking strength — not a Google metric.
Ahrefs' third-party score for a site's backlink profile strength.
A link attribute hinting the link should not pass ranking credit in the usual way.
Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trust — quality ideas in Google's rater guidance.
Content created for people first, aligned with Google's helpful content guidance.
Google user-experience metrics: LCP, INP and CLS.
Largest Contentful Paint — loading performance of the main content.
Interaction to Next Paint — responsiveness metric.
Cumulative Layout Shift — visual stability of a page.
Standardised markup that clarifies entities for search engines.
A common format for embedding schema.org structured data.
Structured data for question-and-answer content that may enable rich results.
Structured data describing the page's position in the site hierarchy.
Optimising to appear in local pack and localised organic results.
Google's free business listing used in Maps and local pack results.
Name, Address, Phone — consistency matters for local trust.
A mention of your business NAP on another site or directory.
The map-based local results block on many Google SERPs.
Annotations that indicate language and regional URL variants.
Sending users and crawlers from one URL to another.
A permanent redirect, commonly used in migrations.
Page not found response that should be fixed or thoughtfully redirected.
A URL that returns 200 but looks empty or erroneous to Google.
A page with no internal links pointing to it.
Roughly how much attention Googlebot gives to crawling a site.
Pages with little unique value — a risk for programmatic SEO.
Pages built mainly to rank for similar queries and funnel users elsewhere.
Same or near-identical content on multiple URLs.
Several pages competing for the same query and weakening each other.
Estimated how often a query is searched — treat tool figures as estimates.
Click-through rate — clicks divided by impressions.
How often a page appeared in search results.
Visits from unpaid search results.
A page's position for a query — it fluctuates.
A highlighted answer box Google sometimes shows.
Expandable related questions on many results pages.
Google's AI-generated summary unit on some queries.
Informal terms for visibility in generative or AI answer experiences.
A Google announcement improving spam-detection systems.
A broad Google ranking update affecting many queries.
A human-reviewed penalty visible in Search Console.
A Search Console tool to ask Google to ignore specific backlinks.
Earning or acquiring backlinks — quality and relevance matter.
PR campaigns designed to earn coverage and links from real publications.
Private Blog Network — a manipulative link scheme Google targets.
A group of related pages linking to a pillar topic page.
A comprehensive hub page that clusters link to.
Perceived depth and coherence of content on a subject.
Instructions covering intent, outline, links and unique angles.
Content that stays useful over time and is worth updating.
Traffic decline as pages age or competitors outpace them.
Google predominantly uses the mobile version of content for indexing.
Encrypted HTTP — expected for modern sites.
Content delivery network serving assets from edge locations.
Text alternative for images — accessibility first.
SEO for product and category architectures and product content.
Filter URLs that can create crawl and duplicate issues if uncontrolled.
Google's free property for coverage, queries and enhancements.
Google Analytics 4 — traffic and conversion analytics.
Share of visits that complete a goal such as an enquiry.
Queries that include your brand name.
When the SERP answers without a click to a website.
Non-classic result units such as maps, videos or AI Overviews.
Informal term for practices aligned with search guidelines.
Manipulative tactics that violate spam policies.
Moving URLs, hosts or platforms while preserving search equity.
The path segment that names a page, ideally clear and stable.
Navigational trail showing where a page sits in the site.
How pages are organised and linked.
Studying server logs to see how bots crawl your site.
Protocol to notify participating engines of URL changes (not Google).
Additional links Google may show under a navigational result.
Entity information panel for some brands and topics.
A major search engine in some markets; less central for UK SEO.
Microsoft's search engine; still worth basic optimisation.
A rel value marking paid or sponsored links.
Rel=ugc marks user-generated content links.
Choosing and declaring the preferred URL among duplicates.
Aligning pages and signals to a geographic market.
Third-party estimates of how hard it is to rank for a term.
Content on another site; useful when editorial, risky when spammy.
Informal idea that new sites take time to rank — not an official feature.
Optional mobile framework; not required for good mobile SEO.
Deferring offscreen images — careful with LCP images.
Filenames, alt text, compression and placement for images.
Optimising video pages and platforms for discovery.
Splitting lists across pages with a clear crawl strategy.
Modern analytics emphasise engagement; interpret carefully in GA4.
Informal label for risky tactics between clear-good and clear-spam.
Ranking loss from algorithmic or manual spam enforcement.
Work to regain visibility after a penalty or update impact.
Sitewide footer links — useful for users, easy to overdo.
Primary menu links that shape crawl paths and UX.
Emerging convention some sites use for AI crawlers — not a Google ranking factor.
The mix of branded, naked and keyword anchors in a link profile.
Updating a page to restore accuracy and competitiveness.
Overlap where usability, speed and clarity support search performance.
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