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The importance of search engine optimization (SEO) in improving your website’s visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs) can’t be overemphasized, especially given the latest SEO trends. However, with so many technical terms and concepts, navigating SEO can feel overwhelming. If you’re unfamiliar with SEO terms and jargon or need a refresher, then this SEO glossary was crafted specifically for you.
An understanding of foundational SEO concepts can help you get the best out of your SEO efforts. This guide provides clear explanations of essential terms you’ll encounter as you work to improve your site’s online visibility.
How SEO works
Search engines like Google and Bing use “virtual robots” to visit websites across the internet. These robots analyze the content using an internal set of rules to decide if and where your page should appear in search results. The exact rules aren’t public, but they’re focused on ensuring people can find what they’re looking for from a trustworthy source as quickly as possible.
Much SEO is about improving your website so these robots can easily understand your content. When done right, this helps your website show up when your target visitors search for related topics. Understanding the basic terms in SEO will make it easier to create and apply an SEO strategy.
Basic SEO terms for website owners
Here are 14 fundamental SEO terms to understand as a website owner. Each can have a notable impact on your website’s search ranking.
1. Backlinks
Backlinks are links from another site pointing to your website. When reputable websites link back to your site, it signals to search engines that you have a credible website. The more reputable backlinks you have, the higher your domain authority and the more likely you are to rank for difficult keywords.
2. Bounce rate
This is the percentage of visitors who leave a website after viewing only one page and taking no action, like clicking a link. A high bounce rate may indicate that the site content is not relevant or engaging to users. As such, you want to aim for a low bounce rate.
3. Crawling
Crawling is the process by which search engines discover your website’s content. Search engine bots, also known as crawlers, follow links on your site to explore its pages and gather information about them.
4. Domain authority
This metric indicates a website’s credibility and its potential to rank for more competitive keywords on search engines. It’s influenced by factors such as the quality of links pointing to the site from other websites.
5. Indexing
Indexing happens after crawling. It’s when search engines store and organize the information they’ve collected from your site. This allows the content to be easily retrieved and displayed in response to relevant keyword searches.
6. Keywords
Keywords are the words or phrases people use in search engines to find information, products, or services online. As a website owner, understanding these keywords helps you decide what terms your site should focus on to attract visitors. Usually, a page will have a main keyword to prioritize and additional related words to help search engines understand what you should rank for.
For example, a Squarespace-related keyword might be “website builder” or “online store template.”
7. Keyword difficulty
This metric measures the difficulty of appearing on page one of search results for a particular keyword or phrase. Keyword difficulty is partly based on how many other sites are trying to rank for the same word and how reputable those sites are. Websites that search engines consider more trustworthy have a better chance of ranking for more difficult keywords. Many SEO tools, such as the SEOSpace extension, offer insights into keyword difficulty.
8. Long-tail keywords
Long-tail keywords are longer (three or more words), more specific search phrases with lower search volume but higher conversion potential. They often target niche audiences and are easier to rank for compared to short, highly competitive keywords. For example, instead of “shoes,” a long-tail keyword would be “comfortable running shoes for flat feet.”
9. Mobile optimization
This involves designing and adjusting your website to ensure it looks and performs optimally on mobile devices. Since Google prioritizes mobile performance, ensuring your site is mobile-friendly is vital for a good user experience and better search rankings.
10. Search engine results page (SERP)
The SERP is the page displayed by search engines in response to a search. Ranking higher on the SERP increases visibility and can lead to more organic traffic, as users are more likely to click on top-ranking results. Ideally, you’ll appear in the first three results of your relevant keyword’s SERP, as these results get the most clicks.
11. Search volume
Search volume is how many people search for a certain keyword or phrase online in a month. It shows how popular the phrase is and can help you decide whether it’s a keyword worth optimizing your site for. Generally, you’d only optimize your site for a keyword that has a search volume higher than zero.
12. SEO description (Meta description)
SEO descriptions, also known as meta descriptions, are the summaries that appear below the SEO title in SERPs. They give readers a quick summary of the page’s content.
Web users are more likely to click on a page that’s relevant to their search, so it’s essential to write a compelling meta description that highlights your page’s content and relevance. It’s recommended to keep your SEO description between 150 and 160 characters to ensure search engines don’t truncate it.
13. SEO title (Meta title)
An SEO title, also known as a meta title, is the clickable blue link you see in search results. It’s one of the first things people notice, so it’s important to make it attractive and engaging. On Squarespace, you can change a webpage’s SEO title in the page’s settings. Limiting SEO titles to 50-60 characters is recommended to avoid getting cut short in SERPs.
Note that an SEO title is not the same as the page title. A page title is what appears in your browser tab or when sharing a page link. However, you can use the same title in both places.
14. Sitemap
A sitemap is like a map of your website, showing all the pages that you want search engines to know about and display on SERPs. It helps search engines find and understand your content more easily, guiding them to index your site efficiently.
On-page SEO terms
On-page SEO includes those tweaks you make to your website pages to improve online visibility. Here are some key on-page SEO terms you may encounter.
15. 301 redirect
A 301 redirect is a permanent redirection of a link/URL from one webpage to another. It helps guide both users and search engines to a new webpage when content has been moved or a page is outdated.
16. Anchor text
This refers to the visible, clickable text in a link. Optimizing anchor text with relevant keywords can help improve your website’s SEO by providing context to search engines. This is also beneficial for your website’s accessibility.
17. Internal linking
Internal linking involves connecting your pages with hyperlinks to improve site navigation and user experience. You can strategically link related content to guide visitors through your site and keep them engaged. This practice also helps search engines understand your site’s content structure, potentially improving SEO performance.
18. Robots.txt
This is a file that provides instructions to search engines about which pages on a website should be shown to the public. It helps manage website traffic and ensure sensitive or duplicate content is not shown.
19. Search intent
This term describes a web user’s aim when searching for a specific keyword. There are four main types of search intent.
Informational: Seeking knowledge (e.g., “how to start a blog”)
Navigational: Looking for a specific website (e.g., “Squarespace login”)
Transactional: Ready to make a purchase (e.g., “buy yoga mat”)
Commercial: Researching products or services before making a purchase (e.g., “best yoga mats”).
Understanding search intent is crucial in SEO. To target a keyword effectively, you must ensure that your web page content matches the search intent of the users you want to attract.
20. SSL certificate
SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) is a security technology that establishes a secure connection between a browser and a web server (a computer system that stores a website’s files and delivers them to users’ browsers when they visit that website). Having an SSL certificate is important for ensuring secure data transfer and can positively impact SEO rankings, as search engines favor secure sites over non-secure ones.
Beginner technical SEO terms
Technical SEO involves optimizing the behind-the-scenes elements of your website, such as how it’s built and organized. This includes improving site speed, ensuring mobile-friendliness, and making sure that search engines can easily crawl and index your site.
21. Alt (or alternative) text
Alt text is a description added to images on a webpage. It helps search engines understand the image’s content and improves accessibility for users who can’t load or view an image clearly.
22. De-indexing
De-indexing involves removing a page from search engine results. This process can be necessary for various reasons, such as removing outdated content or preventing duplicate pages from competing for rankings for a single keyword, a phenomenon known as keyword cannibalization. While it’s generally best to keep your content indexed, strategic de-indexing can sometimes improve your overall SEO performance by ensuring search engines focus on your most valuable pages.
23. Metadata
Metadata is information about your web pages that isn’t visible to users but helps search engines understand the page better. It includes elements like meta tags, image alt text, and schema markup. These hidden descriptors help search engines display your content appropriately in search results.
24. Page speed
Page speed refers to how quickly your website loads and responds to user interactions. Fast-loading pages keep visitors engaged and signal to search engines that your site provides a good user experience, ultimately improving your site’s visibility. Google recommends keeping page load times to under three seconds to reduce bounce rate.
25. Schema markup
Schema markup is a type of code you add to your website to help search engines understand your content more clearly. If you’ve ever seen Google display star ratings or FAQs directly under a webpage in search results, that’s schema markup at work. Using it can make your site stand out and may lead to more people clicking on your website’s link.
Staying informed
SEO is ever-evolving, hence the importance of staying updated about changes in search engine algorithms. These updates help search engines give better and more accurate results. By understanding them, you can modify your SEO strategies to boost your website’s rankings.
It’s also important to measure your site’s SEO performance. By assessing metrics like search rankings, website traffic, engagement, and conversion rates, you can determine the effectiveness of your SEO efforts. Use Squarespace Analytics to track these numbers and find opportunities to adjust your SEO strategy for improved results.