Subject area

Search Engines

Search engine terms explained: SEO, indexing, sitemaps, canonical URLs, featured snippets, search intent and what helps a website appear in Google and AI answers.

30 concepts in this area

A

Anchor Text Anchor text is the clickable wording of a link, and it tells the reader what they will find before they decide to click. Read the definition

B

Broken Link A broken link points at a page that no longer exists, so the visitor gets a short 404 message instead of what they clicked for. Read the definition

C

Canonical URL A canonical URL is the line in a page's code that tells search engines which copy of that page is the original one to show. Read the definition Click-Through Rate CTR Click-through rate is the percentage of people who clicked your result out of everyone who was shown it in the first place. Read the definition

D

Duplicate Content Duplicate content is the same text appearing at more than one web address, so a search engine picks one page to show and quietly ignores the rest. Read the definition

E

E-commerce SEO E-commerce SEO is the work of making a shop's category and product pages easy to find in search, because those are the pages that bring buyers. Read the definition E-E-A-T E-E-A-T E-E-A-T is Google's short name for the experience, expertise, authority and trust that its paid raters look for on every page they judge. Read the definition

F

Featured Snippet A featured snippet is the box Google puts above its normal results, where it shows a short answer copied straight from a page and links back to it. Read the definition

G

Google Search Console GSC Google Search Console is a free Google report that tells you which searches your site turned up in and how many people clicked through to it. Read the definition

H

How Long Does SEO Take How long SEO takes depends on your market, but in most cases the numbers start moving somewhere between the third and the sixth month. Read the definition Hreflang Hreflang is a short line of code that tells Google which language version of a page to show each visitor, so nobody lands on a page they cannot read. Read the definition

I

Indexing Indexing is the step where Google saves a copy of your page in the list it searches, so a page it skips can never appear in a result. Read the definition Internal Linking Internal linking is the set of links running from one page of your site to another, which is how you tell Google which of your pages matters most. Read the definition

J

JavaScript SEO JavaScript SEO is the work of making sure Google sees your real words on a site whose pages are put together inside the browser. Read the definition

K

Keyword Research Keyword research means finding the exact words your customers type into Google, so your pages can use their words instead of the ones your company uses. Read the definition

L

Link Building Link building is the work of persuading other websites to link to yours, because search engines still count each good link as a vote for your page. Read the definition Local SEO Local SEO is the work that gets your business onto the small map at the top of Google when someone nearby searches for what you sell. Read the definition

M

Mobile-First Indexing Mobile-first indexing means Google reads the phone version of your page and ranks you on what it finds there, so anything your mobile layout leaves out barely counts. Read the definition

O

Off-Page SEO Off-page SEO is the part of your search ranking that other people build for you, through the links, mentions and reviews they leave on sites you do not own. Read the definition On-Page SEO On-page SEO is the work you do inside the page itself, from the title to the text on your photos, so readers and search engines both understand it. Read the definition

P

Page Speed Page speed is how long a real person waits on their phone before your page becomes useful to them. Read the definition

Q

Quality Content Quality content is writing that leaves the reader satisfied, which usually means real experience on the page and nothing added just to reach a word count. Read the definition

R

Ranking Factors Ranking factors are the handful of things a search engine really weighs when it decides which page deserves to sit at the top of the results. Read the definition

S

Search Intent Search intent is what a person really wants when they type a phrase into Google, which is why the page that gives them exactly that ends up on top. Read the definition Structured Data Structured data is a short note hidden in your page code that tells search engines what the page is about, in a form every one of them understands. Read the definition

T

Technical SEO Technical SEO is the work of making sure a search engine can reach your pages, load them quickly on a phone and trust the connection. Read the definition

U

URL Redirect A URL redirect is a note left at an old web address that quietly sends every visitor and every search engine to the page's new home. Read the definition

W

Website Migration A website migration is any move that takes a site to a new address, platform or server without losing the visitors it already had. Read the definition

X

XML Sitemap An XML sitemap is a list of your pages written for search engines, saying what exists on the site and when each page last changed. Read the definition

Z

Zero-Click Search A zero-click search is one that ends on the results page itself, because the person found what they needed without ever opening a website. Read the definition

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