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SEO glossary

SEO glossary, in plain English.

52 common SEO terms explained without jargon. These are the words we use when we talk about local SEO, Google Business Profiles, AI search, and websites.

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A

AEO (Answer Engine Optimization)
Optimizing content so it is selected as the direct answer in AI Overviews, featured snippets, and assistant responses rather than only ranking as a blue link. Our AEO services
Alt text
A written description of an image, read by screen readers and used by search engines to understand what the image shows.
Anchor text
The visible, clickable words in a hyperlink. Descriptive anchor text helps search engines understand what the linked page is about.
Authority
A general measure of how trustworthy and established a site or page appears, built through quality content, links, and consistent signals over time.

B

Bounce rate
The share of visitors who arrive on a page and leave without any further interaction. High bounce rates can signal mismatched intent or a poor experience.

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.
Citation
A mention of your business name, address, and phone number on another site. Consistent citations strengthen local ranking. Citations in local SEO
Core Web Vitals
Google's page experience metrics covering loading speed, interactivity, and visual stability. Fast web design
Crawl budget
The number of pages a search engine will crawl on your site in a given period. Large sites waste it on duplicate and low value URLs.
Crawlability
How easily a search engine can discover and read the pages on your site.

D

Domain authority
A third party score estimating how likely a domain is to rank. It is an industry metric, not a Google ranking factor.
Duplicate content
Substantially identical content appearing at more than one URL, which splits ranking signals and wastes crawl budget. Fixing it on Shopify

E

E-E-A-T
Experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trust. The quality framework Google's raters use, weighted most heavily for health, finance, and other high stakes topics.
Entity
A distinct person, place, organization, or concept that search engines recognize and connect to other entities in a knowledge graph. AI SEO services

F

Faceted navigation
Filters on a category page, common in e-commerce, that can generate thousands of near duplicate URLs if left uncontrolled. Ecommerce SEO

G

GBP (Google Business Profile)
The free business listing that powers your presence in Google Maps and the local map pack. Google Business Profile help
GEO (Generative Engine Optimization)
Building the content, structure, and entity signals that make generative AI systems surface and cite your business by name. Our GEO services

H

Headings (H1 to H6)
The hierarchy of headings on a page. A single, descriptive H1 tells both readers and search engines what the page is about.

I

Impression-to-Click Gap
The widening distance between how often a site appears in search results and how often it is clicked. Rising impressions paired with flat or falling clicks is the normal signature of zero-click growth rather than a sign of a technical problem. Zero-click search
Indexing
The process of a search engine storing a page so it can appear in results. A page can be crawled but not indexed.
Intent
What a searcher is actually trying to accomplish. Matching intent matters more than matching keywords.
Internal linking
Links between pages on your own site. Good internal linking spreads authority and shows search engines how your content relates.

K

Keyword cannibalization
Two or more of your own pages competing for the same query, splitting signals so neither ranks as well as one strong page would.
Keyword research
Identifying the searches real customers run, along with their volume, difficulty, and intent.

L

Local pack
The block of three business listings with a map that appears for local searches. Often called the map pack. How to rank in the map pack
Local SEO
The practice of ranking a business for geographically bound searches, especially in the map pack. Local SEO in Nashville

M

Map pack
See local pack. The three business results shown with a map for a local search. How to rank in the map pack
Meta description
The summary shown under your title in search results. It does not directly affect ranking but strongly affects click through rate.

N

NAP consistency
Keeping your business name, address, and phone number identical everywhere they appear online, which supports local ranking. Why it matters for GEO
Nofollow
A link attribute that tells search engines not to pass ranking credit through that link.

O

On page SEO
Everything you control on the page itself, including titles, headings, content, internal links, and structured data.
Open Web Click
A click from a search result to a website that is not owned by the search engine. Of every 1,000 US Google searches, roughly 276 now produce an open web click, down from 374 in 2024. The remaining clicks go to Google properties such as Maps and YouTube, or to paid ads.
Organic traffic
Visitors who arrive from unpaid search results.

P

PAA (People Also Ask)
The expandable question boxes in search results. Ranking inside them wins visibility above many standard listings. AEO services
Prominence
A local ranking factor covering how well known and well reviewed a business is, both online and off.

R

Redirect (301)
A permanent instruction that a URL has moved, passing most ranking signals to the new address.
Rich result
A search listing enhanced with extra detail such as star ratings, prices, or FAQs, generated from structured data.
Robots.txt
A file that tells crawlers which parts of a site they may or may not request.

S

Schema markup
Structured data added to a page in a format search engines read, used to power rich results and clarify entities. Schema and AI Overviews
Search Everywhere Optimization
The practice of optimizing for every place people run queries, including Amazon, YouTube, Bing, social networks, and AI assistants, rather than for traditional search engines alone. Roughly one in five searches now happens somewhere other than a traditional search engine. AI SEO services
Search intent
See intent. Whether a searcher wants to learn, compare, find a location, or buy.
SERP
The search engine results page, including ads, AI Overviews, map packs, snippets, and organic listings.
Sitemap
A file listing the URLs on your site that you want search engines to discover and crawl.

T

Technical SEO
The work that makes a site crawlable, indexable, fast, and structurally sound so its content can rank at all. Sites built clean from day one
Title tag
The clickable headline in search results and the single strongest on page signal of what a page is about.
Topical authority
Depth and breadth of quality coverage on a subject, which makes search engines more likely to trust your pages on it. National SEO

U

URL structure
How your addresses are organized. Clean, readable, keyword relevant URLs help users and search engines alike.

Y

YMYL (Your Money or Your Life)
Content that can affect health, safety, or finances. Google holds it to the strictest quality standard on the web.

Z

Put to work

Where these SEO terms are used in practice.

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Nashville SEO Company keeps a plain English SEO glossary covering local SEO, technical SEO, ecommerce SEO, and AI search terms for Nashville and Middle Tennessee businesses.

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