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The acronym SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization.
In short, it refers to all the techniques and strategies used to improve the ranking of a website or page in search engine results.
These techniques aim to improve the understanding of page content by ranking algorithms, in order to highlight the most relevant websites in relation to a user's query.
These methods are essential if you want your website to be visible when potential customers are searching for your company, product or service.
To help you better understand the exciting world of SEO, here are 50 essential definitions to remember.
50 terms you need to understand to get the most out of SEO
Algorithm
A search engine algorithm is a set of mathematical rules and instructions used to rank web pages according to a query.
In SEO, it's fundamental to understand the criteria taken into account by the algorithm at each stage of its operation: crawling, indexing and ranking, in order to optimize the ranking of your site and pages on relevant searches.
ALT tag
The ALT attribute is used in HTML tags as a substitute text to describe an image when it cannot be displayed. Or to help search engines and assistive technologies like screen readers to interpret its content.
It's an essential element in SEO, so make sure you use a relevant description (and keywords) for the text in your ALT tags.
Analytics
When we speak of analytics in the context of SEO, we mean the analysis of various data to understand the effectiveness of strategies and actions deployed, as well as to identify opportunities for improvement.
Has traffic increased on your website? What are the sources of this traffic? Which pages are visited most often? What is your website's ranking in search results for your target keywords? Which relevant keywords should you choose according to search volume?
To conduct these analyses, you can use a variety of tools such as Google Analytics, Google Search Console or SEMrush.
Authority score
Authority score is an indicator of the overall quality of a domain or web page and its potential to rank in search results. It is generally used to compare domains.
This score, calculated arbitrarily by the various tools, takes into account the number and quality of backlinks, as well as the volume of organic traffic.
Authority score is an essential lever for improving your SEO strategy. In particular, you can analyze your competitors' authority scores to identify good and bad practices.
To boost the credibility of your own site, you can also seek to acquire backlinks from websites with a high authority score. To identify them, you can use SEMrush Website Authority Checker.
Backlinks
A backlink is a link from another site to yours. These links are precious for SEO, as they represent strong signals of authority and relevance. In a nutshell, a web page achieves a higher ranking in search results when several reputable websites link to it.
To get backlinks, you can either produce high-quality content to encourage other websites to link to yours, or contact relevant bloggers, influencers or forums in your field to request links to your site.
There are many strategies for generating backlinks. Contact us to find out more!
Black hat and white hat
These two terms are used to differentiate approaches to SEO. White hat refers to practices that respect search engine guidelines, while black hat includes those that attempt to manipulate rankings in an unethical manner.
White hat SEO techniques include, for example, the creation of high-quality content, technical site optimization and the building of natural backlinks. Conversely, keyword spam, duplicate content and large-scale backlink buying are identified as black hat.
A word of advice: if you want Google to reward you for your SEO practices in a sustainable way, opt for ethics instead. The risk of being banned from search engines because of black hat techniques is too great.
Breadcrumb Trail
A breadcrumb trail is a series of links generally displayed at the top of a web page. They help search engines to understand the structure and hierarchy of a site's pages, which can improve its natural referencing.
In addition, it optimizes the user experience by enabling visitors to easily find their way around the site's structure and quickly return to a previous page.
Canonical URL
When there are several URLs with similar or identical content, you can define a canonical URL, i.e. the preferred version of this page on which you wish to concentrate authority and improve visibility in search results.
For example, if you have a product page that can be filtered by color, size or category, the main product page should be canonical to avoid duplicate filter pages.
To do this, simply add a canonical tag, an HTML code placed in the <head> section of the web page:
The canonical tag can also be used to indicate that an article takes content from an original source, to avoid this content being perceived as plagiarism.
Core update
Core updates are significant updates to Google's main algorithm that impact the ranking of websites in search results worldwide. They aim to improve the quality and relevance of results for users.
It's crucial to keep an eye on these updates and measure their impact on your website's positions and, if necessary, adjust your strategy accordingly to maintain or improve your online visibility.
Tools such as SEMrush can inform you of the impact of Google's algorithm updates.
Core web vitals
Core web vitals are a set of metrics relating to the loading performance, interactivity and visual stability of a web page.
These criteria are used by Google to evaluate the user experience on a website, and consequently have an influence on its natural referencing.
You can view your website's Core Web Vitals report from the Search Console.
Crawler
A crawler, also known as a bot or spider, is a program used by search engines to explore and index the content of websites.
In SEO, the crawler's role is essential, as it enables search engines to discover, analyze and organize web pages in order to make them accessible in search results. It operates in two phases: crawling and indexing.
It should also be noted that crawlers regularly revisit sites, to detect new features, updates and index the most recent content.
Other tools such as SEMrush and Ahrefs also use crawlers to identify and analyze websites.
CSS
CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) is a computer language for formatting web pages (HTML or XML).
It is essential for the layout and design of websites, as it separates content from visual presentation, making the code cleaner and easier to maintain.
Good CSS optimization contributes to the speed, readability and user experience of a site, which is appreciated by both users and search engines.
Dereferencing
Dereferencing is the process of removing content (image, video, text) from search engine results.
In the case of Google, for example, you can make your request by filling in the personal data deletion request form.
Density
In SEO, density refers to the frequency with which a keyword appears in relation to the total number of words on a given web page.
Optimum density is generally around 1%, equivalent to approximately 1 keyword occurrence for every 100 words.
This measurement allows you to quickly check whether you're using the right number of keywords, or whether you're in danger of falling into the trap of keyword spam, a practice which, let's not forget, is considered as black hat.
To follow best practice, use other terms that are synonymous or in the same semantic field.
Do-follow and no-follow
These are SEO terms referring to two link attributes that influence how search engines treat hyperlinks. These attributes are found in the html code of an outgoing link.
Do-follow links are tracked by search engines and transmit authority (or “link juice”) from one site to another.
By default, all links are do-follow, unlike no-follow links, which require a specific tag to tell search engines not to follow them.
No-follow links are mainly used for advertising or sites to which you don't wish to transfer authority.
Other attributes exist, such as noopener or noreferrer.
Dwell time
Dwell time is a metric used to measure the time spent by a user on a web page before returning to search results or leaving the site.
This metric is an important indicator of user engagement and the relevance of a web page's content.
Although search engines such as Google have not officially confirmed the use of dwell time as a ranking factor, a high dwell time is often correlated with better rankings in search results.
In other words, the more users browse your website, the more it shows Google that it's relevant to their needs. Which means you're more likely to rank well. So create original, high-quality content that answers your target audience's searches!
E-E-A-T
Google E-E-A-T stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness. These are guidelines that Google uses to evaluate the quality and credibility of content.
E-E-A-T plays a crucial role, particularly in valuing content written by experts, rather than mass-produced by Artificial Intelligences.
Content that reflects genuine expertise or personal experience is more likely to appear in the first search results.
However, this is not directly a ranking criterion, but rather an overall state of mind. The idea is to create useful content that brings real added value to readers (people-first content), rather than mass-producing content dedicated solely to search engines and SEO.
Evergreen content
Content qualifies as evergreen when it is timeless and remains relevant and useful over a long period of time. It's a type of content that ranks well in search results, because it answers enduring queries.
For example, our guide to learning the basic Digital Marketing terms is considered evergreen content. Conversely, our article announcing the launch of our Cedille.ai language model is news-based content.
HTML structure
HTML structure is the organization and arrangement of HTML elements within a web page. It determines how content is presented and structured, making it easier for search engines to understand and interpret.
The basic components of an HTML structure are :
- the doctype, which indicates the HTML version used.
- the HTML tag, which wraps the entire page, for example to define the language.
- the head tag, which contains metadata and links to external resources.
- the body tag, which groups together the visible content of the page, and under which we find, for example, header tags for hierarchical headings (H1, H2, H3, etc.).
This basic structure ensures that the HTML document is well organized, accessible and optimized for SEO.
Note that the HTML structure can be loaded with code if you use standard site generators (Wix, Wordpress, etc.). However, the denser the code, the longer the loading time. So keep your structure clean and clear.
Impressions
In SEO, impressions are the number of times a website appears on the Search Engine Results Page (SERP), regardless of whether the user clicks on it or not.
Using tools like Google Search Console, you can analyze the volume of impressions and check which keywords are generating the highest number of impressions, in order to adjust your strategy.
This KPI should, however, be interpreted with caution. To ensure your site's visibility, it's important to correlate impressions with clicks, the average position of your page in search results or CTR (Click-Through-Rate).
For example, if your site appears in 10th position (i.e., still on the first page of Google), Google Search Console will record an impression. However, the user may not have scrolled down to this position, and therefore may not have actually seen your site in the search results.
Indexing
This is the stage when search engine crawlers analyze and evaluate a web page. Once the page has been indexed, it becomes eligible to appear in search results when a user makes a query.
Indexing is crucial to SEO, as a non-indexed page will not appear in search results.
Note: you can find out which pages of a site (or your site) are indexed by searching for “site:domain”.
Internal and external linking
Internal linking refers to the hypertext links that connect the various pages of a site to each other. Taking care of your site's internal links is essential!
Internal links make your site easier to navigate, improving the user experience and increasing the time spent on your site.
What's more, by linking pages with similar content, you reinforce your site's theme and consistency in the eyes of search engines, and distribute authority among your pages.
External linking is also very important, as it involves backlinks. As mentioned above, these are the links from other websites that point to your pages and have an influence on your authority score. And consequently, also on your search engine ranking.
Unlike internal linking, external linking is more difficult to control, since it's not entirely under your influence - it depends on the willingness of other sites to link to your content.
Nevertheless, there are many techniques you can use to develop your backlinks and increase your authority score. Contact us to find out more!
Keyword stuffing
Keyword stuffing is a black hat SEO practice that consists of excessively and unnaturally inserting keywords into the content of a web page.
This method aims to increase keyword density, in order to manipulate search engine rankings.
However, this is highly prejudicial to both content quality and user experience, and can lead to lower rankings or even exclusion from the index. We therefore strongly recommend that you avoid it.
Google Knowledge Graph
The Google Knowledge Graph is a database that links information about entities (such as people, places, things) and their relationships. It enables Google to provide more precise, contextualized answers in its search results.
In the cinema sector, for example, when you search for a film, you'll see a digest of information on distribution, the platforms on which you can view it, reviews, and so on. And all without having to leave the search results page.
Linkbaiting
Linkbaiting is an SEO strategy that aims to produce content with high added value and sufficient appeal to encourage users to share it, thereby generating links to this content. To go link fishing, it's imperative to put yourself in your targets' shoes, and understand what really interests them.
Link juice
Link juice is an SEO term that describes the value or authority that hyperlinks transmit from one web page to another. This value helps to improve page ranking in search engine results.
For example, a link in the main content from a site with a high authority score will transmit more link juice than a link in the footer from a site with a low authority score.
Meta description
The meta description is an HTML tag that provides a summary of the content of a web page. This description is displayed in search engine results below the page title.
Here are 3 tips for writing an effective meta-description:
- Insert relevant keywords that describe the content of your page to improve your search engine rankings.
- Limit yourself to 155 characters to avoid your text being truncated in search results, and to ensure that web users quickly understand the content of your page.
- Integrate CTAs (Call To Action) to encourage visitors to visit your site and increase your click-through rate.
Mobile-first indexing
Mobile-first indexing is an approach used by search engines, notably Google, to index and rank web pages based primarily on their mobile version, rather than their desktop version.
This reflects the changing browsing habits of users, and emphasizes the steady growth in the use of smartphones to access the internet.
In January 2024, 96.5% of Internet users worldwide accessed the Internet via a mobile device (+4.6% on the previous year), while only 61.8% used a computer (-5.8% on the previous year) (Source: Datareportal).
This is why, for many years now, it has been essential to design websites in a responsive way, meaning to adapt to different screen sizes and offer a pleasant user experience on all devices.
If your site isn't yet optimized for mobile, it's crucial to make adjustments to improve your visitors' experience and your ranking in search results!
Netlinking or link building
This is the process of obtaining backlinks from external sites to your website. As explained above, the aim is to improve your site's authority and search engine ranking.
Online platforms and services even offer to buy links to develop your link building. But be very careful: it's not always easy to check the quality of the links offered. Carefully select sites that can bring you qualified visitors (who are part of your target audience) and have good authority.
Opt instead for regular publication of original content, to which authority sites will naturally seek to link.
Noindex tag
The noindex tag is a directive used in website configuration files or in the HTML code of pages to tell search engines not to index a specific page.
When a page is marked with a noindex tag, it will not be included in search engine results.
You can use it, for example, on test pages, login pages or thank-you pages after submitting a form.
Orphan page
This is a web page that is not linked to any other page on the site. This lack of links is bad SEO practice, since users browsing the site, as well as search engine spiders, will have difficulty finding it.
To identify and correct orphan pages, we recommend using tools such as Google Analytics, Google Search Console, SEMrush or Screaming Frog.
SEO On-page and Off-page
SEO can be divided into two broad categories:
- On-page SEO refers to optimizations applied directly to web pages to improve their search engine ranking. This includes, for example:some text
- High-quality content with relevant keywords
- Effective use of HTML tags (title, meta-description, ALT, header, etc.)
- Optimization of page structure
- Internal linking strategy
- Improvement of page loading times
- Responsive site design
- Repairing or eliminating old pages, to avoid 404 errors or broken links leading to a page that no longer exists
- Searching for and repairing duplicate content
- Off-page SEO refers to all actions carried out outside the website that also help to optimize SEO. The main techniques are : some text
- Obtaining quality backlinks
- Content marketing and the use of social networks
People Also Ask (PAA)
Google Search's People Also Ask (PAA) feature highlights a list of questions related to the user's query directly in search results.
The aim of the PAA box is to provide users with quick answers to related questions, enhancing the search experience by anticipating other queries they may have.
There are many ways to get your content into the PAA section. Our main tip: get straight to the point!
To do this, provide synthetic, direct answers to questions in your content. With the increasing use of artificial intelligence in SEO, this type of answer will be increasingly valued.
PageRank
PageRank is an algorithm that evaluates the importance of web pages based on incoming links.
It was developed by Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin during their studies at Stanford University.
Although it is no longer the sole factor in ranking search results, it remains a key concept in understanding and optimizing SEO.
RankBrain
RankBrain is a search engine algorithm based on machine learning. It has been developed by Google to better analyze, interpret and process complex or ambiguous user queries, and thus deliver ever more relevant results.
Redirection 301
When a page is permanently moved to a new URL, the 301 redirect informs search engines of this change, transferring link juice and preserving the page's ranking.
Furthermore, this redirection leads visitors to the new content, avoiding 404 errors (missing page) or the display of obsolete content.
You can create redirections from your domain, or from your hosting (whether your site is on Webflow, Wordpress or other).
Robots.txt
The robots.txt file is used to tell crawlers how to interact with pages and therefore manage the way search engines index and access content.
To do this, the robots.txt file must be placed in the root directory of your website. In particular, you can use it to :
- choose which robots may or may not index certain content.
- prevent indexing robots from referencing pages containing sensitive or irrelevant data.
- guide spiders to the most important parts of your site, blocking access to low-value pages.
- avoid indexing duplicate content to improve SEO.
Schema markup
Schema markup is a type of microdata added to the HTML code of a web site to improve search engine understanding of its content.
Using the standardized Schema.org vocabulary, this markup allows information to be precisely structured and classified, making it easier to interpret.
Using Schema markup, search engines can present rich snippets, such as star ratings, product prices or event dates. This increases the visibility and appeal of web pages.
Scraping
In SEO, scraping refers to the automated extraction of data from websites.
The practice involves the use of scripts or programs to crawl web pages and retrieve specific information such as text, images, metadata, product prices, customer reviews, and so on.
Scraping can be used for a variety of purposes, including competitor analysis, keyword research, business intelligence and enriching website content.
Search query
A search query is a phrase or set of words that users enter into a search engine to find information on a specific subject.
These expressions can vary in length and complexity, from simple keywords (e.g. “website”) to complete sentences (e.g. “find a website design agency in Switzerland”).
Semantic cocoon
The semantic cocoon is an advanced SEO strategy that consists in organizing the pages of a website in such a way as to create an internal network of strong semantic links between them, around main topics or specific keywords.
The idea is that each page is closely linked semantically to the others, reinforcing the coherence and thematic authority of the site as a whole.
This practice also ensures that each page brings a unique and complementary value to the overall subject.
By adopting a structure based on a semantic cocoon, you reinforce the clarity and comprehensibility of the subjects addressed by your site, both for your users and for search engines.
Semantic field
The term semantic field refers to the set of keywords associated with the specific theme of a web page.
To improve your SEO, it's essential to cover a broad semantic field, including not only the main keywords, but also their synonyms, related terms and linguistic variants.
In this way, you'll respond to a wider variety of user queries and gain visibility on your entire subject.
Short and long tail
In SEO, the short tail refers to generic, highly searched keywords. These terms generally have a high search volume, but also strong competition.
For example, “web agency” is a short-tail keyword.
In contrast, the long tail is made up of more specific, less commonly searched keywords. Although each individual keyword has a lower search volume, their accumulation can represent a significant share of traffic.
For example, “web agency in Switzerland specializing in webflow” is a long-tail keyword.
Short keywords generate more traffic than long-tail keywords, but note that the sum of long-tail keywords will generally correspond to a higher volume of traffic.
Sitelinks
In SEO, sitelinks are the additional links displayed below the main search engine result.
The aim of these links is to make it easier for users to navigate a site by providing direct access to the most important or popular sections.
However, you can't select these sitelinks yourself - Google decides. Their display is a sign of the trust Google places in the site. Adherence to good practice in terms of site architecture and on-page SEO contributes to the appearance of these sitelinks.
Sitelinks generally appear for brand or company queries.
Snippet, Rich Snippet and Featured Snippet
A snippet is a preview of a web page in Google's search results. The classic snippet includes a title tag, a URL and a meta description.
A rich snippet is an extract enriched with structured data, such as a rating, number of reviews, preparation time, price and so on.
This additional information provides context for users, helping them to make an informed choice before clicking on a link.
The featured snippet, or zero position, is a special format displayed at the very top of the search results page (SERP: Search Engine Result Page).
It aims to provide a concise, direct response to the user's query, without even having to click on a link.
Featured snippets come in a variety of formats: paragraphs, numbered or bulleted lists, tables or videos.
Since it's sometimes difficult to rank for a specific query, you can aim for a rich or featured snippet. To do this, you need to tag your content with Schema.org attributes, so that Google can optimally reference it.
Text anchor
An anchor text is the clickable text of a hyperlink. Usually underlined or in a different color, it indicates to the user that the link leads to another web page.
It's essential to be clear and descriptive, without overusing keywords, to help search engines and users understand what the linked page is about. This improves both SEO and user experience.
In the example below, "brief template" is a text anchor.
Title tag
The HTML title tag is used to specify the title of a web page. This title is displayed in blue in search engine results and in the browser's title bar.
To optimize your SEO, it's essential to choose a title that accurately reflects the page's content, incorporating relevant keywords.
In the example below, the title tag is “Swiss Web Agency | Design, Development and Marketing”.
Tracking URL
A tracking URL is a URL to which we add parameters, such as a UTM (Urchin Tracking Module) tag, to capture information on traffic: source, behavior, etc.
For example, with the following tracking URL, we could analyze traffic to the Coteries news page from carousel number 1 of our Summer 2024 campaign, on LinkedIn:
https://www.coteries.com/en/news?utm_source=linkedin&utm_campaign=summer2024&utm_content=carousel1
Tracking URLs are invaluable for tracking and analyzing the performance of marketing campaigns on Google Ads, on social networks or via emailing tools.
You can create tracking URLs with UTM on Google Campaign URL Builder or on Tilda.
User agent
The user agent is an identifier sent by web browsers or search engine robots to web servers when a request is made.
This identifier informs the server about the type of software, browser version, operating system and sometimes other specific details about the client making the request.
So, for example, a site can present a mobile version of content to smartphone users, or different content to search engine bots to facilitate indexing.
XML Sitemap
The XML sitemap (Extensible Markup Language) is a file that lists all the important pages of a website, including those not easily accessible via internal navigation.
To help search engines understand the overall structure of your site and ensure complete and efficient indexing, you can generate your XML sitemap automatically with Webflow, using Yoast SEO with WordPress, or via tools like Screaming Frog, or online generators.
Then you can submit it via Google Search Console to inform search engines of its existence.
SEO strategy, take action!
You now have a better understanding of the essential SEO terms, as well as a few courses of action you can take to boost your site's visibility.
There are, of course, a multitude of others, which we may cover in a future article.
It's time to put your new knowledge into practice! Take a look at our ultimate SEO checklist and start building your online business with SEO today.
And if you don't have the skills, time or inclination to handle the operational side of things, pass the torch to us. Our SEO optimization service could be just what you need!
