SEOcourse.marketing

SEO Glossary

360 plain-English definitions of the SEO, local search and AI search terms used in the Local Organic SEO + AI Search Certification.

#

301 redirect
A permanent forwarding rule that sends visitors and search engines from an old address to a new one.
302 redirect
A temporary forwarding instruction; search engines treat it as a weaker signal than a 301.
404 / 410
Replies meaning the page was not found (404) or is gone for good (410).
@graph
A JSON-LD container that holds several items in one block, so you can describe the business, page and service together.
@id
A permanent identifier in JSON-LD, usually a URL with a # label, that lets you refer to the same item from many places.

A

Accessibility
Making a website usable for everyone, including people with disabilities who use tools like screen readers or keyboard-only navigation.
AI agent
An AI tool that can take steps on its own, such as visiting web pages, to complete a task for a user.
AI citation
A link or mention of your page as a source inside an AI-generated answer. No one can guarantee it.
AI Extraction Block
This course’s own writing pattern for a page section that answers one question clearly, in six parts. It is not an official standard.
AI Mode
A conversational search experience in Google where you can ask longer questions and follow-ups and get AI answers with links.
AI Overview
A short AI-written summary Google shows for some searches, with links to the web pages it drew from.
AI Performance report
A Bing Webmaster Tools report, in public preview, showing how often your pages are cited as sources in Microsoft’s AI answers.
AI referral
A visit to your site that came from someone clicking a link in an AI tool’s answer.
AI visibility
How often your business or page is shown, named or linked inside answers from AI tools. It can only be measured partly.
alternateName
A Schema.org property for another name the business is commonly known by.
Alt text
A short written description of an image, stored in the page code. Screen readers read it aloud, and search engines use it to understand the picture.
Anchor text
The visible, clickable words of a link, such as “roof repair in Denver”.
API key (IndexNow)
A string of 8 to 128 letters, numbers or dashes that proves you control the site sending notifications.
areaServed
A Schema.org property that lists the places where a business or service works.
Attributable
Clear about who wrote the content and who stands behind it, so readers can judge whether to trust it.
Audit
A careful, step-by-step check-up of a page against a checklist, to find problems and missed opportunities.
Authoritative source
The organization that actually owns a fact, such as a government office, licensing board or manufacturer.
Autocomplete
The suggestions a search engine shows as you type. Google says they reflect real searches.
Average position
Roughly where your highest result appeared on average; 1 is the top.
AVIF
A newer image format that often compresses photos even smaller than WebP. Google Search supports it, and recent WordPress versions accept it if the server does.

B

Baseline
A record of how a website is doing before you change anything, so you can measure progress honestly later.
Beta
A feature that is still being tested and may change or be removed.
Bing Webmaster Tools
Microsoft’s free dashboard that shows how Bing crawls, indexes and shows your website, similar to Google Search Console.
Blocker
A problem that stops a page from being found or indexed at all, such as a noindex tag.
Blockquote
In Markdown, a line starting with > that sets text apart, used in llms.txt for the short summary.
Boilerplate
Text that is the same or nearly the same on many pages.

C

Call to action (CTA)
A clear instruction telling a visitor what to do next, often a button like Call Now or Get a Quote.
Cannibalization
When two of your own pages compete for the same search and neither performs as well as one clear page would.
Canonical
The one main version a search engine picks when several pages are the same or nearly the same.
Canonical tag
A short code note that tells search engines which of several similar pages is the main version.
Canonical URL
The one preferred web address for a page when several versions exist.
Causation
When one thing actually makes another thing happen.
CDN (content delivery network)
A service, such as Cloudflare, that delivers your website from servers in many places so it loads faster. Some CDNs can send IndexNow notifications for you.
Change log
A simple record of what you changed on a page, when and why, so you can connect changes to results later.
Channel
A traffic category GA4 assigns to a visit, such as Organic Search, Direct or Referral.
Child page
A more specific page that sits under a broader parent page, such as Roof Repair in Denver under the Denver page.
Citation
When an AI answer lists or links your page as a source.
Citation (AI)
A link or mention shown with an AI answer that points to a source it used.
City + service page
A web page about one service in one place, such as Roof Repair in Denver.
Click
One time a person clicked a Google Search result and went to your site.
Click-through rate (CTR)
The share of people who click a result after seeing it; 5 clicks from 100 views is a 5% CTR.
Cloaking
Showing search engines or crawlers different content than people see. It is a spam practice.
Commercial intent
The searcher is comparing options before deciding, like “best roofers in Denver.”
Competitor analysis
Reviewing top-ranking pages to learn what they cover and how, so you can build something more useful.
Consistency
Showing the same business name, address, phone and website everywhere the business appears.
Consolidation
Combining overlapping pages into one stronger page.
Content cannibalization
When two or more pages on your own site target the same search need and compete with each other. An industry term, not an official Google one.
Content cluster
A group of related pages organized around one main page, with clear links between them.
Content maintenance
Reviewing and updating existing pages over time so they stay accurate, useful and current.
Content refresh
A meaningful update to an existing page, like new photos, corrected prices or new FAQs, while keeping the same URL.
Content spinning
Using a tool to reword the same text with synonyms so it looks different while saying nothing new.
Control page
A similar page you leave unchanged so you can compare it with the page you changed.
Conversational query
A search written or spoken the way people talk, often as a full question.
Conversion
When a visitor does what the business hoped, like calling, filling in a form or booking.
Conversion rate optimization (CRO)
Improving the share of visitors who take a useful action, like calling or sending a form.
Copilot
Microsoft’s AI assistant. Microsoft documents that it can send short search queries to Bing to find web information.
Core Web Vitals
Three Google measurements of real page experience: LCP (loading), INP (responsiveness) and CLS (visual stability).
Correlation
When two things change at the same time. It does not prove one caused the other.
Crawl
When Google’s automated program visits a page and downloads it to read.
Crawl depth
How many clicks it takes to reach a page starting from the home page.
Crawled – currently not indexed
A Search Console status meaning Google visited the page but chose not to add it to its index for now.
Crawler
A program that visits web pages and downloads them for a search engine. Google’s main crawler is called Googlebot.
Crawler tool
Software that visits all the pages on your site like a search engine would, to find broken links, missing tags and orphan pages.
Crawling
When a search engine’s program visits and downloads a page.
Crawl quota
The amount of crawling a search engine is willing to do on your site. Wasted submissions use it up.
Credentials
Official qualifications like licenses, insurance and certifications that a customer can verify.
CSS selector
A label that identifies a part of a page’s design, like “.summary”, so code can point to it.
CTR (click-through rate)
Clicks divided by impressions, shown as a percentage.

D

Data stream
The connection that sends data from your website into a GA4 property.
Diagnostic pattern
In this course, one of four common ways a page underperforms: visibility, snippet, page fit or conversion.
Differentiation
Giving each page real, specific information so it is truly different from the others.
Dimension
A way to group data, such as by query, page, country, device or date.
Direct answer
The first one or two sentences of a block that answer the question plainly, before any extra detail.
Disallow
A robots.txt rule telling a crawler not to visit URLs that start with a certain path.
Disambiguation
Making clear which of several similar-sounding things you mean, such as two businesses with the same name.
Discovered – currently not indexed
A Search Console status meaning Google knows the URL exists but hasn’t crawled it yet.
DNS record
A setting at your domain provider that tells the internet things about your domain. Adding one can prove you own the domain.
DNS TXT record
A small text note stored in your domain’s settings at your registrar or DNS host. Google reads it to confirm ownership.
Domain
The main name of a website, such as summitroofing.example.
Domain Connect
A way for some domain providers to add the needed DNS setting for you automatically after you approve it.
Domain property
A Search Console property that covers every version of a domain: http and https, www and non-www, and all subdomains. It must be verified through DNS.
Doorway page
A page made mainly to catch searches for similar terms, like one per city with the same text, rather than to help visitors.
Doorway pages
Near-identical pages made to rank for similar searches, such as copies with only the city name changed. Google’s spam policies prohibit them.
Duplicate content
The same or nearly the same text appearing on more than one page.
Duplicate URL
A different web address that shows the same page, like http vs https versions.

E

E-E-A-T
Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness: ideas from Google’s rater guidelines that describe trustworthy content. It is not one score.
Eligibility
The official conditions a page must meet before a search feature can appear for it.
Emerging (standard)
A new idea with limited or uneven adoption that is not yet officially supported everywhere.
Endpoint
A specific web address that accepts messages from other computers, like https://api.indexnow.org/indexnow.
Engaged session
A visit that lasts longer than 10 seconds, has a key event, or includes at least 2 page views.
Engagement rate
The percentage of visits that were engaged sessions.
Enhanced measurement
GA4 settings that automatically track common actions like scrolls, outbound clicks and file downloads without extra code.
Entity
One specific, identifiable thing, such as a certain business, person, city or service.
Entity consistency
Using the same business name, service names, phone and location everywhere they appear.
Entity SEO
Making it easy for search engines and AI systems to understand exactly who your business is, what it does, where and why to trust it.
Entity sheet
A one-page list of a business’s official facts that you copy from everywhere, so the details always match.
Error (in testing tools)
A problem, such as a missing required property or broken code, that can make an item ineligible or unreadable.
Event
Anything GA4 records on your site, such as a page view, a scroll or a click.
Evidence
Proof that a step was done, such as a screenshot of a test result.
Exploration
A custom GA4 report you build yourself in the Explore section by choosing dimensions and metrics.
Extraction
When a search engine or AI system pulls a passage out of a page to show, quote or summarize it.

F

FAQ
Short for frequently asked questions: a list of common customer questions with short answers.
FAQPage
A Schema.org type for questions and answers. Google no longer shows FAQ rich results in 2026.
Field data
Measurements collected from real visitors’ browsers, as opposed to a simulated test.
Filler
Words that take up space but give the reader nothing useful, often added to make a page look longer.
First-hand experience
Knowledge that comes from actually doing the work or using the product, not from reading about it.
First-hand knowledge
Information that comes from the business’s own real experience, like its actual process, prices and projects.
Fix list
A short, ordered list of the changes you will make after an audit, most important first.

G

GA4 (Google Analytics 4)
Google’s free analytics tool that shows what visitors do on your website after they arrive, such as which pages they view and whether they contact you.
Generative AI performance report
A newer Search Console report that counts how often links to your site were shown in Google’s AI Overviews and AI Mode.
Google-Extended
A robots.txt name that lets site owners opt out of their content being used for Google’s Gemini training and grounding; it doesn’t affect Google Search.
Google-selected canonical
The version of a page Google has chosen as the main one when it sees several similar pages.
Google Analytics 4 (GA4)
Google’s free tool that measures what visitors do on your website, such as pages viewed, where they came from and whether they contacted you.
Google Assistant
Google’s voice assistant, used on phones and smart speakers such as Google Home devices.
Googlebot
Google’s crawler — the robot that visits web pages for Google Search.
Google Business Profile
A free business listing on Google that can appear on Google Maps and in the Local Pack, showing hours, reviews, phone number and more.
Google Search Console
Google’s free tool that shows how your site appears in Google Search, including which searches show your pages and how often people click.
Google tag
A small piece of code placed on every page of your site so GA4 can measure visits.
Google Tag Manager (GTM)
A free Google tool that lets you add and manage tracking codes from one place without editing your website each time.
GPTBot
OpenAI’s crawler that collects content that may be used to train its AI models.
Grounding
Giving an AI model real, current information (often search results) while it writes an answer, so the answer is based on sources.
Grounding query
The search phrase an AI system used to look up information that ended up being cited in its answer.

H

H1
The main visible heading on a page, usually the biggest text at the top.
Heading
A title inside a web page that introduces a section, marked with a level from H1 (most important) to H6 (least important).
Heading hierarchy
The order and nesting of headings on a page, like chapters and sub-chapters. H3s sit inside H2s, and H2s sit under the H1.
Head keyword
A short, broad search phrase, like “plumber.” Many people search it, but their needs vary a lot.
Helpful content
Content made mainly to help real people with a real need, rather than content made mainly to attract search engine visits.
href
The part of an HTML link that holds the web address the link goes to.
HTML
The basic code language web pages are written in. Links in HTML look like words.
HTTP response code
A three-digit number a server sends back to say what happened, like 200 (OK) or 403 (forbidden).
HTTPS
The secure version of web page delivery; data between the browser and the site is scrambled so others can’t read it.
Hub page
A page whose main job is to guide visitors to a group of related pages, like a city page that links to each service offered there.
Hypothesis
A specific, testable guess, such as ‘If we add pricing, CTR on cost searches will go up.’

I

iframe
A window inside a web page that shows content from another website, such as a map or video.
Image compression
Making an image file smaller so it loads faster, usually by removing detail the eye barely notices.
Impression
One time a page appears in someone’s search results, whether or not they click.
Impressions
In Search Console, the number of times one of your pages appeared in someone’s search results, whether or not they clicked.
Index
The search engine’s giant library of pages it has stored. Only pages in the index can appear in results.
Indexable
A page that search engines are allowed and able to store in their index.
Indexing
When the search engine studies a page and decides to store it in its index. It is never guaranteed.
Indexing API (Google)
A Google system for notifying Google about job posting and livestream video pages only. It’s not for regular business pages.
IndexNow
A way to instantly tell participating search engines, including Bing, that a page was added, updated or deleted.
Informational intent
The searcher wants to learn something, like “what causes hail damage.”
Information gain
An industry term for new, useful information your page adds that other top results don’t have.
Information gap
A question or need searchers have that the current top pages don’t answer well.
Internal score
A number created by you or your course to measure quality. It is not a number used or published by Google or Bing.

J

Jargon
Specialist words most customers don’t use or understand, like “PDR” without explanation.
JavaScript
Code that runs in the browser to make pages interactive, such as tabs, sliders and pop-ups.
JSON-LD
A way of writing structured data as a separate block of code in a script tag. Google recommends it because it is easy to add and update.

K

Key event
An event you mark in GA4 as important to your business, such as a phone click or a form submission. Formerly called a conversion in GA4.
Key file
A plain text file on your website, named after your key and containing only the key, that search engines check before trusting your notifications.
Keyword
A short phrase you choose to plan a page around. It represents a group of similar searches.
Keyword cannibalization
When two or more pages on the same site target the same search intent and end up competing with each other.
Keyword density
How often a phrase appears compared with the total words on a page, as a percentage. There is no official ideal number.
Keyword group
A set of keywords where the searchers want the same thing, so one page can serve them all.
Keyword map
A table that assigns each keyword group to the one page that should serve it.
Keyword placement
Putting the main phrase in the places that summarize a page, like the title, URL, main heading and first paragraph.
Keyword Planner
A tool inside Google Ads that gives advertisers estimates of how often phrases are searched.
Keyword stuffing
Repeating keywords or lists of places unnaturally to try to rank. It is against Google’s spam policies.

L

Lab data
Measurements from a simulated test run by a tool, useful for finding causes of problems.
Landing page
The first page a person sees when a visit starts.
Large language model (LLM)
A type of AI trained on huge amounts of text that writes answers by predicting the next words.
lastmod
The date in a sitemap showing when a page last changed in a meaningful way.
Launch folder
A folder of screenshots and notes proving each launch check passed.
Lazy loading
Waiting to load an image, video or map until the visitor scrolls close to it, so the page opens faster.
Live test
A check inside URL Inspection that fetches your page right now to see if Google could access it.
Live URL check
A test that fetches a page right now to see if the search engine can reach it. It doesn’t index the page.
llms.txt
A proposed, optional Markdown file that gives AI tools a short summary of a site and links to key pages.
loc
The part of a sitemap entry that holds the page’s full web address.
LocalBusiness
The Schema.org type for a business that serves customers in a physical place or area, like a shop, clinic or contractor.
Local intent
When a searcher wants a business, service or place nearby, whether or not they say “near me.”
Local organic results
The normal, unpaid web page listings shown for a search with local intent, like “roof repair Denver.”
Local organic SEO
SEO for businesses that serve specific cities or areas, usually by building helpful pages about a service in a place.
Local Pack
The small map with a short list of nearby businesses that appears for many local searches. The listings come from Google Business Profiles. Also called the map pack.
Local proof
Real evidence that a business works in an area, like local project photos, local reviews and local credentials.
Local service intent
The searcher wants a business that provides a service in a certain place, like “roof repair Denver” or “plumber near me.”
Location keyword
The name of a real place a business serves, like a city or neighborhood.
Long-tail keyword
A longer, more specific search, like “same day water heater repair Aurora.” Fewer people search each one, but the need is clearer.

M

Manual action
A penalty a Google reviewer applies when a site breaks Google’s rules. It is shown in Search Console.
Map embed
A live map from Google Maps placed inside your own web page.
Markdown
A simple text format where symbols like # and – create headings and lists.
Measurement ID
The code starting with G- that tells the Google tag which GA4 property to send data to.
Meta description
A short page summary you write in the page’s code, which search engines may show under the headline.
Meta tag
A short line of code in a page’s header that gives information to machines, such as a verification code.
Microdata
An older way of writing structured data by adding labels directly inside the page’s visible HTML tags.
Mobile-first indexing
Google mainly uses the mobile version of a page to understand and index it.
Mock-up
A detailed model of a page, written or designed, that isn’t published on a live website.
Monitoring stack
The small set of tools you check regularly to see how a page is doing, such as Search Console, GA4 and Bing Webmaster Tools.
Myth (SEO)
A popular SEO belief that is false, outdated or unproven, often repeated without a source.

N

NAP
Short for Name, Address, Phone: the basic contact details of a business.
Nesting
Writing a full item inside another item in your markup, like an address inside a business.
nofollow
A link label that tells search engines you don’t necessarily vouch for the linked page.
noindex
An instruction telling search engines not to show a page in their results.
Notification (IndexNow)
The message your site sends to say a URL changed. It is only a heads-up; the search engine decides what to do next.

O

OAI-SearchBot
OpenAI’s crawler that finds pages so they can appear in ChatGPT search answers.
Off-page SEO
Signals from outside your website, such as links from other sites, mentions and reviews.
Official guidance
Information published by the platform itself, such as Google Search Central or Bing Webmaster Guidelines.
On-page SEO
Improvements made on the page itself, such as the words, headings, title, images and links.
Opportunity
A page or query where the data suggests a specific improvement might help. It is a hypothesis, not a promise.
Organic results
The unpaid listings a search engine chooses to show. You cannot buy these spots.
Organic Search (channel)
Visits from unpaid search engine results, including Google and others like Bing.
Original content
Information, photos or insights that come from you and your work, not rewritten from other websites.
Orphan page
A page that exists but has no links pointing to it from other pages on the same website.

P

Page indexing report
The Search Console report that shows which of your pages are in Google’s index and why others are not.
PageRank
Google’s original way of using links between pages to judge importance. Google still lists it among its ranking systems.
Page type
The kind of page, such as a service page, a city + service page, a guide or a contact page.
Parent page
A broader page that has more specific pages sitting under it, such as a Locations page above a Denver page.
Participating search engine
A search engine that has joined IndexNow and accepts and shares these notifications. The current list is on indexnow.org.
People also ask
A box of related questions that Google shows on some results pages. Each question expands to show a short answer and a link.
Performance report
A report in Google Search Console showing the searches your pages appeared for, with clicks, impressions and average position.
PerplexityBot
Perplexity’s crawler that finds pages to show and link in its answers.
Phase
A group of related steps in a project, like research or publishing.
Pixel
One of the tiny colored dots that make up a digital image. Image width and height are measured in pixels.
Primary keyword
The main phrase a page is built around, like “roof repair Denver.”
Private (incognito) window
A browser window that doesn’t use your saved history or sign-ins, so personal history affects results less.
Programmatic SEO
Creating many pages automatically from a template and a list of data, such as cities.
Property
One website (or part of a website) that you have added to Search Console so you can see its data.
Property (Schema.org)
One fact about a type, such as its name, phone number or address.
Protocol
An agreed set of rules that lets two computer systems talk to each other.
provider
A Schema.org property that says which business or person offers a service.
Pruning
Reviewing weak pages and deciding to improve, merge or remove each one.
Publishing workflow
The same step-by-step routine you follow every time you publish a page, so nothing is missed.

Q

Q&A section
Part of a page with real customer questions as headings and short answers under each.
Qualifier
A short condition added to an answer, such as “usually” or “if the paint isn’t cracked,” that keeps it honest.
Quality gate
A written test a new page must pass before it can be published.
Query
The exact words a person types or speaks into a search engine.
Query fan-out
Google’s name for splitting one question into several related searches to gather more information.
Question words
Who, what, where, when, why and how: the words most spoken questions start with.
Quota
The limit on how many URLs you can submit in a day.

R

Raw HTML
The page code your server sends before any JavaScript runs; what you see in View page source.
Realtime report
A GA4 report showing visitor activity from the last 30 minutes, useful to check that tracking works.
Reference
Pointing to an item described elsewhere by using only its @id.
Referral
A visit that came from clicking a link on another website.
Registrar
The company where you bought or manage your domain name, such as Hostinger.
rel attribute
A small label in a link’s code that describes your relationship to the linked site, such as sponsored or nofollow.
Rendering
Running a page’s code so the search engine sees the finished page, the way a visitor’s browser would.
Report collection
A group of GA4 reports shown in the Reports menu; some, like Search Console, must be published from the Library.
Repositioning
Rewriting a page so it serves a different, distinct search need instead of competing with another page.
Request indexing
A button that asks Google to crawl one page soon. It does not guarantee the page will be indexed or rank.
Requirement
A specific item your project must include to be complete.
Responsive design
A page layout that automatically adjusts to fit phones, tablets and computers.
Retrieval
The step where an AI search system looks up and collects web pages or passages to use in its answer.
Rich result
A search listing with extra visual features, such as breadcrumbs or review stars, that some structured data can make a page eligible for.
Rich Results Test
A free Google tool that checks whether a page’s structured data is eligible for Google’s special search displays.
Robotic content
Text that follows a formula so rigidly it sounds machine-made and repeats the same phrases everywhere.
robots.txt
A public text file at your site’s root that tells crawlers which URLs they may or may not visit.
Root (of a website)
The top level of a site’s address, like summitroofing.example/, where files such as robots.txt live.
Rubric
A scoring guide that shows how many points each part is worth and what full, partial and low scores look like.

S

sameAs
A Schema.org property that lists other web pages about the same entity, such as the business’s official social profiles.
Scaled content abuse
Making many pages mainly to manipulate search rankings without giving people real value.
Scannability
How easy it is to skim a page and quickly find the part you need, mostly thanks to clear headings, short paragraphs and lists.
Schema.org
A free shared dictionary of labels for structured data, backed by major search engines, so everyone uses the same words.
Schema Markup Validator
A free tool from Schema.org that checks whether structured data follows the Schema.org vocabulary, without judging Google eligibility.
Screen reader
Software that reads a web page out loud for people who are blind or have low vision. Many users jump from heading to heading to find what they need.
Search engine
A website such as Google or Bing that finds web pages matching what someone types or speaks and shows them in a list.
Search features
Extra boxes and formats on a results page beyond the plain list of links, such as maps, AI Overviews, images or question boxes.
Search intent
The goal behind a search: what the person really wants to find or do.
Search Performance
Bing’s report of clicks, impressions, click-through rate and average position for your site in Bing results.
Search Quality Rater Guidelines
A public handbook Google gives to people who evaluate search results. Their ratings help Google test its systems but do not directly change a page’s ranking.
Search volume
An estimate of how often a phrase is searched, usually per month. It is never an exact count.
Seasonality
Regular ups and downs in searches that happen at the same time each year, like hail repair after spring storms.
Secondary keyword
A closely related phrase that the same page naturally answers, because searchers want the same thing.
Security issue
A warning that your site may be hacked or may harm visitors, for example by hosting malware.
Self-contained passage
A paragraph that makes sense on its own because it names who, what and where.
Self-score
Grading your own work with the rubric before you submit it.
Self-serving review
A review a business collects and shows about itself on its own site. Google does not show review stars for these on LocalBusiness or Organization markup.
SEO (search engine optimization)
The work of making web pages that search engines can find and understand, and that people want to click. It improves your chances of showing up; it never guarantees it.
SEO plugin
A WordPress add-on that gives you simple boxes for search settings like titles and descriptions.
SERP
Short for search engine results page: the page of listings you see after you search.
SERP research
Studying the results page for a keyword: which features appear and which kinds of pages rank.
Server-side rendering
When the server sends the finished page content in the HTML, so it’s readable without running JavaScript.
Service (Schema.org)
A type that describes work a business offers, such as roof repair, and who provides it.
Service-area business
A business that travels to customers instead of having customers visit its location, like a plumber or mobile repair service.
Service keyword
The name of a service a business offers, in the words customers use, like “water heater repair.”
Session
One visit to your website, during which a person views pages and does things.
Sibling page
A page at the same level under the same hub, like two services in the same city.
Site architecture
The way a website’s pages are organized and linked together, like the aisles and signs in a store.
Site Kit by Google
Google’s free WordPress plugin that connects your site to Search Console and Google Analytics without editing code.
Sitemap index
One file that lists several smaller sitemap files.
Sitemaps report
The Search Console screen where you submit your sitemap address and see if Google could read it.
Site root
The top level of your website, where addresses like /robots.txt live.
Site Scan
A Bing tool that crawls your site on demand and lists technical SEO problems like broken links or missing titles.
Slug
The last, readable part of a page’s web address, such as denver-roof-repair.
Snippet
The short text shown under a page’s headline in search results.
Soft 404
A page that looks like an error or is nearly empty but still replies 200 OK.
Source of truth
One document with the official facts about a business that every page and profile should match.
Speakable
A structured data property that points to parts of a news page suited to being read aloud. Google documents it as a beta feature for news publishers.
Spoke page
A detailed page in a cluster that covers one specific part of the bigger topic.
Spot check
Asking an AI tool a question by hand to see which sources it shows. Useful for ideas, but not a reliable measurement.
Spreadsheet
A table of rows and columns in a program like Google Sheets or Excel, handy for lists and plans.
SSL/TLS certificate
A small digital ID file on your hosting that lets your site use HTTPS.
Status code
A three-digit reply from the server about a page, such as 200 (OK) or 404 (not found).
Stock photo
A generic picture bought or downloaded from a library that many other websites also use.
Storefront
A physical location, like a shop or office, where customers visit the business.
Striking-distance query
An industry term for a relevant search where your page ranks just below the top results, often positions 8 to 20.
Structured data
Information written in a labeled, fixed format so computers can understand it. On websites it describes things like the business, its services and the page.
Subtype
A more specific version of a type. RoofingContractor is a subtype of LocalBusiness.
Supporting details
The specific facts, steps or conditions after the direct answer that make it useful and believable.
Synonym
A different word or phrase with the same meaning, like “dent removal” and “dent repair.”
Synthesis
Combining information from several sources into one new written answer.

T

Tag Assistant
A free Google tool that connects to your site and shows which Google tags are loading.
Tap-to-call
A phone number link that starts a call when someone taps it on a phone.
Technical SEO
Behind-the-scenes work that lets search engines crawl and index a site, and keeps it secure, fast and mobile-friendly.
Testimonial
A quote from a customer shown on a business’s own website. It should come from a real customer who agreed to be quoted.
Test live URL
A Search Console button that checks the current version of a page to see whether Google could index it.
Text-to-speech
A phone or computer feature that reads text out loud.
Thin page
A page with little original or useful information, often just a template with a few words swapped.
Title tag
The page title set in the page’s code. Search engines often show it as the clickable blue headline in results.
Topical authority
An industry term for a site being trusted on a subject because it covers that subject deeply and well.
Transactional intent
The searcher is ready to take an action, like booking or buying.
Trigger
A rule in Google Tag Manager that says when a tag should run, such as ‘when a phone link is clicked.’
Truncate
To cut text short, often shown with three dots, so it fits the space available.
Trust signal
A detail that shows a business is real and reliable, like a license number, insurance, guarantee or genuine reviews.
Trust signals
Things that help visitors believe a business, such as real photos, reviews, licenses, warranties and years in business.
Type (Schema.org)
A kind of thing you are describing, such as LocalBusiness, Service or Person.

U

ugc
Short for user-generated content; a link label for links added by visitors, like in comments or forums.
URL
The web address of a page, like summitroofing.example/denver-roof-repair/.
URL-prefix property
A Search Console property that only covers web addresses starting with the exact prefix you entered, such as https://www.example.com/.
URL Inspection
A tool in Google Search Console that tells you whether a specific page is on Google, when it was crawled, and what Google saw.
URL Inspection tool
A Search Console tool that shows what Google knows about one specific page, such as whether it is indexed.
URL parameter
Extra information added after a question mark in an address, like ?ref=menu.
URL Submission
A Bing tool where you ask Bing to look at specific new or changed pages.
User-agent
The name a crawler uses to identify itself, such as Googlebot or GPTBot.
User agent
The name a crawler or browser uses to identify itself when it visits a website, such as OAI-SearchBot.
UTM parameters
Labels added to the end of a link (like utm_source) so GA4 can tell where a visit came from.

V

Validate fix
A Search Console button that asks Google to re-check pages after you have fixed a reported problem.
Verification
Proving to Google that you own or control a website so it will show you that site’s data.
Voice-friendly content
Page text that answers questions in short, natural sentences that make sense when read aloud.

W

Warning (in testing tools)
A note that a recommended property is missing. The item may still be valid.
WebP
A modern image format that usually makes photos much smaller than JPEG at similar quality. Google Search supports it.
Weight
How many points an item is worth in a scoring system; bigger weights mark more important items.
Why statement
A short, specific explanation of the purpose of a component, in your own words.

X

XML
A structured text format that computers can read easily.
XML sitemap
A file listing the pages you want search engines to know about, like a table of contents for your site.
xPath
Another way to point to a specific part of a page, by describing its position in the page’s code.