Last updated: November 2019
Search Engine Optimization is not always clear for everyone. Some terms need more than just definitions and written examples. That’s why I created this list of 79 terms and tools relevant to SEO (in no particular order) and paired them all up with a relevant picture:
1. SERP (Search Engine Result Pages) – the place where all search results for specific keywords and websites are displayed according to their rankings
2. 404 error – a message that notifies you when a page can’t be found on a website
3. Search engine – a tool or software that helps you search for information on the Internet
4. Keyword – any word that you can use to find relevant content using a search engine
5. Keyword stuffing – the bad practice of repeating the same keyword too many times on a page in an attempt to make the page relevant and rank higher
6. Alt tag – an image attribute that helps search engines identify what a picture represents
7. Meta description – a text snippet that summarizes a page’s content and will appear in the search results
8. Indexing – the process of submitting a page to Google (or other search engines) so that they can be included in the Google index and appear in search results
9. Sitemap – a visual diagram of a website’s content that shows Google how it should crawl and index each page
10. Robots.txt – a file that provides all the necessary information regarding your website to any crawler or spider and can help you stop them from accessing certain parts of your website
11. Long tail keywords – longer keyword phrases that are very specific to what you want to promote or sell
12. Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) Keyword – a keyword whose meaning is linked to your main keyword and that help readers and search engines understand what the content is about
13. LSIGraph – a tool that helps you discover LSI keywords
14. Alexa Ranking – a measurement and tool that ranks a website based on its traffic
15. Breadcrumbs – a trail of pages that show you exactly where you are on a website according to the website’s hierarchy
16. Canonical – your chosen main page in a situation where there are multiple other pages with the same or similar content
17. Keyword density – the number of times your preferred keyword is used on a page
18. Google Search Console (formerly known as Google Webmasters) – a free tool that allows webmasters and SEO experts to check the status of a website in terms of speed and indexing and to optimize it for the search results
19. Black hat SEO – the bad practice of using paid, illegal, or violent SEO techniques to boost your ranking such as paying for backlinks like in the example below
20. Google AdWords Keyword Planner – Google’s keyword research tool that helps you find keywords to use in your ads or content
21. Backlink – a link placed on a website that’s not your but links back to your website
Source: VentureHarbour
22. The Skyscraper Technique – a content-building method created by Brian Dean that implies finding high-ranking content and creating something better or longer than that
Source: Backlinko
23. Link building – a technique used to get backlinks (to a page you want to promote) through email outreach, link submission or guest posting like in the example below
Source: HubSpot
24. NoFollow link – a tag that shows search engines not to follow a link
25. Meta keywords – a list of the main keywords that represent a page or a website
26. Organic search results – the free, unpaid results that appear on the search engine results page
27. Paid search results – the paid results that appear on the search engine results page
28. Rich snippet – a highlighted result that is shown to users based on their specific searches
29. Search Engine Marketing (SEM) – promoting a product or service using search engines
30. Title tag – the page’s title that is seen in a browser’s title bar
31. Uniform Resource Locator (URL) – the address of a website or page
32. Ahrefs – a tool for researching your competition and checking SEO backlinks
33. SEMrush – a tool used to check competitor activity and discover relevant keywords for your website
34. Moz – a website that provides SEO software, tools, and other resources for marketers and SEO practitioners
35. Backlinko – a website that offers extensive SEO training and learning resources for link building
36. PageSpeed Insights – a Google tool you can use to analyze and improve the speed of your website
37. Google Suggest – Google’s auto-complete function that recommends other similar keywords to the one you’re looking for
38. Page Authority – a specific score created by Moz that can show you approximately how your page will rank in the search results
39. Domain Authority – a specific score created by Moz that can show you approximately how your website will rank in the search results
40. 301 Redirect – a message that lets you know when a page has been permanently moved to a different location
41. 302 Redirect – a message that lets you know when a page has been temporarily moved to a different location
42. Above the fold – the area of a page or landing page that is visible before the user scrolls down
43. Absolute link – a link to a website that includes the full URL of the page you link want to send users to
44. Neil Patel’s Ubersuggest – a free tool you can use to find keywords and analyze URLs
45. Anchor text – the text a user has to click on to reach a specific internal or external URL
46. Disavow – a method for removing unwanted or spam links
47. Favicon – a small icon that appears next to a website’s URL
48. Whiteboard Friday by Moz – a series of regular videos on the latest SEO news and tips
49. Google Trends – a free tool that shows you the search volumes for specific keywords
50. HTML headings – tags that define the importance of a heading according to the hierarchy you establish
51. HyperText Markup Language (HTML) – the language in which the pages of all websites across the Internet are written
52. Search Engine Journal – a website that offers SEO and search engine marketing news and tips
53. HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) – a protocol that facilitates the communication between servers and web browsers
54. Internal link – a link that sends users to another page on the same website
55. External link – a link that sends users to page on a different website
56. Branded keywords – keyword phrases that include the name of a brand
57. Wordtracker – a keyword research tool
58. WordStream – a tool that allows you to discover and export keywords
59. Keyword Tool – a free keyword finder for Google, YouTube, Bing, Amazon, eBay, and App Store
60. KWFinder – a tool for finding and analyzing keywords
61. Google Correlate – a free tool that can help you generate keywords or compare them and their performance
62. MozBar – a free Chrome extension that can show you a website’s Page Authority (PA), Domain Authority (DA), and Spam Score.
63. Check My Links – a free Chrome extension that can show you which links from a page are not working anymore
64. Yoast SEO – a WordPress plugin that can help you optimize a page for the search results and identify any SEO-related issues
65. AnswerThePublic – a free visual keyword finder that offers content ideas
66. Help A Reporter – a service that can help you find content to contribute to in exchange for a backlink or ask for the help of other people to be a part of your own content
67. LongTailPro – a tool that helps you find long tail keywords
68. BuzzSumo – a tool that can help you find the best influencers to reach out too and the most shared content to link to or to re-create
69. BuzzStream – a software for link building and researching prospects
70. SEObook – a series of tools to help you with doing SEO on your website
71. Pingdom – a website to help you check the speed of your web pages
72. SEOprofiler – a tool that can check your website in terms of complete SEO
73. Search Engine Watch – a website that can keep you up to date with the latest changes in the world of search engines
74. Blog – an individual website or page on a website where regular written and visual content is published
75. RSS (Really Simple Syndication) Feed – a subscription method you can use to get the latest updates from a website you want to follow
76. Feedly – a website that can help you organize your favorite websites by subscribing to their RSS feeds
77. Soovle – a tool for discovering keyword according to specific search engines
78. Google Hot Keyword Searches – a tool that shows you the latest popular keywords to inspire you to write your next piece of content
79. cognitiveSEO – a series of tools that help you increase your traffic by dealing with all SEO issues
Know any other terms? Let me know in the comments below and I’ll check them out. Don’t forget to share this article with someone who might be interested in SEO or bookmark it to come back once it’s updated.
Alexandra Cote 🚀 