Every SEO term

200 OK The status code for a page that loaded normally.
301 redirect A permanent move. Search engines pass the old address's signals to the new one.
302 redirect A temporary move. Use it when the old address will come back.
307 and 308 Newer temporary and permanent redirects. Google treats 308 like 301 and 307 like 302.
404 Not Found The status code for a page that does not exist.
410 Gone The status code for a page removed on purpose. Search engines treat it much like a 404.
<a href> The link element crawlers follow. Links made only with click handlers may be missed.
AI Overviews AI-written summaries at the top of some Google results. The same SEO basics apply to appear as a link.
Allow A robots.txt rule that reopens a path inside a blocked folder.
alt text The `alt` attribute describes an image for screen readers and image search. Empty `alt=""` marks decoration.
alt="" Empty alt text. It marks an image as decoration so screen readers skip it.
anchor text The visible words of a link. It should describe the page it points to.
autocomplete The suggestions a search box shows as you type, which hint at common searches.
average position The mean position of your page in results. It moves around and is a rough guide.
Bing Webmaster Tools Microsoft's version of Search Console for Bing.
Bingbot Microsoft's crawler for Bing.
breadcrumbs A trail of links such as Home > Events > Spring walk that shows where a page sits.
broken link A link that leads to a 404 or other error.
canonical tag `<link rel="canonical">` names the main copy of a page. Search engines treat it as a strong hint, not an order.
Change of Address tool The Search Console tool you use when a whole site moves to a new domain.
Checks view The lab view that lists problems found on the site, such as missing titles.
click-through rate (CTR) Clicks divided by impressions. A clear title and snippet can raise it.
CLS Cumulative Layout Shift: how much the page jumps while loading. Aim for 0.1 or less.
Core Web Vitals Three measures of real visitor experience: LCP, INP and CLS.
Crawled, currently not indexed A Pages report reason meaning Google fetched the page and chose not to keep it for now.
crawler A program that fetches pages and follows their links, such as Googlebot or Bingbot.
Crawler view The lab view that lists each fetch, its status code and the link that led there.
crawling Fetching pages. The first stage of search.
Disallow A robots.txt rule listing a path crawlers may not fetch. Disallow: / blocks the whole site.
Domain property A Search Console property verified through DNS that covers every address on the domain.
duplicate content The same or nearly the same text at more than one address. Usually no penalty.
duplicate URLs Several addresses that show the same content, such as with and without a trailing slash.
Duplicate without user-selected canonical A Pages report reason meaning Google found copies and you named no main one.
E-E-A-T Experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trust: ideas Google's raters use to judge quality. It is not a single ranking score.
Event A structured data type for a dated event, with name, startDate and location.
eventStatus The Event property that marks an event as scheduled, postponed or cancelled.
FAQ and HowTo results Google now shows FAQ rich results only for some government and health sites, and has dropped HowTo results.
Google Business Profile Google's free business listing. It feeds most map and local results.
Google-Extended A robots.txt user agent token that controls whether Google may use your content to train its AI models. It does not affect Search.
Google-selected canonical The copy Google chose as the main one, shown in URL Inspection.
Googlebot Google's crawler. It fetches pages for Google Search, mostly as a phone browser would.
<h1> The main heading of a page. It should say what the page is about.
h2 to h6 Subheadings that build the page outline. Go down one level at a time.
heading outline The structure of a page's headings, read by screen readers and search engines.
.htaccess An Apache server file often used to set up redirects on shared hosting.
HTTPS The secure version of HTTP. Send every HTTP address to HTTPS with a 301.
hyphen in URLs Separates words in a slug. Google reads hyphens as word breaks, and underscores less reliably.
image file name A descriptive name such as sourdough-loaf.jpg gives image search a small extra clue.
image link An image inside a link. Its alt text becomes the link's name.
impression One appearance of your page in someone's results, whether or not they clicked.
index The search engine's stored copy of the pages it chose to keep. Only indexed pages can appear in results.
Index view The lab view that lists the pages the pretend search engine kept.
indexing Reading a fetched page and deciding whether to keep it in the index.
INP Interaction to Next Paint: how fast the page responds to taps and clicks. Aim for 200 ms or less.
Inspect The lab view that explains why one address was crawled, indexed or left out.
internal link A link from one page on your site to another.
ISO 8601 The date format YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm with an offset, such as 2026-05-09T07:00-05:00.
JSON-LD A script block of JSON that holds structured data. Google's preferred format.
keyword A word or phrase people search for that a page sets out to answer.
keyword stuffing Repeating search words unnaturally. It makes pages worse and breaks Google's spam policies.
<lastmod> The date a page last changed in a meaningful way. Google uses it only when it is accurate.
LCP Largest Contentful Paint: how long the main content takes to appear. Aim for 2.5 seconds or less.
Lighthouse The page audit built into Chrome's developer tools.
llms.txt A proposed file for AI tools. Google Search does not use it, and you need no special file for AI features.
loading="lazy" An image attribute that delays loading until the image is near the screen. Leave it off the main image.
<loc> The sitemap element holding one page's full address.
local pack The map and short list of businesses shown for many local searches.
local search A search with a place in it, or one where Google assumes you want something nearby.
LocalBusiness A structured data type for a shop or service, with address, phone and hours.
long-tail search A longer, more specific search, such as gluten-free birthday cake Riverside.
meta description A one or two sentence summary in the page head. Search engines often show it under the title, and sometimes write their own.
meta keywords An old tag Google ignores. AI tools still suggest it.
<meta name="description"> The tag that holds the meta description. Google does not use it for ranking.
mobile-first indexing Google crawls and indexes the phone version of a page, so content missing on phones is missing from the index.
NAP Name, address and phone number. Keep them the same on your site and your listings.
noindex A robots meta tag value that asks search engines to leave a page out of results. The page must be crawlable for it to be seen.
og:description The short text on a link preview card.
og:image The Open Graph image apps show when a link is shared. Use a full https URL; 1200×630 is the usual size.
og:title The headline on a link preview card.
og:type What the shared thing is, such as website or article.
og:url The main address of the shared page, usually the same as the canonical.
Open Graph A set of meta tags, such as og:title, that apps read to build link preview cards.
openingHoursSpecification The LocalBusiness property that lists opening hours by day.
Organization A structured data type for a club, company or other group, with its name, logo and links.
orphan page A page with no internal links pointing to it.
Pages report The Search Console report that lists indexed and left-out pages, with reasons.
PageSpeed Insights Google's tool that shows real visitor data and a lab test for one page.
people-first content Pages written to help a reader, with search engines in mind second.
Performance report Shows queries, clicks, impressions, click-through rate and average position.
priority and changefreq Optional sitemap fields that Google ignores.
property A site added to Search Console, either a Domain or a URL-prefix property.
query The words someone types into a search box.
query string The part of a URL after ?. Sorting and tracking parameters can create duplicate addresses.
ranking Choosing and ordering indexed pages at the moment someone searches. Nobody outside the search engine controls it.
ranking promise Any claim of a set position or traffic figure. Nobody can promise one.
redirect chain One redirect leading to another. Point each old address straight at the final one.
redirect map A list pairing each old address with its new one, made before a site move.
rel="nofollow" Asks search engines not to follow a link or pass credit. Leave it off your own internal links.
rel="prev" and rel="next" Old pagination hints Google no longer uses.
Request indexing A URL Inspection button that asks Google to recrawl a page. It does not guarantee indexing.
Result view The lab view that shows how a page would look as a search result.
rich result A search result with extras such as an event date or a price. Eligible is never the same as guaranteed.
Rich Results Test Google's tool that checks whether a page's markup can produce a rich result.
robots meta tag `<meta name="robots">` in the head. It carries values such as noindex and nofollow.
robots.txt A file at the site root that tells crawlers which addresses they may fetch. It controls crawling, not indexing.
scaled content abuse Mass-producing many low-value pages to manipulate results, by any method including AI.
Schema Markup Validator The schema.org tool that checks markup against the full vocabulary.
schema.org The shared vocabulary of types and properties used in structured data.
Search Central Google's official documentation for site owners, the place to check SEO advice.
Search Console Google's free tool for site owners: indexing reports, search queries, sitemaps and URL inspection.
search engine A service that finds pages, keeps a copy of some in an index and picks results for each search.
search intent What the searcher wants to do: learn, find a site, compare or buy.
self-referencing canonical A canonical tag that points at the page's own address.
self-serving reviews Reviews a business marks up about itself. Google does not show stars for them.
SEO audit A structured check of a site for crawl, index, page and markup problems.
service area business A business that visits customers and hides its address on its listing.
sharing debugger A tool from an app, such as Facebook's, that shows and refreshes the card for a link.
site move Changing a site's addresses or domain. Needs a 301 for every old address.
site name The name shown above a result's address. You can suggest it with WebSite structured data.
site: search Typing site:example.com into Google lists some indexed pages. It is a rough check, not a full count.
sitemap index A file that lists several sitemaps, for sites with more than 50,000 addresses.
sitemap.xml A list of the addresses you want crawled, with an optional honest last-changed date.
Sitemap: line A robots.txt line that gives the full address of your sitemap.
Sitemaps report Where you submit a sitemap in Search Console and see whether Google read it.
slug The readable part of a URL after the domain, such as /menu.
snippet The short description under a result's title link, taken from the meta description or the page text.
soft 404 A missing page that answers 200 OK instead of 404. Search engines treat it as an error and leave it out.
spam policies Google's rules against tricks such as stuffing, cloaking and mass-produced pages made to manipulate ranking.
staging site A private copy of a site for testing, often set to noindex, which must be undone at launch.
startDate The Event property for when it begins, in ISO 8601 with a time zone.
status code The three-digit number a server sends with each page, such as 200, 301 or 404.
structured data A JSON-LD block that describes the page in schema.org terms. It can make a page eligible for rich results.
thin page A page that offers a reader little, such as an empty category or a copied description.
title link The blue clickable line in a search result, usually built from the page's `<title>`.
title rewrite When Google shows a different title link from your `<title>`, often because yours is vague, long or repeated.
<title> The page's name in the browser tab, and usually the blue link in a search result.
truncation Cutting a long title or snippet with an ellipsis to fit the result's width.
twitter:card Sets the card style on X. Set it to summary_large_image for a big picture; other values fall back to Open Graph tags.
@type The JSON-LD key naming what a thing is, such as Event or LocalBusiness.
URL The full address of a page, such as https://example.com/menu.
URL Inspection The Search Console tool that shows how Google sees one address and lets you request indexing.
URL-prefix property A Search Console property for one protocol and address start, such as https://www.example.com/.
<urlset> The outer element of an XML sitemap.
User-agent The robots.txt line that names which crawler a group of rules is for. * means all.
verification Proving to Search Console that you own a site, with a DNS record, HTML file or meta tag.
viewport meta tag `<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">` lets a page fit a phone screen.
WebP and AVIF Modern image formats that are usually smaller than JPEG or PNG at the same quality.
width and height attributes Image sizes in HTML that reserve space so the layout does not jump.
X-Robots-Tag An HTTP header that carries robots values, useful for PDFs and other non-HTML files.