20 essential SEO terms business owners should know.
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You understand how important it is to optimize your website but are you having trouble researching or communicating your needs to a professional? Here are 20 essential terms every layman should know.
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Blog
Part of your website where you should regularly publish website relevant content; industry related, events, news, videos etc. Every new blog post is an opportunity for search engines to index and rank your content.
Canonical URL
Domain
Fold
The “fold” is a term used to describe the point on your website where the page gets cut off by the monitor or browser window. Anything below the fold needs to be scrolled to and isn’t seen right away. Search engines place some priority on content above the fold, since it will be seen right away by new visitors.
H1 and H2
Text on your website that you want to stand out and instruct the search engine to read and index. The main heading on this page has been assigned an H1 tag and the sub heading have been assigned an H2 tag. Do not use H1 and H2 for styling your content. Style content with font sizes, color, bold, italics and underline.
Inbound link
A link from another website to yours. Inbound links improve your SEO and website’s credibility.
Internal link
An internal link is a link from one page within your website to another page within your website.
Keywords
Keywords refer to a single term or string of words that users enter when searching for information, services or products. Knowing your industry’s essential keywords help you design relevant content to get you found on search engines and draw potential clients to your website. Do not confuse this with Meta Keywords (explained later).
Landing page
Basically, a landing page is where a visitor “lands” once they have clicked on a particular link. A landing page is a single, standalone web page, created specifically for the purposes of a marketing or advertising campaigns and should include a call-to-action.
Metadata
Metadata is a snippet of data that tells search engines about your website.
Meta-description
The meta-description refers to a snippet of information – 160 characters long – is a sample of text that tells the user what the specific page is about. When search engines display results, the meta-description is found below the page title.
Meta-keywords
Assigning meta-keywords was a popular aspect of SEO. It was used in conjunction with the meta-description. It is no longer used by any of the major search engines.
Outbound Link
An outbound link is the exact opposite of an inbound link. It’s a link from your website to another website.
Page Title
The page-title is the name you give your webpage. The page-title should include industry related keywords.
PPC – Pay per click
Pay-per-click is an online advertising method. Your advert generates interest, and whenever the advert is clicked, the advertiser pays for that click through.
Sitemap
A sitemap is a special piece of software, created by your developer, which provides a map of your website to search engines making it easier for search engines to index your site.
Spiders
A spider is a program that browses the internet and collects information from websites.
Traffic & Traffic Rank
Traffic refers to the number of visitors to your site. You can buy traffic or follow our tips to create free, organic traffic using proven SEO techniques.
URL
The URL or Uniform Resource Locator, is quite simply the web address for your webpages and usually includes the article title and reference.
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