SEO glossary is a handy thing to have at hand when doing some eLearning. It can help you to easily learn all the words you need to know.
That way, you can quickly improve your internet skills. What is more, you want to do some optimisation on your website or YouTube Channel?
Than knowing a few keywords will help you along the way. I know from experience that all those fancy new words can be intimidating at first.
But fear not! Here is your blogpost explaining 5 important SEO Glossary words for you to start with. Take it easy and read on!
This post was originally published on 15.04.20 and last updated on 26.06.20.
SEO Glossary 101
- Meta Description: This is the text that shows up on the Google search results underneath the URL. If you don’t take care of this, Google will simply display the first words of the page or blog post. Important to realize, you can edit the Meta Description yourself. Handy Plugins like Yoast SEO will let you write a Meta Description right on the page you’re editing. This way you can make sure to optimize the displayed text to your advantage.
- ALT Text/Tag or Attribute: This is the description you can give an image. It is the only way to tell Google what an image is about. Google can’t identify images on its own. It uses the ALT Tag to do that. That means that you can use this to do some SEO optimisation. Write you’re most important keywords into the ALT Tag. However, don’t over do it. Keep the keywords in line with what the picture really is displaying.
The Fold, what sounds like a fun Halloween movie is actually SEO Glossary
- The Fold: This word refers to the part of a website that you can see immediately upon opening it. Everything that you can only see when you scroll to it is underneath the fold. Search engines give this space a certain importance. Quite literally because it is the first part of the website you see. Hence, place the most important things there. Don’t overdo it though. If you stuff this space you will get penalized by the search engines algorithm. SEO oftentimes is a fine balance at the end of the day.
- Headings: One of the most underrated SEO tricks in the box. However, headings tell Google and co. the basic structure of a page. The better a page is sorted out the easier it will be for Google for example to crawl it and therefore index it. Don’t be tempted to use headings as a style element in order to make things bigger. Use CSS for this. Only use headings for their real purposes. Also, make sure to keep the headings hierarchy. That means, only use heading 1 one time for the name of the page. Everything after this will use heading 2 and so on.
Being on page number one is everyone’s SEO dream
- SERP (Search Engine Ranking Page): This is nothing else than the fancy name for the page that your search engine of choice displays after you typed in your query. The first 3 places are most valuable and arguably hard to get to. However, just making it on the first page is a huge win in itself. Don’t worry if your SEO attempts don’t work immediately. SEO is a process and can take some time.
- Black Hat SEO: When you try to optimize a website with slightly shady methods. Anythings from keyword stuffing and cloaking to using private link farms. Black Hat SEO works against search engine guidelines. The focus is not on the website user or reader. It is not wise to try any of those methods. It will easily end in a penalty from the search engines.
- Keyword Stuffing: This practise means to use a keyword as many times as possible throughout a page. What is more, in this technique the keyword also gets used in as many ways as possible. Google gives a very good example.
We sell custom cigar humidors. Our custom cigar humidors are handmade. If you’re thinking of buying a custom cigar humidor, please contact our custom cigar humidor specialists at custom.cigar.humidors@example.com.
*source: Google
Don’t over use your keywords and always use them in context!
- Cloaking: When you create different content for the user than what you let the search engine see. You can do this by delivering the website according to the IP addresses. Also, you could use the User-Agent-HTTP header.
- Link Farms: This refers to a rather old technique. Multiple sites would link each other in a joint effort to rank higher on Google. The quality of the sites wasn’t in the focus. That lead Google to include actions in their Panda update in order to dissolve said Link Farms.
- Hummingbird, Panda and Penguin: Those are the names of a couple of Google updates. Google is constantly working on its algorithm. However, from time to time there is a major update. They get animal names at times like Panda or Penguin.
Important SEO Glossary – Duplicate Content. It does not serve you well!
- Duplicate Content: When a text is happening identically on multiple pages in side your website or even on other websites. That can happen easily if you have one artist biography for the new release and the poor thing gets banged into all places. Be smart and edit your text for each use. Otherwise you will see a penalty from search engines.
- SEO Optimised Text: To use the example of the artist bio again, it is great to have it written by a cool journalist. However, not in the case of the journalist not knowing how to write a text for SEO purposes. As a matter of fact, an SEO Optimised Text is well structured, uses the keyword as well as enough active voice. In fact, the sentences are nice and short. Important to realize, the readability overall. Not all fans are literature or poetry nerds. It is important that the info gets across for all consumers.
- Subtitles: Point often overlooked, subtitles are more than just handy. Firstly, they help people with disabilities to enjoy your content. Secondly, they literately help search engine bots to enjoy your content, too! This is crazy, bots can’t see nor hear. They rely on information they can actually read. If you have just a video up on YouTube or Facebook, chances are, the bot won’t be able to digest its content. So, make sure to add subtitles!
Video has seen a huge rise in popularity on social media
- Video SEO: Aim at producing ‘High Retention’ videos if you want to rank with them on social media and/or search engines. What does that mean? It means to start your video with a short introduction. In addition, try to give the viewer the feeling that they can relate to the storytelling. Moreover, visualise that you have identified their problem. And then lastly, propose a solution en-suit!
- Keywords: When someone types in a search question into the search box, this is referred to as the Keyword. Keywords are used by search engines in order to match your content with any query. Hence, showing the best content for your question. In order to find out about the right keyword, you can use tools like Google’s Keyword Planner. Having the right keyword can really amp up your SEO results. Have the keyword in the title and a couple of headings. Also, name any picture files like the keyword. Use it in any text. However, don’t overdo it and end up with keyword stuffing (find above).
- Featured snippets: This is kind of an extended Meta-Description and is pulled by search engines in order to show better results. You can use this for your advantage. Schema.org markups can significantly help with having more attractive Feature Snippets.
Google My Business is the modern yellow pages and an important SEO Glossary
- Google My Business listing: This is a new service from Google. You can register your company with Google My Business. Once registered it means that nobody else can claim your name. Also, you can post articles here and have customers rate your service. If you are a DIY musician who sometimes plays weddings and celebrations, this could be super helpful. Not only will it show quickly when you are available, but it also displays comments from your previous clients. Important factors in getting booked more often!
- Query: This means the actual text someone types into any search engine. In ‘old’ days, it only really featured single words. However, nowadays the Query can be a whole sentence. This is important to know because it gives you scope to optimise to. What is more, it means that the search engines get better and better in answering peoples questions. The more complex the system gets, the more complex SEO will become.
- Anchor Text: If you include a link in your text, you probably won’t post it like this: https://blackbirdpunk.com/. In comparison, you will most likely hide the hyperlink under a word, for example, BlackbirdPunk. This word is called Anchor Text. Important to realise, the Anchor Text gives valuable context for the search engines as to what the link is about. This is why you really need to think about the words you use for linking. For example, don’t use the keyword in order to link to a third-party website outside of your own. This would show search engines that the other webpage is much more important than yours. Not really what you want to achieve with search engine optimisation.
Content Management Systems (CMS) can really influence your SEO performance
- CMS: One of the most popular CMS is without a doubt WordPress. However, there are many other CMS systems like TYPO3, Drupal or Joomla. They all do the same, helping you tho fill your webpage with content in an easy and manageable way. Hence the name. How does this influence your SEO performance? For example, if the CMS lads the database with tons of code, then it can really drag your page speed down. This is why you always have to keep an eye on your CMS as well. It’s a bit of a hidden SEO gem but it can have a big impact!
Stands for Content Management System. A web-based application that lets people create, upload, and manage digital assets.
*source: searchenginejournal
There are many things to consider when doing SEO. Here’s the deal: you have to start somewhere.
Take it easy and do one step after the other. Learn as much as you can and keep simply doing it. Perhaps this SEO Glossary overview can help you along the way.
Practise is the most important element of SEO, in my humble opinion!