SEO & marketing terms defined.

Google's AI-generated summary that appears above organic results for many search queries.

The clickable, visible text of a hyperlink — used by search engines to understand what the linked page is about.

A hyperlink from one website pointing to another — a core signal in Google's ranking algorithm.

The percentage of visitors who leave a site without interacting further after viewing just one page.

The preferred version of a page, specified to search engines to prevent duplicate content issues.

The percentage of users who click a search result after seeing it in the SERP.

Queries from users actively researching a purchase — comparing options, reading reviews, or evaluating vendors.

Identifying keywords or topics that competitors rank for but your site doesn't, revealing untapped opportunities.

Google's set of page experience metrics measuring loading, interactivity, and visual stability.

The price advertisers pay per click in paid search — also used to estimate the commercial value of organic keywords.

Whether and how easily search engine bots can discover and access the pages on your website.

A standard hyperlink that passes SEO authority (link equity) from the linking page to the linked page.

Moz's 0–100 score predicting how well a website will rank in search engines based on its backlink profile.

Ahrefs' 0–100 score measuring the strength of a website's overall backlink profile.

How long a user spends on a page after clicking a search result before returning to the SERP.

Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness — Google's quality signals for content.

A prominent box at the top of Google search results displaying a direct answer pulled from a specific webpage.

Writing content for another website in exchange for a backlink and/or brand exposure.

Short, high-volume, broad keywords that are highly competitive and drive significant search traffic.

The number of times a page appeared in search results, regardless of whether it was clicked.

Whether a page can be stored in Google's index and made eligible to appear in search results.

Queries where the searcher wants to learn about a topic, with no immediate intention to buy.

Hyperlinks that point from one page on a website to another page on the same website.

A score estimating how hard it would be to rank on page one for a given keyword.

The process of identifying and analysing the search terms your target audience uses, to inform content and SEO strategy.

A prominent information box that appears on the right side of Google results for well-known entities.

The process of acquiring backlinks from other websites to improve a site's authority and search rankings.

Informal term for the SEO authority or PageRank value passed from one page to another via a backlink.

How prominently a brand or website is referenced by large language models like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google Gemini.

Specific, multi-word search phrases with lower search volume but higher conversion intent.

Queries where the user wants to find a specific website or page they already have in mind.

A hyperlink with a rel='nofollow' attribute, instructing search engines not to pass link equity through it.

Ranking signals that come from outside your own website, primarily backlinks from other sites.

Optimizations made directly within a web page to improve its relevance and ranking potential.

The rate at which users click through to your site from organic (unpaid) search results.

Visitors who arrive at your website through unpaid search engine results.

Moz's 0–100 score predicting the ranking potential of a specific page, based on its backlink profile.

How quickly a web page loads and becomes usable for a visitor.

A SERP feature showing a set of related questions and expandable answers pulled from the web.

Creating large numbers of targeted pages at scale using templates and structured data, rather than manual page creation.

Monitoring a website's search engine positions for target keywords over time.

The number of unique websites that link to a given page or domain.

An enhanced search result that displays additional visual information — star ratings, images, prices — enabled by structured data.

A file that tells search engine crawlers which pages or sections of a site they should not access.

The underlying goal or purpose behind a search query — what the searcher actually wants to find.

The estimated number of times a keyword is searched per month in a given market.

Optimizing content around topic meaning and context rather than exact keyword matches.

A structured analysis of a website's technical, on-page, and off-page SEO health and performance.

The financial return generated by SEO investment — measured as revenue (or pipeline) relative to SEO spend.

Search Engine Results Page — the page Google (or another search engine) returns after a query.

Non-standard search result elements that appear alongside organic listings — including AI Overviews, featured snippets, image packs, and more.

The rank at which a page appears in organic search results for a given keyword.

The degree of fluctuation in search rankings over time — often used as a signal of Google algorithm updates.

Code added to a page's HTML that helps search engines understand its content and enable rich results.

Optimizations to a website's infrastructure that help search engines crawl, index, and rank it effectively.

Top, Middle, and Bottom of Funnel — a framework for classifying content by where it sits in the buyer journey.

The perceived expertise of a website on a specific subject, built through comprehensive, high-quality content coverage.

Queries from users who are ready to take an immediate action — sign up, buy, or request a demo.

Ahrefs' 0–100 score measuring the strength of a specific page's backlink profile.

A structured file listing a site's important URLs to help search engines discover and index them.

A search query that is answered directly in the SERP, with no click-through to any website.