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SEO glossary.
Plain-English meanings for the terms used in our beginner guides, A to Z. Each term links back to the guides that use it.
#
- 301 and 308
Status codes that mean a page has moved permanently.
- 301 redirect
A permanent server instruction sending visitors and Google from an old address to a new one.
Used in: How to check a traffic drop after a site move or release
- 302, 303 and 307
Status codes that mean a page has moved temporarily.
- 403 Forbidden
The server understood the request but refuses to fulfil it.
- 429 Too Many Requests
The sender has sent too many requests in a given time; a form of rate limiting.
A
- Acceptance test
A check, agreed in advance, that shows whether a fix has worked.
Used in: How to turn SEO audit findings into fixes that ship
- Aggregation
How the report groups and adds up data, either by property (the whole site) or by page.
- AI Mode
A Google Search experience for more complex questions that gives an AI-powered response with links to supporting websites.
Used in: How to check a page can appear in Google’s AI Overviews How to find AI-driven traffic in Search Console and Analytics
- AI Overviews
A Google Search feature that shows an AI-generated summary with links to supporting pages.
Used in: How to check a page can appear in Google’s AI Overviews How to find AI-driven traffic in Search Console and Analytics
- Algorithmic update
A change to the systems Google uses to rank and serve results. Core updates are one kind.
Used in: How to find the cause of a drop in Google search traffic
- Anchor element
The HTML tag, written <a>, that makes a link.
- Anchor text
The visible words of a link, which tell people and Google something about the page it points to.
Used in: How to review your site’s URLs and links against Google’s guidance How to choose sponsored, ugc or nofollow for outbound links
- Anonymised query
A rare search query that Search Console leaves out of its table for privacy. It is still counted in chart totals unless you filter by query.
- Average position
The topmost position your site held for each query, averaged across the queries where it appeared.
Used in: How to read the Search Console Performance report How to read an SEO report as a client
B
- Backlink
A link on another site that points to a page on your site.
Used in: How to check your links against Google’s link spam policy
- Baseline
A dated record of how things look before a change, which later checks are compared against.
Used in: How to keep your outbound links checked over time How to sign off risky SEO changes before release How to prioritise SEO fixes in the right order
- Blocker
A fault that can stop Google crawling, indexing or serving a page, so that other work on that page cannot show.
- Breadcrumb
The trail of words from a page's address that Google can show in a search result.
Used in: How to review your site’s URLs and links against Google’s guidance
- Byline
The line naming who wrote a piece of content, ideally linking to information about them.
Used in: How to check a content plan against Google’s helpful content questions
C
- Cache
A stored copy of a page that is served instead of building it again; headers such as Cache-Control set how long it counts as fresh.
Used in: How to check a WordPress site before launch for SEO
- Canonical URL
The main version of a page that Google chooses to show in search results when the same content can be reached at several addresses. You can state which address you prefer, but that is a hint, not an instruction.
Used in: How to create, submit and check a sitemap How to set and check a canonical URL How to redirect pages and move a site safely How to sign off risky SEO changes before release
- Change of Address
A Search Console tool for telling Google you moved from one domain or subdomain to another.
- Channel
A rule-based group of traffic sources in Google Analytics, such as Organic Search or Direct.
Used in: How to find AI-driven traffic in Search Console and Analytics
- Click-through rate (CTR)
Clicks divided by impressions, as a percentage.
Used in: How to read the Search Console Performance report How to use Search Console and Analytics together for SEO
- Clicks
The number of times a user clicked through to your site from Google Search results.
- Cloaking
Showing search engines different content from what people see, with the aim of manipulating rankings or misleading users.
Used in: How to check your site for hidden or injected links
- Content injection
A hacker adding content, such as spammy links, to your existing pages without permission.
Used in: How to check your site for hidden or injected links
- Core update
A significant, broad change to Google's search systems, announced on its ranking updates list.
Used in: How to check a traffic drop against a Google update
- Crawl
An automatic visit to the pages of a site by a tool, collecting details such as titles, status codes and tags.
Used in: How to turn SEO audit findings into fixes that ship
- Crawl budget
The set of addresses on your site that Google can and wants to crawl.
Used in: How to check if crawl budget is a problem for your site
- Crawl capacity limit
How much crawling your server can handle without being overwhelmed, adjusted by Google up or down.
Used in: How to check if crawl budget is a problem for your site
- Crawl demand
How much Google wants to crawl your site, based on factors such as size, popularity and how stale its copy is.
Used in: How to check if crawl budget is a problem for your site
- Crawling
Google fetching a page from your server so it can read it.
Used in: How to check your new site is ready for Google How to check for technical errors after a traffic drop
- CTR (click-through rate)
Clicks divided by impressions.
D
- Data anomaly
A known issue or change on Google's side, such as a logging error, that affects what a report shows.
Used in: How to read the Search Console Performance report How to check whether a search traffic drop is real
- Data threshold
A Google Analytics rule that withholds some data when too few users are involved, to protect privacy.
- Dependency
A job that cannot be done, or cannot show results, until another job or decision comes first.
- Disavow
A Search Console tool for asking Google to ignore listed links to your site that you cannot get removed. Google describes it as an advanced feature for specific cases. It does not apply to your own outbound links.
Used in: How to check your outbound links for expired domains How to check your links against Google’s link spam policy
E
- E-E-A-T
Experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness, the qualities Google's guidance asks you to consider when assessing content. Google says trust matters most.
Used in: How to check a content plan against Google’s helpful content questions How to check the five fundamentals of AI search visibility How to review AI-written content before you publish it
- Engagement rate
The percentage of Analytics sessions that count as engaged, using criteria Google sets out.
Used in: How to use Search Console and Analytics together for SEO
- Entity
A distinct thing such as an organisation or person that a search system can identify and tell apart from similar ones.
Used in: How to check the five fundamentals of AI search visibility
- Expired domain
A domain name whose owner has not renewed it, so it may become available for someone else to register.
Used in: How to check your outbound links for expired domains
- Expired domain abuse
Google's term for buying an expired domain and repurposing it primarily to manipulate search rankings.
Used in: How to check your outbound links for expired domains
F
G
- Google Trends
A free Google tool showing how interest in a search term changes over time, from a sample of searches.
Used in: How to check whether a search traffic drop is real How to judge whether an SEO strategy is working
- Googlebot
Google's main web crawler, the program that fetches pages for Google Search.
- Grounding
Google's term for providing content to an AI model at the moment it answers, to improve factual accuracy.
H
- Hacked content
Content placed on a site without permission, due to security vulnerabilities, according to Google's spam policies.
- Hallucination
An inaccuracy produced by a generative AI tool, which predicts likely words rather than retrieving facts.
Used in: How to review AI-written content before you publish it
- History API
A browser feature that lets a script change the page address to a proper path instead of a # fragment.
- href
The attribute on an anchor that holds the address it leads to.
- hreflang
An annotation that tells Google an alternate version of a page exists for a given language or region.
- HTTP status code
A number a server sends back to say how it handled a request, such as 200, 404 or 429.
I
- Impressions
How many times your site appeared in Google search results.
Used in: How to find the cause of a drop in Google search traffic How to judge whether an SEO strategy is working How to read an SEO report as a client
- Indexed
Stored by Google so the page can be shown in search results.
Used in: How to check a page can appear in Google’s AI Overviews
- Indexing
Google processing a crawled page and storing it, from where it may be shown in results.
Used in: How to check for technical errors after a traffic drop
- ISO 3166-1 Alpha 2
The standard list of two-letter country codes, such as GB and US, that hreflang uses for regions.
- ISO 639-1
The standard list of two-letter language codes, such as en and de, that hreflang uses.
J
- JSON-LD
The format Google recommends for structured data: a block of code in the page that visitors do not see.
L
- lastmod
The sitemap field giving the date a page was last significantly updated.
- Link spam
Creating links to or from a site primarily to manipulate search rankings, as Google's spam policies define it.
Used in: How to check your links against Google’s link spam policy How to check the five fundamentals of AI search visibility
M
- Manual action
A penalty applied by a human reviewer at Google, reported in Search Console.
Used in: How to find the cause of a drop in Google search traffic How to check for security and spam problems after a traffic drop How to check your site for hidden or injected links How to check your links against Google’s link spam policy
- Meta description
A short summary of a page, written in its code, that can appear in search results.
Used in: How to review AI-written content before you publish it
- Mobile-first indexing
Google using the mobile version of your content for indexing and ranking.
N
- noindex
A rule, in a meta tag or HTTP header, asking search engines to leave a page out of their results.
Used in: How to check for technical errors after a traffic drop How to check a traffic drop after a site move or release How to check a WordPress site before launch for SEO How to turn SEO audit findings into fixes that ship
O
- Organic search
Visits from unpaid search results, as opposed to paid ads.
Used in: How to use Search Console and Analytics together for SEO
- Outbound link
A link from a page on your site to a page on another website.
Used in: How to choose sponsored, ugc or nofollow for outbound links How to check your outbound links for expired domains How to keep your outbound links checked over time
- Owner, full user, restricted user
Search Console access levels, from full control down to simple view rights on most data.
P
- Page head
The hidden top section of a page's HTML, holding details such as the title and canonical link.
Used in: How to set and check a canonical URL
- Page source
The raw HTML code of a page, which you can view in your browser.
Used in: How to check your site for hidden or injected links
- People-first content
Content created primarily to help people, rather than to gain search engine rankings.
Used in: How to check a content plan against Google’s helpful content questions
- Performance report
The Search Console report showing clicks, impressions, click-through rate and average position for your site in Google Search.
Used in: How to find the cause of a drop in Google search traffic How to judge whether an SEO strategy is working How to show missing data honestly in an SEO report
- Permanent redirect
A server instruction that sends visitors and Google from an old address to a new one for good.
Used in: How to set and check a canonical URL
- Position
Where a page appears in search results for a query. Search Console reports an average.
Used in: How to check a traffic drop against a Google update
- Preliminary data
The newest Search Console data, still being collected and likely to change within hours. It appears as a dotted line on the chart.
Used in: How to check whether a search traffic drop is real How to read an SEO report as a client How to show missing data honestly in an SEO report
R
- Rate limiting
A server or firewall rule that restricts how many requests one visitor may make in a period.
- Raw HTML
The page code exactly as the server sends it, before any scripts run.
- RDAP
The Registration Data Access Protocol, the successor to WHOIS, used to look up domain registration data.
Used in: How to check your outbound links for expired domains
- Recrawl and reindex
Google revisiting your pages and updating what it has stored about them.
- Redirect
An instruction that sends visitors and Google from an old address to a new one.
Used in: How to redirect pages and move a site safely How to check a WordPress site before launch for SEO
- Redirect chain
A redirect that leads to another redirect, so reaching the final page takes several steps.
- Referrer
The site or app a visitor came from, as passed to your site when they click a link.
Used in: How to find AI-driven traffic in Search Console and Analytics
- rel attribute
A label on a link, such as sponsored, ugc or nofollow, that tells Google your relationship with the linked page.
Used in: How to choose sponsored, ugc or nofollow for outbound links How to check your links against Google’s link spam policy
- rel=”canonical”
A link in a page's head (or an HTTP header) that names the address you prefer for that content.
- Rendered HTML
The page code after a browser-like process has run the JavaScript.
- Rendering
Running a page's JavaScript, as a browser does, to see the finished page.
- Return tag
The annotation on an alternate page that points back to the page that referred to it.
- Rich result
A search result with extra detail beyond the usual title and description, which structured data can make a page eligible for.
- Rich Results Test
A Google tool that checks structured data on a page and, in some cases, previews a feature.
- robots.txt
A plain text file at the root of a site that asks crawlers which URLs they may fetch.
Used in: How to create, submit and check a sitemap How to check a WordPress site before launch for SEO How to check the five fundamentals of AI search visibility How to decide which AI crawlers to allow or block
- Rollback
Undoing a change to return the site to how it was before release.
- Rollout
The period between an update's start and end dates, while the change is applied.
Used in: How to check a traffic drop against a Google update
S
- Scaled content abuse
In Google's spam policies, many pages generated mainly to manipulate rankings and not to help users, no matter how they are created.
Used in: How to check a content plan against Google’s helpful content questions How to check a page can appear in Google’s AI Overviews How to review AI-written content before you publish it
- schema.org
A shared vocabulary of types and properties that most Google Search structured data uses.
- Seasonality
Demand that rises and falls at regular times of year, regardless of what you do.
Used in: How to find the cause of a drop in Google search traffic How to judge whether an SEO strategy is working
- Security issue
A problem Google detects, such as hacked content or malware, that could harm visitors.
Used in: How to check for security and spam problems after a traffic drop
- Session
A period during which a person interacts with your website, as counted by Google Analytics.
Used in: How to use Search Console and Analytics together for SEO How to check whether a search traffic drop is real How to find AI-driven traffic in Search Console and Analytics
- Sign-off
A recorded approval from a named person that a specific change may go live.
- Site move
Changing the URLs of existing pages, for example moving to HTTPS, a new domain or new paths.
Used in: How to check a traffic drop after a site move or release
- Sitemap
A file listing the addresses on your site that you want search engines to know about.
Used in: How to create, submit and check a sitemap How to set and check a canonical URL How to check your new site is ready for Google How to keep your outbound links checked over time
- Snippet
The short piece of text Google shows under a result to describe the page.
Used in: How to check a page can appear in Google’s AI Overviews
- Soft 404
A page that tells visitors it does not exist but does not return a proper 404 status.
Used in: How to check if crawl budget is a problem for your site How to check for technical errors after a traffic drop How to check a traffic drop after a site move or release
- Spam policies
Google's rules against techniques that deceive users or manipulate search systems.
Used in: How to check for security and spam problems after a traffic drop
- Spam update
A notable improvement to Google's automated spam-detection systems, also on that list.
Used in: How to check a traffic drop against a Google update
- sponsored
A rel value Google asks you to use for advertisements and paid placements.
Used in: How to choose sponsored, ugc or nofollow for outbound links
- Status code
A number a server sends with each response, such as 200 for success or 500 for a server error.
Used in: How to check for technical errors after a traffic drop
- Structured data
Code that labels the information on a page in a standard format so search engines can understand it.
Used in: How to add and check structured data on your pages How to check the five fundamentals of AI search visibility How to review AI-written content before you publish it
- Subdirectory and subdomain
A folder on your main domain (example.com/blog/) versus a separate name before it (blog.example.com).
Used in: How to review your site’s URLs and links against Google’s guidance
T
- Ticket
A single piece of work written down with an owner, so it can be built and tracked.
Used in: How to turn SEO audit findings into fixes that ship
- Training
Using collected content to build or improve an AI model, as opposed to showing a page in an answer.
U
- ugc
A rel value for user-generated content such as comments and forum posts.
Used in: How to choose sponsored, ugc or nofollow for outbound links
- URL
The web address of a page, such as https://example.com/pets/cats.
Used in: How to review your site’s URLs and links against Google’s guidance
- URL Inspection
A Search Console tool that shows Google's indexed version of a page and can test the live one.
Used in: How to turn SEO audit findings into fixes that ship
- URL mapping
A list pairing each old address with the new address it should lead to in a site move.
- URL parameter
An extra piece after a question mark in an address, such as ?sort=price, often used for filtering or tracking.
Used in: How to review your site’s URLs and links against Google’s guidance
- User-agent token
The short name a crawler answers to in robots.txt, such as GPTBot.
W
- Web application firewall
A security layer in front of a site. Perplexity says you may need to allow its bots there, separately from robots.txt.
X
- x-default
A reserved value naming the fallback page for users whose language matches none of your versions.
- X-Robots-Tag
An HTTP response header that can carry a noindex rule instead of a meta tag.
Describe the site, the symptom and what has been tried. You will get a reply from Dean, not a sales sequence.
Content that tricks visitors into doing something dangerous, such as revealing confidential information.
Used in: How to check for security and spam problems after a traffic drop