SEO Jargon Buster

Confused with the Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) jargons? Here are some common and most used jargons explained in simple English.

Algorithm
A set of rules used by computers to solve problems. Search engines like Google use algorithms to determine the rankings on a search results page.

ALT Text
A phrase or word that describes the content of an image. The ALT Text displays if an image is or cannot be loaded, and it also helps search engines to index a page. If you place an image or a photo of a red apple on your website, then you should ALT text it as ‘Red Apple’.

Anchor Text
It is a clickable link that forms part of a hyperlink. For example, if I were to put this phrase on my website ‘You can learn more about Google Adwords here.’ The word ‘Google Adwords here’ is the anchor text.

Black Hat Techniques
Techniques which are deceptive or manipulative to optimise websites for search engines, not for people. Best to avoid them. Always use ‘white hat’ techniques for your SEO.

Bot, Crawler or Spider
A program that browses and indexes content on the internet. This data is used to help search engines deliver relevant search results.

Destination Page
The page being linked to from another page. This is the page where the visitor is taken to when they click a link on a website.

Internal Links
Links from one page to another page within the same website.

Meta Description
A snippet of text in a web page’s code that describes the content of the page, and is used as the website’s description in a search engine results page.

Meta Keywords
A short list of words that describe the content of a web page. These aren’t used by search engines.

Ranking
A listing’s position on a search engine results page.

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
SEO helps improve the visibility of a website or a web page by making changes to web pages, content, and the promotion of that content in organic (unpaid) search engine results.

Search Engine Results Page (SERP)
A list of results appearing in a search engine page in response to someone’s search query. SERPs contain organic results as well as paid ads.

Title Element
The Title of a web page as described in the HTML. This is also often used as the title of your page in a search engine results page.

Web Spam or Spam
Techniques used by some websites to try and cheat their way to the top of the search results, for example repeating keywords and paying other sites to link to yours. This is considered ‘black hat’ techniques and should not be followed.

White Hat
Techniques or tactics that optimise web pages for people, not for search engines. This is done by following best practices for creating high-quality content.

XML Sitemap
A list of all the web pages that make up your website. This helps search engines to understand your website.

Written by Uzair Kharawala

Founder of SF Digital Studios, a Google Premier Partner agency. Uzair has been helping businesses grow with Google Ads since 2002 and teaches it every week on YouTube.