Essential SEO terms
301 – Permanent server redirect – 301’s are vital for SEO as they maintain the ‘link juice’ that has been built up over time. Anytime you change the wording of the URL ‘slug’ you should add a 301 redirect to the new URL – also vital if you’re changing to a new URL.
404 – A dead page caused by an incorrect or out of date link, 404’s are most commonly caused by dead links.
Things that could cause a 404 error
- The user has attempted to navigate the website manually by typing in the URL manually and has mistyped or guessed incorrectly a page.
- Web page has been moved or deleted
- Admin has misspelt the URL in the navigation or linked image etc.
Fixing 404’s is vital for improving any websites SEO as they count as negative factors in the ranking algorithms.
Alt text – Important for SEO as it allows a description of the picture. This is vital for a number of factors
- Alt text isn’t usually displayed to the end user but when it is – it’s because the graphic was undeliverable or in a browser that doesn’t display graphics.
- Allows Google to ‘read’ your images and helps them to appear in google images.
- Special web browsers for visually challenged individuals rely on alt text to make the image accessible to the users.
Anchor Text – The text which is used in links to display the link.
If I linked to another blog article such as Organic traffic – the words ‘organic traffic’ is the anchor text which masks the actual URL whilst making it clear and concise what the linked URL is about.
To maximise anchor text efficiency with search engines, the text in the link should be no more than 5 words long, share keywords with both the webpage being linked to and the web page linking to that URL.
Back Link – Any incoming link to a web page or website. Backlinks are important for SEO but relevance is important. Websites from disreputable backgrounds will be marked as spam and can actually be a negative ranking if they’re linking to your website. Websites in the same industry or niche as your website or government websites URLs are more beneficial for your websites SEO than unrelated websites.
Breadcrumbs – Simple navigation technique to show the user where they are on the website compared to the home page and how they got there. Shows link depth.
CMS – Content management system. Software such as WordPress that allows users to manage their website without having to get hands-on with code or understand too in-depth the fundamentals of how their website functions.
Comment Spam – Comments posted across numerous sometimes thousands/millions of websites by Autoblog software in an attempt to boost the linked domain authority connected to the profile posting. Considered Black Hat and can result in penalties for the offending domain.
Directory – Directories are websites that link to numerous websites & businesses in categorised segments. Allows users to navigate through businesses in their area and offers a limited amount of Google juice to the linked website.
eCommerce – An eCommerce store is a website dedicated to selling products & services online. Products may be digital or deliverable.
Frame – iFrames etc – A section of the website that acts like a ‘window’ to another website. Poor for SEO & usually results in poor user experience.
Google juice – Also known as ‘domain trust’, ‘Domain Authority’, Page rank etc. Googles domain ranking which flows through outgoing links, see “backlink”
Link Farm – Websites that contain lots of unrelated websites links and no other content. The old method of boosting website domain authority by having your website linked to as many of these as possible. Considered blackhat SEO and will result in your website ranking being penalised.
AdWords / Analytics terms
AdWords – Googles advertising program used by most online marketing companies. Allows businesses to advertise on the ‘search network’ and ‘display network’.
Analytics – Software used for collecting & analysing data about website usage. There are many different options available depending on the CMS used but the most common fit all option is Google Analytics.
Bounce Rate – The percentage of users entering your website and leave without engaging with your content or visiting other pages on your website. Depending on the functionality and design of your website this may or may not be cause for concern. A high bounce rate on a 1 page designed website is fairly usual.
Other factors which may cause a high bounce rate –
- Poorly designed / poorly laid out navigation
- Slow loading website
- Too many advertisements / relevant content to what the user expected.
Click – Each unique click through that channel
CTR – Click through rate – The percentage of how many users clicked through to your website compared to the total amount of users that see your advert or link.
Impression – Every time your advert, or link has appeared on search channels. The user doesn’t necessarily have to scroll down to the area of the page your link is on though. Good for brand awareness
Conversion – A conversion is each time your defined set goal has been achieved. This could be newspaper signups, purchases gone through checkout etc.
Conversion Rate – Conversion rate is how many of the total users that clicked through to your website actually converted to your defined goal.
Pageview – Used to measure user engagement more than anything. A pageview hit is triggered everytime a user refreshes a page or clicks through to a new page so will be high on analytics where users are highly engaged and lower on one-page sites.
Session – Method of tracking active users, Google analytics default session cut off time for inactive users is 30 minutes of non-activity. If the user starts navigating the website after this time it will be counted as a new session
PPC – Pay per click
CPC – Cost per click
CPA – Cost per acquisition
CPM – Cost per thousand impressions
SEO techniques
Black Hat – Outdated and often heavily penalised search engine optimisation techniques that are far from the recommended practises of google/bing webmaster guidelines. Achieve results fast and are often short-lived.
White Hat – Search engine optimisation techniques which follow Googles recommended practice. Revolve around great content, designing well-navigated websites that load quickly, are mobile optimised and provide content for an engaged audience.
Other Terms
B2B – Business to business
B2C – Business to customer/client