SEO Glossary
SEO glossary: every term, in plain English.
SEO glossary that defines the vocabulary of search without jargon. A plain English reference for Chicago business owners who want to understand their own strategy.
A
- AEO (Answer Engine Optimization)
- Optimizing content so it is selected as the direct answer in AI Overviews, featured snippets, and assistant responses rather than only ranking as a blue link.
- Alt text
- A written description of an image, read by screen readers and used by search engines to understand what the image shows.
- Anchor text
- The visible, clickable words in a hyperlink. Descriptive anchor text helps search engines understand what the linked page is about.
- Authority
- A general measure of how trustworthy and established a site or page appears, built through quality content, links, and consistent signals over time.
B
- Backlink
- A link from another website to yours. Links from relevant, trusted sites act as endorsements and remain one of the strongest ranking factors.
- Bounce rate
- The share of visitors who arrive on a page and leave without any further interaction. High bounce rates can signal mismatched intent or a poor experience.
C
- Canonical tag
- An HTML tag that tells search engines which version of a duplicate or near duplicate page is the primary one to index.
- Citation
- A mention of your business name, address, and phone number on another site. Consistent citations strengthen local ranking.
- Core Web Vitals
- Google's page experience metrics covering loading speed, interactivity, and visual stability.
- Crawl budget
- The number of pages a search engine will crawl on your site in a given period. Large sites waste it on duplicate and low value URLs.
- Crawlability
- How easily a search engine can discover and read the pages on your site.
D
- Domain authority
- A third party score estimating how likely a domain is to rank. It is an industry metric, not a Google ranking factor.
- Duplicate content
- Substantially identical content appearing at more than one URL, which splits ranking signals and wastes crawl budget.
E
- E-E-A-T
- Experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trust. The quality framework Google's raters use, weighted most heavily for health, finance, and other high stakes topics.
- Entity
- A distinct person, place, organization, or concept that search engines recognize and connect to other entities in a knowledge graph.
F
- Faceted navigation
- Filters on a category page, common in e-commerce, that can generate thousands of near duplicate URLs if left uncontrolled.
- Featured snippet
- A short answer pulled from a page and displayed at the top of search results, above the standard listings.
G
- GBP (Google Business Profile)
- The free business listing that powers your presence in Google Maps and the local map pack.
- GEO (Generative Engine Optimization)
- Building the content, structure, and entity signals that make generative AI systems surface and cite your business by name.
H
- Headings (H1 to H6)
- The hierarchy of headings on a page. A single, descriptive H1 tells both readers and search engines what the page is about.
I
- Indexing
- The process of a search engine storing a page so it can appear in results. A page can be crawled but not indexed.
- Internal linking
- Links between pages on your own site. Good internal linking spreads authority and shows search engines how your content relates.
- Intent
- What a searcher is actually trying to accomplish. Matching intent matters more than matching keywords.
K
- Keyword cannibalization
- Two or more of your own pages competing for the same query, splitting signals so neither ranks as well as one strong page would.
- Keyword research
- Identifying the searches real customers run, along with their volume, difficulty, and intent.
L
- Local pack
- The block of three business listings with a map that appears for local searches. Often called the map pack.
- Local SEO
- The practice of ranking a business for geographically bound searches, especially in the map pack.
M
- Map pack
- See local pack. The three business results shown with a map for a local search.
- Meta description
- The summary shown under your title in search results. It does not directly affect ranking but strongly affects click through rate.
N
- NAP consistency
- Keeping your business name, address, and phone number identical everywhere they appear online, which supports local ranking.
- Nofollow
- A link attribute that tells search engines not to pass ranking credit through that link.
O
- On page SEO
- Everything you control on the page itself, including titles, headings, content, internal links, and structured data.
- Organic traffic
- Visitors who arrive from unpaid search results.
P
- PAA (People Also Ask)
- The expandable question boxes in search results. Ranking inside them wins visibility above many standard listings.
- Prominence
- A local ranking factor covering how well known and well reviewed a business is, both online and off.
R
- Redirect (301)
- A permanent instruction that a URL has moved, passing most ranking signals to the new address.
- Rich result
- A search listing enhanced with extra detail such as star ratings, prices, or FAQs, generated from structured data.
- Robots.txt
- A file that tells crawlers which parts of a site they may or may not request.
S
- Schema markup
- Structured data added to a page in a format search engines read, used to power rich results and clarify entities.
- Search intent
- See intent. Whether a searcher wants to learn, compare, find a location, or buy.
- Sitemap
- A file listing the URLs on your site that you want search engines to discover and crawl.
- SERP
- The search engine results page, including ads, AI Overviews, map packs, snippets, and organic listings.
T
- Technical SEO
- The work that makes a site crawlable, indexable, fast, and structurally sound so its content can rank at all.
- Title tag
- The clickable headline in search results and the single strongest on page signal of what a page is about.
- Topical authority
- Depth and breadth of quality coverage on a subject, which makes search engines more likely to trust your pages on it.
U
- URL structure
- How your addresses are organized. Clean, readable, keyword relevant URLs help users and search engines alike.
Y
- YMYL (Your Money or Your Life)
- Content that can affect health, safety, or finances. Google holds it to the strictest quality standard on the web.
Keep going
Put the terms to work.
In one line
Chicago SEO Company maintains a plain English SEO glossary that defines the search engine optimization terms Chicago business owners need to understand their own strategy.
Get started
Now let's apply it to your site.
Start with a free visibility audit. We show you exactly which of these levers are costing you rankings in Chicago right now.
A clear read on your site, with no obligation.