A
A set of rules and calculations that search engines use to determine which pages to show in search results
and in what order. Google's algorithm considers hundreds of factors including content quality, backlinks,
page speed, and user experience.
Example: When you search "best running shoes," Google's algorithm analyzes millions of
pages and ranks them based on relevance, authority, and user intent.
Descriptive text added to images that helps search engines understand what the image shows. It also helps
visually impaired users using screen readers. Alt text should be descriptive and include relevant keywords
naturally.
Example: For an image of a red running shoe, good alt text would be: "Nike Air Zoom
Pegasus red running shoe side view"
The clickable text in a hyperlink. Search engines use anchor text to understand what the linked page is
about. Using descriptive, relevant anchor text helps both users and search engines.
A measure of how trustworthy and credible a website or page is in the eyes of search engines. Higher
authority sites tend to rank better. Authority is built through quality content, backlinks from other
authoritative sites, and consistent expertise.
Example: The New York Times has high domain authority because it's an established,
trusted source with thousands of quality backlinks.
B
A link from another website to your website. Backlinks are one of Google's strongest ranking signals
because they act as "votes of confidence" from other sites. Quality matters more than quantity.
Example: If Moz.com links to your article about keyword research, that's a valuable
backlink because Moz is an authority in SEO.
SEO tactics that violate search engine guidelines to manipulate rankings. These include keyword stuffing,
buying links, cloaking, and hidden text. Black hat tactics can result in penalties or complete removal
from
search results.
Example: Hiding white text on a white background to stuff keywords is black hat SEO.
Don't do this.
The percentage of visitors who leave your website after viewing only one page. A high bounce rate can
indicate that your content isn't relevant or engaging, but context matters (a contact page with a phone
number might naturally have a high bounce rate).
Example: If 100 people visit your blog post and 70 leave without clicking anywhere else,
your bounce rate is 70%.
A navigation element that shows users where they are in your site's hierarchy. It improves user experience
and helps search engines understand your site structure.
Example: Home > Blog > SEO Tips > Keyword Research
C
An HTML element that tells search engines which version of a page is the "main" one when you have
duplicate
or very similar content. This prevents duplicate content issues.
Example: If your product page exists at both /product and /product?color=red, you'd add a
canonical tag pointing to /product as the main version.
The percentage of people who click on your link after seeing it in search results. Higher CTR often leads
to better rankings. Improving your title tags and meta descriptions can boost CTR.
Example: If your page appears in search 1,000 times and gets 50 clicks, your CTR is 5%.
Google's metrics for measuring user experience: LCP (Largest Contentful Paint - loading), FID/INP (First
Input Delay/Interaction to Next Paint - interactivity), and CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift - visual
stability). These are official ranking factors.
Example: If your main image takes 5 seconds to load, you have a poor LCP score and it
hurts your rankings.
The process where search engine bots (like Googlebot) visit and read pages on your website by following
links. Crawling is the first step before indexing and ranking.
Example: Googlebot visits your homepage, follows a link to your blog, then crawls that
blog post.
The number of pages Google will crawl on your site within a given timeframe. Large sites need to optimize
crawl budget by removing duplicate pages, fixing broken links, and using robots.txt wisely.
Example: If you have 10,000 pages but Google only crawls 1,000 per day, you need to
prioritize which pages get crawled.
D
Your website's address on the internet (e.g., 7dayseo.com). Your domain name can impact SEO if it contains
relevant keywords, but brand clarity matters more than keyword stuffing.
Example: amazon.com is Amazon's domain. products.amazon.com is a subdomain.
Content that appears in more than one place on the internet, either on your own site or copied from
another
site. Google tries to show only one version, which can dilute your rankings. Use canonical tags to address
this.
Example: If your product page exists at both yoursite.com/product and
yoursite.com/shop/product,
that's duplicate content.
The amount of time a user spends on your page after clicking from search results before returning to the
SERP. Longer dwell time suggests your content satisfies the user's query.
Example: If someone clicks your article, reads for 4 minutes, then goes back to Google,
your dwell time was 4 minutes.
E
Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. Google's quality guidelines for evaluating
content. Demonstrating E-E-A-T is crucial for ranking well, especially for YMYL (Your Money Your Life)
topics.
Example: A medical article written by a doctor (expertise) with patient stories
(experience) from a hospital website (authority) with cited sources (trust) demonstrates strong E-E-A-T.
A link from your website to another website. External links to quality, relevant sources can boost your
credibility and help Google understand your content's context.
Example: Linking to a research study from Harvard when citing statistics in your article.
F
A special search result that appears at the top of Google (position 0) in a box format. It directly
answers
the searcher's question. Types include paragraph snippets, lists, tables, and videos.
Example: Search "what is SEO" and you'll often see a featured snippet with a definition
at
the top.
Follow links pass SEO authority (link juice) to the linked page. Nofollow links have a rel="nofollow"
attribute that tells search engines not to pass authority. Both have value, but follow links are more
valuable for SEO.
Example: Most blog comments are nofollow to prevent spam. Editorial backlinks from news
sites are usually follow links.
G
A free tool from Google that shows how your site performs in Google Search. You can see which keywords you
rank for, identify technical issues, submit sitemaps, and request indexing. Essential for every website
owner.
Example: GSC shows you that your article ranks #8 for "keyword research tips" and gets 45
clicks per month.
Google's web crawling bot that discovers and reads web pages. Googlebot follows links from page to page,
building Google's index of the web.
Example: When you publish a new blog post, Googlebot will eventually discover and crawl
it
by following links to it.
H
The main heading tag in HTML, typically the title of your page content. There should usually be one H1 per
page, and it should include your target keyword naturally. H2-H6 tags create content hierarchy.
Example: <h1>Complete Guide to Keyword Research for Beginners</h1>
The secure version of HTTP, indicated by a padlock icon in browsers. HTTPS encrypts data between your site
and visitors. It's a minor ranking factor and essential for trust, especially for e-commerce sites.
Example: https://7dayseo.com is secure. http://example.com is not secure.
I
Google's massive database of web pages. When Google "indexes" your page, it stores and analyzes it so it
can appear in search results. If a page isn't indexed, it can't rank.
Example: You can check if a page is indexed by searching "site:yourwebsite.com/page-url"
in Google.
A link from one page on your website to another page on the same website. Internal linking helps users
navigate, distributes page authority throughout your site, and helps Google understand your site
structure.
Example: Linking from your blog post about "SEO basics" to your more detailed page about
"keyword research."
K
A word or phrase that people type into search engines. Keywords are the foundation of SEO - you optimize
your content for keywords that your target audience searches for.
Example: "best running shoes for beginners" is a long-tail keyword.
A metric that estimates how hard it would be to rank on the first page for a specific keyword. Higher
difficulty means more competition. New sites should target low to medium difficulty keywords.
Example: "SEO" has very high keyword difficulty (90+). "SEO for small bakeries" has much
lower difficulty (20-30).
The outdated and penalized practice of overusing keywords unnaturally in content to manipulate rankings.
Modern SEO focuses on natural, helpful content rather than keyword density.
Example: Bad: "Best shoes, shoes for running, running shoes, buy shoes, cheap shoes..." —
this is keyword stuffing.
L
The page where visitors first arrive on your site, often from search results or ads. In SEO, optimizing
landing pages for specific keywords and user intent is crucial for conversions.
Example: Your "SEO Services" page is a landing page for people searching "SEO services
near me."
The process of getting other websites to link to your website. Link building is one of the most important
off-page SEO activities because backlinks are a major ranking factor.
Example: Writing a guest post for another blog and including a link back to your site is
link building.
A longer, more specific keyword phrase (usually 3+ words). Long-tail keywords have lower search volume but
higher conversion rates because they target specific intent. They're easier to rank for than broad
keywords.
Example: "shoes" (broad) vs "women's waterproof hiking boots size 8" (long-tail)
Related terms and concepts that are semantically connected to your main keyword. Using LSI keywords helps
Google understand your content's context and can improve rankings.
Example: For the keyword "apple," LSI keywords might be "iPhone, iPad, MacBook" (tech) or
"fruit, orchard, pie" (food), depending on context.
M
The 150-160 character summary of your page that appears in search results under the title. While not a
direct ranking factor, a compelling meta description improves click-through rates.
Example: "Learn SEO in 7 days with AI. Free course with 47 prompts, no paid tools needed.
Perfect for beginners."
Google's practice of primarily using the mobile version of your site for indexing and ranking. If your
site
isn't mobile-friendly, your rankings will suffer.
Example: Google crawls your site as if it's a smartphone user, not a desktop user.
N
Your business's Name, Address, and Phone number. For local SEO, NAP consistency across all online
platforms
(website, Google Business Profile, directories) is crucial for rankings.
Example: Your NAP should be identical on your website, Google My Business, Yelp, and all
other directories.
An HTML meta tag or HTTP header that tells search engines not to index a specific page. Use this for pages
you don't want appearing in search results (like thank you pages, admin pages).
Example: <meta name="robots" content="noindex">
O
SEO optimizations you make directly on your website's pages: content, HTML tags, internal links, images,
URL structure, etc. You have full control over on-page SEO.
Example: Optimizing your title tag, adding keywords to headings, and improving content
quality are all on-page SEO.
SEO activities that happen outside your website to improve rankings: building backlinks, brand mentions,
social signals, and establishing authority. Less direct control than on-page SEO.
Example: Getting a backlink from Forbes, earning brand mentions on social media, or being
cited by other websites.
Unpaid search results and the traffic that comes from them. Organic search is the main goal of SEO - to
rank in these free results rather than paying for ads.
Example: When you rank #3 for "best coffee maker" and get clicks without paying Google,
that's organic traffic.
A page on your website that has no internal links pointing to it. Orphan pages are hard for Google to find
and often don't get indexed. Every important page should have internal links.
Example: You create a blog post but forget to link to it from anywhere on your site -
it's now an orphan page.
P
How fast your page fully loads. Page speed is a ranking factor and critically affects user experience.
Faster pages rank better and convert better. Measure with PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix.
Example: If your page takes 8 seconds to load, 53% of mobile users will leave before it
even finishes loading.
A comprehensive page that covers a broad topic in-depth and links to more detailed cluster content. Pillar
pages anchor your content strategy and help establish topical authority.
Example: A complete "Email Marketing Guide" (pillar page) that links to separate detailed
posts about subject lines, segmentation, automation, etc.
R
Your position in search results for a specific keyword. Position 1 is the top organic result (below ads).
Most clicks go to the top 3 results.
Example: If you're ranking #5 for "keyword research," you're the 5th organic result when
someone searches that term.
Automatically sending users and search engines from one URL to another. 301 redirects are permanent
(passes
SEO value), 302 are temporary (doesn't pass full value). Use 301s when moving content permanently.
Example: You rename a page from /old-page to /new-page. Add a 301 redirect so visitors
and link value transfer to the new URL.
A text file in your site's root directory that tells search engine crawlers which pages or sections of
your
site they can or cannot crawl. Use it to prevent crawling of admin pages, duplicate content, etc.
Example: yoursite.com/robots.txt might block crawlers from accessing /admin/ pages.
S
Code (usually JSON-LD format) added to your HTML that helps search engines understand your content better.
Schema can enable rich results like star ratings, FAQs, recipes, events, and more in search.
Example: Adding recipe schema to your cooking blog post can make it show up with stars,
cook time, and calories directly in search results.
The goal behind a search query. Four main types: Informational (learning), Navigational (finding a
specific
site), Commercial (researching before buying), Transactional (ready to buy). Matching intent is crucial
for
ranking.
Example: "what is SEO" = informational. "buy running shoes" = transactional.
The page Google shows after you search. Modern SERPs include organic results, paid ads, featured snippets,
People Also Ask boxes, local packs, images, videos, and more.
Example: When you search "pizza near me," the SERP shows a local map pack, then organic
results.
A file that lists all the important pages on your website to help search engines crawl your site more
efficiently. Submit your sitemap to Google Search Console.
Example: yoursite.com/sitemap.xml contains URLs of all your blog posts, products, and
pages.
The part of a URL that comes after the domain name. Keep slugs short, descriptive, and keyword-rich. Use
hyphens, not underscores.
Example: In 7dayseo.com/keyword-research, the slug is "keyword-research"
T
Optimizations that help search engines crawl, index, and understand your site: site speed,
mobile-friendliness,
SSL, XML sitemaps, robots.txt, structured data, fixing crawl errors, etc.
Example: Fixing broken links, improving page speed, and implementing HTTPS are all
technical SEO tasks.
The HTML element that specifies your page's title. It appears as the clickable headline in search results
and in browser tabs. One of the most important on-page SEO elements. Keep it 50-60 characters.
Example: <title>Keyword Research Guide: 7 Steps for Beginners (2026)</title>
A content strategy where you create one pillar page about a broad topic, then multiple detailed cluster
pages about subtopics, all internally linked. This builds topical authority.
Example: Pillar: "Content Marketing Guide" → Clusters: "Blog writing," "Video
marketing," "Email newsletters," etc.
U
The web address of a page. SEO-friendly URLs are short, descriptive, include keywords, and use hyphens to
separate words. Avoid long parameter-filled URLs.
Example: Good: 7dayseo.com/keyword-research | Bad:
7dayseo.com/post.php?id=12345&cat=seo&author=john
How easy and pleasant it is to use your website. Google increasingly factors UX into rankings through
signals like Core Web Vitals, mobile-friendliness, and engagement metrics.
Example: Fast loading, clear navigation, mobile-friendly design, and readable content all
contribute to good UX.
Y
Topics that could impact someone's health, financial stability, safety, or happiness. Google holds YMYL
content to higher E-E-A-T standards. Includes medical, financial, legal, and news content.
Example: Medical advice, investment tips, and legal guidance are all YMYL topics
requiring
expert authorship.