SEO Glossary for Website SEO Checks

AI citation is a source reference used by AI systems when generating answers. Learn why it matters for SEO, what...

AI Overviews are AI-generated search summaries that can change click-through rates and organic visibility. Learn what they are, why they...

AI Search Visibility is how often your site appears or gets cited in AI-generated search answers. Learn what affects it,...

Alt text is an image description in HTML that helps search engines and screen readers understand visual content. Learn how...

Anchor text is the clickable text in a link. Learn how to check anchor text for SEO, spot weak internal...

Anchor text distribution is the mix of link anchor types pointing to a page or site. Learn how to review...

Average Position is the average ranking spot where a page or query appears in search results. Learn how to interpret...

A backlink is a link from another website to yours. Learn how backlinks affect crawling, authority, and page visibility, plus...

Brand mentions are references to a business name across the web, with or without links. Learn how they affect SEO...

Branded keywords are searches that include a company or product name. Learn how to audit them, why they matter for...

A broken backlink is an external link pointing to a dead page on your site. Learn how it affects SEO,...

Click-Through Rate (CTR) is the percentage of search impressions that turn into clicks. Learn how CTR is calculated, why it...

Content Freshness is how current, accurate, and updated a page is for its target query. Learn how to check it...

A dofollow link is a standard link that search engines can follow and use to pass ranking signals. Learn how...

Domain Authority is a third-party metric that estimates a website's ranking potential. Learn what it measures, why it matters in...

Domain Rating is a backlink-based SEO metric that estimates website authority. Learn what it measures, why it matters in audits,...

Editorial link definition, why it matters for SEO, how to spot it in a backlink audit, and a practical example...

Entity mentions are references to brands, places, products, or concepts that help search engines understand page context. Learn how to...

Entity SEO means optimizing pages around clearly defined topics, brands, people, places, and products so search engines can understand relevance...

Featured snippet: a highlighted search result that pulls a short answer from a webpage. Learn why it matters for SEO...

Generative Search is an AI-driven search result that creates direct answers from multiple sources. Learn what it means for SEO...

Google Search Console is Google’s free SEO reporting tool for checking indexing, search performance, crawl issues, and page visibility so...

H1 tag definition for SEO: what it is, why it matters, how to audit it, and what to fix when...

H2 tag definition for SEO: what it is, why it matters, how to audit heading structure, and what strong H2s...

Header tags are HTML headings that organize page content and clarify topic hierarchy. Learn how to check them during an...

Image optimization is the SEO process of reducing image load cost while improving relevance, accessibility, and search visibility through better...

Impressions measure how often a page appears in search results. Learn what impressions reveal about SEO visibility, indexing, rankings, and...

Internal anchor links are same-page links that jump users to specific sections. Learn how they work, why they matter for...

Keyword cannibalization happens when multiple pages on the same site compete for the same search query. Learn how to identify...

Keyword density is the percentage of times a keyword appears on a page. Learn how to calculate it, when it...

Keyword difficulty is an SEO metric that estimates how hard it is to rank for a search term. Learn how...

Keyword ranking is the position a page holds in search results for a query. Learn what it shows, why it...

Link building is the SEO practice of earning backlinks from other websites to improve discovery, trust, and ranking potential. Learn...

Link equity is the SEO value passed through links. Learn how it affects rankings, internal linking, crawl paths, and which...

Link profile refers to the overall quality and pattern of backlinks pointing to a site or page. Learn what it...

Link relevance measures how closely a linking page matches the topic of the page it points to. Learn how to...

Link velocity is the rate at which a page or website gains or loses backlinks over time. Learn how to...

LLM SEO is the practice of making content easier for AI-driven search systems to understand, summarize, and cite. Learn what...

Local Pack is the map-based local business result shown for location-intent searches. Learn how it works, why it matters for...

Lost backlinks are links your site used to have but no longer does. Learn what causes them, why they affect...

Meta description: what it is, why it matters for click-through rate, how to audit it, and how to improve weak...

Meta robots tag: a page-level HTML directive that tells search engines whether to index, follow, or limit how a page...

New backlinks are recently discovered external links pointing to your site. Learn how to assess their SEO value, spot spam,...

A nofollow link is a hyperlink marked to limit ranking credit passed to another page. Learn how it works, why...

Non-branded keywords are search terms without a company or product name. Learn how they affect SEO visibility, what to check...

Open Graph tags are meta tags that control how pages appear when shared. Learn what they do, why they matter...

Organic keywords are the unpaid search queries a website ranks for. Learn how to review them during an SEO check,...

Organic traffic is visits from unpaid search results. Learn what it reveals about SEO performance, how to evaluate it properly,...

Page Authority is a page-level SEO metric that estimates ranking strength. Learn how to use it in SEO reviews, what...

Position tracking is the SEO process of monitoring keyword rankings over time to measure visibility, diagnose drops, and connect page...

Prompt visibility is how likely your brand or pages are to appear in AI-generated answers. Learn how it relates to...

Ranking drop means a page has fallen in search results. Learn what it signals, why it affects traffic, and which...

Ranking volatility measures how much search positions move over time. Learn what causes ranking swings, how to interpret them, and...

Readability is how easily users can scan and understand a page. Learn how it affects SEO reviews, page quality, engagement,...

Referring domain means a unique website that links to your site. Learn how it differs from backlinks, why it matters...

Referring IPs are the unique server IP addresses behind websites linking to yours. Learn how they help assess backlink diversity,...

Search Generative Experience is an AI-generated search result that summarizes answers from multiple sources. Learn how it affects SEO checks,...

Search intent is the reason behind a search query. Learn how to identify intent types, spot page-query mismatches, and improve...

Search volume is the estimated monthly demand for a keyword. Learn how to use it in SEO checks, avoid common...

An SEO audit is a structured review of a website’s technical SEO, on-page elements, content quality, and indexing signals to...

SERP means search engine results page. Learn what appears on a SERP, why it matters for SEO checks, and how...

SERP Features are enhanced search results like snippets, local packs, and review stars that affect visibility and clicks. Learn what...

Spam Score is a metric that estimates how closely a site or backlink profile matches common spam patterns. Learn how...

Thin content is a page with too little original value to rank well. Learn how to spot thin pages, why...

Title tag definition for SEO: what it is, why it matters, how to audit it, and how to improve weak...

Topical relevance is how closely a page matches a subject and search intent. Learn how it affects rankings, indexing, and...

Toxic link means a spammy or manipulative backlink that can hurt trust signals and trigger SEO concerns. Learn how to...

A URL slug is the readable part of a page address after the domain. Learn how to check slugs for...

Visibility Score is an SEO metric that estimates how prominently a site appears in search results across tracked keywords. Learn...

Broken links are links that lead to missing or inaccessible pages, making them an important issue to review when you...

Core Web Vitals are a set of performance metrics that measure loading speed, responsiveness, and visual stability, making them essential...

Internal links connect pages on the same website, making them a key part of how you SEO check a website...

A 301 redirect is a permanent redirect from one URL to another that helps preserve rankings, backlinks, and user experience...

A 302 redirect is a temporary redirect from one URL to another that tells search engines the original page may...

A 404 error means a page cannot be found on a website, and it is one of the key technical...

A 500 error is a server-side error that prevents a page from loading properly, making it an important issue to...

A canonical tag tells search engines which version of a page should be treated as the main one, making it...

A redirect chain happens when one URL passes through multiple redirects before reaching the final page, making it an important...

A redirect loop happens when a URL keeps redirecting without ever reaching a final page, making it a serious issue...

An orphan page is a page with no internal links pointing to it, making it an important issue to review...

Crawl budget is the amount of time and resources search engines spend crawling a website, making it important to review...

Crawl depth refers to how many clicks or steps it takes to reach a page within a website, making it...

Crawlability refers to how easily search engines can access and move through a website, making it a key part of...

Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) measures how much visible content moves around unexpectedly while a page loads, making it an important...

Learn what duplicate content is, what causes it, and why it matters when you SEO check a website for indexing,...

Hreflang is an HTML attribute and annotation used to tell search engines that multiple URLs are localized versions of the...

HTTPS is the secure version of HTTP that encrypts the connection between a browser and a website, making it an...

Indexability refers to whether a page can be included in a search engine’s index, making it a key issue to...

Interaction to Next Paint (INP) measures how quickly a page responds visually after a user interacts with it, making it...

Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) measures how long it takes for the largest visible content element on a page to appear,...

Mobile friendliness refers to how well a website works and appears on mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. A...

Nofollow is a link attribute that tells search engines not to treat a link like a normal endorsement, making it...

Noindex is a directive that tells search engines not to include a page in search results, making it a key...

Page speed refers to how quickly a webpage loads and becomes usable, making it an important factor to review when...

An XML sitemap is a file that lists the important URLs on a website, making it a key element to...

Robots.txt is a file that tells search engine crawlers which parts of a website they can and cannot crawl, making...

Schema markup is code added to a webpage using the Schema.org vocabulary so search engines can understand the page’s content...

Structured data is machine-readable markup that helps search engines understand webpage content more clearly, making it an important technical element...

Time to First Byte (TTFB) measures how long it takes from the moment a browser requests a page to the...

Zero-click search is when users get an answer directly in search results without visiting a page. Learn how it affects...