Defined Terms

Plain-English definitions of the SEO, paid, content, dev and AI concepts our work runs on.

38 defined terms

A/B Test

Analytics

A controlled experiment comparing two versions to see which performs better.

Anchor Text

SEO Concept

The visible, clickable words in a hyperlink, used as a relevance signal.

API

Web Dev Concept

A defined contract that lets two software systems talk to each other in a predictable way.

Attribution

Analytics

Assigning credit for a conversion across the touchpoints that led to it.

Backlink

SEO Concept

A link from another website to yours, treated as a signal of trust and relevance.

Canonical Tag

Technical SEO

An HTML hint that tells search engines which URL is the master version of a page.

Content Decay

Content Concept

The gradual loss of traffic and rankings a page suffers as it ages and the SERP moves on.

Conversion Rate

Analytics

The share of visitors who complete a desired action.

Core Web Vitals

SEO Concept

Google's field-data metrics for loading, interactivity and visual stability.

CPC (Cost Per Click)

Paid Media Metric

The average amount you pay each time someone clicks your ad.

Crawl Budget

SEO Concept

How many pages a search engine will crawl on your site, and how often.

CRO (Conversion Rate Optimization)

Analytics

A structured process for increasing the share of visitors who convert.

CTR (Click-Through Rate)

Paid Media Metric

The share of people who click after seeing your ad or search result.

Domain Rating / Authority

SEO Metric

A third-party score estimating the strength of a domain’s backlink profile.

E-E-A-T

SEO Concept

Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trust — Google’s quality framework.

Engagement Rate

Analytics

A measure of how actively people interact with content or a page.

Featured Snippet

SEO Concept

A highlighted answer box pulled from a ranking page to the top of the SERP.

GEO (Generative Engine Optimization)

AI Concept

Optimising content to be cited and surfaced by AI answer engines, not just ranked in blue links.

Headless CMS

Web Dev Concept

A content system that stores and serves content via API, leaving the front end entirely to you.

Hydration

Web Dev Concept

The step where client JavaScript attaches to server-rendered HTML to make it interactive.

Indexation

Technical SEO

Whether a page is stored in a search engine’s index and eligible to rank.

Internal Linking

SEO Concept

Links between pages on your own site, used to spread authority and context.

Keyword Cannibalization

Content Concept

When multiple pages on one site compete for the same query, weakening all of them.

LLM (Large Language Model)

AI Concept

An AI model trained on vast text to predict and generate language, powering tools like ChatGPT.

llms.txt

AI Concept

A proposed plain-text file that gives AI models a curated, easy-to-read map of your site's content.

Long-Tail Keyword

Content Concept

A longer, more specific search query with lower volume but clearer intent and less competition.

LTV:CAC

Analytics

The ratio of a customer’s lifetime value to the cost of acquiring them.

Pillar & Cluster

Content Concept

A content structure where a broad pillar page links to focused cluster pages that link back.

Quality Score

Paid Media Metric

Google Ads’ 1-to-10 rating of the quality and relevance of your keywords and ads.

RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation)

AI Concept

Grounding an LLM's answers in retrieved documents so it responds from real, current data.

ROAS (Return On Ad Spend)

Paid Media Metric

Revenue generated for every unit of currency spent on advertising.

Robots.txt

Technical SEO

A root-level file that tells crawlers which URLs they may or may not fetch.

Search Intent

SEO Concept

The underlying goal behind a search query, which content must satisfy to rank.

SERP

SEO Concept

The Search Engine Results Page — everything a search engine returns for a query.

SSR (Server-Side Rendering)

Web Dev Concept

Rendering a page's HTML on the server so it arrives ready to display, before JavaScript runs.

Structured Data (Schema)

Technical SEO

Machine-readable markup that describes page content to search engines.

Topical Authority

Content Concept

The credibility a site earns with search engines by covering a subject deeply and consistently.

XML Sitemap

Technical SEO

A machine-readable list of your important URLs, submitted to help discovery.

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