Essential SEO Terms Every Digital Marketer Should Know
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As a newly graduated college student entering the marketing world, I learned that search engine optimization, also known as SEO, is the foundation of digital marketing. It determines how well your website performs in search engines, influences visibility, and ultimately impacts the traffic you receive.
Knowing the right terms is the first step to mastering SEO, whether you're optimizing content for keywords, analyzing backlinks to build authority, or ensuring your site is free of indexing issues.
In this guide, I’ll simplify key concepts like indexed and non-indexed pages, redirectors, backlinks, crawled pages, and turnkey solutions. This glossary will help you enhance your website's performance and keep pace with industry best practices. Let’s dive into the details!
On-Page SEO: Improving Individual Web Pages
On-page SEO is like organizing and decorating your store to attract more customers. It focuses on improving what people see when they visit your site and how search engines understand it.
Indexed & Non-Indexed Pages
Think of indexed pages as the ones that search engines know about and can show to people. Non-indexed pages are hidden, like secret rooms in your store that no one knows exist. Pages might not be indexed if:
- You told search engines not to look at them (using "no index tags").
- Your site’s “robots.txt” file keeps visitors out of certain pages.
- They’re duplicates of other pages, and search engines decided to ignore them.
Quick Tip: Use free tools like Google Search Console to see which of your pages are indexed and fix the ones that aren’t.
Meta Tags
Meta tags are little labels that tell search engines what your pages are about. There are two important types:
- Meta Titles: The headline people see in search results.
- Meta Descriptions: A short, catchy summary under the headline that gets people to click.
Alt Text for Images
Alt text is like adding a sign under a picture in your store. It tells visitors (and search engines) what the image shows. For example, an image of a cake might have the alt text, “Delicious chocolate cake with frosting.”
Internal Linking
Internal links are like maps within your store. They help visitors find related products or pages. For example, if someone is reading a blog about birthday party ideas, an internal link could guide them to your page selling decorations.
Keywords
Keywords are the words or phrases people type into Google to find things. For example, if you sell balloons, you might want to use phrases like “buy colorful balloons” or “best balloons for parties.” Adding these to your pages makes it easier for people to find your store when they search.
Off-Page SEO: Building Trust and Authority
Off-page SEO is like getting your store recommended by other shops in the mall. It’s all about building your reputation online.
Backlinks
A backlink is when another website links to yours. It’s like a trusted shop owner saying, “You should check out their store!” The more high-quality backlinks you have, the more search engines think your site is valuable.
Domain Authority (DA)
Domain Authority is like your store’s popularity rating. It ranges from 1 to 100, with higher scores indicating more trust from search engines. Backlinks and great content can help raise this score.
Link Building
Link building is about finding ways to get more backlinks. For example:
- Share helpful blog posts so others link to them.
- Partner with other businesses to exchange links.
- Create fun, shareable things like videos or infographics.
Anchor Text
Anchor text is the clickable part of a link, such as “Learn about SEO” or “Build an ABM landing page.” Using clear, descriptive anchor text helps search engines understand the page's content.
Technical SEO: The Behind-the-Scenes Work
Technical SEO is like making sure your store’s foundation is solid, the lights are working, and the doors are easy to open.
Crawled Pages
Search engines send “spiders” to crawl your site and check everything out. Crawled pages are the ones these spiders visit. If a page isn’t crawled, search engines can’t rank it.
Redirectors
Redirectors help visitors find what they’re looking for if you’ve moved something in your store.
- 301 Redirects: Like putting up a permanent sign saying, “The chocolate aisle is now in section B!”
- 302 Redirects: A temporary sign saying, “The chocolate aisle is being cleaned, but you can find it here for now.”
XML Sitemaps and Robots.txt
- XML Sitemap: A list of all the rooms in your store that search engines should visit.
- Robots.txt: A file that says, “This room is off-limits.”
Canonical Tags
These tags help prevent confusion if you have similar content on multiple pages. It’s like saying, “This is the original room for chocolate. Check here first!”
Page Speed
Page speed is how fast your store’s door opens. If it’s slow, visitors might leave before they even come in. Use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights to fix slow-loading pages.
Analytics & Metrics: Measuring Your Success
Understanding these numbers helps you figure out what’s working and what needs improvement.
Bounce Rate
If visitors leave your site quickly without looking at other pages, that’s a “bounce.” The bounce rate is found by taking the number of sessions that bounce, versus the total number of sessions. So if 5 out of 100 sessions lead to a bounce, the bounce rate is 5%.
A high bounce rate can mean users aren’t finding what they want or may be impatient with slow site speeds
Click-Through Rate (CTR)
CTR measures how many people click on your site after seeing it in search results.
Impressions, Clicks, Sessions, and Users
- Impressions: How often your site shows up in search results.
- Clicks: How many times people click your website’s search result.
- Sessions: How many times people reach your site. This number will almost match the number of clicks, except in cases where people leave the site before it loads.
- Users: How many unique people reach your website. This number is always lower or equal to the number of sessions.
Conversion Rate
The conversion rate tracks the number of visitors who complete a goal, such as buying a product or signing up for a newsletter, versus the total number of sessions. A higher conversion rate means more visitor sessions including meaningful actions on your website.
Unlock Your Website's Full Potential Today!
Learning about these SEO terms empowers you to create strategies that boost visibility, improve rankings, and increase conversions. Combining on-page optimization, off-page authority building, and technical SEO expertise will set your website up for long-term success.
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