SEO Definitions You Should Know

As someone that spends of lot of time doing work that falls into the realm of search engine optimization (SEO), I am very accustomed to the specialized vocabulary that is associated with this field of work. Because of this, I don't think twice about using special terms related to SEO when I am writing my posts. However, it recently hit me that there have probably been multiple occasions where my use of these words has confused some of the people reading these posts. If you are new to the world of internet marketing, SEO or both of these fields, it's natural to get overwhelmed (and even frustrated) by the vocabulary that is tossed around on blogs, forums and web sites. To help combat this issue, I have decided to create a reference thread to help you decipher some of the terms that you are unfamiliar with. This thread will be updated periodically, but for now, let's jump in and start defining some SEO terms:



Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Search engine optimization is the practice of applying various techniques to a web site in order to increase its search engine ranking for specific keywords. Search engines are where the majority of internet users go when they are searching for information, which means that if your web site ranks on the first page of results for the keywords you desire, you are going to receive a lot more traffic (and in turn, your web site will become more profitable). Because Google sends more traffic than any other search engine, much of the SEO efforts are specifically focused on it.

Search Engine Ranking: This term refers to where a web site appears on the search engine results pages (SERPs) for a specific keyword. It is important for a web site to rank on the first results page (1-10) because most internet users do not go past this page. In most cases, the higher your web site ranks for your desired keywords, the more traffic your web site will receive.

On-Page SEO: This term (as opposed to off-page SEO) refers to SEO techniques that are performed directly to the web site. Examples of on-page SEO include (but are not limited to) optimizing the H1, meta and title tags, creating a navigation structure that is search engine crawler friendly, and incorporating important keywords into the web site's content.

Off-Page SEO: The main goal of off-page SEO is to increase the number of backlinks to a web site. However, there are many different ways that this can be accomplished, ranging from reciprocal links to social media optimization. Off-page SEO is normally an ongoing process.

Backlinks: A backlink is an incoming link to a web site. Backlinks are important because they play a significant role in all of the search engines algorithms. However, it is important to understand that not all backlinks are equal. The more authority that a backlink has, the more it will influence the search engines in their ranking process.