SEO being a dynamic field, it invariably boosts scores of terminologies and jargons. These terminologies represent and cover the diverse and important elements of this fast-evolving field. But in this blog post, we will not be covering all the jargons. Rather we will be narrowly focusing only on the 10 most important jargons in the SEO industry.
These terminologies are the most important because they deal with the very basic foundation of SEO. The complex world of search engine optimization resolutely stands on these very basic pillars. Therefore, knowing and understanding these jargons with great clarity is immensely important for achieving enduring success in the SEO industry or improving any website’s organic ranking.
So here are the 10 most important terminologies in SEO.
Keywords:
Keywords refer to specific words or phrases that people insert or type in a search engine for seeking information. Using and placing these very words or phrases at strategic locations across a website increases its chances of achieving a higher ranking in search engine result pages. This is one of the thumb rules of SEO.
For instance, a lot of people living in New York are typing the keyword ‘good pizza restaurant near New York subway’ in Google in order to search for restaurants that serve tasty pizzas. Therefore, websites that use the keyword ‘good pizza restaurant near New York subway’ at strategic locations including main headline, URL and first paragraph have better chance of standing out on Google.
Backlinks:
Backlinks simply refer to links from other websites pointing to your site. So, if a website called ABC.com has voluntarily or involuntarily chosen to link to your website then ABC.com will serve as a backlink for your website.
It acts as a vote of confidence, signaling to the search engine that the content of your webpage is credible and valuable enough to be ranked higher on the search engine results page.
This implies that websites with a good number of high-quality backlinks will always have a good chance of achieving higher ranking on the search engine results page.
Backlinks are again considered one of the basic building blocks of SEO.
On-Page SEO:
On-page SEO is one of the foundational pillars of SEO. It basically refers to various optimization techniques that are applied directly to the content and HTML codes of web pages.
The ultimate aim of these optimization techniques is to help webpages in achieving higher ranking in search result pages and attract more organic traffic.
Some of the important optimization techniques include keyword research, title tags, headline tags, URL optimization, meta descriptions, and image optimization.
Off-Page SEO:
Similar to on-page SEO, off-page SEO also serves as a foundational pillar of SEO, albeit its activities occur outside of the website. Nonetheless, it has a decisive impact on the website’s ranking.
Some of the most important off-page SEO techniques include link building, content marketing, social media marketing, local SEO, influencer outreach, and online review management.
Before moving to the next point, it is important to clarify that behind all successful SEO campaigns lies unrelenting focus on on-page SEO and off-page SEO.
SERP (search engine result page):
SERP refers to the page that appears immediately after users submit or type their queries in the search engine. A SERP typically includes organic links (also known as organic search results), paid ads, and sometimes featured snippets.
SEO ultimately boils down to achieving higher ranking or visibility for a website in the SERP. SERP analysis, therefore, plays a critical role in the success of any SEO campaign.
Organic Traffic:
Organic traffic refers to visitors who land or come to your website through unpaid search result. Organic traffic is again the heart and soul of SEO. That’s because SEO primarily deals with organic traffic and not paid traffic.
The fundamental aim of any SEO campaign is to secure the maximum amount of organic traffic for any given website.
Do-follow links:
Do-follow links are type of hyperlink that pass on link equity or link juice from host website to the target website. The passing of link juice can potentially help in improving the ranking of the target website, though this largely depends on domain authority of the host website among other things.
Therefore, from the context of SEO, the more do-follow links a website, the better it is.
Anchor Text:
Anchor text is a clickable, visible text in a hyperlink that directs users to another webpage. It is mostly used to activate backlinks or internal links. It is often highlighted in a different colour to make it stand out from the surrounding text and also to indicate that the text is clickable.
Although anchor text constitutes a small clickable text, it can have a decisive impact on your SEO campaign. The key is to use relevant and diverse type of anchor texts while not overusing keyword rich anchor text.
Mobile friendliness:
Mobile friendliness refers to a website that is designed and optimized to function at an optimum level or efficiently on mobile devices like smartphones and tablets.
Why is mobile friendly website important?
Google has made mobile friendly website a default choice for SERP ranking. This means that websites that are mobile friendly are more likely to rank higher on Google than those that are not mobile friendly.
Technical SEO:
Technical SEO refers to the optimization of a website’s technical elements to improve its overall visibility and performance in the search engine result page.
It lays overwhelming focus on enhancing the efficiently of website’s technical infrastructure, making sure that the search engine bots are able to proficiently crawl, index and rank the website.
Conclusion:
Understanding each of these terminologies will lend an in-depth understanding about SEO and how SEO basically works. This priceless knowledge will ultimately help in your quest to improve your website’s ranking and overall visibility in search engine result pages.
While understanding these terminologies is critical, it is equally important to acknowledge that SEO requires patience. It is a slow and steady process and not a one-time exercise. Nonetheless, it is by far the most cost-effective way of increasing your website’s traffic.