Plain-English definitions of the SEO and AI Search terms that matter, from Technical SEO and Core Web Vitals to Generative Engine Optimization (GEO). Each entry explains what it is, why it matters, who needs it, and when to use it.
A 301 redirect is a permanent server instruction that sends users and search engines from an old URL to a new one, passing most of the old URL's ranking signals.
MethodologyAI Search Optimization is optimizing content and site signals so AI-powered search features and assistants can find, summarize, quote, and recommend a brand. Success is measured by retrieval, citation, and recommendation rather than ranking alone.
TechnologyAnchor text is the visible, clickable words of a link. It gives search engines and readers context about the topic of the linked page.
TechnologyA backlink is a link from another website to yours. Search engines treat relevant, credible backlinks as signals of authority and trust.
TechnologyA canonical tag is an HTML signal that tells search engines which URL is the preferred version of a page, consolidating ranking signals when similar or duplicate content exists.
MetricCore Web Vitals are Google's three user-experience metrics: Largest Contentful Paint (LCP, loading), Interaction to Next Paint (INP, responsiveness), and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS, visual stability).
TechnologyCrawlability is how easily a search engine's bots can discover and access a site's pages by following links and directives such as robots.txt.
MetricDomain authority is a third-party score (such as Moz's DA or Ahrefs' Domain Rating) that estimates a site's overall backlink strength relative to other sites. It is not a Google metric.
StandardE-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) is the framework Google's quality raters use to assess content quality, especially for topics that affect health, finance, or safety.
TechnologyA featured snippet is the highlighted answer box at the top of some Google results that quotes a page directly to answer a query, often read aloud by voice assistants.
MethodologyGenerative Engine Optimization (GEO) is the practice of structuring content so AI answer engines such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews can retrieve, understand, and cite it in their generated responses.
ToolA Google Business Profile is the free listing that controls how a business appears in Google Search and Maps, including hours, reviews, photos, and the local map pack.
TechnologyIndexability is whether a crawled page is eligible to be stored in a search engine's index, governed by signals like noindex tags, canonicals, and content quality.
TechnologyJavaScript SEO is the set of practices that ensure content rendered with JavaScript can still be crawled, rendered, and indexed by search engines.
MethodologyKeyword research is the process of finding and prioritizing the search terms your audience uses, based on intent, volume, difficulty, and business value, to guide content and page strategy.
ServiceLink building is the practice of earning links from other websites through outreach, digital PR, and content worth referencing, in order to grow authority and rankings.
ServiceLocal SEO is the practice of optimizing a business to appear in location-based searches and the map pack, so nearby customers find it when they are ready to buy.
TechnologyA meta description is the short HTML summary of a page that search engines often show beneath the title in results. It is not a direct ranking factor.
ServiceOff-page SEO covers the signals earned outside your own site (chiefly backlinks, brand mentions, and reputation) that build authority and trust in the eyes of search engines.
ServiceOn-page SEO is the practice of optimizing the elements you control on a page (content, titles, headings, internal links, and structured data) so search engines and readers understand what it is about.
TechnologyRobots.txt is a text file at a site's root that tells search engine crawlers which paths they may or may not request.
MethodologySearch intent is the goal behind a query: whether the searcher wants information, a specific site, a comparison, or to make a purchase. Matching it is essential to ranking.
ServiceAn SEO audit is a structured evaluation of a website's technical, on-page, content, and authority signals to find the issues and opportunities that affect its search visibility.
TechnologyA SERP is the page a search engine returns for a query, including organic results, ads, and features like the map pack, featured snippets, and AI Overviews.
StandardStructured data is standardized Schema.org markup (usually JSON-LD) that describes a page's content to search engines, helping them understand it and, when eligible, show rich results.
ServiceTechnical SEO is the practice of making a website easy for search engines to crawl, render, and index. It covers site architecture, speed, structured data, and indexation controls.
TechnologyA title tag is the HTML element that sets a page's title, shown as the clickable headline in search results and browser tabs.
TechnologyAn XML sitemap is a file that lists a site's important URLs to help search engines discover and prioritize them for crawling.
Last updated: 2026-08-03