SEO Glossary: Every Term Explained Simply

SEO (search engine optimization) is all the work that helps a site show up higher in Google's results, without paying for ads. It covers the content, the technical side of the site and its reputation across the web. Example: a driving school in Blida that wants to show up when people search "auto-école Blida".

SERP stands for "search engine results page": the page Google shows after a search. Besides the classic links, it can show a map with businesses, images, videos and sometimes a summary written by AI.

A keyword is the word or phrase someone types into Google, like "traiteur mariage Oran" (wedding caterer Oran). Choosing good keywords means writing with the words your customers really use, instead of the jargon of your trade.

Indexing is when Google saves a page in its index, its huge database of pages. A page that isn't indexed can't show up in the results, however well it's written. Google Search Console shows which pages of your site are indexed.

Crawling is when Google's robot, called Googlebot, visits a site's pages to read what's on them. It moves from page to page by following links. Crawling comes before indexing.

Google's algorithm is the set of rules that decides in what order to show results. Google changes it often, but the goal stays the same: show the most useful page for the question asked. Nobody outside Google knows the whole formula.

Ranking is a page's place in Google's results for a given search. The #1 result gets far more clicks than a result on page 2, which few people ever look at. For local searches, the ranking can also change depending on where the person searches from.

Organic traffic is the visitors who reach your site from Google's regular results, not from ads. It's the traffic that SEO grows. An ad stops working the day you stop paying, while organic traffic keeps coming.

Core Web Vitals are three Google measurements of how comfortable a page is to use: how fast the main content shows up (LCP), how quickly the page reacts when you tap a button (INP), and how stable the page stays while it loads (CLS). An example of bad CLS: you're about to tap "Order", and a late image pushes the button down.

Page speed is how long a page takes to appear. Google PageSpeed Insights, a free tool, measures it and gives a score out of 100, on mobile and on desktop. A slow site loses visitors, especially on a phone with 4G. We aim for 100/100 on every page we deliver, and you can check it yourself at pagespeed.web.dev.

The title tag is a page's clickable headline in Google's results. It should be short enough not to get cut off, and say clearly what's on the page, for example "Traditional pastries in Tlemcen | Order online".

The meta description is the short text under the title in Google's results. It doesn't push a page up directly, but a clear one makes people want to click. Google sometimes replaces it with another passage from the page that it thinks matches the search better.

An XML sitemap is a file that lists a site's pages, to help Google find and crawl them faster. You send it to Google through Search Console. It helps Google discover pages, but it doesn't guarantee that each one will be indexed.

A canonical tag tells Google which address is the main version of a page when several addresses show almost the same content. Example: a product page that opens with or without a color filter in the address. Google then groups its signals on the right version instead of spreading them out.

Structured data is a small piece of code added to a page, invisible to visitors, that tells Google what each piece of information is: a price, a review, a question, an address, opening hours. It can make a page eligible for rich results, like a product's price and rating. It must always match what's visible on the page.

A 301 redirect automatically and permanently sends visitors and Google from an old address to the new one. The page keeps its SEO value instead of ending up as a 404 error. We set one up for every address that changes during a website redesign.

Search intent is what someone really wants when they type a search: to learn, compare, buy or find an address. Someone who searches "prix climatiseur Alger" (air conditioner price Algiers) wants to see prices, not the history of air conditioning. Good content SEO answers that intent first.

A long-tail keyword is a longer, more specific search, like "website design price Algiers" instead of "website". Each of these searches happens less often, but they're easier to rank for and often come from someone ready to buy.

Evergreen content stays useful and accurate long after it's published. A guide on "how to choose a web agency" stays valid for years, while a post about a three-day sale is out of date the next week. This kind of content keeps bringing in visitors long after it goes live.

Internal links are the links between pages of your own site, for example a "web design" page that links to the "pricing" page. They help visitors find what to read next, and they help Google understand which pages matter most.

Heading tags organize a page like a book: one main title (H1), then subheadings (H2, H3...). We recommend one H1 per page and levels in the right order, chosen by meaning and not by text size. This helps readers, screen readers and Google follow the outline of the page.

Duplicate content is the same or nearly the same text published on several pages or sites. Google usually shows only one version, and not always the one you want. A common example: a store that reuses the supplier's product description, which is already on dozens of other sites.

A featured snippet is an answer box Google shows at the very top of some searches, above the classic results. It quotes a short passage from a page. A clear, direct answer at the start of a paragraph has a better chance of being picked.

Keyword density is how many times a keyword appears in a text. There's no "right percentage" to aim for. Repeating a word too often makes the text hard to read, and Google can see it as keyword stuffing, which hurts the page.

A backlink is a link from another site to yours. Google sees it a bit like a recommendation: one link from a serious site close to your field counts more than dozens of links from unrelated sites. Example: a local news site that writes about your restaurant and links to your site.

Anchor text is the clickable text of a link. A specific anchor, like "website maintenance service", tells readers and Google where the link goes. "Click here" tells them nothing.

Domain Authority is a score from 1 to 100 created by the SEO tool Moz. It estimates how strong a site is compared with other sites, mostly based on its backlinks. Google doesn't use it. It's an SEO tool's metric, useful to follow a trend or to compare yourself with a competitor.

A normal link (often called dofollow) can pass SEO value to the site it points to. A nofollow link has the rel="nofollow" attribute, which asks Google not to count it for ranking, and Google treats that as a hint. For a paid link, Google asks for rel="sponsored" or rel="nofollow".

Link building is the work of getting quality backlinks to a site. The safest way is to publish useful content that other sites want to mention. Buying links goes against Google's rules, and at SimplerWebs we only work with natural links.

A guest post is an article published on someone else's site, with a link back to yours. It only makes sense if the host site is real and covers the same topic as you. Google treats large guest-post campaigns done just for links as spam.

Page Authority is the same idea as Domain Authority, but for a single page instead of the whole site. It's also a Moz score, not a Google number.

A Google Business Profile is the free listing that shows your business on Google Maps and in local searches: address, opening hours, phone number, photos and reviews. For a neighborhood shop, it's often the first thing a customer sees, even before the website.

The Local 3-Pack is the block of three businesses with a map that Google shows at the top of many local searches, like "plumber in Algiers". Customers can call or get directions straight from that block, without visiting a website.

NAP stands for name, address and phone number. This information should be written the same way everywhere: website, Google profile, Facebook, directories. If your old number is still on some page, customers and Google don't know which one is right.

Google reviews count for local ranking and for how much visitors trust you. Real, regular reviews, with polite replies even to negative ones, are worth more than a perfect rating that looks too good to be true. Fake reviews are against Google's rules.

Local SEO is the work that helps a business show up in searches made near it, like "pharmacy near me" or "boulangerie Hydra" (bakery in Hydra). It relies on the Google profile, the website and reviews.

A local citation is a mention of a business's name, address and phone number on another site, like a directory or a partner's page, even without a link. The more consistent these mentions are, the more sure Google is about your details.

A service-area business goes to its customers instead of receiving them, like a plumber or a cleaning service. On its Google profile, it can hide its exact address and list the cities or wilayas it serves instead.

GEO (generative engine optimization) means making your content easy for AI tools, like Google's AI Overviews or ChatGPT, to understand and quote, on top of the classic results. It rests on the same basics as good SEO: clear answers, facts people can check, and a well-built site.

An AI Overview is the summary Google writes with AI at the top of some searches, before the classic links. It shows links to the pages its information comes from. Clear, accurate, well-organized content has a better chance of being cited there.

Agentic browsing is when an AI assistant visits a site for you to find information or do a task, like comparing prices. A site with clean code, structured data and clearly labeled buttons is easier for these agents to use. Google PageSpeed Insights shows an "Agentic Browsing" score for this.

The llms.txt file is a simple list of a site's pages, written to help AI tools quickly understand what the site offers, a bit like a sitemap made for AI. It's a recent proposal, not an official standard, and Google says it doesn't use it. It does no harm, but it doesn't replace good content.

Conversational search means asking full questions, typed or spoken, the way you'd ask a person: "where can I find a good plumber in Oran this weekend?" instead of "plumber Oran". Content that answers full questions does better on these searches.

An answer engine is a tool that gives you a written answer directly, like ChatGPT or Perplexity, instead of a list of links to open yourself. To be cited there, your site needs clear answers that are easy to check.

Conversion rate is the share of visitors who do what you want on a site: order, fill in a form, call, or message you on WhatsApp. If 100 people visit your store and 2 of them order, your conversion rate is 2 in 100. A fast, clear site helps this number go up.

An abandoned cart is when a customer adds products but leaves the site before confirming the order. Common reasons are delivery fees discovered at the end, a form that's too long, or a complicated payment. Showing delivery fees by wilaya early and offering cash on delivery helps cut these drop-offs.

A product page presents a single product in an online store: photos, price, description, sizes or options, and delivery times. A good product page answers the customer's questions before they need to message you on WhatsApp.

User experience (UX) is what a person goes through when using your site. Do they find what they're looking for quickly? Do they understand the buttons? Can they order without getting lost? Bad UX drives visitors away, even if the site ranks well on Google.

A CMS (content management system) is a tool that lets you change a site's text and images without knowing how to code. WordPress is the best known. A Next.js site can run without a CMS (very fast, but every change goes through a developer) or with a CMS like Payload, which we used for Teaching of Islam.

A static site has its pages prepared in advance instead of building them on every visit. Visitors get the page right away, which makes the site much faster. A framework like Next.js can build this kind of site while keeping dynamic parts where they're needed.

Mobile-first means designing a site for a phone screen first, then adapting it for computers. It makes sense in Algeria, where many customers discover businesses on their phone. Google also looks at the mobile version of a site first to index and rank it.

Load time is the time between clicking a link and seeing the page. Every extra second of waiting makes visitors leave, especially on mobile with an average 4G connection. Images that are too heavy are a very common cause of slow pages.

Google Search Console is Google's free tool that shows how your site appears in search: which pages are indexed, which searches bring clicks, your average position and the technical errors to fix. It's the first tool to set up after a site goes live.

Google Analytics (GA4) measures what visitors do once they're on your site: pages viewed, time spent and actions taken, like a tap on the call or WhatsApp button when that tracking is set up. It complements Search Console, which shows what happens before the click, in Google's results.

A KPI (key performance indicator) is a number chosen in advance to tell whether an action is working, like the number of calls or orders the site brings in. A good KPI follows a real business result. The number of Facebook likes on its own says little about your sales.

In Google Analytics 4, bounce rate is the share of visits with no real engagement: under 10 seconds on the site, only one page viewed and no tracked action. A high rate isn't always bad. Someone who finds your number and calls you right away can count as a bounce.

Click-through rate (CTR) is the percentage of people who click a link after seeing it, for example in Google's results. A clear title and meta description help this number go up.

Search volume is the average number of times a keyword is searched each month. It helps you choose which keywords to target first, weighed against the competition. A keyword with few searches can still be worth it if it comes from customers ready to buy.

An impression is each time a page appears in Google's results, even if nobody clicks. Lots of impressions and few clicks often means one of two things: the page is too far down the results, or its title doesn't make people want to click.