Search Engine Optimization is defined as the improvement of unpaid content, excluding direct traffic and paid ads. This optimization can require the use of a number of tools and techniques that are unique to the field. Even the most traditional businesses use SEO to increase their online presence. With an increased demand for SEO specialists around the world, it’s no surprise that many people are going back to school to study digital marketing.
Businesses of all sizes are adding specialized marketers to their teams to ensure their strategies can be handled with care. Because the tools and techniques used in the SEO industry continue to evolve, marketers should educate themselves on advancing technologies.
The Top SEO Terms You Should Know
It’s important to understand the fundamental terms used in Search Engine Optimization to ensure the message you aim to distribute can reach your intended audiences. The terms and techniques detailed below provide you with a review of the terms needed to develop a comprehensive SEO strategy.
1. ALT Text/Tag
A definition of an image used to explain the presence and role of an image on a page inside an HTML code. Search engines do not read images, instead they read the ALT text attached to images.
2. Anchor Text
A text of a link to a webpage typically dark blue and underscored on most websites, or purple if you have visited the site in the past. Anchor text aids search engines in understanding the purpose of the page by describing what viewers will see when entering the site.
3. Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP)
This is the open-source coding standard for all publishers. AMP can work around clunky and slow mobile responses to increase site loading speeds on mobile.
4. Content
The idea or concept developed through a medium like speech, text, or video directed at a particular user or audience group. Examples include a blog, a video post, a web page, etc.
5. Domain
This is the website’s web address and should be renewed ownership of your domain for several years. Search engine rankings favor websites with longer registrations because it shows commitment.
6. Headings
This text on your website is located on the inside of a heading tag (H1 or H2). It is often in a larger and stronger font than other text on the page.
7. External Link
This is a link from one site to another site. A link from another site will improve your SEO, especially if that site has a high PageRank.
8. Featured Snippet
For some queries, Google shows a block above the organic search results containing a summary as well as the publication date, page title, link to the webpage from which the answer originated, and URL. Featured snippets are found at the top of organic search results and can impact a webpage’s ranking.
9. The Fold
The “fold” is the section of your website where the page gets cut off by the bottom of a user’s monitor or browser window. Search engines place some priority on content above the fold since it will be seen right away by new visitors.
10. HTML Headings
These are the six levels of headings that imply font changes, paragraph breaks before and after, and the necessary white space. HTML heading elements are H1, H2, H3, H4, H5, and H6, with H1 being the most important and H6 the least significant level.
11. HTTPS
This secure version of HTTP includes Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and is widely used on the internet to send data between a website and a browser. Adding HTTPS to a website authenticates it and confirms its trustworthiness to potential site visitors.
12. Google Tools
These tools are offered to marketers that want to evaluate numbers processes using only one account. To better optimize their assets, digital professionals can use tools such as Google Analytics, Google Search Console, Google Tag Manager, Google Ads, and more.
13. Internal Link
A link from one page to another on the same website. An example would be moving from a site’s homepage to the products page.
14. Keyword
This is a word that a user enters to search. Your web page should be built to draw in visitors who have searched specific keywords.
15. Meta Description
A brief description of the contents of a web page that describes why someone would want to visit it. The meta description is the text displayed below the page title on the search engine results page and does not impact ranking.
16. Meta Title
Meta title tags provide search engines with the text they need to understand what a web page is about. Additionally, a meta title provides each reader context for what they can expect on a webpage.
17. Mobile SEO
All SEO experts must pay close attention to how mobile-friendly their webpages are because most of all online traffic originates from mobile users. Google even evaluates a webpages mobility before determining its rank on a results page.
18. Organic Search
The natural, or unpaid, results that are analyzed and ranked by algorithms. Organic Search results are designed to give users the most relevant result based on their search terms.
19. Page Title
This name given to your webpage should contain keywords related to your business. The words at the beginning of your page title are more highly weighted than the words at the end.
20. Page Speed
Google catalogs site speed as one of the measurements used by its algorithm to rank all search results. As a result, slow page speeds can negatively affect a page’s ranking on a Search Engine Results Page.
21. RankBrain
A piece of the algorithm Google that uses machine learning to evaluate a search engine query and provide the most relevant search results. RankBrain aims to determine a searcher’s true question in an attempt to provide the most detailed answer.
22. Rich Snippet
These snippets appear in organic search results and have a higher click-through rate because they do a great job answering related search queries. As a webpage’s click-through rate increases, a rich snippet can impact the page’s ranking on a SERP.
23. Sitemap
A list of pages on a website. There are two types of sitemaps: HTML, organized to help users navigate your site, and XML, organized to provide search engines with a list of webpages on a website.
24. Search Engine
A computer program that allows users to enter a query or search term to retrieve information from that program’s index using a crawler, with items being ranked by multiple algorithms.
25. Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
An blanket term for increasing a website’s visibility in search engine results pages. SEM encompasses both organic and paid efforts.
26. SERP (Search Engine Ranking Page)
This is the page that you use a search engine. With about 10 results per page, web pages relating to the search terms will be presented.
27. Schema Markup
Developed in collaboration with the most popular search engines, this semantic vocabulary of tags can be added to HTML on a webpage. Proper schema markup can improve the way a search engine interprets and promotes a web page in SERPs.
28. Traffic
This is the individuals that visit your site.
Upgrade Your SEO Knowledge
If you feel like you have a good understanding of the SEO terms above, you may have what it takes to work in digital marketing. Search Engine Optimizers work to enhance digital works using these various techniques and tools. The New Jersey Institute of Technology enlists a team of digital marketing experts to design the curriculum and teach the lessons in the NJIT Digital Marketing Professional Bootcamp.
To learn more, reach out to one of our admissions advisors at (973) 688-5050.
