301 Redirect
A permanent redirect that sends users and search engines from an old URL to a new one, passing most of the old page's ranking value along.
SEO & AEO GLOSSARY
The words behind a site that actually ranks
85+ SEO, AEO, AI search, performance and conversion terms, defined in a sentence or two. This is the language behind a site that ranks in Google and gets cited by AI answer engines like ChatGPT and Perplexity. Search or pick a topic below.
A/B Testing
Showing two versions of a page to different visitors to see which drives more conversions, so decisions are based on real data rather than opinion.
See the resultsAbove the Fold
The part of a page visible before scrolling. What lives here decides whether most visitors stay or leave.
See it done wellAI Mode
Google's fully conversational search experience, where an assistant answers follow-up questions and pulls from many pages at once instead of returning a simple list of ten links.
AI Overviews
Google's AI-generated answer that sits above the normal results, summarizing several sources. Pages cited inside an AI Overview earn visibility even when users never scroll to the classic links.
Show up in AI searchAlt Text
A written description of an image, read aloud by screen readers and used by search engines that cannot see the picture.
Optimize your imagesAnchor Text
The visible, clickable words of a link. Descriptive anchor text tells search engines what the linked page is about, so avoid vague 'click here' links.
AEO
Answer Engine Optimization
Structuring content so AI answer engines like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google's AI Overviews can understand, trust, and cite it directly.
Is your site on Google?Backlink
A link from another website to yours. Links from trusted, relevant sites are a strong signal that you are worth ranking.
Why you are not rankingBounce Rate
The share of visitors who leave after a single page without interacting. High bounce on a key page usually points to a mismatch or friction.
Lower your bounceCaching
Storing a ready-made copy of your pages or assets so repeat visits load almost instantly instead of being rebuilt from scratch every time.
Faster managed hostingCTA
Call to Action
The button or link that tells a visitor what to do next, like "Start your project". Clear CTAs lift conversion more than almost anything else.
Turn visits into leadsCanonical URL
The version of a page you tell search engines to treat as the original when several similar or duplicate URLs exist.
Fix duplicate URLsCTR
Click-Through Rate
The percentage of people who click after seeing your listing, ad, or link. A higher CTR in search can lift both traffic and rankings.
CDN
Content Delivery Network
A network of servers around the world that serves your site from the location closest to each visitor, cutting load times globally.
Managed hosting & CDNContent Pruning
Removing, merging, or improving thin and outdated pages so your strongest content carries more weight. Quality over quantity helps the whole site rank.
Conversion Rate
The share of visitors who do the thing you want, such as buying, booking, or filling out a form.
Convert more visitorsCRO
Conversion Rate Optimization
Systematically improving the share of visitors who take a desired action, such as buy, book, or enquire, through better design, copy, and testing.
Make your site convertCore Web Vitals
Google's set of real-user metrics for loading, interactivity, and visual stability. They feed into how Google judges page experience.
Check your Core Web VitalsCrawl Budget
How many of your pages a search engine will crawl in a given window. Spending it on thin or duplicate pages slows real indexing.
Fix indexing issuesCrawling
How search engine bots follow links to discover your pages. If a page cannot be crawled, it cannot be indexed or ranked, no matter how good it is.
Fix indexing issuesCLS
Cumulative Layout Shift
A score for how much the page jumps around while it loads. Aim to keep it below 0.1.
Check your Core Web VitalsDA
Domain Authority
A third-party score from 1 to 100 estimating how likely a whole domain is to rank, based largely on its backlink profile. A directional benchmark, not a Google metric.
Why you are not rankingE-E-A-T
Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trust, the qualities Google and AI engines look for to decide if your content is credible enough to rank and cite.
Build authorityEntity
A clearly defined thing, such as a person, brand, product, or place, that search engines recognize and connect in their Knowledge Graph. Strong entity signals help AI trust you as an authority.
FAQ Schema
Structured data that marks up questions and answers on a page so search engines and AI can display or quote them directly. One of the simplest ways to show up in AI search.
Featured Snippet
A short answer Google pulls to the very top of results, above the normal links. It is often the same concise, well-structured content that AI answer engines quote.
Ranking without clicksFCP
First Contentful Paint
How long until the first text or image appears on screen. It is the moment a visitor knows the page is actually loading.
Check your Core Web VitalsFriction
Anything that makes it harder for a visitor to act, like extra form fields, slow loads, or confusing steps. Removing friction directly lifts conversions.
See friction removedGEO
Generative Engine Optimization
Optimizing content so generative AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude name and cite your brand in the answers they write. GEO overlaps heavily with AEO; both aim to be the source an AI quotes, not just a blue link.
Get found in AI searchGA4
Google Analytics 4
Google's analytics platform that tracks how people find and use your site, measuring traffic, engagement, and conversions across devices.
GBP
Google Business Profile
Your free business listing that powers Google Maps and local results. Accurate, complete profiles win the local map pack and drive calls and visits.
Fix your Business ProfileGSC
Google Search Console
Google's free tool showing how your site performs in search: which queries bring clicks, which pages are indexed, and what errors to fix.
Improve search performanceH1-H6
Header Tags
The HTML headings that structure a page. A single clear H1 and logical subheadings help readers skim and help search engines and AI understand your content.
Heatmap
A visual map of where users click, move, and scroll on a page. It reveals what is grabbing attention and what is being ignored.
See a store rebuiltHreflang
A tag that tells search engines the language and region a page targets, so users see the right version of a multi-language or multi-country site.
Image Optimization
Compressing and serving images in modern formats like WebP at the right size. Often the single biggest speed win available on a page.
Check your Core Web VitalsImpressions
How many times your pages appeared in search results. Rising impressions with few clicks often means your titles or rankings need work.
Is your site on Google?Indexing
Adding a crawled page to the search engine's database so it can appear in results. A page must be indexed before it can rank for anything.
Is your site on Google?INP
Interaction to Next Paint
Measures how quickly a page responds after someone taps or clicks. It replaced FID as a Core Web Vital in 2024.
Check your Core Web VitalsInternal Linking
Links between your own pages. They spread ranking authority, guide users to key pages, and help search engines understand how your content connects.
Fix indexing issuesJavaScript Rendering
How search engines process pages built with JavaScript. Heavy client-side rendering can hide content from crawlers unless it is server-rendered or pre-rendered.
Build a fast web appKeyword Cannibalization
When several of your pages compete for the same keyword, splitting their authority so none rank well. Consolidating or differentiating them fixes it.
Keyword Research
Finding the words and questions your customers actually search, then mapping them to pages. It is the foundation of content that brings in qualified, ready-to-buy traffic.
Plan your SEOKnowledge Graph
Google's database of real-world entities and the relationships between them. Being represented in it helps your brand appear in rich results and be recognized by AI answer engines.
LLM
Large Language Model
The AI behind tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude. It predicts text from patterns in huge training data, which is why clear, well-structured pages are easier for it to quote accurately.
Show up in ChatGPTLCP
Largest Contentful Paint
How long the biggest visible element takes to appear. Under 2.5 seconds is considered good.
Check your Core Web VitalsLazy Loading
Delaying the load of off-screen images and videos until a user scrolls near them. It speeds up the initial load and saves bandwidth.
Fix a slow phone siteLighthouse
Google's free tool that scores a page on performance, accessibility, SEO, and best practices from 0 to 100. A quick way to spot what is slowing you down.
Get a free auditLink Building
Earning links from other reputable sites to yours. Quality, relevant backlinks remain one of the strongest off-page ranking signals.
Why you are not rankingllms.txt
A plain-text file at your domain root that lists your most important pages for AI crawlers, giving them a clean 'ground truth' to read so they cite your site more accurately.
Fix indexing issuesLocal SEO
Optimizing to appear for location-based searches and in the map pack. Critical for any business that serves a specific city or region.
Get found locallyLong-Tail Keyword
A longer, more specific search phrase with lower volume but higher intent, like 'custom website for dental clinics'. Easier to rank for and far more likely to convert.
Meta Description
The short summary shown beneath your title in search results. It does not rank you, but it heavily influences whether people click.
Fix copy that loses leadsMinification
Stripping unnecessary characters like spaces and comments from code to shrink file sizes, so pages download and run faster.
Mobile-First Indexing
Google ranks your site based on its mobile version, not desktop. If your mobile experience is slow or stripped down, your rankings suffer everywhere.
Fix a slow phone siteNAP
Name, Address, and Phone number. Keeping these identical everywhere they appear online builds trust for local search and helps you rank in the map pack.
Get local details rightNofollow
A link attribute telling search engines not to pass ranking credit through that link. Common on ads, paid placements, and user-generated content.
Noindex
A tag that tells search engines to keep a page out of their index. Useful for thank-you pages, duplicates, and thin content you do not want ranking.
Organic Traffic
Visitors who reach your site from unpaid search results. It compounds over time, which makes SEO one of the highest-ROI marketing channels.
Grow organic trafficPagination
How you split long lists or articles across multiple numbered pages, and signal their order to search engines so the series is indexed correctly.
Passage Ranking
When search engines and AI rank a single section of a page rather than the whole page. Self-contained, clearly labeled passages of roughly 40-120 words are the easiest to lift into an answer.
Pillar Page
A broad, authoritative page covering a core topic in depth and linking out to detailed cluster pages. It anchors your topical authority on a subject.
Does a blog pay off?Query Fan-Out
How AI search quietly expands one question into several hidden sub-queries, then blends the best sources for each. Covering a topic thoroughly helps you appear across more of those sub-queries.
Build topical depthRender-Blocking Resources
Scripts or styles that must load before the page can display, delaying what the user sees. Deferring or inlining them improves load speed.
Fix a slow phone siteResponsive Design
Building a site that adapts smoothly to any screen size, from phone to tablet to desktop, so it looks and works well everywhere.
Get a responsive siteRAG
Retrieval-Augmented Generation
A method where an AI looks up live documents before answering instead of relying only on training data. It is why fresh, crawlable, well-structured pages get cited in AI answers.
Rich Results
Enhanced search listings, such as star ratings, FAQs, prices, and images, generated from structured data. They take up more space in results and lift click-through rates.
Win rich resultsRobots.txt
A file at your domain root that tells crawlers which areas of your site they may or may not access. Used to keep private or low-value pages out of crawling.
SEO
Search Engine Optimization
Improving a site's content, structure, and technical health so search engines rank it higher for the queries your customers actually type.
Improve your SEOSearch Intent
The real goal behind a search, whether to learn, compare, buy, or find a specific site. Matching a page to its intent is one of the biggest ranking factors you control.
Why you are not rankingSemantic Search
Search that understands meaning and context, not just exact keywords. It rewards content that covers a topic naturally and completely.
SERP
Search Engine Results Page, everything Google shows for a query: classic links, ads, snippets, AI Overviews, maps, and images. The goal is to own as much of it as possible.
Site Architecture
How your pages are organized and linked together. A shallow, logical structure helps both users and crawlers reach important pages in just a few clicks.
Social Proof
Evidence that others trust you, such as reviews, testimonials, client logos, and counts. It reduces hesitation and is one of the most reliable conversion boosters.
See social proof at workStructured Data
Code, usually from Schema.org, that spells out what a page means so search and AI engines can use it with confidence.
Fix indexing issuesTTFB
Time to First Byte
How long the server takes to send the first piece of data. A slow TTFB delays everything that loads after it.
Check your Core Web VitalsTitle Tag
The clickable headline that shows in search results and browser tabs. A clear, keyword-aware title is one of the strongest on-page ranking and click signals.
Fix copy that loses leadsTopic Cluster
A group of related pages linked around one central pillar page. Clusters build topical authority and help you rank for a whole subject, not just one keyword.
Does a blog pay off?Topical Authority
The depth and breadth of trustworthy content you have published on a subject. The more completely you cover a topic, the more search engines treat you as the expert.
TBT
Total Blocking Time
How long a page stays frozen and unresponsive while scripts run during load. High TBT makes a site feel sluggish and hurts your INP score.
UX
User Experience
How easy, clear, and pleasant a site is to use. Good UX keeps visitors engaged, which lifts conversions and sends positive signals to search engines.
Get a site that convertsValue Proposition
The clear, one-line reason a customer should choose you over the alternatives. Stating it above the fold is critical to converting first-time visitors.
Sharpen your messageXML Sitemap
A file that lists your important pages so search engines can discover and crawl them efficiently.
Improve crawlingZero-Click Search
A search answered right on the results page by a snippet, AI Overview, or knowledge panel, so the user never clicks through. It makes being the cited source more valuable than ever.
Why traffic falls anywayNo terms match that search. Try a different word.
Know the words. Now put them to work.
Rankwyre builds and optimizes sites around every term on this page, not just defines them.
