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SEO Library

Fundamentals — SEO terms explained

30 SEO and marketing concepts explained in plain English — what each one means, why it matters, how to apply it and the mistakes to avoid.

All topics AI Search 3 Analytics 10 Content 14 Fundamentals 30 Local SEO 4 Off-Page SEO 10 On-Page SEO 13 Technical SEO 51

A

Fundamentals Above the Fold "Above the fold" is the part of a web page visible without scrolling. It shapes first impressions, conversions and loading priorities such… Fundamentals Above the Fold "Above the fold" is the part of a web page visible without scrolling. It shapes first impressions, conversions and loading priorities such… Fundamentals Algorithm Update An algorithm update is a change to how a search engine ranks results. Google makes changes constantly and announces larger "core" and… Fundamentals Algorithm Update An algorithm update is a change to how a search engine ranks results. Google makes changes constantly and announces larger "core" and…

B

Fundamentals Branded Keywords Branded keywords are search queries that include a brand, company or product name, such as "iftikhar seo library". Non-branded keywords describe a…

E

Fundamentals Entity (Entity SEO) In search, an entity is a distinct, well-defined thing — a person, company, place, product or concept — that Google can recognise… Fundamentals Entity (Entity SEO) In search, an entity is a distinct, well-defined thing — a person, company, place, product or concept — that Google can recognise…

F

Fundamentals Featured Snippet A featured snippet is a highlighted excerpt from a web page that Google shows near the top of results to answer a… Fundamentals Featured Snippet A featured snippet is a highlighted excerpt from a web page that Google shows near the top of results to answer a…

I

Fundamentals Indexing Indexing is the process in which a search engine analyses a crawled page and stores it in its database (the index) so…

K

Fundamentals Keyword Difficulty Keyword difficulty (KD) is a score from SEO tools estimating how hard it is to rank in the top 10 for a… Fundamentals Knowledge Graph Google's Knowledge Graph is a huge database of entities — people, places, organisations, things — and the facts connecting them. It powers… Fundamentals Knowledge Graph Google's Knowledge Graph is a huge database of entities — people, places, organisations, things — and the facts connecting them. It powers…

L

Fundamentals Long-Tail Keywords Long-tail keywords are specific, usually longer search phrases with lower individual search volume but clearer intent, less competition and often higher conversion…

M

Fundamentals Manual Action A manual action is a penalty applied by a human reviewer at Google when a site violates Google's spam policies. Affected pages… Fundamentals Manual Action A manual action is a penalty applied by a human reviewer at Google when a site violates Google's spam policies. Affected pages…

P

Fundamentals PageRank PageRank is Google's original algorithm, created by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, that measures a page's importance based on the quantity and… Fundamentals People Also Ask (PAA) People Also Ask is a Google search feature showing expandable related questions, each with a short answer pulled from a web page.…

Q

Fundamentals Query (Search Query) A search query is the exact word or phrase a person types or speaks into a search engine. A keyword is the… Fundamentals Query Deserves Freshness (QDF) Query Deserves Freshness describes how Google favours recent content for searches where up-to-date information matters — breaking news, trending topics, recurring events…

S

Fundamentals Search Intent Search intent is the goal behind a search query — what the person actually wants to find or do. Matching intent is… Fundamentals Search Volume Search volume is the estimated average number of times a keyword is searched per month in a given location. It indicates demand,… Fundamentals SERP (Search Engine Results Page) A SERP — search engine results page — is the page a search engine shows in response to a query, combining organic… Fundamentals SERP Features SERP features are any search result elements beyond the standard blue link — such as featured snippets, AI Overviews, People Also Ask,… Fundamentals Sitelinks Sitelinks are additional links to other pages of a website shown beneath the main result, usually for branded searches. Google generates them… Fundamentals Sitelinks Sitelinks are additional links to other pages of a website shown beneath the main result, usually for branded searches. Google generates them…

U

Fundamentals User Experience (UX) Signals UX signals is a broad term for how a page's user experience may influence search performance — page experience factors like Core…

V

Fundamentals Voice Search Voice search is searching by speaking to a device — Google Assistant, Siri, Alexa or a phone's mic. Voice queries tend to…

W

Fundamentals White Hat SEO White hat SEO means improving search visibility with methods that follow search engine guidelines and focus on people — useful content, good…

Z

Fundamentals Zero-Volume Keywords Zero-volume keywords are search terms that keyword tools report as having no (or almost no) monthly searches. Many are real, specific queries…