SEO Terminology – don’t let it scare you!
So you’re ready to get your website in front of the eyeballs of some of the millions of internet users searching for your products or services. Great!
But oh no, what’s your plan for bots, cloaking, favicons, HTTP, naked links, PPC, SSL, CTR, CPA, and the many other terms that go into a successful website?
Much of successful website mastery comes from a deep understanding of SEO terminology. But don’t worry if you don’t know your SEO from SERP. Everyone has to start somewhere and fortunately, we all know the alphabet already!
Read on to understand basic SEO terms. We’re ready to spell it all out for you.
The ABCs of SEO Terminology
Even before the rise of search engine optimization (that’s SEO), the world of marketing certainly seemed like a huge bowl of alphabet acronym soup.
It’s only going to get more common from here to shorten marketing terms, so let’s start with the basics of SEO.
So, what is SEO? One thing it’s not is spam.
Unlike the distasteful advertising, SEO is targeted marketing that is constantly refined and updated to make your site in line with ever changing requirements of the major search engines.
Good SEO gets your website pushed to the top of search results (like Google) without buying AdWords, sponsoring links, or old ugly processes like keyword stuffing.
Don’t try it. The only way to win at SEO is to do it the right way.
And the right way is…
SEO terminology covers a lot of ground, but one of the most basic SEO 101 terms is “keywords.” These are the terms your company has determined your prospects are searching for and you want to implement these words as best as possible so that the audience finds YOU, not your competitors.
One term you want to avoid is “stuffing,” where you deliberately add too many of the same keyword into your blog or site, in an attempt to game the system. Or you add in keywords that have nothing to do with your site, hoping to capture those searchers.
Just. Don’t. Do. It.
It looks and sounds ridiculous and makes you seem very unreliable. Plus, the moment Google picks up on it, you can assure yourself you will become the internet’s version of being banished.
In fact, there’s even a term for this behavior, black hat SEO and trust us, this type of black flatters NO ONE.
This doesn’t mean you can’t use keywords – you must, actually!
Sample and experiment with your keywords, test them out and see how you do. Conquering SEO terminology is an ongoing process, not finite.
Don’t Forget The Extras!
It can be easy to get wrapped up in optimizing your content, but don’t forget that SEO optimization should also be targeted to:
- Graphics (including images and infographics)
- Downloadables such as eBooks and white papers
- Videos and animations (yes, those meme-worthy GIFs, too)
This means optimizing their ALT text and meta descriptions for when the internet search engine “crawlers” pick them up.
SEO Targets Your Most Wanted
If the internet is one massive wild, wild west, how will prospective customers ever find you?
In fact, the year 2017 is predicted to see more internet traffic than all previous years of the entire internet existence combined.
You need to start thinking of your website as a customer service tool.
To do that, you ramp up on ways to best reach your customers, including:
- Clear, fresh, engaging content
- Easy design – nothing slow to load, no rabbit holes people could fall into and lose their way
- Trustable information (secure transactions, no spam)
- Ability to give feedback (forms, message pop-ups, chat widgets)
- Return on interest such as newsletters and blogs
And, of course, SEO.
Your SEO efforts (or your selected SEO partner) help you drive traffic to your website.
This means that you capture the target demographics that you want rather than flinging efforts everywhere in an unfocused way.
Stand Out in the Crowd
You can analyze SEO terminology for eons, but one thing is important.
SEO helps you stand out from the millions and millions of websites on the internet.
This is important because 60% of search engine users click the first link in the list.
Maybe your goal isn’t to secure the very top spot, but to be placed on the first page of results, which at least gives you a chance of being seen as people scroll.
This is important, as studies by Search Engine Journal note that three-quarters of search engine users don’t even click “next page.”
Other facts to consider:
- Leads that come from SEO have a 14.6% close rate compared to traditional outbound leads, with a close of 1.7%.
- Search is still the #1 traffic driver, beating out social media by 300%.
- 1.2 trillion searches are conducted every MONTH.
SEO Terminology: The Next Level
Hungry for some more alphabet soup? SEO terminology does not disappoint. The following are some SEO terms that marketers should familiarize themselves with:
- LSI (latent semantic indexing), which is using terms that are “adjacent” to your own selected keywords or website title.
- Algorithms get deep into some math, but we think you can handle it! These are sets of formulas, often way behind the scenes, that determine whether your site “ranks” (where it appears in the search results, such as in the coveted first three pages or buried deep 20 pages back).
- Organic rankings. These are rankings that are achieved through blood, sweat, and tears, but NOT by payment. No amount of money can get your site highly organically ranked. This all depends on your content strategy.
Sharing the Soup
We’ve got some good news and bad news.
Search engine optimization has become such an ingrained part of building the internet that it’s not going away.
That’s the bad news, for people who just don’t quite get it all yet.
The good news is, there’s help!
Click here to send us a message with your SEO terminology questions. We have years of experience and don’t just “get” SEO, we love it.
We’re experts in SEO, marketing content, brand development, and more.
Let us help you get on the path to understanding SEO terminology and implementing it into your business today!
