Basic SEO Terms

You actually need to know SEO’s basic terminology, to properly use it.

Organic search: When someone types a word or phrase in search engine, and click on any non-sponsored link, that’s organic search. Search engines show us two types of links: paid search results (Ads or Sponsored links) and organic search results (everything else that is not sponsored or is not an ad). And of course the higher is the rank in organic search, the more likely people will click on it.

Featured snippet: The featured snippet is a small box with an excerpt from a page near at the organic search results that links to that page. It usually has a goal of answering a question or sharing some basic information about a topic that is useful for you.

Keyword: A keyword is a word or short phrase that shows a search engine what your website or one of your pages are about. When someone performs a search, search engine looks for pages that contain keywords relevant to that search. And don’t forget you should spend a significant amount of time researching the best keywords for your content.

Search query: What is being typed into the search box is a search query. And there is a thin line between search query and keyword.

HTML Tags: “Hypertext Markup Language” (HTML) is what tells browsers how to display the website, and HTML tags divide those pages up into different sections, that are formatted in different ways. For SEO the three most important tags are headers, title tags and meta descriptions.

Headers: Every page has a part that has bigger, bolder letters. These are called headers or heading tags. Headings help your site visitors find what they need, and search engines understand what your article is about to show them for search queries. Using strong keywords in headers helps your page rank up.

Meta descriptions: A meta description is a short text, that tells what your page is about. Meta description is shown immediately below the link in SERPs. But it’s not an easy thing to write. Meta description must be short (160 characters or less) to fit into the search results and to make searchers click on your article. Don’t forget to put few proper keywords there.

Links: Link is a clickable text, that redirects you to another web page. The part of the link you click on (usually underlined and in a different color, in most cases blue) is the anchor text. Links are useful to SEO in many ways. Internal links (links that send you from one of your pages to another) are the best way to boost your newly created pages in search rankings, or show search engines how your different pages are connected. They can also encourage users to check out other parts of your website, which is good for your search results as well as your brand.