SEO has its own language. If you encounter terms such as crawling, indexing, canonical, Core Web Vitals, E-E-A-T, schema markup, anchor text, AI Overviews or GEO and are not sure what they mean, this SEO glossary will help you understand them.
The purpose of the glossary is not to replace the work of an SEO specialist, but to provide you with a clear foundation. When you understand the terminology, it becomes easier to understand what website SEO optimization includes, what is checked during an SEO audit, when an SEO consultation makes sense and why the technical development of a website affects its rankings in Google.
The glossary is organized thematically so that you do not have to read isolated definitions without context. The SEO terms are divided into several major groups:
If you are a business owner, this glossary will help you better understand the reports and recommendations of an SEO agency. If you are a marketing specialist, it can serve as a quick reference when planning content, internal links and technical tasks.
SEO comes from Search Engine Optimization and means optimization for search engines. It is the process through which a website is improved technically, through its content and through its authority so that it can rank better in Google and other search engines.
SEO is not a one-time setting. It includes technical analysis, page optimization, content, internal linking, link building, performance analysis and continuous improvements. If you are looking for complete implementation, see our SEO optimization service.
Search engine means a system used for online search. The best-known example is Google, but there are other search engines such as Bing, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo, Yandex and Baidu. Search engines crawl, index and rank pages according to how well they answer the user’s search.
Google Search is Google’s search engine. For most businesses in Bulgaria, Google is the main source of organic traffic, which is why SEO strategies are usually aligned primarily with Google.
SERP stands for Search Engine Results Page. This is the results page you see after performing a search in Google. It may contain organic results, advertisements, featured snippets, AI Overviews, maps, images, videos, products, People Also Ask sections and other elements.
Organic traffic refers to visits that come from unpaid search engine results. Unlike paid advertising traffic, organic traffic does not require payment for every click, but it does require continuous work on the website.
Paid traffic is traffic from advertising channels such as Google Ads, Meta Ads, LinkedIn Ads, banner advertising and others. SEO and paid advertising can work together, but they are not the same thing.
SEM stands for Search Engine Marketing. In a broad sense, it means marketing through search engines and may include both SEO and paid advertising. In practice, SEM is often used mainly as a term for paid Google Ads campaigns.
SEA stands for Search Engine Advertising. This is paid advertising in search engines, such as text advertisements in Google Search.
A keyword is a word or phrase that a user enters in Google. Examples include “SEO optimization”, “website development”, “SEO audit”, “Local SEO” and “online store development”.
A search query is the actual phrase that a user enters into the search engine. The difference between a keyword and a query is that the keyword is the term we optimize for, while the query is the specific search made by a real user.
For example, the keyword may be “SEO optimization”, while the queries may include:
Search intent is the reason why a user searches for a particular phrase. Intent is one of the most important elements in SEO.
The main types of intent are:
This article has informational intent. It should support, but not replace, money pages such as SEO optimization and SEO agency.
A money page is a page with direct business value. It is usually a service, product, category, offer or contact page. At SeoWebDesign, examples of money pages include:
Supporting content is content that supports the main pages. These are articles, glossaries, guides, comparisons, FAQ materials and analyses that explain a topic in depth and provide internal links to the main pages.
The SEO glossary is typical supporting content. It should rank for informational searches such as “SEO terms”, “SEO glossary”, “what is canonical” and “what is crawling”, rather than attempting to replace the SEO service page.
A pillar page is a main page covering a broad topic. It is usually broader, more authoritative and receives internal links from multiple supporting articles.
For example, an SEO optimization page may be a pillar or money page, while the glossary and articles about on-page SEO, technical SEO and link building may serve as supporting content.
A topic cluster is a group of related pages around one main topic. For example, an SEO cluster may include:
The goal is for the website to demonstrate topical depth rather than having only one isolated page on the subject.
Topical authority means authority within a specific topic. A website builds topical authority when it covers a subject thoroughly, logically and with real expertise. For an SEO agency, this means not only having an “SEO services” page, but also useful materials about technical SEO, content, links, Local SEO, online stores, algorithms, audits and AI search.
Crawling is the process through which search engines explore web pages using bots. Googlebot follows links, discovers new URLs and checks for changes to pages it already knows.
If an important page cannot be crawled, it will struggle to rank.
A crawler is a bot that explores websites. Google’s crawler is called Googlebot. Other tools such as Screaming Frog, Sitebulb and AhrefsBot also use crawlers, but for analysis rather than ranking.
Googlebot is Google’s crawler. It visits pages, downloads their content and passes it to Google’s rendering, indexing and ranking systems.
Rendering is the process through which the search engine processes HTML, CSS and JavaScript in order to understand what the user actually sees on the page. This is especially important for websites that rely heavily on JavaScript.
Indexing is the process through which Google adds a page to its index. The fact that a page has been published does not mean that it has been indexed.
The index is the search engine’s database containing information about pages that have been crawled and selected for display.
Deindexing means removing a page from the index. This can happen intentionally through noindex or as a result of technical problems, penalties, deleted pages or low quality.
Crawl budget is the amount of resources Google allocates to crawling a particular website. This is rarely a problem for small websites. For large online stores, websites with filters, thousands of URL parameters or large amounts of duplicated content, crawl budget becomes critical.
Crawl depth is the number of clicks required to reach a particular page from the homepage. The deeper an important page is buried, the weaker the signal it receives.
An orphan page is a page with no internal links pointing to it. Without links from other pages, both search engines and users have difficulty discovering it.
Robots.txt is a file that gives crawlers instructions about which parts of the website may or may not be crawled. It is important to understand that robots.txt is not a secure way to hide sensitive information. It controls crawling, but not always indexing.
Meta robots is an HTML meta tag that gives search engines instructions for a specific page. For example, noindex tells them not to index the page, while nofollow tells them not to follow the links on the page.
X-Robots-Tag is an HTTP header that can control the indexing of files and pages. It is often used for PDF files, images, documents and technical resources.
Noindex is an instruction telling search engines not to display a particular page in the results. It is used for thank-you pages, internal search results, filters, duplicate pages and other URLs that should not rank.
Nofollow is a link attribute that suggests to search engines that they should not pass the standard SEO signal through a particular link. Today, Google treats nofollow as a hint rather than an absolute command.
Follow means that search engines may follow the link. It is usually unnecessary to add rel="follow" explicitly because standard links are follow by default.
A canonical URL is the preferred version of a page when several similar or duplicate URLs exist. The canonical tag helps prevent signals from being divided among similar pages.
Canonicalization is the process through which Google selects a representative URL for a group of similar pages. Even when you specify a canonical URL, Google may select a different one if the signals are inconsistent.
Duplicate content refers to pages containing the same or very similar text. Duplicate content does not always lead to a penalty, but it may confuse Google about which page should rank.
A soft 404 is a page that technically returns a 200 OK status but has no useful content or behaves like a non-existent page. Google may treat it as an error.
404 is the HTTP status code for a page that does not exist. If a URL has been deleted and there is no suitable replacement, a 404 response is normal.
410 means Gone. It indicates that the page has been removed permanently. In some cases, this may speed up the removal of the URL from the index.
A 301 redirect is a permanent redirection from one URL to another. It is used during migrations, redesigns, changes to URL structure, page consolidation and the removal of old addresses.
During a website redesign, the 301 redirect map is critical because without it, rankings, links and traffic may be lost.
A 302 redirect is a temporary redirection. It is used when the move is not permanent.
A redirect chain is a series of consecutive redirects. For example, URL A redirects to B, B redirects to C and C redirects to D. This slows down the website and weakens the signals.
A redirect loop occurs when URLs redirect to one another endlessly. This makes the page inaccessible.
An XML sitemap is a file listing the important URLs on the website and helping search engines discover them. A sitemap does not guarantee indexing, but it is an important part of technical SEO.
An HTML sitemap is a page for users containing links to important sections of the website. It may help with navigation and internal linking.
URL Inspection is a tool in Google Search Console used to check whether a page has been crawled, indexed and how Google sees it.
Crawl Stats is a report in Google Search Console showing how Googlebot crawls the website. It is useful for large websites and technical problems.
On-page SEO includes all optimizations made directly on the page: titles, text, structure, metadata, internal links, images, schema markup, URL, content and user experience. For more detailed information, see our On-Page SEO guide.
The title tag is the HTML title of the page, which is often displayed as the title in Google’s search results. It should be clear, specific and aligned with the search.
The meta description is a short description of the page. It is not a direct ranking factor, but it affects CTR because it is often displayed as the description in the results.
H1 is the main visible heading of the page. Usually, each page should have one primary H1 that clearly describes the topic.
H2 and H3 are subheadings. They help users and search engines understand the structure of the content.
Header structure is the hierarchy of headings on the page. A good structure makes reading easier and the content more understandable.
The slug is the part of the URL after the domain. For example, in https://seo-webdesign.bg/seo-optimizaciya/, the slug is seo-optimizaciya.
An SEO-friendly URL is a short, clear and descriptive address. A good example is /seo-optimizaciya/. A poor example is /page?id=123&cat=5.
Internal linking refers to links between pages on the same website. Internal links help distribute authority, guide users and demonstrate the topical structure of the website.
Anchor text is the visible text of a link. For example, in a link to an SEO audit, the anchor text may be “SEO audit”. Anchor texts should be natural and varied.
An exact-match anchor is link text that matches the keyword exactly. For example, “SEO optimization”. It can be useful, but excessive use may appear unnatural.
A partial-match anchor contains part of the keyword. For example, “complete website SEO optimization”. This is often more natural than an exact match.
A branded anchor uses the name of the brand. For example, “SeoWebDesign”.
A generic anchor is general text such as “see more”, “here” or “learn more”. It is natural, but does not provide strong context by itself.
Breadcrumbs are navigation elements that show where the page is located within the website structure. For example: Home > News > SEO Glossary.
Image SEO is the optimization of images. It includes a proper filename, alt text, compression, dimensions, WebP or AVIF formats, lazy loading and relevant surrounding context.
Alt text is alternative text for an image. It helps search engines and people using screen readers understand what the image contains.
Content formatting refers to the way content is presented. Good practices include short paragraphs, clear subheadings, lists, tables, examples and internal links.
Keyword placement refers to where a keyword appears: in the title, H1, introduction, subheadings, URL, alt text and body content. It is important to do this naturally, without keyword stuffing.
Keyword stuffing is the excessive and unnatural repetition of a keyword. It is an outdated and risky practice.
A content gap is a missing topic, subtopic or question that competitors cover but your website does not.
SERP analysis is the analysis of Google’s results for a particular keyword. The goal is to understand what types of pages rank, what the intent is and what content the user expects.
Technical SEO includes all technical factors that help search engines crawl, understand, index and display a website correctly. This includes speed, structure, the mobile version, canonical tags, robots settings, schema, sitemaps, JavaScript, status codes and internal links.
Site architecture is the structure of the website. Good architecture makes important pages easy to discover and reduces click depth.
Information architecture is the way information is organized. In SEO, this includes categories, services, subpages, blog clusters, breadcrumbs and internal links.
Mobile-first indexing means that Google primarily uses the mobile version of the content for indexing and ranking. For this reason, the mobile website should not be a reduced version of the desktop website.
Responsive design is a design that adapts to different screens: phone, tablet, laptop and desktop. It is the standard for modern website development.
HTTPS is a secure protocol for communication between the browser and the website. An SSL certificate is essential for trust, security and the normal operation of a modern website.
JavaScript SEO is the optimization of websites that rely on JavaScript to load content. Problems arise when important text, links or products are not available in the HTML or are difficult for Google to load.
Server-side rendering means that the content is generated on the server and sent to the browser in a ready-to-display form. This is often better for SEO than fully client-side rendering.
Client-side rendering means that the content is generated in the browser through JavaScript. It may create SEO problems if it is not implemented correctly.
Lazy loading is a technique where images or elements load only when the user reaches them. It is useful for speed, but it should not prevent important images and content from being accessed.
Pagination is the division of content into pages. It is common in categories, blog archives, product listings and forums.
Faceted navigation is filter-based navigation, often used in online stores. Examples include filters by price, brand, size, colour and availability. If it is not managed correctly, it may create thousands of duplicate URLs.
URL parameters are values in the address after a question mark. For example, ?color=black&size=42. They are useful for filters and tracking, but may create indexing problems.
Log file analysis is the analysis of server logs to see how Googlebot actually crawls the website. It is especially useful for large websites and online stores.
Structured data helps search engines understand the type of content. The most commonly used format is JSON-LD.
Schema markup is code based on Schema.org that describes the content. Examples include Article, Organization, LocalBusiness, Product, BreadcrumbList, FAQPage, Review and VideoObject.
JSON-LD is the recommended format for adding structured data. It is placed as a script on the page and does not change the visible design.
A rich result is an enhanced result in Google. It may include a rating, price, availability, image, breadcrumbs, video, product information and other elements.
BreadcrumbList is schema markup for breadcrumbs. It helps Google understand the hierarchy of the page.
Organization schema describes a company: name, logo, address, contact details, profiles and other information. It is suitable for brands and corporate websites.
LocalBusiness schema describes a local business. It is suitable for companies with a physical address, opening hours, a phone number and local services.
Product schema describes a product: name, price, availability, reviews, brand, SKU and other data. It is important for online store development and ecommerce SEO.
A manual action is a manual penalty imposed by Google against a website that violates its guidelines. Reasons may include spam links, cloaking, automated content, misleading structured data or other violations.
Core Web Vitals are metrics for real user experience. They measure loading, interactivity and visual stability.
LCP stands for Largest Contentful Paint. It is the time required for the largest visible element in the initial viewport to load. This is usually a hero image, heading or large content block.
INP stands for Interaction to Next Paint. It measures how quickly the page responds to user interactions. INP replaced FID as a Core Web Vital and is important for the perceived speed of the page.
CLS stands for Cumulative Layout Shift. It measures unexpected movement of elements on the page. For example, text may shift because an image or advertisement loads late.
FID stands for First Input Delay. It was the previous interaction metric and has now been replaced by INP in Core Web Vitals.
TTFB stands for Time to First Byte. It is the time required for the browser to receive the first byte from the server. It is affected by hosting, caching, server configuration and backend optimization.
FCP stands for First Contentful Paint. It is the moment when the first visible element appears on the screen.
PageSpeed Insights is a Google tool for checking speed and Core Web Vitals. It displays laboratory data and real data from the Chrome User Experience Report when sufficient information is available.
Lighthouse is a tool for analysing performance, accessibility, best practices and SEO. It is used in Chrome DevTools and PageSpeed Insights.
Caching means storing a ready-made version of a page or resource so that it loads faster. WordPress websites often use plugins such as WP Rocket.
CDN stands for Content Delivery Network. It is a network of servers that delivers files from a location closer to the user. A CDN helps improve speed and stability.
WebP is a modern image format that often provides a smaller file size than JPEG and PNG while maintaining good quality.
AVIF is an even more modern image format with strong compression. It is not always suitable for every project, but it is becoming increasingly popular.
Content SEO is the optimization of content. The goal is for the text to answer the user’s search, cover the topic sufficiently well and guide the user towards the next logical step.
Helpful content is content created primarily for people, not only for search engines. It answers the question clearly, demonstrates experience, provides real value and does not exist only to capture traffic.
E-E-A-T stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness. It is not a single scoring factor, but a framework for assessing the quality and reliability of content.
YMYL stands for Your Money or Your Life. These are topics that can affect health, finances, safety or important life decisions. Google expects a higher level of accuracy, trust and expertise for these topics.
Semantic SEO is optimization that focuses not only on one keyword, but also on topics, concepts, the relationships between them and user intent.
An entity is a clearly recognizable object, person, place, brand, organization, product or concept. For example, “Google”, “SeoWebDesign”, “SEO optimization” and “WordPress” are entities.
NLP stands for Natural Language Processing. These are technologies used to process natural language and help search engines understand the meaning of text rather than only individual words.
Information gain means additional informational value. If your page says the same thing as all competitors, there is little reason for it to be preferred. Add experience, examples, data, methodology, comparisons and real observations.
Content decay is the decline in content performance over time. Causes may include outdated information, stronger competitors, changes in intent or new SERP elements.
Evergreen content remains useful for a long period of time. An SEO glossary is evergreen content, but it must be updated regularly because terminology and practices change.
Thin content is weak, short or superficial content with no real value. Such pages struggle to rank sustainably.
Duplicate content is repeated content. With internal duplication, the cause is often technical: categories, tags, filters, parameters, print versions or similar product pages.
Keyword cannibalization occurs when several pages from the same website compete for the same intent.
For example, the SEO glossary should not aggressively target “SEO optimization prices” or “SEO agency”, because these are money queries for the main services. It should target “SEO terms”, “SEO glossary”, “what is canonical”, “what is crawling” and similar informational queries.
A content brief is an assignment for creating content. It includes the keyword, intent, structure, internal links, main subtopics, competitor analysis and CTA.
Content pruning means removing, merging or applying noindex to weak content. The goal is to make the website higher quality and more focused.
A content refresh is the updating of existing content. It includes new terms, current data, better structure, new internal links and the removal of outdated claims.
Off-page SEO includes factors outside the website: links, brand mentions, PR, citations, reputation and external signals. For more information, read our complete Off-Page SEO guide.
A backlink is an incoming link from another website to yours. High-quality backlinks remain an important authority signal.
A referring domain is a unique domain that links to the website. One domain may provide many links, but the number of unique domains is often more important than the total number of links.
Link equity is the value that a link may pass to another page. It depends on the authority, relevance, placement and type of the link.
PageRank is Google’s original algorithmic model for evaluating links between pages. The public PageRank toolbar no longer exists, but the concept of link signals remains important.
Dofollow is an informal term for a normal link without a nofollow, sponsored or UGC attribute. Technically, there is no rel="dofollow", but the term is widely used in SEO practice.
A nofollow link is a link with rel="nofollow". It suggests to Google that the link should not pass the standard signal in the same way as a normal link.
A sponsored link is a link with rel="sponsored". It is used for paid, advertising or sponsored links.
A UGC link is a link with rel="ugc". UGC stands for user-generated content. It is used in comments, forums and user-created content.
An anchor profile is the collection of anchor texts used by links pointing to the website. A healthy profile includes branded, URL, generic, topical and partial-match anchors.
Toxic links are low-quality or spam links that may cause harm or at least create risk. Not every weak link is a problem, but large-scale spam schemes, PBN networks and irrelevant paid links are risky.
Disavow is a Google tool used to submit links that you do not want Google to take into account. It should be used carefully, mainly in serious cases involving unnatural links.
Link building is the process of acquiring high-quality inbound links. A good strategy includes relevance, genuine websites, natural anchor texts and content that deserves to be cited.
Digital PR is the process of gaining visibility, mentions and links through news, campaigns, expert opinions, analyses, data and media publications.
A brand mention is a reference to the brand without necessarily including a link. Mentions help with recognition and may serve as a trust signal.
A citation is a mention of a business name, address and phone number in directories, maps, catalogues and local websites. It is important for Local SEO.
A guest post is a publication on another website. It may be useful when it is high quality, relevant and editorially justified. Large-scale guest posting schemes are risky.
PBN stands for Private Blog Network. It is a network of websites created mainly for link manipulation. PBN practices are risky.
A link farm is a group of low-quality websites that exist primarily to exchange or sell links. This is a spam practice.
Parasite SEO is a practice in which the authority of a strong external domain is used to rank content that often has no genuine connection to the website’s main topic. Google treats similar abuse as site reputation abuse.
Local SEO is optimization for local searches. It is suitable for businesses with a physical address or a specific service area, such as clinics, lawyers, restaurants, repair services, shops, construction services and others.
If you want visibility in a specific city or region, see our Local SEO service.
Google Business Profile is the business profile displayed in Google Maps and local results. It was previously called Google My Business.
The Local Pack is the block containing a map and local results in Google. It usually displays several businesses, ratings, addresses, opening hours and contact buttons.
Map Pack is another term for the Local Pack.
NAP stands for Name, Address and Phone. These details should be consistent across the website, Google Business Profile and local citations.
A local citation is a mention of the business in local directories, maps, catalogues, media and partner websites.
Reviews are customer opinions. They influence trust, CTR and local visibility.
Proximity means closeness. In local search, Google considers the distance between the user and the business.
Relevance means how well the business matches the user’s search.
Prominence means the visibility or authority of the business. It is influenced by reviews, citations, links, mentions and the overall online presence.
A Service Area Business is a business that serves customers within a particular area without necessarily receiving customers at a physical location. Examples include repair services, cleaning services and courier services.
A location page is a page for a specific city, area or office. It should provide real value rather than being an automatically duplicated page with only the city name changed.
Ecommerce SEO is the optimization of online stores. It includes categories, products, filters, canonical tags, schema markup, product descriptions, internal links, breadcrumbs, speed and the management of out-of-stock products.
If you are planning a new store, the SEO architecture should be established during the online store development stage.
A category page is a page grouping related products. In online stores, categories often generate the largest amount of SEO traffic because they answer searches such as “men’s shoes”, “children’s bicycles” or “Lenovo laptops”.
A product page should contain a unique description, price, availability, images, specifications, reviews, internal links and structured data.
Product variants are versions of the same product, such as size, colour, material, package and others. A decision must be made about whether the variants will have separate URLs or remain on one page.
SKU is an internal product code. It is used for inventory management, catalogues and product data.
GTIN is a global trade item number. It includes EAN, UPC and other codes. It is useful for product feeds and commerce systems.
A product feed is a file containing product data that is submitted to Google Merchant Center, Meta, marketplace platforms or comparison websites.
Google Merchant Center is a platform for managing product data for Google Shopping, free listings and advertising campaigns.
Out of stock means that a product is unavailable. From an SEO perspective, a decision must be made about whether the page should remain active, offer alternatives, be redirected or be removed.
Faceted filters are filters based on product attributes. They are useful for users, but may create serious SEO problems if they generate large numbers of indexed duplicate pages.
Sort parameters are parameters for sorting by price, popularity, new products and other criteria. They usually should not create separate indexed pages.
Pagination SEO is the optimization of paginated pages. It is important for Google to be able to reach the products and understand the relationship between the pages.
A collection page contains selected products based on a topic, season, campaign or user intent. Examples include “Christmas gifts”, “summer dresses” and “home office equipment”.
Google Search Console is a free Google tool for analysing organic performance. It displays clicks, impressions, CTR, average position, indexing, Core Web Vitals, sitemaps, manual actions and other data.
Google Analytics 4 is a tool for analysing user behaviour, events, conversions and channels. It is used to understand what users do after entering the website.
Impressions are the number of times the website is shown in search results.
Clicks are the visits from the results to the website.
CTR stands for Click-Through Rate. It is the percentage of clicks compared with impressions. If a page has many impressions but a low CTR, it may need a better title and meta description.
Average position is the average ranking shown in Google Search Console. It is an approximate metric because positions change according to location, device, personalization and result type.
A landing page is the first page that a user visits. In SEO analysis, it is important to determine which landing pages generate traffic, enquiries and sales.
A conversion is a desired action such as a submitted enquiry, purchase, phone call, registration, file download or another action.
Conversion rate is the percentage of visitors who complete the desired action.
Organic revenue is revenue generated from organic traffic. It is especially important for online stores.
Rank tracking is the monitoring of keyword positions. It is useful, but should not be viewed in isolation from traffic, conversions and business performance.
Ahrefs is an SEO tool for analysing links, keywords, competitors, content and organic traffic.
Semrush is an SEO and marketing platform for keywords, competitors, technical audits, content marketing and PPC analysis.
Screaming Frog is a crawler used for technical SEO audits. It checks URLs, title tags, meta descriptions, status codes, canonical tags, hreflang, schema, internal links and other elements.
Looker Studio is a tool for visual reports. It is often used for SEO dashboards containing data from Search Console, GA4 and other sources.
AI Overviews are AI-generated answers in Google Search that summarize information and display links to sources. For websites, this means that content should be clear, structured, useful and reliable. See more information in our article about the differences between AEO, GEO and SEO.
AI Mode is an AI search experience in Google where users can ask more complex questions and receive synthesized answers. Traditional SEO principles remain important: accessible content, a strong technical foundation, clarity, expertise and trust.
GEO stands for Generative Engine Optimization. It is optimization for visibility in generative search engines and AI answers. GEO does not replace SEO, but builds on it.
AEO stands for Answer Engine Optimization. It is the optimization of content so that it answers specific questions clearly. It is suitable for featured snippets, People Also Ask, voice search and AI answers.
LLMO stands for Large Language Model Optimization. The term is used for optimizing content and brand presence so that large language models understand, cite or extract correct information about a topic, company or product.
AI Search is a form of search where artificial intelligence summarizes, rearranges or synthesizes information rather than simply displaying a list of links.
Query fan-out is a technique where an AI search system breaks one complex query into multiple subqueries. This means that content should cover not only the main keyword, but also related subtopics.
A featured snippet is a short answer that Google displays above or around the organic results. It is often taken from a page that provides a clear, structured answer.
People Also Ask is a block containing additional questions in Google. It is a useful source for content briefs, FAQ sections and AEO optimization.
A zero-click search is a search where the user receives the answer directly in the SERP and does not click through to a website. This is important for glossaries, definitions, short facts and AI answers.
Voice search is searching through spoken queries. It often uses longer, more conversational phrases. It is suitable for optimization through clear answers written in natural language.
llms.txt is a proposed file through which websites can provide guidance to AI systems. At present, it should not be treated as a replacement for robots.txt, sitemaps, schema or standard SEO optimization.
AI-generated content is content created with the help of artificial intelligence. It is not a problem by itself when it is useful, verified, edited and created for people. The problem is mass-produced, unverified and unhelpful content created only for ranking.
Human review means human editing and verification. With AI content, this is critical because models may generate inaccuracies, fabricated facts or generic wording.
Meta keywords is an old meta tag for keywords. Today, it has no practical value for Google SEO and should not be a focus of optimization.
Keyword density is the percentage of times a keyword appears in a text. It was used mechanically in the past, but today it is more important for content to cover the topic naturally and fully.
Sandbox is an old SEO term for a supposed period during which new websites struggle to rank. It should not be used as a certain explanation for every slow result. With new websites, the cause is usually a combination of low authority, limited content, a lack of links, technical weaknesses and the time required for crawling.
Supplemental index is an old term from earlier years of Google. Today, it is not useful as a practical SEO diagnosis.
An exact-match domain is a domain that matches a keyword. For example, seo-optimizaciya.bg. Such a domain does not guarantee rankings by itself. Content, technical implementation, the brand and authority are more important.
Directory submission means adding a website to directories. It was once a popular link-building practice. Today, mass submission to low-quality directories is a weak or risky tactic. It makes sense only for genuine, relevant, local or industry directories.
Article spinning is the automated rewriting of texts in order to generate many versions. This is a low-quality and risky practice.
Doorway pages are pages created only to rank for keyword variations and redirect the user. Examples include dozens of almost identical pages for different cities with no real local value.
Cloaking means showing different content to search engines and users in order to manipulate rankings. It violates Google’s guidelines.
Hidden text is content placed for search engines but made invisible to users. Examples include white text on a white background or text placed outside the visible screen. This is a spam practice.
A link scheme is a method of manipulating rankings through unnatural links. Examples include unlabelled paid links, PBN networks, large-scale exchanges and automated links.
Site reputation abuse is the misuse of the authority of a strong website by publishing irrelevant or low-quality third-party content primarily for ranking purposes.
Scaled content abuse is the mass creation of content to manipulate rankings, regardless of whether it is generated with AI, automation or cheap human labour.
The SEO glossary has several important functions:
It is important for this article to remain a glossary and educational resource. The main commercial queries such as “SEO optimization price”, “SEO agency”, “SEO services” and “SEO audit price” should remain the focus of the relevant money pages.
If you read these terms and realize that the problem is not limited to one setting, you probably need a more systematic approach. SEO includes strategy, technical work, content, links, analysis and continuous maintenance.
You can begin with:
SEO terminology changes, but the fundamental logic remains the same: the website must be technically accessible, useful to people, clear to search engines and sufficiently authoritative within its topic.
In 2026, a strong SEO strategy is no longer limited to keywords and links. It includes technical stability, high-quality content, genuine expertise, structured data, strong speed performance, local visibility, ecommerce architecture and adaptation to AI search.
To achieve sustainable rankings, begin with the correct structure, accurate terminology and a clear strategy.
