Explain the most important terms of SEO

This is the first lesson of the SEO guide , in which I will address a group of the most important and famous terms used in SEO.

Each term will be covered in English, translated into , and defined in a simple and easy-to-understand manner.

Understanding the terminology is a very important element when learning anything new. Your knowledge of the terms used in SEO and understanding their meanings will help you understand the components of SEO, and it will facilitate your understanding in the next lessons.

The most important and famous SEO terminology

SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

This is the main topic we're talking about throughout the entire guide. This term means search engine optimization, or website configuration and optimization for search engines, and it is also referred to in  by the word SEO for short.

SEO includes every change made by the website owner or those in charge of it, to help search engines crawl, understand and index the site, and the ultimate purpose of SEO is to get a better ranking in the search results.

Search Engines

which are computer programs owned by private companies such as Google, Yahoo and Bing. These companies provide a search service on the Internet. Through special programs, you collect data on all web pages on the Internet, and then provide the visitor with results from these sites when writing any search word.

Content

 and it refers to everything on any web page for the purpose of providing information to the user. The content can be textual content, and include any written word or sentence that appears to the user.

The content can also be audible as an audio file, or as visual as pictures and videos. It is worth noting here that content is one of the most important factors for ranking results in search engines.

The better the content of a web page, the greater the chance of that page appearing in the initial results.

Crawler

 and it is a specialized program used by search engines. This program constantly visits web pages to collect data, in order to index these pages.

It monitors every new webpage on the Internet, and it also monitors the updates that take place on the web pages. To add it to the search engine's indexing database. Also called Bot or Spider.

Crawl

 which is the process of visiting webpages around the Internet. To access new pages and updated pages, for the purpose of indexing them. Crawling is done by following links in the first place.

Index

 and it is the database of the search engine, which contains data for every web page that has been indexed by the search engine. It is the source for displaying search results in every search.

Algorithms

and it is a set of operations that take place through a computer program, with the aim of appearing search results and arranging them in the best and most appropriate way for the user.

Whenever you type any keyword in the Google search engine, for example, the program begins to perform algorithms according to predefined factors, to show the results in front of the user in a specific order.

Ranking Factors

and it is a set of criteria that search engines use to evaluate every web page. Google search engine once announced that it uses more than 200 factors to determine which pages appear first in search results.

Search engine algorithms rely on these ranking factors in their operations, in order to produce and rank search results for each keyword.

Keyword

and it is a word, words, or phrase (Key phrase) that the SEO specialist targets on a webpage, with the purpose of appearing in the search results for that word.

The keywords are extracted based on the user's usage rate.

Query

 and it is a word, words or sentence that a search engine user writes to search for it. Whether or not the search phrase is a question, for the search engine its job is to provide its answers to Query.

It is worth noting here that query and keyword are two sides of the same coin. As a website owner, you must know the search word that the user is using, and then target it as a keyword on one of your pages, in order to appear in the search results for this search word (the keyword).

White Hat

 and it is a term that is used to express legitimate SEO strategies.

White hat people respect the rules and laws of search engines, and try to reach the first results without circumventing these laws.

There is also an associated term called Black Hat, which means black hat, which is the exact opposite of a white hat. Another term called Gray Hat means gray hat, and his companions use a strategy that combines legitimate and illegal practices together.

Backlink

and it is a link on a website that points to your site or to one of your pages.

Your site gets a backlink when a site owner puts a link to one of your site’s pages, as a reference, for example, to important content on your site. Backlink is an important factor that shows the importance of your site.

Internal Link

which is a link to one of your site's pages that points to another page within your site as well. Internal links are a very important element for every website, as they are used to link to pages that talk about related topics.

There is another similar term called External Link, which means external link. It is a link to your site that points to a page on another site.

Anchor Text

and it is the text used as the link on any web page. You can convert any text on your site to a link, by adding a specific code or by inserting a link in WordPress.

On-Page SEO

It means internal SEO, and it represents every change within web pages, for the purpose of obtaining better results in search engines, such as improving the quality of the content of the web page.

There is another related term called Off-Page SEO, which means external SEO, and it represents all activity outside web pages, with the aim of obtaining better results in search engines, such as publishing website links on social networks.

Responsive Website

Responsive website, the term given to websites that have a design that is responsive to all devices. The responsive website works well on all screen sizes for computers, mobiles and tablets as well.

Sitemap

Means a site map. It is a file written in a language called XML, which is added to the root of your site. This file contains links to all pages of your site. The purpose of this file is to help search engines get to your site well and then index it.

User Experience

Means the visitor experience, abbreviated to UX. A term expressing a visitor's experience with the site, which gives him a sense of satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the site. It is worth noting that search engines give the visitor's experience a special importance when evaluating the site.

Above the Fold

Means the visible part of the page. A term for the portion of a webpage that appears to the user immediately after it has been loaded. That is, before the visitor moves the content (Scroll).

It is very important to examine this part well in your site, on all screen sizes, because it forms a large part of the visitor's experience on your site.

HTML

Short for Hypertext Markup Language, it is the primary programming language for every website. This language is used to refer to important elements on your site through special code tags called (HTML tags), which help improve your site for search engines. 

Alt Attribute

HTML code used to present information about images by typing descriptive text. This text helps search engines and the blind to understand the images on your site.

Google Analytics

It is a tool for analyzing websites, this tool is affiliated with Google and is completely free for every website owner. This tool enables you to know a lot of analytical and graphical information about your site, such as the number of daily visitors, the source of these visitors, the geographical location, and the type of device used. And there is a lot of other data that this great tool provides.

Bounce Rate

Means the bounce rate, and it is a term used to express the percentage of your visitors who leave the site, without moving to another page within the site.