Have you ever listened to a conversation at a networking event but understood virtually none of the words being used? 

Specialized industries often create a particular language set and jargon pattern that can be almost unrecognizable to outsiders, leaving you both scratching your head and sitting out of the conversation. 

SEO, or search engine optimization, is no different. 

There is a long list of SEO-specific terminology, definitions, and abbreviations that can be difficult to understand and keep track of. 

However, it’s essential as a digital marketer to be able to comprehend SEO content and keep on top of new terms. 

This article will help you master SEO language and stay at the top of your online marketing game by explaining 18 SEO terms that every marketer from beginners to experts should know.

#7: Backlinks

Backlinks are links on a different site that point back to your site. 

They are very important in an SEO strategy as they boost your brand’s authority and provide proof to search engines that your site is a thought leader in your space.

#8: Conversions & Conversion Rate

A conversion is an action that a website visitor takes like making a purchase, completing a form, downloading an ebook, watching a video, subscribing to a podcast, or adding items to a cart. 

Your conversion rate tracks how often a visitor takes a desired action.

Optimizing your conversions and improving your conversion rate helps search engines know that people find your content or offers valuable enough to take actions, which in turn will help increase your search engine rankings.

#9: Crawling

Crawling is a term used to describe the algorithm or robots that read through the textual and visual content on your web pages. 

Crawlers will go through billions of pages to update, add, rank, and organize them within a search engine database.

#10: Domain Authority

Domain authority is a measure of the overall strength of your website developed by the software company, Moz. 

The higher your domain authority is, the more likely you are to rank high on search engine results. 

The domain authority evaluates several different factors to calculate a score from 1 to 100.

But domain authority isn’t officially used by Google’s algorithm, which confuses a lot of folks just getting started. It’s really just a third-party metric—think of it as a useful guideline and not a guarantee of search engine love. Still, most SEO professionals keep an eye on these scores because they tend to align with real-world results more often than not.

Of course, there are always exceptions. You might see a brand new site with a low DA ranking well because it’s incredibly relevant for a niche search or it catches a viral wave—quirky stuff happens in digital marketing all the time. And just to add more fun to the mix, competitors love to chase these numbers, so people sometimes fixate on DA like it’s some kind of badge of honor, when really, it’s just one piece of a much bigger puzzle.

#11: Featured Snippet

A featured snippet is a SERP feature that displays the top-ranking web page’s content in special formats at the top of a search result page. 

These allow users who have entered a search query to read the results of their search without having to click on any hyperlinks. 

Featured snippets appear in one of four forms: 

• Paragraph
• List
• Table
• Video

#12: Headings

Your site’s headings are the HTML structure used to structure the content within your web pages to help both users and search engines understand the context behind your content organization. 

Starting with H1s for titles and going down with H2s, H3s, and even H4s-H6s, these tags help to structure your content in hierarchies. 

This makes content more readable with subheadings and category titles as well as helping search engines understand the levels of importance in your content.

#13: Keywords

Keywords are the word, words, or phrases that users type into search engines. 

These are the building blocks of content strategy, as these are the terms and words you want your pages to rank for on search engine results pages. 

Optimizing each page of your site with different keywords will help you be found for multiple topics and gain a wide range of authority in the eyes of the algorithms.

#14: Meta Description

A meta description is a short summary of the content of a page. 

It is often displayed as a subtitle under the H1 tag on search engines. 

Meta descriptions can include important keywords and work as additional tools to attract the attention of visitors and draw them to your site.

#15: PPC Advertising

Pay-per-click, or PPC, advertising is a method of digital advertising that uses an auction-type format to help improve ad visibility. 

When placing a PPC ad, you compete against your competitors to have your ads appear higher on search results. 

They are called pay-per-click since you only pay for the ad when a user clicks on it.

#16: RSS Feed

RSS is an SEO term that stands for “really simple syndication”. 

Most commonly found as an RSS feed, it is a subscription-based format for receiving new content. 

For example, an RSS feed for your blog or newsletter will automatically update your subscribers when new posts are published.

#17: SERP

SERP, or search engine results page, is the page that populates after you’ve entered a search query into a search engine. 

The page will display the top-ranking results for your search term as well as other helpful information like featured snippets, related images, related searches, shopping results, and advertisements.

#18: Sitemap

A sitemap is a list of all the pages of a website. 

This document can be submitted to search engines to make it easier for the search algorithms to index and map all the pages on your site. 

An updated sitemap lets search engines know about new pages and any updates to your internal website structure.

Wrap Up: Recognizing SEO Terms is an Essential part of Being a Digital Marketer

After all, a strong SEO strategy is necessary to be found online and ensure that your brand isn’t being left at the bottom of the search results page.

If you are a digital marketer who wants to improve your SEO strategy, look no further. 

Our interactive SEO maturity assessment will help you see where your SEO currently stands on the maturity scale and help you understand how to grow and take your SEO plan — and your brand — to the next level.

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