Definitions are starting points for diagnosis. A tool may apply narrower counting rules, so keep its documentation beside any exported metric.
Search and technical terms
- SEO
- Search engine optimization: work to help relevant content be discovered, understood and useful in organic search.
- SERP
- Search engine results page: an interface containing results and potentially answers, media or other features.
- Crawl
- Request resources from a site as part of discovering or processing content.
- Crawler
- Software that systematically requests URLs, often following links and other discovery sources.
- Rendering
- Processing a page and its resources, potentially including JavaScript, into a representation of its content and layout.
- Indexing
- Processing and storing information so a search system can consider it for retrieval; fetching alone does not ensure inclusion.
- Canonical
- The representative URL selected for duplicate or substantially similar content; a declared preference can differ from the search engine selection.
- robots.txt
- A file that communicates crawl rules to compliant crawlers. It is not a reliable mechanism for removing a URL from an index.
- noindex
- An indexing directive requesting exclusion from search results when the crawler can access and read it.
- XML sitemap
- A structured list of URLs and optional metadata that helps discovery; it does not guarantee crawling or indexing.
- Redirect
- A response or mechanism that sends a request or visitor from one URL to another.
- 301
- An HTTP status indicating a permanent move to another URL.
- 302
- An HTTP status indicating a temporary redirect.
- 404
- An HTTP status indicating that the requested resource was not found.
- Backlink
- A link from another website to a page on the site being examined.
- Referring domain
- A domain from which one or more backlinks are observed, under the tool’s counting rules.
- Anchor text
- The visible text associated with a hyperlink.
- nofollow
- A link relationship qualifier; Google treats it as a hint about handling the link, not a guaranteed barrier to discovery.
- sponsored
- A link relationship qualifier identifying advertising or paid placement.
- UGC
- User-generated content; the ugc link qualifier identifies links in contexts such as comments or forum posts.
- Internal link
- A link between pages within the same website.
- Orphan page
- A page without discoverable internal links in the site scope being examined; tools can miss links, so confirm the diagnosis.
- Search intent
- The inferred task or need behind a query, which may be ambiguous or change with context.
- Keyword
- A word or phrase used to describe or target a search topic; a user’s actual query may differ.
- Long-tail query
- A query in the lower-frequency portion of a demand distribution; length alone does not define it.
- CTR
- Click-through rate: clicks divided by impressions for a defined population.
- Impression
- Exposure counted according to a platform’s visibility and aggregation rules.
- Conversion
- A defined valuable action, such as completing a task or purchase, measured according to the site’s setup.
- Structured data
- Machine-readable statements about content, often embedded in a page; correct markup does not guarantee a special search appearance.
- Schema
- A vocabulary or structure for describing data. Schema.org provides shared types and properties used in structured data.
- Content cannibalization
- Potentially harmful overlap where multiple pages compete to serve essentially the same search task without a useful distinction; shared keywords alone are not proof.
- Core Web Vitals
- User-experience metrics covering loading (LCP), responsiveness (INP) and visual stability (CLS).
- DA
- Domain Authority, a proprietary Moz score; not a Google ranking metric.
- DR
- Domain Rating, a proprietary Ahrefs backlink-profile metric; not a Google ranking metric.
- TF
- Trust Flow, a proprietary Majestic metric focused on link quality within its model; not a Google ranking metric.
- CF
- Citation Flow, a proprietary Majestic link-influence metric; not a Google ranking metric.
- Search Console
- Google’s tool for verified site owners to inspect reported search performance, indexing and related diagnostics.
Use the terms in context
Follow the diagnostic stages for a practical investigation, or compare measures in SEO Metrics Explained. Technical references include Google’s link-qualification guidance, Core Web Vitals documentation and Schema.org’s vocabulary overview.