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Glossary

Glossary of Common SEO Copywriting Terms

Never heard of an algorithm? Is the difference between “crawling” and “indexing” giving you a headache?

Not to worry. I can explain it all in easy-to-follow terms when we chat about your business needs. In the meantime, here’s a quick glossary of terms that are commonly used in the world of SEO copywriting.


Algorithm: A mathematical formula the search engines use to prioritize web pages when responding to search queries. Back to Top


Alt Tag: The text used to describe what an image is about when it can’t be seen. Alt (or alternative) tags were originally created to help blind web users, and are also used as part of search engine content strategies to help crawlers “read” images on a web page. Back to Top


Backlinks: A hyperlink on another website that leads to a page on your website (internal links within your own domain, while important, don’t count). These are one of the most important goals of an effective SEO copywriting strategy: the more you have, the higher your site will rank in search engine results. They’re also called “incoming links” and “inbound links.” Back to Top


Conversions: Conversions is just a fancy word for getting people to do exactly what you want them to do on your website. Depending on your business goals, it could be anything from signing up for your e-newsletter to clicking the “buy now” button. Back to Top


Crawlers: Crawlers—also known as robots, bots, spiders and web crawlers—are web programs that methodically scour the internet to index web pages. Back to Top


Directories: One of the only parts of SEO that involves real people. Web directories (such as DMOZ.org) are listings of web pages reviewed and catalogued by humans. Back to Top


Headings: Same as a headline, but even more powerful. In web copywriting, killer headings not only grab your readers’ attention, but also help search engines determine when your pages are relevant to specific keyphrases. Back to Top


Indexing: When crawlers visit pages on the web, they “read” the information on those pages and catalogue data in a massive index (think of it as an enormous digital version of an old-school library card catalogue). Then, when someone searches for a keyphrase, the most relevant web pages are taken from the index and presented in search engine results. Back to Top


Keyphrase: A combination of words people are typing into search engines to find products or services online. These are more important than keywords in SEO copywriting strategy. (For instance, let’s say you own a bakery in Dallas. Which is more likely to lead customers to your site: a keyword like “cupcake,” or a keyphrase like “fresh cupcakes in Dallas, TX”?) Back to Top


Landing Page: A web page that’s used to point customers to specific product or service pages on your website. Landing pages usually come in the form of advertisements that track user behavior, but homepages are often considered landing pages as well. Back to Top


Link Bait: Articles, videos, press releases, whitepapers, graphics, surveys and all kinds of other materials created with the sole purpose of getting high-quality, relevant backlinks. Back to Top


Meta Description Tag: The meta description is a paragraph inserted into your website’s code to tell potential visitors what each web page is about; it often appears along with your title tag in the search engine results. While it may not have a huge impact on your search engine ranking, it can influence whether someone decides to click through to your website. Back to Top


Organic SEO: Any part of an SEO campaign that does not involve paid advertising. Back to Top


PPC: Pay-per-click (also called cost-per-click, or CPC) advertising means a business pays each time a user clicks on an ad to visit the company’s website. Many businesses use it to test new keyphrases, or to give an extra boost to organic SEO copywriting strategy. Back to Top


SERP: It’s just an acronym for “search engine results pages.” When you type a keyphrase into Google or Bing, you immediately see the first SERP—a list of the top ten web pages the engine deems relevant to your search query. Back to Top


SEO: Search engine optimization. (Hey, there are still plenty of folks who don’t know what the acronym actually stands for.) It involves a variety of tactics—including SEO copywriting—to help websites rank higher in search engines and attract more customers. Back to Top


Title Tag: This is simply the title of each page on your site. It appears at the top of your browser, and is the first description people see in search engine results. Back to Top


Web Copy: A style of online writing that’s intended to make sales and increase conversions. Back to Top


Web Content: Website writing that informs. Web content typically refers to the text used in articles, blog posts, FAQs, educational web pages and….da da dum: glossaries! Back to Top

Has someone in the SEO world used another phrase you don’t see? Email me your SEO copywriting question and I’ll answer it here.