Search engine optimization (SEO) involves making changes to web pages and content to improve visibility in organic search engine results. Key SEO terms include ranking, which refers to a listing's position in search results; search engine results pages (SERPs) which display organic and paid search listings; and bots, crawlers or spiders which index website content for search engines. White hat SEO tactics optimize websites for both people and search engines through best practices like useful content, while black hat techniques try to manipulate rankings through deceitful or unethical means.

1. Frequently Used SEO Terms
Made Simple
Mohamed Salama

2. INDEX
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Ranking
Search Engine Page Results (SERP)
Black Hat SEO
Bot, crawler or spider
Destination Page
Internal Links
Meta Description
Meta Keywords
ALT Text
Anchor Text
Algorithm
XML Sitemap
Title Element
Web Spam Or Spam
White Hat

3. The practice of making changes to
web pages, content, and the
promotion of that crafted content in
order to improve visibility in organic
- or unpaid - search engine results.
Search engine optimization
(SEO)
1

4. Ranking – A listing’s position on a search engine
results page
Ranking
2

5. A list of results appearing in a search engine in
response to a person’s search query. SERPs contain
organic results as well as paid ads.
Search engine results page (SERP)
3

6. A program that browses & indexes
content on the internet. This data
is then used to help search
engines deliver relevant search
results.
E.g. “When I launched my website,
I made sure that the pages were
visible to search engine bots, so
they could index my pages.”
Bot, crawler or spider
4

7. The page being linked to from another page. E.g. “If
you click the link to ‘Gallery’, you’ll see a destination
page full of images of our fruits and vegetables.”
Destination Page
5

8. Links from one page to
another page within
the same website.
Internal Links
6

9. A snippet of text in a web page’s code that
describes the content of the page, and is used as
the website’s description in a search engine results
page. E.g. “I write meta descriptions for each page
of my website in case the search engine displays the
page in the search results.”
Meta Description
7

10. A short list of words that describe
the content of a webpage. These
aren’t used by search engines.
Meta Keywords
8

11. The title of a web page as indicated in the HTML.
Also often used as the title of your page in a search
engine results page. E.g. “I pay careful attention to
the title element of my web pages, to help search
engines understand what the pages are about.”
Title Element
9

12. Techniques that are used by some
websites to try and cheat their way
to the top of search results, for
example repeating keywords and
paying other sites to link to yours.
This is considered bad practice
because truly relevant websites get
buried in the results. E.g. “I
received email offers to rank first in
Google search results but have
turned them down because the
techniques used are spam.”
Web Spam Or Spam
10

13. Tactics that optimize web pages for people, not for
search engines. This is done by following best
practices for creating good content and increasing
search visibility. E.g. “I only use white hat tactics to
help search engines find my website.”
White Hat
11

14. A set of rules used by
computers to solve problems.
Search engines use algorithms
to determine the rankings on a
search results page.
Algorithm
12

15. A list of all the web pages that make up your site.
This helps search engines to understand your
website. E.g. “Adding a sitemap helped search
engines understand the pages on my website.”
XML sitemap
13

16. The clickable text that forms part
of a hyperlink. For example, if
clicking ‘Photo gallery’ on a
webpage takes you to
‘www.mywebsite.com/images’,
then ‘photo gallery’ is the anchor
text.
Anchor text
14

17. A word or phrase that describes the content of an
image. This is displayed if an image is not loaded,
and it also helps search engines to index a page.
E.g. “The homepage of my website features an
image of a fruit and vegetable garden. I included
ALT text ‘fruit and vegetables’ to describe it.”
ALT Text
15

18. Manipulative or deceptive
SEO tactics that optimize
websites for search engines,
not for people. E.g. “I was
especially careful to avoid
any black hat SEO
techniques; I didn’t want to
hurt the ranking of my
website in search engines.”
Black hat
16

19. THANK YOUDon’t forget to share this with friends & colleagues!