BASIC SEO TERMS

2024-2025
 BASICS OF SEO
KEYWORDS
A word or phrase in the content of your web pages that matches the words and phrases users
are entering into search engines as closely as possible. The idea is to speak the same language
as users when they make their search queries so you rank higher in their organic search results
based on relevance.

Important Types of Keywords for SEO

1. Short Tail Keywords
• Short tail keywords are usually 1-2 words long and very broad.
• They have high search volume but are very competitive, meaning many websites use
them, making it hard to rank high on search engine results pages (SERPs).
• Example: Shoes, Laptops
2. Mid Tail Keywords
• Mid tail keywords are a bit more specific than short tail keywords.
• They are usually 2-3 words long and have moderate search volume and competition.
They narrow down the search a bit more, making it easier to rank for them compared
to short tail keywords.
• Example: Running shoes, Gaming laptops
3. Long Tail Keywords
• Long tail keywords are longer phrases, usually 4 or more words, that are very specific.
• They have lower search volume but less competition.
• They target a very specific audience looking for exactly what you offer.
• Example: Best running shoes for flat feet, Affordable gaming laptops under ₹50,000
4. LSI Keywords (Latent Semantic Indexing)
• LSI keywords are related terms and phrases that help search engines understand the
context of your content.
• They are not synonyms but words that are commonly found together with your main
keyword.
• Using LSI keywords helps improve the relevance and depth of your content.
• Example: Athletic footwear, Jogging shoes, Sports sneakers
5. Branded Keywords
• Branded keywords include the name of a brand or company.

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 • These keywords are used when people search for a specific brand, indicating a higher
level of intent and brand recognition.
• Example: Nike running shoes, Apple laptops

What Are the Factors to Select Keywords?

1. Relevance
• Match Your Content: Choose keywords that accurately reflect the content of your
page.
• Target Audience Needs: Ensure the keywords address what your target audience is
looking for.
2. Search Volume
• High Search Volume: Look for keywords that are frequently searched for.
• Balance with Competition: High search volume is good, but it often comes with high
competition.
3. Competition
• Keyword Difficulty: Assess how hard it is to rank for a particular keyword.
• Competitor Analysis: Check which keywords your competitors are using and how
they rank.
4. Long Tail vs. Short Tail
• Long Tail Keywords: Use specific, longer phrases to target niche audiences.
• Short Tail Keywords: Use broad terms for wider reach but expect higher competition.
5. Location
• Local Keywords: Include location-specific keywords to target local audiences (e.g.,
Digital Marketing Course in Kochi).
• Regional Trends: Consider regional preferences and slang that might affect keyword
choice.

Main Keyword Research Tools

1. Google Keyword Planner
Google Keyword Planner is a free tool provided by Google Ads. It helps you find keywords
related to your business and see estimates of the searches they receive and the cost to target
them.
Features:

1) Search Volume and Forecasts: Provides data on how often keywords are searched and

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 forecasts future trends.
2) Keyword Suggestions: Generates related keyword ideas based on your input.
3) Cost-Per-Click (CPC) Data: Shows the estimated cost for ads targeting specific
keywords.
Example Use: Finding relevant keywords for a new product launch campaign by entering
product-related terms and analysing the suggested keywords.

2. Ubersuggest
Ubersuggest is a free tool that offers keyword suggestions, search volume data, and
competitive analysis. It's particularly useful for small businesses and individuals new to SEO.

Features:

1) Keyword Ideas: Generates keyword suggestions based on your input.

2) Search Volume and Competition Data: Shows how often keywords are searched and
how competitive they are.
3) Content Ideas: Provides ideas for content based on top-performing pages.

Example Use: Generating a list of keywords for a blog post about health and fitness by
entering broad terms and analyzing the suggested keywords.

How to Check Keyword Position?

• Keyword Ranking
Keyword ranking refers to a webpage's position in search engine results for a relevant
search query. When a user searches a term in Google or other search engines, the position
your webpage appears in is your keyword ranking.

• Page Ranking in SEO

SEO ranking (search engine optimization ranking) refers to a webpage's position in search
engines' organic search results for a given search query. If your page is higher in search
results, more people are likely to see it. Which means more people may visit your site.

- To manually check your website’s keyword position, first you can use the SEO Quack
extension. This method allows you to get precise insights into how your site ranks for
specific keywords in a page ranking format. Here’s a step-by-step guide.

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Step 1: Install the SEO Quack Extension. Download and Install

• Go to the Chrome Web Store page.

• Search for SEO Quack
• Click Add to Chrome to install the extension.
• Enable the SEO Quack Extension

Step 2: Activate SEO Quack

In the incognito or private window, click on the SEO Quack extension icon next to the
address bar to enable it.
• Ensure it is active and running for accurate data.
• Click Extension then manage extension

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• Click & then allow incognito

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 Step 3: Open a Private Window
• Open Incognito Mode in Chrome
• Click on the three dots in the upper right corner of your browser.
• Select New Incognito Window.

Using a private window ensures that your search results are not influenced by your
browsing history or personalized data. Use your country google extension (eg: for UAE-
use [Link]

Step 4: Add Location in Private Window

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Step 5: Set Your Location
• In the incognito or private window, open the SEO Quack extension.
• Search the google chrome extension (eg: [Link] )> In bottom right setting>
search setting> other settings> Language and region> result region> select
country in this to select india because firstly select [Link]
• This ensures that your search results are relevant to the specific location you
are targeting.

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Step 6 : Conduct a Keyword Search ( Perform a Search )
● Go to Google.
● Enter the keyword you want to check in the search bar and press Enter.
● Example: If you are checking for the keyword “Free Icons”, type it into the
search bar and hit Enter.

GOOGLE SEARCH ENGINE

Table below shows some Google Search Engine Country Extensions

Google Search Engine URL Country Served International Country

Code
[Link] USA US

[Link] Japan JP

[Link] United Kingdom UK

[Link] United Arab Emirates UAE

[Link] Spain ES

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Google Search Engine URL Country Served International Country
Code

[Link] Canada CA

[Link] Deutschland DE

[Link] Italia IT

[Link] France FR

[Link] Australia AU

[Link] Taiwan TW

[Link] Nederland NL

[Link] Brazil BR

[Link] Turkey TR

[Link] Belgium BE

[Link] Greece GR

[Link] India IN

[Link] Mexico MX

[Link] Denmark DK

[Link] Argentina AR

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 Google Search Engine URL Country Served International Country
Code

[Link] Switzerland CH

[Link] Chile CL

[Link] Austria AT

[Link] Korea KR

[Link] Ireland IE

[Link] Colombia CO

[Link] Poland PL

[Link] Portugal PT

[Link] Pakistan PK

Step 7: Analyze the Search Results

Review the Rankings
• SEO Quack will overlay information directly on the Google search results page.
• Look for your website in the search results and note its position.
• SEO Quack will provide additional insights such as page rank, number of backlinks,
and more.

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 SEO TECHNICAL TERMS
1) SERP ( SEARCH ENGINE RESULTS PAGE)

The definition of a Search Engine Results Page (SERP) is the page of results that is
displayed when a user inputs a search query. So, when you type in a keyword search to
[Link] for example, the resulting list of information is referred to as the SERP.

The snippet is a single search result in a set of search results and generally consists of a
title, a URL, and a description of the page. The content of a snippet matches parts of the
search query, and you'll see your keyword highlighted in the snippet description.

2) META TAGS

To complete an effective SEO, the meta description and titles, SEO product should be
written uniquely.

What is Meta Title?

The meta title is the main header the visitors will see when they search via the search
engine. This SEO title description is one of the most important thing that the search
engine will look for in determining your site's content and relevance.

• This plays an important role in defining your status on ranking in search results.
• The ideal length for the meta title is 50–60 characters.

What is Meta Description?

Meta description is a snippet that you see below the link of a search result. the main
purpose of this is to get the visitor to click on your link. Generally, to create click
throughs from SEO (search engine optimization). It acts as a strong marketing message
to encourage visitors to click on your website. For instance, we will search for "best SEO

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meta description examples", this result will appear.

• This plays an important role in defining your status on ranking in search results.
• The ideal length for the meta title is 150–160 characters.

3)ALT TAG

Also called alt tags and alt descriptions, alt text is the written copy that appears in
place of an image on a webpage if the image fails to load on a user's screen. This text
helps screen-reading tools describe images to visually impaired readers and allows
search engines to better crawl and rank your website.

4) [Link]

A robots. txt file contains instructions for bots that tell them which webpages they can
and cannot access. Robots. txt files are most relevant for web crawlers from search
engines like Google. This is used mainly to avoid overloading your site with requests.

User-agent: Googlebot
Disallow:
Page name: Page url
User-agent: *
Allow:/

How to check [Link] file

Crawlers will always look for your robots. txt file in the root of your website. Navigate
to your domain, and just add "/robots. txt".

eg: [Link]

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5) ANCHOR TXT

Anchor text — or link text — is the visible, clickable text of a link. It usually appears in
a different color than the surrounding text and is often underlined. Good link text tells
the reader what to expect if they click on the link.

6) HEADING TAG

An H1 tag is the HTML used to create the main title on a webpage and helps indicate
the page’s primary topic to visitors and search engines. It contains an opening <h1> tag,
the title text, and a closing </h1> tag. There are around 6 headings that define the
overall content structure in a webpage. These 6 headings are H1, H2, H3...H6. Each page
has only 1 H1 tag.

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7) URL

A Uniform Resource Locator (URL) is the web address that we enter into a browser to
access a web page. Many people will click a link to access your website directly.

What is URL Structure ?

A URL is an address on the internet. It’s made up of a protocol, domain name, and a
path.

8) SLUG

A slug is the part of a URL that identifies a particular page on a website in an easy-to-
read form. In other words, it’s the part of the URL that explains the page’s content. For
this article, for example, the URL is [Link] and the slug simply is ‘slug’.

9) BREADCRUMBS

A breadcrumb is a secondary navigation aid that improves customer experience by

helping users understand their location on a website or mobile application. A
breadcrumb is a small text path, often located at the top of a page, indicating where the
user is on the site.

10) KEYWORD DENSITY

The percentage of times a keyword appears on a webpage compared to the total

number of words on the page, used to optimize content for search engines.

11) FOCUS KEYPHRASE

A specific phrase that a webpage is optimized around, aimed at matching the exact
queries potential visitors use in search engines.

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12) PAGE SPEED

The amount of time it takes for a webpage to fully load, which affects user experience
and search engine rankings.

13) SCHEMA

A form of microdata that creates an enhanced description (rich snippet) that appears in
search results, helping search engines understand the content of a webpage.

What is Schema in SEO?

• In SEO, schema refers to a structured data vocabulary that helps search engines
understand the content of your website more effectively.
• By using schema markup (also known as structured data markup), you provide
additional information to search engines about your web pages, such as what a
page is about, what kind of content it contains, and how it should be presented
in search results.
• This enhances the appearance of your website in search engine results pages
(SERPs) by enabling rich snippets, knowledge panels, and other advanced search
features.

Schema markup is based on the vocabulary developed by [Link], which is a

collaborative project by major search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo, and Yandex.

Types of Schemas in SEO

There are various types of schema markup, each tailored to specific kinds of content.
Below are some of the most common schema types used in SEO:

1. Article Schema

• Used for news articles, blogs, and content-heavy pages.

• Helps search engines display the article headline, publication date, and even a
thumbnail in SERPs.
• Example: Blog posts, news stories.

2. Organization Schema

• Provides information about your organization, such as name, logo, address, and
contact details.
• Often displayed in the Knowledge Panel in SERPs.
• Example: Businesses, non-profits.

3. Local Business Schema

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 • Optimizes content for local SEO.
• Includes business name, address, phone number (NAP), operating hours, and
reviews.
• Example: Restaurants, salons, or retail stores.

4. Product Schema

• Highlights product details, such as price, availability, and reviews.

• Often used for e-commerce sites to enhance visibility and increase click-through
rates.
• Example: Electronics, apparel, or books.

5. Review Schema

• Adds star ratings, review counts, and reviewer details to SERPs.

• Helps attract attention to your website by providing visual elements.
• Example: Product reviews, service reviews.

6. Event Schema

• Displays event details like date, time, location, and ticket availability directly in
search results.
• Example: Concerts, webinars, or workshops.

7. FAQ Schema

• Adds FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) directly to SERPs, allowing users to see
answers without clicking on the page.
• Example: Help pages, service-related queries.

8. Breadcrumb Schema

• Displays the navigational path to the webpage.

• Helps users understand the structure of your site and improves user experience.
• Example: "Home > Blog > SEO Tips."

9. Recipe Schema

• Used for recipe-related content, showing cooking times, ingredients, and ratings
in search results.
• Example: Food blogs, cooking websites.

10. Video Schema

• Enhances video content by showing details like video duration, thumbnail, and
description in SERPs.
• Example: Tutorials, promotional videos.

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Benefits of Schema Markup in SEO
1. Improved SERP Appearance: Schema markup enhances your website's visibility
with rich snippets, which are more visually appealing than plain text.

2. Increased Click-Through Rates (CTR): Rich snippets and additional details in

SERPs make your website more enticing to users.

3. Better Understanding by Search Engines: Schema helps search engines

interpret your content accurately, leading to better rankings.

4. Local SEO Advantage: Local business schema can help your business stand out
in local searches.

5. Voice Search Optimization: Structured data improves the chances of your

content being used for voice search results.

How to Implement Schema in SEO

• Visit [Link] to find the appropriate markup for your content type.
• Structured Data Testing Tools:
Use Google's Rich Results Test or Schema Markup Validator to ensure your schema is
correctly implemented.

14) CANONICAL TAG

A canonical tag is a piece of HTML code that tells search engines which version of a
page is the main one.

How it works
• Canonical tags are used to identify the main version of a page when there are
duplicate or similar URLs.
• They help search engines avoid wasting resources indexing duplicate content.
• They help search engines understand a site's structure and identify the best
version of a page.

Why it's important

• Canonical tags are important for SEO performance.
• They can help improve a website's crawling and indexing.
• They can help consolidate link equity from duplicate pages.
• They can help ensure the original content gets credit.
• They can help avoid duplicate content issues.

How to implement

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 • Add the canonical tag to the <head> section of the page.
• Follow the rel="canonical" tag with the URL you consider the canonical version.

Example: <link rel="canonical" href="[Link] />

15) OPEN GRAPH DATA

The Open Graph protocol enables any web page to become a rich object in a social
graph.

Open Graph Meta Tags

• Og: title - this is the title of your page. Make sure that its size doesn’t exceed 65
characters, otherwise it will be truncated.

• Og: type - this tag specifies the type of object contained on the page (website,
blog, book, film, etc.).

• Og: image - this is the URL of the image that represents your page.

• Og: url - the main web address of your site.

• Og: description - a short description of the page. Make it no longer than two
phrases (300 characters).

• Og: video - if there is video content on one of the pages, this is the place to put
its URL.

• og: locale - the language of the page (en_GB, de_DE, etc.).

• og:site_name - the name of your website.

16) ROBOTS META TAG

Robots meta tags (or “meta robots tags”) are pieces of code that provide crawlers
instructions for how to crawl or index web page content. Whereas [Link] file tags
give bots suggestions for how to crawl a website’s pages, robots meta tags provide
more firm instructions on how to crawl and index a page’s content.

Indexation-controlling parameters:
Below are the parameters that search engine crawlers understand and follow when
they’re used in robots meta tags, also known as robots tags.

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 • No index: Tells a search engine not to index a page.

• Index: Tells a search engine to index a page. Note that you don’t need to add
this meta tag; it’s the default.

• Follow: Even if the page isn’t indexed, the crawler should follow all the links on
a page and pass equity to the linked pages.

• No follow: Tells a crawler not to follow any links on a page or pass along any link
equity.

• Noimageindex: Tells a crawler not to index any images on a page.

• None: Equivalent to using both the noindex and nofollow tags simultaneously.

• No archive: Search engines should not show a cached link to this page on a SERP.

• No cache: Same as noarchive, but only used by Internet Explorer and Firefox.

• Nosnippet: Tells a search engine not to show a snippet of this page (i.e. meta
description) of this page on a SERP.

• Noodyp/noydir [OBSOLETE]: Prevents search engines from using a page’s

DMOZ description as the SERP snippet for this page. However, DMOZ was retired
in early 2017, making this tag obsolete.

• Unavailable_after: Search engines should no longer index this page after a

particular date.

17) BOUNCE RATE

The percentage of visitors who navigate away from a site after viewing only one page,
indicating the site’s ability to engage users.

18) BACKLINK

An incoming hyperlink from one webpage to another, which can improve a site's
authority and search engine rankings.

19) .htaccess File

A configuration file used on web servers running Apache, which can control redirects,
URL rewrites, and access restrictions.

20) SSL (Secure Sockets Layer)

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The protocol for encrypting information sent between a web server and a browser,
ensuring data security and building user trust.

21) REDIRECTS

Techniques for forwarding one URL to another, commonly used to guide users and
search engines to a new page location or site structure.

22) STATUS CODES

HTTP status codes are three-digit responses from the server to the browser-side
request. Everyone has probably gotten the classic 404 page-not-found error. That is an
HTTP client error status code and there are a lot more of them.

These status codes (also called response status codes) serve as a means of
communication between the server and the internet browser and there are multiple
code classes based on the type of information they are communicating. The differences
in classes are indicated through the first digit of the error code, for example: just like a
404, any other 4xx will mean that in some way the page or website could not be
reached, while a 2xx means that your request was successfully completed.

Complete List Of HTTP Status Codes

Status code Meaning Status code Meaning

1xx Informational
100 Continue
101 Switching protocols
102 Processing
103 Early Hints
2xx Successful
200 OK
201 Created
202 Accepted
203 Non-Authoritative Information
204 No Content
205 Reset Content
206 Partial Content
207 multi-status
208 Already Reported
226 IM Used
3xx Redirection
300 Multiple Choices
301 Moved Permanently
302 Found (Previously "Moved
Temporarily")

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 303 See Other
304 Not Modified
305 Use Proxy
306 Switch Proxy
307 Temporary Redirect
308 Permanent Redirect
4xx Client Error
400 Bad Request
401 Unauthorized
402 Payment Required
403 Forbidden
404 Not Found
405 Method Not Allowed
406 Not Acceptable
407 Proxy Authentication Required
408 Request Timeout
409 Conflict
410 Gone
411 Length Required
412 Precondition Failed
413 Payload Too Large
414 URI Too Long
415 Unsupported Media Type
416 Range Not Satisfiable
417 Expectation Failed
418 I'm a Teapot
421 Misdirected Request
422 Un processable Entity
423 Locked
424 Failed Dependency
425 Too Early
5xx Server Error
500 Internal Server Error
501 Not Implemented
502 Bad Gateway
503 Service Unavailable
504 Gateway Timeout
505 HTTP Version Not Supported
506 Variant Also Negotiates
507 Insufficient Storage

23) APP STORE OPTIMIZATION (ASO)

App store optimization (ASO) is the ongoing process of improving the ranking and visibility
of an app in an app store. Which makes it easier for users to discover and find it. ASO is
sometimes also called app store SEO, app search optimization, and ASO marketing.

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 The goal of ASO is to increase the number of downloads of an app. But it can also increase
brand awareness, stimulate user engagement, and garner reviews and feedback.

Available fields and ranking factors vary across app stores. But common items to target
for ASO for include the following:
• App name or title
• Keywords
• App description
• Downloads
• Ratings and reviews
• Updates

25) ANSWER ENGINE OPTIMIZATION

Answer engine optimization (AEO) is a digital marketing strategy that helps businesses
improve their website content so that it appears in AI-generated responses to user
queries.

• It focuses on delivering direct answers to user queries, enhancing visibility in

answer engines compared to traditional SEO’s broader keyword targeting.

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 • Implementing AEO requires strategies such as keyword research, structured data
markup, and optimizing content for voice search to align with modern user
behavior.

• AEO can significantly improve user engagement and drive organic traffic by
appearing in answer boxes and featured snippets, establishing brand authority
and credibility.

How AEO differs from Traditional SEO?

While traditional search engine optimization aims for broad keyword visibility across
search engine results pages, AEO narrows its focus to providing direct answers to user
inquiries. Instead of targeting a range of keyword rankings, AEO focuses on securing spots
in quick-answer formats such as featured snippets and voice search results.

Answer engines, unlike traditional search engines, prioritize delivering concise and
relevant answers to user queries. This narrower focus makes AEO a crucial strategy for
businesses aiming to enhance online visibility and user engagement.

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