Web design and SEO glossary
78 terms that small business owners meet when they get a website, explained in plain English with no jargon. Each one links to a deeper guide where we have written one.
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301 redirect
A permanent redirect that sends visitors and search engines from an old web address to a new one. It passes most of the old page’s search value to the new address, so use it whenever you move or rename a page.
404 error
The message shown when a page cannot be found, usually because it was deleted, renamed or typed incorrectly. A helpful 404 page that links back to your main pages keeps visitors on your site.
A
A/B testing
Showing two versions of a page to different visitors to see which one performs better, for example a different headline or button. It replaces guesswork with evidence, but needs enough traffic to give a reliable answer.
Above the fold
The part of a page you can see without scrolling. It is the best place for your main message and call to action, although people do scroll when the content is worth it.
Accessibility
Designing and building a website so people with disabilities, and people in difficult situations, can use it. It covers things like readable colours, keyboard navigation, descriptive alt text and captions. Often abbreviated to a11y.
Alt text
A short written description of an image, added in the page’s code. Screen readers read it aloud, it shows if the image fails to load, and search engines use it to understand what the image shows.
Analytics
Software that measures how visitors find and use your website: where they come from, which pages they view and what they do. Google Analytics 4 is the most widely used free option.
Anchor text
The clickable words of a link. Descriptive anchor text such as “website pricing plans” helps people and search engines understand where the link goes, whereas “click here” does not.
API
Short for application programming interface. It is a way for one piece of software to talk to another, for example your booking system sending new bookings to your website or your accounting software.
ARIA
Accessible Rich Internet Applications: a set of HTML attributes that adds accessibility information (roles, labels and states) when standard HTML elements are not enough. The first rule of ARIA is to use ordinary HTML elements wherever you can.
B
Backlink
A link from another website to yours. Links from reputable, relevant sites are one of the main ways search engines judge how trustworthy a page is, and they also bring visitors directly.
Backup
A saved copy of your website that you can restore if something breaks or the site is hacked. Good hosting takes automatic backups regularly and stores them away from the live site.
Bounce rate
Traditionally, the percentage of visits where someone left after viewing only one page. In Google Analytics 4 it is the opposite of engagement rate: the share of visits that were not “engaged”. A high bounce rate is not always bad, for example when someone finds your phone number and calls.
Breadcrumbs
A trail of links, such as Home › Services › Web design, that shows where a page sits in your site. They help visitors find their way back and help search engines understand your structure.
Browser
The software people use to view websites, such as Chrome, Safari, Edge or Firefox. Your site should work well in all the major ones.
C
Cache
A temporarily stored copy of a page or file so it loads faster next time. Browsers, hosting servers and content delivery networks all cache content, which is why changes sometimes take a moment to appear.
Call to action (CTA)
A prompt that tells visitors what to do next, such as “Call now”, “Book a time” or “Get a quote”. Every page should have a clear one.
Canonical URL
The preferred address of a page when the same content can be reached at more than one URL. A canonical tag tells search engines which version to index, which prevents duplicate content problems.
CDN (content delivery network)
A network of servers around the world that keep copies of your site’s files and serve each visitor from the closest one. It makes pages load faster and helps a site cope with traffic spikes.
Citation
In local SEO, a mention of your business name, address and phone number on another website, such as a directory. Consistent citations help search engines trust your business details.
Click-through rate (CTR)
The percentage of people who click after seeing your listing, ad or link. A clear page title and meta description improve the click-through rate of your search results.
CMS (content management system)
Software that lets you create and edit website content without writing code. WordPress, Squarespace and Wix are common examples. Some agencies, including ours, build custom sites and handle updates for you instead.
Conversion rate
The percentage of visitors who take an action you want, such as calling, booking or sending an enquiry. It is the number that tells you whether your website is actually working as a sales tool.
Cookie
A small file stored in a visitor’s browser that remembers information, such as a login or preferences, or that analytics and advertising tools use to recognise returning visitors.
Core Web Vitals
Google’s measures of real-world page experience. Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) measures loading and should be 2.5 seconds or less. Interaction to Next Paint (INP) measures responsiveness and should be 200 milliseconds or less. Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) measures visual stability and should be 0.1 or less.
Crawling
The process of search engine bots, such as Googlebot, discovering pages by following links and reading their content. A page has to be crawled before it can be indexed and appear in results.
CSS
Cascading Style Sheets: the code that controls how a web page looks, including colours, fonts, spacing and layout.
D
DNS (Domain Name System)
The internet’s phone book. It translates a domain name such as webdevise.com.au into the numerical address of the server that hosts the site. Changing DNS records is how you point a domain at a new host or set up business email.
Domain authority
A third-party score, created by the software company Moz, that predicts how well a site might rank. It is not a Google metric, so treat it as a rough comparison tool rather than a goal.
Domain name
The address people type to reach your website, such as webdevise.com.au. You register it for a period, usually a year at a time, through a registrar. Australian .com.au domains require an Australian presence, such as an ABN.
Duplicate content
Substantially similar content that appears on more than one page or address. It can confuse search engines about which page to show. Fix it with unique content, canonical tags or redirects.
E
E-commerce
Buying and selling online. An e-commerce website is an online store with products, a cart and a checkout, and it usually costs more to build and run than a brochure site.
E-E-A-T
Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness: the qualities Google’s quality guidelines ask human reviewers to look for. It is not a single ranking factor, but a useful way to think about the proof your site gives that you are real and reliable.
F
Favicon
The small icon shown in the browser tab and in bookmarks. It is a small detail that makes a site look finished and easier to find among open tabs.
Featured snippet
A highlighted answer box at the top of Google’s results, taken from a web page. Pages with clear, concise answers to specific questions have the best chance of being chosen.
G
Google Analytics 4 (GA4)
Google’s current analytics product, which replaced Universal Analytics in July 2023. It measures events such as page views, clicks and form submissions, rather than just sessions.
Google Business Profile
The free listing that controls how your business appears in Google Search and Google Maps, including your hours, photos and reviews. It was previously called Google My Business and is central to local SEO.
Google Search Console
A free Google tool that shows how your site performs in search: the queries people use, which pages are indexed and any problems Google has found. Every business website should have it set up.
H
Heading tags (H1 to H6)
HTML elements that structure a page’s headings. The H1 is the main heading, and H2 to H6 are progressively smaller subheadings. They help readers scan, help screen reader users navigate, and help search engines understand the page.
Heatmap
A visual overlay that shows where visitors click, move and scroll on a page. It reveals what people actually pay attention to, and what they ignore.
Hosting
The service that stores your website’s files on a server connected to the internet so people can visit it. The quality of your hosting affects speed, reliability and security.
HTML
HyperText Markup Language: the code that defines the content and structure of a web page, including its headings, paragraphs, links and images.
HTTPS
The secure version of the protocol websites use. It encrypts data between the visitor’s browser and your server and shows as a padlock in the address bar. It needs an SSL certificate and is now expected on every site.
I
Indexing
When a search engine stores a page in its database so it can appear in search results. Not every page that is crawled gets indexed, and a page that is not indexed cannot be found through search.
Internal link
A link from one page of your website to another. Internal links help visitors move around, help search engines discover pages, and spread authority across your site.
J
JavaScript
The programming language that makes web pages interactive, powering menus, sliders and forms. Too much of it can slow a page down.
K
Keyword
A word or phrase people type into a search engine. SEO involves understanding which phrases your customers use and making sure your pages answer them.
L
Landing page
A page designed around a single goal, such as booking a call, and usually reached from an ad or a search result. It strips away distractions so the visitor focuses on one action.
Lazy loading
A technique that delays loading images and videos until they are about to scroll into view, so the first part of the page loads faster.
Local SEO
Optimising your online presence so your business appears when people search nearby, for example “plumber near me” or “web designer Gold Coast”, including in the map results.
Long-tail keyword
A longer, more specific search phrase, such as “emergency plumber Burleigh Heads”. It has lower search volume than a broad phrase but usually higher intent and less competition.
M
Meta description
A short summary of a page, around 150 characters, placed in its code. Search engines often show it under the page title in results. It does not directly affect ranking, but a good one improves the number of people who click.
Mobile-first indexing
Google mainly uses the mobile version of a site’s content for indexing and ranking, and this is now the default for all websites. A site that works poorly on phones can rank poorly everywhere.
N
Nameservers
The servers that hold the DNS records for your domain. They are set at your domain registrar, and changing them moves control of your DNS settings.
NAP
Name, address and phone number. Keeping them identical across your website, Google Business Profile and directories is a basic part of local SEO.
Noindex
An instruction in a page’s code that tells search engines not to include it in results. It is useful for pages such as thank-you pages and internal search results.
O
On-page SEO
The optimisation you do on the page itself: its title and description, headings, content, images, internal links and speed.
Organic traffic
Visitors who arrive from unpaid search results, as opposed to paid advertising. It builds over time and does not stop the moment you stop paying for ads.
P
Page speed
How quickly a page loads and becomes usable. It affects how many visitors stay, how many convert and, through Core Web Vitals, how well you rank.
Plugin
Add-on software that extends a content management system such as WordPress with extra features. Each plugin can add maintenance work and potential security risk, so fewer, well-maintained ones are better.
R
Responsive design
A layout that adapts to the size of the screen so the same website works well on phones, tablets and desktop computers.
robots.txt
A file at the root of your website that tells search engine crawlers which areas they may crawl. It controls crawling rather than indexing, so it is not a way to hide a page from search results.
S
Schema markup (structured data)
Code, usually written in JSON-LD using the schema.org vocabulary, that labels the content of a page, such as business details, FAQs, products or events, so search engines understand it and can show richer results.
Screen reader
Software that reads out a web page for people who are blind or have low vision. Examples include VoiceOver on Apple devices, TalkBack on Android, NVDA and JAWS on Windows.
SEO (search engine optimisation)
The practice of improving your website so it appears higher in unpaid search results for the things your customers search for. It combines technical set-up, useful content and trust signals.
SERP
Search engine results page: the page you see after typing a query into Google or Bing.
Sitemap (XML)
A file that lists the important pages of your website to help search engines discover them. You can submit it in Google Search Console.
SSL certificate
A digital certificate that enables HTTPS by encrypting data between visitors and your server. Modern certificates technically use TLS, but the older name SSL stuck. Most good hosts include one.
Staging site
A private copy of your website used to test changes before they go live, so mistakes never reach your customers.
Subdomain
A prefix added to your main domain, such as blog.example.com.au. Search engines can treat a subdomain as a separate section of your site.
Subscription website
A model where the design, hosting and support of your website are covered by a monthly fee instead of a large upfront payment. It spreads the cost and usually bundles ongoing maintenance.
T
Thin content
Pages with little original or useful content. Search engines may rank them poorly, and large amounts of thin content can drag down how a whole site is judged.
Title tag
The title of a page, set in its code. It appears in the browser tab and as the blue headline in search results, and it is one of the most important on-page SEO elements.
U
UI and UX
User interface (UI) is how a website looks and the controls people use. User experience (UX) is how easy and pleasant the site is to use overall. Good UX is what turns visitors into customers.
Uptime
The percentage of time your website is available. Hosts often quote figures such as 99.9 per cent, which still allows roughly nine hours of downtime a year.
URL and slug
A URL is a page’s full web address. The slug is the part at the end that identifies the page, such as /pricing. Short, descriptive slugs are easier for people and search engines to understand.
W
WCAG
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, published by the World Wide Web Consortium. Version 2.2 is the current standard, and level AA is the usual target for business websites.
WordPress
A free, open-source content management system that powers a large share of websites. It is flexible, but it needs regular updates and care to stay fast and secure.
Free tools to check your own website
Website health check
Score your site out of 100 across speed, SEO, trust, accessibility and security, and get a prioritised fix list.
Website cost calculator
Compare the multi-year cost of a DIY builder, freelancer, agency and website subscription.
Accessibility guide
What WCAG 2.2 and the Disability Discrimination Act mean for your small business website.
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