In order not to feel like a dinosaur in the world of SEO when it comes to “cannons”, “indexing”, or “keyword difficulty”, it is important to know the key terms. That’s why this mini-dictionary was created for you. There’s no water here, just 20 terms that will help you speak the same language as your marketing team and make strategic decisions with an understanding of the SEO context.
When numbers speak: analytics and metrics
To make informed decisions, feelings and visual observations are not enough. You need to see a certain coordinate system. These are the metrics that allow you to evaluate the effectiveness of content, prioritization of topics, and user behavior in numbers:
The number of search queries for a particular phrase per month. Indicates demand, market interest, and the size of the potential audience. For example, if the query “laptop for work” is searched 5,000 times a month, and “laptop with an aluminum case” – 350 times, then the second query is niche and requires a completely different content strategy.
An assessment of how difficult it is to get to the top for a particular keyword. It takes into account competition, links, domain authority. If your site is new, trying to reach the top for words with a KD of 80+ is like trying to break into the energy drink market without a budget. You should start with less competitive niches.
The expected amount of traffic that can be received if the page gets to the top positions for a group of keys.
The percentage of users who left the site after viewing one page. Often signals irrelevant content or poor UX.
A set of Google UX metrics: loading speed, responsiveness, and stability of visual content. They affect the ranking and user experience. If a page takes 4+ seconds to load on mobile, Google may lower its ranking, even if the content is excellent.”
How search is changing: AI and the new realities of SEO
Search engines are evolving. Nowadays, not only classical algorithms are in play, but also big language models, voice search, and generative answers. These terms are about how not to lose your company in a world that is constantly learning new things:
An approach to SEO that includes autonomous AI tools for optimization, research, and process automation.
Optimization of content for answers in voice or AI search. Your page should be an answer to the user, not just a search result.
Strategies for creating content that can be easily cited and used by AI assistants and next-generation search engines. If your article doesn’t appear in Google SGE, it means that it is either unstructured or not considered authoritative. GEO optimization fixes this.
Adjusting the structure, tone, and formatting of content so that it is understandable to large language models (LLMs) and their interpreters. That is, an article with clear headings, lists, and a clear structure will be more likely to be included in the training datasets of models like Perplexity or Claude and will be recalled by AI assistants.
The base without which everything will fall apart: technical SEO
Even the best content is meaningless if Google doesn’t see it or misunderstands it. Here are the technical basics on how to make your site accessible, fast, and safe for indexing:
The number of pages that Google is ready to crawl on a website in a certain time. If it is not optimized, important pages may be left without indexing. If a marketplace has 50 thousand products, but some of them are available only through filters without SEO-friendly URLs, Google may simply not crawl them.
An HTML element that points to the main version of the page when duplicating content. Prevents the loss of positions due to duplicates. If the same product is available on multiple URLs with filters, canonical lets Google know which page is the main one so that it doesn’t downgrade all of them.
Redirect from an old page to a new one. 301 is permanent (with weight transfer), 302 is temporary (without weight transfer). For example, after the redesign, the page “/about-us” became “/company”. If you don’t set a 301 redirect, the old page will lose authority and traffic will disappear.
A file that sets the rules for search robots: which pages can be crawled and which cannot.
A sitemap in XML format. It helps search engines to find and index pages. On a blog with 300+ articles, a sitemap allows Google to quickly find new and updated content – especially if there is no strong internal linking.”
The power of content: content and semantics
SEO is no longer about repeating keywords. It’s about content, understanding user intentions, and a structure that builds trust in the site. This block is about smart content creation that works for the brand.
A broader topic that combines several related keys. Allows you to strategically build content clusters. For the query “best CRM for freelancers”, the parent topic will be “best CRM software” – the main page covers all subcategories.
A system of internal links between site pages. It improves navigation, distributes weight, and helps indexing. If a new article about “content strategy” is linked to 5 popular blog pages, it gets “weight” and ranks faster.
A model where the main page (hub) links to the auxiliary pages (spokes) and vice versa. This enhances the semantic value of the site. For example: the main page “Email marketing” and related pages “A/B testing emails”, “platforms for mailings”, “automation”, that is, everything is connected by links.
An approach that focuses on meanings, synonyms, context, and not just keys. It works for deep coverage of the topic. An article about “discounts on tickets” should mention “promo code”, “sale”, “special offers” – this increases relevance in semantic search.
User intent: informational, commercial, transactional. The content should correspond to this intent, and for this, of course, you need to know these intentions. For example, the query “how to choose a laptop” is an informational intent, and “buy MacBook Air 2024” is a transactional intent. One needs a guide, and the other needs a product page.
Additional blocks in Google search results: maps, reviews, answers, snippets. They give more visibility than a regular link.
Conclusion
Knowing these terms doesn’t make you an SEO expert right away. But understanding them is part of good management, so you can speak the language your team is using. Make decisions based on data, not intuition. After all, SEO is not a “technical trifle” but one of the powerful growth channels that you can actually directly influence.