SEO Glossary
Definitions of common SEO and web crawling terms used across our guides.
- broken links
Outgoing links and images that return 404 or fail to connect hurt user trust and waste crawl budget
- canonical URL
A canonical URL is an HTML element that tells search engines which version of a page is the preferred one for indexing.
- click-through rate
Click-through rate (CTR) is the percentage of users who click on a search result after seeing it, measuring how compelling your listing is.
- crawl budget
Crawl budget is the number of pages a search engine will crawl on your site within a given timeframe.
- duplicate descriptions
Pages sharing the same meta description compete for clicks in search results
- duplicate H1
Multiple pages sharing the same H1 weakens differentiation and rankings
- duplicate titles
Pages sharing the same title compete with each other in search results
- empty H1
Pages with an H1 tag that contains no text waste heading potential
- H1 tag
An H1 tag is the primary heading element on a web page, signaling the main topic to search engines and users.
- HTTP status codes
HTTP status codes are three-digit numbers returned by a server to indicate the result of a browser or crawler request.
- internal linking
Internal linking is the practice of linking pages within the same website to help users navigate and distribute link equity.
- keyword cannibalization
Keyword cannibalization occurs when multiple pages on the same site compete for the same search query, splitting ranking signals.
- link equity
Link equity is the ranking value that flows from one page to another through hyperlinks, influencing search engine rankings.
- long content
Pages with over 5,000 words may need restructuring for better readability
- long descriptions
Meta descriptions over 160 characters get truncated in search result snippets
- long H1
H1 tags over 70 characters lose focus and dilute keyword targeting
- long titles
Titles over 60 characters get truncated in search results
- long URLs
URLs over 120 characters are harder to share and may signal poor site structure
- meta description
A meta description is an HTML tag that provides a brief summary of a page, often displayed in search engine results.
- missing content
Pages with no extractable content provide no value to search engines or users
- missing descriptions
Pages without meta descriptions lose control over search result snippets
- missing H1
Pages without an H1 tag lack a primary heading for search engines and users
- missing titles
Pages without a title tag hurt search visibility and AI discoverability
- multiple H1 tags
Pages with more than one H1 tag dilute the heading hierarchy
- NDJSON
NDJSON (Newline Delimited JSON) is a data format where each line is a valid JSON object, ideal for streaming and processing large datasets.
- nofollow
Nofollow is a directive that tells search engines not to pass link equity through links on a page.
- nofollow pages
Pages with nofollow directives prevent search engines from following their links
- noindex
Noindex is a directive that tells search engines not to include a page in their search results index.
- noindex pages
Pages with noindex directives are excluded from search engine indexes
- non-self canonicals
Pages pointing their canonical tag to a different URL may lose ranking signals
- paginated pages
Pages using rel=next and rel=prev indicate multi-part content sequences
- pagination
Pagination is the practice of splitting content across multiple pages, using rel="next" and rel="prev" links to signal the sequence.
- redirect chain
A redirect chain occurs when a URL redirects through multiple intermediate URLs before reaching the final destination.
- robots.txt
robots.txt is a file that tells search engine crawlers which pages or sections of a site should not be crawled.
- short content
Pages with fewer than 200 words may lack sufficient depth for search engines
- short descriptions
Meta descriptions under 50 characters waste snippet space in search results
- short H1
H1 tags under 10 characters are too generic to be useful for SEO
- short titles
Titles under 30 characters miss keyword and click-through opportunities
- sitemap XML
A sitemap XML file lists the pages on a website to help search engines discover and crawl content more efficiently.
- thin content
Thin content refers to web pages with little or no substantive content, offering minimal value to users and search engines.
- title tag
A title tag is an HTML element that defines the title of a web page, displayed in browser tabs and search engine results.
- web crawler
A web crawler is a program that systematically browses the web by following links, collecting data from pages it visits.