Z-Consult Knowledge
SEO Dictionary
Search, AI Search and technical SEO terminology explained clearly and connected with real practice.
Technical SEO
200 OK →
200 OK is an HTTP status indicating a request was successfully handled for the applicable method.
Technical SEO
301 redirect →
301 is an HTTP status for a permanent redirect to another address. The server supplies the destination in the Location header.
Foundations and concepts
302 redirect →
302 is an HTTP status for a temporary redirect that does not declare the original address permanently moved.
Technical SEO
307 redirect →
307 is a temporary HTTP redirect that preserves the request method and body.
Technical SEO
308 redirect →
308 is a permanent HTTP redirect preserving the request method and body.
Foundations and concepts
404 error →
404 is an HTTP status indicating that the server cannot find the requested content at that URL.
Technical SEO
410 Gone →
410 Gone indicates a resource is no longer available and its removal is likely permanent.
Technical SEO
5xx error →
5xx is a group of HTTP statuses indicating server-side request processing problems.
Foundations and concepts
AI Overview →
An AI Overview is an AI-generated summary in Google Search that may include source links.
Foundations and concepts
AI Search →
AI Search broadly refers to search and answers where AI systems help retrieve, select or present information.
Foundations and concepts
Anchor text →
Anchor text is the visible text of a hyperlink describing or suggesting its destination.
Foundations and concepts
Answer Engine Optimization →
AEO means Answer Engine Optimization: an approach to clear, structured answers to real questions for systems presenting direct answers.
Foundations and concepts
Backlink →
A backlink is a link from a page on another website to your URL.
Technical SEO
Canonical tag →
A canonical tag is an HTML signal identifying the preferred URL for duplicate or very similar content. Google considers this signal alongside others when selecting a canonical page.
Technical SEO
ChatGPT Search →
ChatGPT Search uses web information in ChatGPT answers when search is applicable.
Technical SEO
Client-side rendering →
CSR generates or supplements a page's presentation using browser code.
Foundations and concepts
Core Web Vitals →
Core Web Vitals measure user experience: LCP for loading, INP for interaction and CLS for visual stability.
Foundations and concepts
Crawl budget →
Crawl budget describes the resources and willingness a search engine has to crawl a site's URLs.
Technical SEO
Crawling →
Crawling is a bot fetching content by requesting a site's URLs.
Technical SEO
Cumulative Layout Shift →
CLS measures unexpected visual movement of elements under the metric's rules.
Foundations and concepts
Duplicate content →
Duplicate content is identical or very similar main content available at more than one URL.
Foundations and concepts
E-commerce SEO →
E-commerce SEO applies organic optimisation to an online store's categories, products and informational resources.
Technical SEO
Faceted navigation →
Faceted navigation filters a catalog by attributes such as size, colour or price.
Foundations and concepts
Generative Engine Optimization →
In marketing, GEO means Generative Engine Optimization: improving content and facts for discovery and use by generative systems.
Technical SEO
Googlebot →
Googlebot is the collective name for Google's crawlers fetching content for Google Search.
Technical SEO
hreflang →
hreflang is an annotation identifying language or regional alternatives of a page. It helps Google understand the relationship between localized versions.
Technical SEO
HTTP status code →
An HTTP status code describes the result of processing a request in the server response.
Technical SEO
Indexing →
Indexing processes accessible content and may include it in a search engine's index.
Technical SEO
Interaction to Next Paint →
INP assesses responsiveness to user interactions through delay until the next visual update.
Foundations and concepts
Internal linking →
Internal linking connects pages within a site to support navigation and understanding of its structure.
Foundations and concepts
JSON-LD →
JSON-LD is a linked-data format that represents structured descriptions using JSON.
Foundations and concepts
Keyword cannibalization →
Keyword cannibalization is an editorial term for pages on one site competing for similar intent and obscuring the most suitable resource.
Foundations and concepts
Keyword research →
Keyword research analyses the language, questions and queries audiences use to find information or solutions.
Technical SEO
Largest Contentful Paint →
LCP measures when the largest eligible element in the initially visible page area is displayed.
Technical SEO
Lazy loading →
Lazy loading defers resource loading until it is needed or approaches the visible area.
Technical SEO
llms.txt →
llms.txt is a proposed text-index convention pointing language models toward useful resources; it is not a mandatory search-engine standard.
Foundations and concepts
Local SEO →
Local SEO improves business discovery in searches with local context, including the website and a suitable business profile.
Technical SEO
Meta robots →
Meta robots is an HTML annotation instructing supporting crawlers how to handle a page.
Technical SEO
Mobile-first indexing →
Mobile-first indexing means Google primarily uses the mobile version of content, crawled by smartphone Googlebot, for indexing and ranking.
Foundations and concepts
noindex →
noindex instructs a supporting search engine not to include a page in its results.
Foundations and concepts
Organic traffic →
Organic traffic means visits a reporting system attributes to unpaid search engine results.
Technical SEO
Orphan page →
An orphan page lacks suitable incoming internal links in the site's examined structure.
Technical SEO
Pagination →
Pagination divides a long list into separate pages using URLs or other navigation controls.
Technical SEO
Redirect chain →
A redirect chain passes through more than one redirect before the final destination.
Technical SEO
Redirect loop →
A redirect loop returns a request to an already visited step without a final response.
Technical SEO
Rendering →
Rendering turns HTML, styles and executable code into a page's presentation.
Technical SEO
Rich results →
Rich results are enhanced Google result presentations for supported content types.
Technical SEO
robots.txt →
robots.txt is a text file containing URL crawling rules for crawlers that support it. It is located at the root of the relevant website.
Foundations and concepts
Schema.org →
Schema.org is a shared vocabulary of types and properties for describing entities and relationships in structured data.
Foundations and concepts
Search intent →
Search intent is the task someone is trying to complete with a query: learning, comparing, finding or buying.
Foundations and concepts
SEO →
SEO improves a site's content, technical accessibility and structure so people and search engines can find and understand useful pages.
Foundations and concepts
SEO audit →
An SEO audit systematically checks a site for issues and opportunities related to organic discovery and business goals.
Foundations and concepts
SERP →
A SERP is the results page a search engine displays after a query; it may contain organic links, ads and other formats.
Technical SEO
Server-side rendering →
SSR generates HTML on the server before the response reaches the browser.
Technical SEO
Soft 404 →
Soft 404 describes a page appearing missing or unhelpful without returning an appropriate missing-resource status.
Foundations and concepts
Structured data →
Structured data provides machine-readable descriptions of page content and entities using a defined vocabulary and format.
Foundations and concepts
Technical SEO →
Technical SEO covers accessibility, crawling, indexing and the technical delivery of content.
Technical SEO
URL Inspection →
URL Inspection is a Search Console tool showing how Google has handled a specific URL.
Technical SEO
URL parameters →
URL parameters are name-value pairs in a URL's query component that can change content or carry additional information.
Technical SEO
x-default →
x-default is a hreflang value for a general version not targeting a specific language or region.
Foundations and concepts
XML sitemap →
An XML sitemap lists important page URLs and optional metadata to help search engines discover them.
How we select terms
Selection combines industry usage, reader questions and official documentation. Every published term covers a distinct concept with a useful explanation and primary sources.
Search Intelligence →