Searching online for definitions can be a time-consuming and problematic process trying to figure out which website will give you the best explanation for a term!
Providing definitions is a great place to start for a better understanding of some of the terms you may see in articles.
List of Essential Blogging Terms for a Better Understanding!
301 Redirect – a search-engine-friendly snippet of code to move your entire Web site from one domain to another. The 301 redirect is your best bet to keep your current search engine rankings. You can also use the 301 redirect any time you move a page from one location to another on your Web site.
Affiliate Marketing – is an advertising model in which a company pays others (e.g., bloggers) to advertise their products and services and generate sales.
Affiliate Network – is a service that connects publishers (i.e., affiliate marketers) with brands. The network acts as the “middleman” so that both publishers and brands offering programs can find each other easily. Brands can find and contract affiliates fast to promote their products and open up a new sales channel.
Affiliate Program – is a form of shared marketing in which a company selling through a website pays a commission to the owners of other websites or blogs that send customers to them via links.
AI Writing Software – is a powerful content writing tool that uses artificial intelligence to generate textual content, making it possible for businesses and individuals to produce high-quality content quickly and efficiently.
Algorithm – is an effective method for solving a problem expressed as a finite sequence of steps. Algorithms are used for calculation and data processing and have a list of well-defined instructions for completing a task.
Alpha Networker – a successful upline leader living in a mind-state of abundance and who is pursued and followed by others.
ALT Tags/Attributes – HTML tags that provide text as an alternative to the graphics on a web page. Alt text (Alternative Text) is a word or phrase that can be inserted as an attribute in an HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) document to tell Web site viewers the nature or contents of an image. The alt text appears in a blank box that would normally contain the image.
Analytics – measurement of website statistics such as the number of visitors, where they arrived from, and how much time they spent on a website.
Anchor Tags/Anchor Text – text used to create links to other pages. Text is displayed as a link instead of the URL for the link being displayed. An anchor tag can point users to another web page, a file on the web, or even an image or sound file. You are probably most familiar with the anchor tags used to create links to other websites.
Artificial Intelligence – is a process by which machines simulate human intelligence, often using specific applications such as expert systems, natural language processing, speech recognition, and machine vision.
Attraction Marketing – is a method through the over-delivering of information (value-based content) positioning you as a leader or expert in your field.
Backlinks – links that are directed to your site from another Web site on the web.
Black-Hat SEO – unethical SEO Strategies! A great example would be Keyword Stuffing!
Blog – a website where entries are written in chronological order and commonly displayed in reverse chronological order.
Blogger – is a person who regularly writes material for a blog. Bloggers write, edit, post, and promote content on their web pages or websites. They generate and pitch ideas, compose and edit posts, market posts to readers, and conduct research.
Blogger.com – is an American online Content Management System (CMS), which enables multi-user blogs with time-stamped entries. Pyra Labs developed it before being acquired by Google in 2003. Google hosts the blogs, which can be accessed through a subdomain of blogspot.com.
Blogroll – a list of links to other blogs or websites that the author of the blog regularly likes to read!
Blog Post – is any article, news piece, or guide that’s published in the blog section of a website. A blog post typically covers a specific topic or query, is educational in nature, ranges from 600 to 2,000+ words, and contains other media types such as images, videos, infographics, and interactive charts.
Bounce Rate – is defined as the percentage of visitors that leave a webpage without taking an action, such as clicking on a link, filling out a form, or making a purchase.
Broken Links – URLs or text-based links that do not lead to the expected page.
Buyer Persona – a buyer persona is a detailed description of someone who represents your target audience. This is not a real customer but a fictional person who embodies the characteristics of your best potential customers.
Call to Action – a statement that entices a potential customer to make a purchase, sign up for a newsletter, or take some other desired action.
Canonical Issue – when a Web site is accessible using both the www and the non-www version of its URL. Search Engines can treat these URLs as separate sites altogether. This is known as a canonical issue. Matt Cutts of Google states it this way… “Canonicalization is the process of picking the best url when there are several choices, and it usually refers to the home page.”
Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) – CSS is a style-sheet language used to describe the presentation of a document written in markup language. Its most common application is to create a style for the web pages (the look and feel of the web page) written in HTML and XHTML, but the language can be applied to any kind of XML document.
Checkout Page – is a page on the website that is displayed to a consumer during the step-by-step checkout procedure. Consider a checkout page to be the online equivalent of a grocery store’s physical checkout counter.
Container Tags – a set of HTML tags that contain a full command. Usually indicated by the opening and closing tags (e.g. <b>Bold</b>).
Content Management System – (CMS) is a user-friendly software application that enables users to create, edit, collaborate on, publish, and store digital content.
Content Marketing – is a marketing strategy used to attract, engage, and retain an audience by creating and sharing relevant articles, videos, podcasts, and other media. This approach establishes expertise, promotes brand awareness, and keeps your business top of mind when it’s time to buy what you sell.
Cookies – parcels of text sent by a server to a web browser and then sent back unchanged by the browser each time it accesses that server.
Crawlers – search Engine programs that crawl from one site to another, following the links given to them or included in the page they are examining, see Search Engine Spiders.
Customer Avatar – a customer avatar (sometimes referred to as a buyer persona, marketing persona, or ideal customer profile) is a representation of your target audience, dream client or ideal customer in the form of an individual person. It’s the type of person you want to purchase your products or services.
Database – a collection of information stored in a computer in a systematic way such that a computer program can consult it to answer questions.
DeepL Translator – DeepL translator is a neural machine translation service launched in August 2017 and owned by DeepL SE, based in Cologne, Germany. It translates text & full document files instantly
Drop Shipping – is a form of retail business where the seller accepts customer orders without keeping stock on hand. Instead, the seller purchases inventory as needed from a third party—usually a wholesaler or manufacturer to fulfill orders – then sends the customer’s purchased item from the wholesaler/manufacturer to the customer.
Dynamic Content – content that changes regularly — usually news, blog content, or other types of easily renewable content resources.
eCommerce – stands for electronic commerce and refers to a digital platform and a business model where you can buy or sell products online. eCommerce operates in 4 major market segments and can be conducted over computers, tablets, smartphones, and other smart devices.
Email Marketing – allows you to target particular groups of customers or even specific individuals. Offering individual customers special birthday deals on merchandise or services is one way to do this. A restaurant, for instance, might send an email to customers on their birthdays offering 50% off an entree.
Email Segmentation – is the division of email marketing subscribers into smaller groups based on specific criteria. Segmentation is a core email marketing tactic. It’s a basic personalization tactic that allows you to deliver relevant content to your subscribers.
Exit-Intent Popup – is a message that appears in front of users when they move their cursor towards closing the tab. It’s a technique used in online shops and websites to retain visitors that are going to leave the site, giving the user an opportunity to receive their offer in exchange for the users email.
Error 404 – a website error that appears when a specific URL cannot be found and no other indicator that the website exists is apparent.
FTP – File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is a standard network protocol used to copy a file from one host to another over a TCP/IP-based network, such as the Internet. FTP is built on a client-server architecture and utilizes separate control and data connections between the client and server.
Google Analytics – a website statistics measurement program.
Google Sandbox – the Google Sandbox is an alleged filter placed on new websites. The best way to describe the Google Sandbox would be to say that the new website is given a probation period, so it is kept in lower than expected for searches prior to being given its full value for backlinks and content written. In a nutshell, your site will have to prove itself worthy to be ranked by Google.
Header Tag – the HTML tag that denotes the header of a web page (represented by H1, H2, H3, etc.) The <h1> to <h6> tags are used to define HTML headings. <h1> defines the most important heading. <h6> defines the least important heading.
Hierarchical – the chain of command (ie the way authority is organized… the level of authority). Hierarchical systems are as popular in computer systems as they are in other walks of life. The most obvious example of a hierarchical system in computers is a file system, in which directories have files and sub-directories beneath them. Such a file organization is, in fact, called a hierarchical file system.
HTAccess File – when a visitor/spider requests a web page via any means, your web server checks for an “.htaccess” file. The .htaccess file contains specific instructions for certain requests, including security, redirection issues, and how to handle certain errors.
HTML – which stands for HyperText Markup Language… it is the predominant markup language for web pages. It is written in the form of HTML elements consisting of “tags” surrounded by angle brackets within the web page content. It is the building block of all basic websites.
HTML Tags – code elements in a web page that identify different parts of the web page so the web browser will know how to display it.
HTTP – Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is an application-level protocol for distributed, collaborative, hypermedia information systems. HTTP defines how messages are formatted and transmitted and what actions Web servers and browsers should take in response to various commands.
Hyperlink – a hyperlink (or link) is a word, group of words or image that you can click on to jump to a new document or a new section within the current document.
IMG ALT Tags – an HTML tag used to define the alternative text in place of a graphic in the event that the graphic cannot be displayed.
Impressions – the number of times that people see a web page or advertisement.
Influencers – are popular bloggers, podcasters, and social media experts, along with entrepreneurial gurus, within your own niche.
Inbound Links – links to your website from someone else’s site.
Indexing – a method by which web pages are classified in search engine databases… a method of organizing your information.
Internal Links – the links that lead from one page to another within the structure of a single website.
Javascript – Javascript is a client-side script that can interact with HTML source code, enabling Web authors to spice up their sites with dynamic content, it allows greater interactivity in a document by responding to user events. Example (one of many): Javascript can be used to enable a rollover image to appear when you mouse over an object.
Keyword Density – the frequency with which chosen keywords or phrases appear on a web page compared to the other text on the page.
Keyword Phrase – just like a keyword is a single word used as a search query, a keyword phrase is two or more words typed as a search query. Search engine users find what they are looking for by searching for specific keywords or keyword phrases and choosing the most relevant result.
Keyword Prominence – this means how close to the beginning of the page’s Title, Heading tags, or Meta description your keyword or keyword phrase is placed.
Keyword Proximity – refers to how close two or more keywords are to each other. You will achieve higher rankings if you place your keywords close together.
Keyword Research – is a practice used by search engine optimization professionals to find and research actual search terms people enter into the search engines when conducting a search.
Keyword Spamming – the practice of overusing keywords in an attempt to trick search engines into ranking a website higher in search results.
Keyword Stemming – the growth of one related word from another, using prefixes and suffixes, e.g. “game,” “gamer,” “gaming,” “endgame.”
Keyword Stuffing – the repeat of your keywords too many times on a web page, either in text or in HTML tags than is appropriate.
KPI – stands for Key Performance Indicator, which is a measurable value that demonstrates how effectively a company is achieving key business objectives. KPIs provide targets for teams to shoot for, milestones to gauge progress, and insights that help people across the organization make better decisions.
Landing Page – the web page to which visitors are directed when they click through an advertisement.
Lead Magnet – a lead magnet is a marketing term for a free item or service that is given away for the purpose of gathering contact details; for example, lead magnets can be trial subscriptions, samples, white papers, e-newsletters, and free consultations. Marketers use lead magnets to create sales leads.
Link Bait – web content that is placed on a blog or a website to attract inbound links (backlinks) from other websites to improve your Search-Engine Rankings.
Link Tag – an HTML tag that defines a hyperlink within a document. The HTML code used is as follows:
<a href=”URL HERE”>Text Link Here</a>.
Long Tail Keywords – a long-tail keyword is a keyword phrase that aims to capture search traffic from a specific, often 3+ word search query. Long-tail keywords are used to target niche demographics rather than mass audiences.
Long Tail Keyword Research – highly targeted, niche keywords. “Broad” vs. “Long Tail”… Example: Broad Keyword – Identity Theft; Long Tail Keyword – Internet Identity Theft Statistics. What you’ve done is narrowed down the search by giving the specific information you are looking for about “Identity Theft”.
LSI Keywords – in terms of SEO (search engine optimization), LSI keywords are search terms that have similar meanings that are related to the main keyword phrase you are targeting. They help to support your content to make it easier for both users and search engines to know what your content is about. If you’re talking about Cars, then LSI keywords might be automobile, engine, road, tires, vehicle, and automatic transmission.
Machine Learning – uses pre-programmed algorithms that receive and analyze input data to predict output values within an acceptable range. As new data is fed to these algorithms, they learn and optimize their operations to improve performance, developing ‘intelligence’ over time.
Meta – the prefix meta is used to mean about (its own category). For example, metadata is data about data (who has produced it, when, what format the data is in, and so on).
Meta Description Tag – a meta description is an HTML element that describes your page to search engines. While the perceived (and real) importance of metadata has depreciated, the attribute still plays a significant role in SEO rankings.
Meta Tag – to put it briefly, the Meta Tag is used by search engines to allow them to more accurately list your site in their indexes. The Meta Tag provides metadata about the HTML document and is typically used to specify page Title, Description, Keywords, Author of the document, Last Modified, and other metadata. The Meta Tag always goes inside the Head element.
Metadata – web pages often include metadata in the form of meta tags. Description and keywords meta tags are commonly used to describe the Web page’s content. Most search engines use this data when adding pages to their search index.
Micro-Influencer – according to MediaKix, micro-influencers are defined as accounts with anywhere from 10,000-50,000 followers and macro-influencers as accounts with 500,000-1 million followers.
Natural Language Processing – NLP for short, is a form of Artificial Intelligence (AI) that enables machines to understand human language. Its goal is to build systems that can make sense of the text and automatically perform tasks like translation, spell check, or topic classification.
Neural Machine Translation – NMT for short, is an approach to machine translation that uses an artificial neural network to predict the likelihood of a sequence of words, typically modeling entire sentences in a single integrated model.
Neural Network – is a series of algorithms that endeavors to recognize underlying relationships in a set of data through a process that mimics the way the human brain operates. In this sense, neural networks refer to systems of neurons, either organic or artificial in nature.
NoFollow Tag – an HTML tag that tells search engine crawlers that they should not follow a specific link or set of links on a web page.
Off-Page Optimization – strategies for search engine optimization that are done off the pages of a website to maximize its performance in the search engines for target keywords related to the page content. Examples can be: Obtaining links from high-ranking publisher sites; Search-engine submission; directory submission; social media and bookmarking sites; anything to gain traffic back to your site and show your site as an authority.
On-Page Optimization – factors that have an effect on your website or web page that will be listed in the natural search engine results pages. A few examples of on-page optimization include the HTML code, meta tags, keyword placement, and keyword density, along with performing other tasks to create a search-engine-friendly site.
Open Source – open source is a term that refers to open source software (OSS), which includes permission to use the source code. Open-source software is code that can be seen, modified, and distributed by anyone.
Organic Keywords – keywords that appear naturally on web pages and draw decent search engine rankings. These are usually keywords for which no paid keyword advertising programs or other paid advertising efforts are involved.
Organic Traffic – organic traffic are visitors that land on your blog or website from unpaid sources, aka essentially free traffic. I.E. – traffic from best SEO practices.
PageRank – a method by which Web pages are ranked in Google search results.
Paid Advertising – is any form of internet advertising that a marketer or company pays for. Examples of paid advertising include Pay-Per-Click (PPC), Programmatic advertising, Google Ads, Google Display, Facebook Ads, Twitter Ads, LinkedIn Ads, Google and Facebook remarketing, and more.
Permalink Structure – is a static link, which means that its URL address remains unchanged over time. These links keep their name and structure even if changes are made to the content of the page they identify.
Pillar Page – is a high-level piece of content that broadly overviews a main topic and links out to in-depth articles about specific subtopics. Think of it like a table of contents and the cluster pages like individual chapters.
Ping – a method of notifying blog directories and search engines that your blog has been updated.
Plug-ins – is a piece of software that adds new features or extends functionality on an existing application. Commonly used on websites that are built with content management systems – like BigCommerce, WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal – plug-ins serve many useful purposes for business owners and website visitors.
Protocol – a protocol is a set of guidelines or rules. Examples: Communications protocol is a set of instructions for transferring data. | Internet Protocol (IP) is the principal communications protocol used for relaying datagrams (packets) across an internetwork using the Internet Protocol Suite.
Psychographics – is the study and classification of people according to their attitudes, aspirations, and other psychological criteria, especially in market research.
Reciprocal Link – when two Web sites link to each other. Usually, a consensual linking relationship, though reciprocal linking, can also occur naturally for websites in the same topic area.
Robots – computer programs that visit a website based on links and other criteria set out by the search engine algorithm.
Robots Meta Tag – a simple mechanism to indicate to visiting web robots whether a page should be indexed or if links on the page should be followed.
Robot.txt – the file that is used to tell robots and crawlers what not to crawl on your site.
RSS Feed – RSS stands for “Really Simple Syndication”, it’s a syndication feed that grabs news, blogs, or other activities and presents the reader with up-to-date content.
Scraping – known as Web scraping, which is the process of automatically collecting Web information. Web scraping (also called Web harvesting or Web data extraction) is a computer software technique of extracting information from websites.
Search Algorithm – a mathematical equation used to define what words or phrases someone is looking for and how the collected results should be returned to them.
Search Directory – a listing of the different web pages available on the Internet, divided by category and subcategory.
Search Engine – is designed to search for information on the World Wide Web and FTP servers. The search results are generally presented in a list of results and are often called hits. The information may consist of web pages, images, information, and other types of files.
SERP’s – short for Search Engine Results pages, SERPs are the page’s that a search engine returns after a user submit a search query. In addition to organic search results, search engine results pages (SERPs) usually include paid search and pay-per-click (PPC) ads.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – is the process of improving the visibility of a website or a web page in search engines via the “natural” or un-paid (“organic” or “algorithmic”) search results.
Search Engine Spiders – web crawlers that examine and index website pages for the search engine results pages.
Search Intent – is the why behind someone’s online search. Search intent can be described as the reason for an online search. Put simply: everyone who uses the internet is looking for something, and search intent tries to determine what that thing is.
Sentiment Data – is an analysis with an automated interpretation of emotions (usually positive, negative, or neutral) from textual data such as written reviews or social media posts. For example: “I really like the new dress you’re wearing!” → Positive result.
SEO Best Practices – SEO best practices are a set of tasks designed to help improve a website’s search engine rankings. Common search engine optimization best practices include on-site optimization, researching keywords, and building backlinks to a site.
Side Hustle – is a means of making money alongside one’s main form of employment or income.
Sitemap HTML – HTML sitemaps are actually an HTML page with links to internal pages. They are used to list all hyperlinks of different sections and pages of your blog/website. Although an HTML sitemap is primarily created for human visitors, this page acts as a proxy for internal pages, and their primary scope is to reduce the number of steps the crawler should follow to reach the final target (the URL).
Skyscraper Technique – is a method of obtaining high-quality backlinks developed by the founder of BackLinko, Brian Dean. He described and presented his technique in 2014, after a year earlier, he had an impressive result– an increase in organic traffic by 110% in just 14 days. In a nutshell, create a blog post greater than your competition with more information, statistics, and references, making your post Link Bait.
Social Bookmarking – a way for Internet users to store, classify, share, and search Internet bookmarks.
Social Media – a group of web-based applications that enable people with like interests to share that interest and other parts of their lives through participation in an online community.
Social Media Marketing – is the process of creating tailored content for each social media platform to drive engagement and promote your business. Social Media Marketing (SMM) targets social platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok for brand promotion, target audience growth, drive website traffic, and increase sales.
Social Media Platforms – are websites and applications to communicate informally with others, find people, and share similar interests. Allows users to directly connect with one another through groups, networks, and locations. A few examples of social media platforms are Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tiktok & Pinterest.
Source Code – is the behind-the-scenes scripting for every program and website. It sets exact rules for computers to be translated into machine languages. In the case of this blog, the behind-the-scenes PHP scripting results in what you see in your internet browser as readable content, which also gives instructions for the size and placement of images, videos, etc.
Sponsored Post – is a publication or article that is published to promote a brand in exchange for an economic benefit from it.
SSL – stands for Secure Sockets Layer, a security protocol that creates an encrypted link between a web server and a web browser. Companies add SSL certificates to their websites to secure online transactions and keep customer information private and secure. Google has encouraged all sites to secure visitor information with SSL Certificates. That means that whether the Website collects personal information or not, Google will reward sites with SSL Certificates with a boost in search ranking.
Static Web Pages – are web pages that are delivered to the user exactly as stored, in contrast to dynamic web pages, which are generated by a web application and user interaction.
Stop Words – forbidden words that will cause a search engine to stop crawling your website.
Tags – in the HTML syntax, most elements are written with a start tag and an end tag, with the content in between. Tags are composed of the name of the element, surrounded by angle brackets. For Example, a paragraph, which is represented by the p element, would be written as:
<p>In the HTML syntax, most elements are written …</p>.
TCP/IP – the Internet Protocol Suite is the set of communications protocols used for the Internet and other similar networks. It is commonly also known as TCP/IP, named after two of the most important protocols in it: the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and the Internet Protocol (IP), which were the first two networking protocols defined in this standard.
Title Tag – the Title Tag is an HTML code tag that allows you to give your web page a title. This title can be found in the browser title bar, as well as in the search engine results pages (SERP). It’s crucial to add and optimize your website’s title tags, as they play an essential role in terms of organic ranking (SEO).
URL – stands for Uniform Resource Locator, which means it is a uniform (same throughout the world) way to locate a resource (file or document) on the Internet. The URL specifies the address of a file and every file on the Internet has a unique address.
URI – stands for Uniform Resource Identifier, and it’s the official name for those things you see all the time on the Web that begin with ‘HTTP:,’ ‘FTP’ or ‘mailto:,’ etc. A URI is a standard global identifier for an Internet resource that may be local or remotely accessible. URIs follow the same general syntax as URLs; in fact, URLs are one type of URI. Whereas URLs always refer to network addresses (including a protocol specification, hostname or address, and local path), a URI does not necessarily refer to a remote resource. For example, the URI file:///c:/ specifies a local directory. Because the file does not refer to any specific network protocol, this URI is not also a URL (an easy way of looking at this is to just think ‘URL’ whenever you see ‘URI’).
Weblog – a blog (a blend of the term web log) is a type of website or part of a website.
Web Hosting – is an online service that makes your website’s content accessible on the internet. I.E. it offers the facilities required for them to create and maintain a site and makes it accessible on the World Wide Web.
WebSite Builder – a website builder is typically a blogging tool that allows the construction of websites without manual code editing.
WooCommerce – is a beginner-friendly WordPress plugin that integrates easily with your existing WordPress site, turning your site into a fully functional eCommerce platform for selling things online.
WordPress – is a Content Management System (CMS), which is a platform that can be used for starting a blogging business without any knowledge of coding. This software enables you to customize just about every aspect of your site. The first version of WordPress was created in 2003 by Matt Mullenweg and Mike Little. According to data from W3Techs, WordPress is used by 43.2% of all websites on the internet in 2022. This is an increase from 39.5% in 2021
WordPress Plugin – is a piece of software that “plugs into” your WordPress website. Plugins can add new functionality or extend existing functionality on your site, allowing you to create virtually any kind of website, from eCommerce stores to portfolios to directory sites.
XHTML – eXtensible HyperText Markup Language (XHTML) is a family of XML markup languages that mirror or extend versions of the widely used Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), the language in which web pages are written.
XML – eXtensible Markup Language (XML) is a set of rules for encoding documents in machine-readable form. Maybe it is a little hard to understand, but XML does not DO anything. XML was created to structure, store, and transport information.
XML Sitemap – is a file for search engines that lists URLs (laymen’s term – website addresses for the pages or files) for your site along with additional metadata about each URL (when it was last updated, how often it usually changes, and how important it is, relative to other URLs in the site) so that search engines can more intelligently crawl the site. This file is not seen by site visitors, only by the crawlers that index your site.
If you know of any blogging terms that need to be added to this list, please let me know!