SEO Glossary
SEO jargon, translated.
Every trade has its shorthand, and SEO has more than most. These are the terms your agency uses, explained in plain English, so a busy owner can follow any SEO conversation and never nod along blindly again.
How To Use This
Skim it, then see what we do about it
Heard a term on a call, in a proposal or in a report? Find it below, read the plain-English version, then follow the link under it to see what we actually do about it. The eighteen terms fall into four groups.
- ✓The kinds of SEO: SEO itself, local, technical, on-page and off-page
- ✓Links and reputation: backlinks, domain authority and E-E-A-T
- ✓How Google reads a site: crawling and indexing, schema markup, Core Web Vitals, keyword research and search intent
- ✓Where you show up: the SERP, featured snippets, Google Business Profile, the map pack and AI answers
The Terms
Eighteen terms, in plain English
No jargon defined with more jargon. Each entry says what the term means, why it matters to your business, and where to see what we do about it.
SEO
Search engine optimisation: the work of improving your website so it appears higher in Google when people search for what you sell. It covers your site’s content, its technical health and its reputation. See what our SEO services in Galway actually include.
Local SEO
The branch of SEO that wins searches with local intent, such as “plumber near me” or “solicitor Galway”. It centres on your Google Business Profile, reviews and consistent business details across the web. Our local SEO service in Galway is built around it.
Technical SEO
The behind-the-scenes work that lets Google find, read and trust your website: site speed, secure connections, clean code and indexation. If technical problems block Google, nothing else you do can work properly. Here is how we approach technical SEO.
On-page SEO
Everything you optimise on the page itself: headings, titles, written content, images and internal links, all shaped around what your customers search for. It is the part of SEO you can see. On-page work sits inside our SEO services.
Off-page SEO
The work done away from your website to build its reputation, mainly earning links and mentions from other trusted sites. Google reads these as votes of confidence. The biggest part of it is link building and digital PR.
Backlink
A link from someone else’s website to yours. The best backlinks come from relevant, trusted sites and tell Google your business is worth recommending. Building them is the job of link building done properly.
Domain authority
A third-party score, out of 100, that estimates how strong a website’s overall reputation is, based largely on its backlinks. Google does not use the score itself, but it is a handy comparison tool. You raise it slowly through honest link building.
SERP
Short for search engine results page: everything you see after typing a search into Google, including the ads, the map, the normal listings and any AI answer at the top. Where you appear on it decides your traffic. See how SEO works for the full picture.
Featured snippet
The highlighted answer box Google sometimes shows above the normal results, pulled from a page that answers the question clearly. Winning one can bring a big share of the clicks. Clear structure and direct answers earn them, as explained in how SEO works.
Google Business Profile
Your free business listing on Google: the panel with your map pin, opening hours, photos and reviews. For local searches it often matters more than your website does. Keeping it accurate and active is a core part of local SEO in Galway.
Map pack
The block of three local businesses Google shows on a map near the top of local search results. It takes a large share of the clicks and calls for searches like “dentist Galway”. Winning a place in it is the main goal of local SEO.
E-E-A-T
Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness: the qualities Google’s guidelines tell its quality reviewers to look for in a website. Real credentials, named authors and honest claims all feed it. It also makes a useful checklist when choosing an SEO agency.
Schema markup
Code added to your pages that labels information for search engines: this is a review, this is a price, this is an opening time. It helps Google understand and display your content properly. Adding it correctly is part of technical SEO.
Crawling and indexing
Crawling is Google’s software visiting and reading your pages; indexing is Google storing them so they can appear in results. If a page is not crawled and indexed, it cannot rank at all. A technical SEO audit checks both first.
Core Web Vitals
Google’s measurements of how a page feels to use: how fast it loads, how quickly it responds to taps and clicks, and how much it jumps about while loading. Poor scores frustrate visitors and Google alike. Fixing them sits within technical SEO.
Keyword research
Finding out exactly what your customers type into Google, how often they type it, and how hard each term is to win. It decides which pages a site needs and what they should say. Every plan in our SEO services starts with it.
Search intent
The reason behind a search. Someone typing “best boiler” is researching; “boiler repair Galway” wants help today. Pages that match the intent rank and convert; pages that fight it do neither. Intent shapes everything in how SEO works.
GEO / answer engine optimisation
Generative engine optimisation: making your business visible in the answers AI tools give, in ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity, not just in Google’s blue links. More buyers now research this way. We track and grow it through AI visibility optimisation.
Still Translating
Heard a term that is not here?
Ask us. We will explain it in plain English, with no obligation and no sales pitch, and if enough people ask about the same term we will add it to this page. Or skip the vocabulary lesson and find out where your own site stands.
Ready to see what your website could be doing?
Start with a free SEO audit.
No obligation, no hard sell. We will look at your site, your market and your competitors, and give you an honest read on where the opportunities are. You will hear back within one working day.