A
- A recordAn A record is a DNS entry that points a name, such as yourcompany.com or www.yourcompany.com, to an IPv4 address, which is the numeric address of a server. When someone visits your domain, the A record is what tells their browser which server to ask for the page.
- A/B testAn A/B test shows two versions of a page to different visitors at random and compares how many of each group convert. It shows whether a change caused a difference, if enough people take part.
- Above the foldAbove the fold is the part of a page visible as soon as it loads, before the visitor scrolls. The phrase comes from newspapers, where the top half of the front page showed when folded.
- ad auctionAn ad auction is the automatic process that decides which ads appear for a search or page view, in what order, and at what price. It runs every time an ad slot is available.
- Ad RankAd Rank is the score Google uses to order ads in an auction. It combines your bid, the quality of your ad and landing page, minimum quality thresholds, the search context and the expected effect of ad assets.
- add-to-cart rateAdd-to-cart rate is the share of sessions in which a visitor adds at least one item to the cart. It measures how well product pages persuade.
- AI crawlerAn AI crawler is an automated bot that fetches web pages for an AI product, for example to train a model or to answer a live question. Examples include GPTBot, OAI-SearchBot, PerplexityBot and ClaudeBot.
- AI ModeAI Mode is Google’s conversational search experience, where a question can be answered across several steps with links to sources. It may use query fan-out to cover the sub-questions behind a request.
- AI OverviewsAI Overviews are Google Search answers generated by AI and shown above or among the usual results, with links to supporting pages. To appear as a supporting link, a page must be indexed and eligible to show in Google Search.
- Alt textAlt text is a short written description attached to an image in the page's code. Screen readers speak it aloud for people who cannot see the image, and it is displayed if the image fails to load.
- Anchor textAnchor text is the clickable words of a link. In a sentence like read our pricing guide, the words pricing guide are the anchor text.
- answer engine optimizationAnswer engine optimization (AEO) is the practice of making a business easy for AI assistants and answer engines to find, understand and recommend. Success is being named or cited in the answer, not holding a position in a list.
- attribution modelAn attribution model is the rule that decides which ad click or visit gets credit for a conversion when several touched the customer. Google Ads uses data-driven attribution by default for most conversion actions.
B
- BacklinkA backlink is a link from another website to yours. Search engines have long treated links as a sign that others consider a page worth referencing, so relevant links from trusted sites can help you rank.
- BackupA backup is a saved copy of your website's files and database that you can restore if something goes wrong, such as a failed update, a hack or an accidental deletion. A useful backup is recent, stored somewhere other than the server it protects, and actually tested by restoring it.
- BandwidthBandwidth is the amount of data your website sends to visitors over a period of time, often measured per month. Every page view transfers the page, images, scripts and fonts, so heavy images and busy traffic use more.
- BANTBANT is a four-part checklist for qualifying a lead: budget, authority, need and timeline. It is a practitioner framework, commonly attributed to IBM, not the product of published research.
- best-fit customerA best-fit customer is a buyer who cares most about the value you offer and is easiest for you to win, serve and keep. Positioning is written for them.
- Bounce rateIn GA4, bounce rate is the percentage of sessions that were not engaged. A session counts as engaged if it lasted at least 10 seconds, included a conversion event, or had at least two page or screen views.
- brandA brand is the set of expectations and associations buyers hold about a business. It lives in their memory, so you can shape it but never own it outright.
- brand buildingBrand building is marketing that grows future demand by making you familiar and trusted before people are ready to buy. It contrasts with activation, which converts people who already want something.
- brand identityBrand identity is the set of visible and audible elements a business controls: logo, colours, typefaces, imagery and tone of voice. It is how a brand is expressed, not the brand itself.
- brand mentionA brand mention is when an AI answer names your business, with or without linking to you. Mentions matter most on the commercial questions buyers ask before they choose.
- buyer personaA buyer persona is a fictional but realistic description of a typical person who buys or uses your product, built from research. It shows goals, worries and how they decide.
C
- CAC payback periodCAC payback period is how many months it takes a customer’s gross margin to repay what it cost to win them. Divide CAC by monthly gross margin per customer.
- CacheA cache is a saved copy of something so it can be served faster next time. Your browser caches images and files, your WordPress caching plugin saves finished pages, and a CDN keeps copies near visitors.
- canonical URLA canonical URL is the preferred address of a page that exists at several addresses. It tells search engines which version to show and to credit with links.
- cart abandonmentCart abandonment is when a shopper adds items to a cart but leaves without ordering. Baymard Institute puts the average rate at 70.22% across 50 studies.
- category entry pointA category entry point is a thought, need or situation that prompts someone to buy in a category, such as treating yourself or an approaching deadline. Brands grow by being linked to more of them.
- CDNA CDN is a network of servers spread across many locations that keeps copies of your site's static files, such as images, scripts and stylesheets, and serves them from the location closest to each visitor. The result is faster loading, especially for people far from your main server, and less strain on that server.
- checkout funnelThe checkout funnel is the series of steps from cart to order confirmation. Reporting the drop at each step shows where shoppers leave.
- Chrome User Experience ReportThe Chrome User Experience Report is Google's public dataset of how real Chrome users experience websites. It supplies the field data behind Core Web Vitals reports.
- citationIn AI answers, a citation is a link or reference to the source a statement was drawn from. Being cited sends readers to your page and signals that the assistant treated it as a source.
- Click-through rateClick-through rate is the percentage of impressions that turned into clicks. If your result was shown 1,000 times and clicked 50 times, the CTR is 5 percent.
- CMSA CMS is software that lets you create and edit website content without writing code. WordPress is the best known, and Shopify plays the same role for online stores.
- CNAME recordA CNAME record makes one name an alias of another name instead of pointing it at a number. For example, www.yourcompany.com can be an alias for a hostname your platform gives you, so if that platform changes its server address, your site follows automatically.
- competitive alternativesCompetitive alternatives are what your buyers would do if you did not exist. They include rival firms, but also doing it themselves, using software or doing nothing.
- consent modeConsent mode is a Google feature that tells tags whether a visitor has agreed to cookies, so the tags adjust their behavior. It works with your own cookie banner and does not provide one.
- content auditA content audit rates the quality of every page in a content inventory, so you can decide whether to keep, update or remove each one. The inventory is the list, and the audit is the judgement.
- ConversionA conversion is a visitor completing an action that matters to your business: sending a contact form, calling you, booking a meeting, buying a product or downloading a guide. What counts is your decision, not a default.
- conversion rateConversion rate is the share of visits, users or ad clicks that end in a chosen action, calculated as conversions divided by visits times 100. If 30 of 1,000 visitors enquire, the rate is 3%.
- conversion rate optimizationConversion rate optimization (CRO) is the practice of increasing the share of website visitors who take a valuable action. It works through research, changes to the page, and honest testing of whether the change helped.
- copywritingCopywriting is writing whose job is to move a reader toward a specific action, such as calling, buying or booking. It differs from content writing, which mainly informs.
- Core Web VitalsCore Web Vitals are three real-user measures of page experience: loading (LCP), responsiveness (INP) and visual stability (CLS). Good thresholds are 2.5 seconds, 200 milliseconds and 0.1.
- crawl budgetCrawl budget is the set of URLs a search engine can and wants to crawl on your site. It depends on your server's capacity and the engine's demand for your pages.
- crawlingCrawling is when a search engine's automated program downloads a web page. It finds pages mainly by following links, reading sitemaps and revisiting known pages.
- CTAA call to action is the prompt that tells a visitor what to do next, usually a button or link such as Book a call, Get a quote or Download the guide. A good one is specific about what happens after the click, stands out visually, and appears where the visitor is ready to act.
- Cumulative Layout ShiftCumulative Layout Shift scores how much visible content moves unexpectedly while a page loads. Web.dev rates 0.1 or less as good and above 0.25 as poor.
- customer acquisition costCustomer acquisition cost (CAC) is your total marketing and sales spend in a period divided by the number of new customers won in that period. It shows what each customer costs you to win.
- customer journey mapA customer journey map is a visual story of one persona’s experience in one scenario, showing phases, actions, thoughts, emotions, touchpoints and pain points. It should support a known business goal.
- customer lifetime valueCustomer lifetime value (LTV) is what an average customer is worth over the whole relationship. A simple version is monthly gross margin per customer multiplied by the average months they stay.
D
- distinctive brand assetA distinctive brand asset is an observable cue, such as a colour, shape, phrase or character, that lets buyers recognise a brand and its materials without reading the name.
- DKIMDKIM adds a digital signature to every email you send. Your mail system signs each message with a private key, and publishes the matching public key in your DNS.
- DMARCDMARC is a DNS record that tells receiving mail servers what to do with messages claiming to be from your domain that fail SPF or DKIM checks. It builds on those two and does not replace them.
- DNSDNS is the internet's phone book. Computers find each other by numeric addresses, but people remember names, so DNS translates a name like yourcompany.com into the address of the server that holds your site.
- DomainA domain is the web address people type to reach you, such as yourcompany.com. You do not own it forever: you register it for a set period, usually one year at a time, through a company called a registrar, and you must renew it to keep it.
- drop-off rateThe drop-off rate is the percentage of people who reach one step of a funnel but do not reach the next. It equals 100% minus the step conversion rate.
E
- E-E-A-TE-E-A-T stands for experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness, the qualities Google’s quality guidelines ask raters to look for in content. It is not a direct ranking factor, but it describes what trustworthy content looks like.
- enhanced conversionsEnhanced conversions improve conversion measurement by sending hashed first-party data, such as an email address, with a conversion. Google matches it to signed-in accounts that engaged with your ads.
- entityAn entity is a distinct, identifiable thing, such as a business, a person or a product, that search and AI systems can recognize and connect to facts about it. Consistent facts about your business across the web make it a clearer entity.
- express consentExpress consent is when a person clearly agrees, in words or in writing, to receive marketing messages from you. Under Canada’s anti-spam law it has no time limit unless they withdraw it.
F
- firmographicsFirmographics are facts about a company that you can use to group or target it, such as industry, number of employees, revenue, location and growth stage. They are the business version of demographics.
- front-loadingFront-loading means putting the most informative words at the start of a headline, heading, bullet or sentence. Scanners notice the first words of each line more than the last.
G
- GA4GA4 is Google's analytics platform. It measures what visitors do on your site after they arrive: which pages they view, where they came from and which actions they complete.
- generative engine optimizationGenerative engine optimization (GEO) is a name for optimizing content so generative AI systems include and cite it in their answers. The term was popularized by a 2023 academic paper and is used almost interchangeably with AEO.
- Google Business ProfileGoogle Business Profile is the free listing that appears on Google Maps and in search results when someone looks for your business. It shows your name, address, opening hours, phone number, photos, reviews and a link to your website.
- Google Search ConsoleGoogle Search Console is Google's free tool that shows how your site appears in search: clicks, impressions, indexing status and Core Web Vitals. It is the main source for diagnosing SEO.
- Google-ExtendedGoogle-Extended is a robots.txt control that lets you decide whether Google may use your content to train future Gemini models and for grounding in Gemini Apps. Google says it does not affect your inclusion in Google Search.
- GPTBotGPTBot is OpenAI’s crawler for content that may be used to train its generative AI models. OpenAI says disallowing it in robots.txt signals that your content should not be used for training.
- growth managerA growth manager is the person accountable for a business’s growth results across channels. They decide what to do next, in what order, and check whether it worked.
- growth roadmapA growth roadmap is a short, ranked plan of the projects a business will do next, each tied to one goal. It usually covers 90 days and is reviewed monthly.
- guest checkoutGuest checkout lets a shopper buy without creating an account. In Baymard’s list, a required account causes 18% of cart abandonments.
H
- heatmapA heatmap shows in colour where visitors click, tap or scroll on a page. It reveals which parts get attention and which are ignored.
- heuristic evaluationA heuristic evaluation is an expert inspection of a page against recognised usability principles, such as Nielsen’s 10 heuristics. Three to five reviewers each judge it independently, then compare notes.
- HostingHosting is the service that stores your website's files and database on a server connected to the internet, so visitors can load it at any time. The host is separate from your domain registrar, and it is separate from your email provider, though one company can supply several of these.
I
- ICE scoringICE scoring ranks ideas by Impact, Confidence and Ease, each rated from 1 to 10 and multiplied together. It is credited to Sean Ellis, who coined the term growth hacking.
- ideal customer profileAn ideal customer profile (ICP) describes the type of customer who is the best fit for your business, defined by checkable facts such as industry, size, location and situation. It tells you who to aim at.
- ImpressionsIn Search Console, an impression is counted each time a link to your site appears in a search result that a person could see, whether or not they click it. Impressions measure visibility, not visits.
- indexingIndexing is when a search engine analyses a crawled page and stores it in its searchable database. A page that is not indexed cannot appear in search results.
- information architectureInformation architecture is how a site’s pages are grouped, labelled and linked so people can find what they need. It shows up as navigation, categories and the sitemap.
- information scentInformation scent is a user’s estimate of how useful a link, ad or page will be, based on how it is represented. Strong scent keeps people moving, and weak scent sends them away.
- Interaction to Next PaintInteraction to Next Paint measures how quickly a page shows a visual response after a click, tap or key press. Web.dev rates 200 milliseconds or less as good.
- inverted pyramidThe inverted pyramid is a writing structure that puts the conclusion or most important point first, then adds supporting detail in descending order of importance.
J
- jobs to be doneJobs to be done is the idea that customers hire a product or service to make progress in a particular situation. Understanding the job explains the choice better than customer demographics.
- JSON-LDJSON-LD is a format for writing structured data as a block of JSON inside a page, separate from the visible HTML. It is the format Google recommends for schema markup.
K
- key eventA key event is a Google Analytics 4 event that you mark as an action particularly important to your business, such as a purchase or a form submission. Google Ads can create conversions from key events.
- KeywordA keyword is a word or phrase people type or say when searching, such as emergency plumber Stockholm or how much does a website cost. Choosing keywords means understanding the language your customers actually use and matching each page to one clear topic.
- keyword match typeA keyword match type controls how closely a search must relate to your keyword for your ad to enter the auction. Google offers broad, phrase and exact match.
- knowledge graphA knowledge graph is a database of entities and the relationships between them. Google launched its Knowledge Graph in 2012 to understand things, not strings, which is why clear facts about your business matter.
L
- Largest Contentful PaintLargest Contentful Paint measures when the largest image, video or text block in view finishes rendering. Web.dev rates 2.5 seconds or less as good.
- leadA lead is a person or company that has given you a way to contact them and shown some interest, such as sending an enquiry or downloading a guide. It is not yet a customer.
- lead magnetA lead magnet is something useful, such as a checklist, template or calculator, offered in exchange for contact details. It suits buyers who are researching and not yet ready to book a call.
- lead scoringLead scoring gives each lead points for signals, such as fit with your ideal customer and engagement with your site, and uses the total to decide the next action.
- leading indicatorA leading indicator is a measure that moves before the result you care about and helps predict it, such as quote requests, calls or add-to-cart rate. It lets you spot problems while you can still fix them.
- llms.txtllms.txt is a proposed plain-text Markdown file at the root of a website that gives language models a short, curated guide to the site’s most useful pages. It is cheap to publish and good practice, but major assistants have not confirmed they use it as a ranking signal.
- Local SEOLocal SEO is the work of being found by people searching for a business near them, such as dentist near me or a search that names a town. It centers on your Google Business Profile, consistent name, address and phone details across the web, reviews, and pages on your site about each place you serve.
M
- MalwareMalware is malicious software placed on a website or device to cause harm. On a website it often hides in an outdated plugin or theme, or arrives through a stolen password.
- marketing channelA marketing channel is a route through which you reach potential customers, such as search, social media, email, content, paid ads or referrals. Each channel suits a different job, from creating awareness to closing a sale.
- marketing funnelThe marketing funnel is a model that sorts buyers into stages, usually awareness, consideration, decision and loyalty. It helps you check that you have something for people at every stage.
- marketing qualified leadA marketing qualified lead is a lead that marketing has judged ready to pass to sales. HubSpot defines it as a contact or company the marketing team has qualified as ready for the sales team.
- mental availabilityMental availability is buyers’ ability to recall a brand when they shop in a category, and to recognise it quickly. The Ehrenberg-Bass Institute treats it as one of two drivers of brand growth.
- merchant listingA merchant listing is a Google search result for a product sold on your site, showing price, availability and shipping or returns details. It is based on Product markup or Merchant Center data.
- message matchMessage match is the consistency between what brought a visitor to a page, such as an ad, search result or email, and what they find there. The page should confirm the same promise, offer and next step.
- messy middleThe messy middle is Google’s term for the stage between a trigger and a purchase, when people loop between exploring options and evaluating them. It is not a straight line.
- Meta descriptionThe meta description is a short summary of a page, written in the page's code and often shown beneath the title in search results. It does not directly influence ranking, but a clear, honest summary can persuade more people to click.
- Meta titleThe meta title, also called the title tag, is the headline of a page as search engines see it. It is the large clickable line in a search result and the text shown on the browser tab.
- micro-conversionA micro-conversion is a smaller step that signals interest on the way to the main goal, such as viewing pricing, starting a form or watching a demo. It earns nothing on its own.
- microcontentMicrocontent is a short piece of text that must be understood on its own, such as a headline, page title, link label or email subject line.
- minimum detectable effectThe minimum detectable effect is the smallest change in conversion rate that a test is designed to catch. The smaller the effect you want to detect, the more visitors the test needs.
- MX recordAn MX (mail exchange) record tells the internet which servers receive email for your domain. If you use Google Workspace or Microsoft 365, your MX records point to their mail servers.
N
- NAPNAP stands for name, address and phone number, the core details that identify a local business. The idea is consistency: your business name, address and number should be written the same way on your website, your Google Business Profile, directories and social profiles.
- negative keywordA negative keyword is a word or phrase that stops your ad appearing for searches that contain it. It is the main tool for cutting wasted spend.
- noindexNoindex is an instruction, set in a meta tag or HTTP header, that tells search engines to leave a page out of their index. It is the right way to keep a page out of results.
O
- offline conversion importAn offline conversion import sends sales or outcomes that happened off the website, such as a phone sale, back to the ad platform. It uses a click ID saved with the lead.
- Organic trafficOrganic traffic is the visitors who arrive from unpaid search results, as opposed to ads, email, social posts or typing your address directly. It usually means clicks on listings in Google or Bing, though analytics tools sometimes also group unpaid links from AI assistants or other sources differently.
- owned, earned and paid mediaOwned media is what you control, such as your website and email list. Earned media is attention others give you, such as reviews and press. Paid media is attention you rent through ads.
P
- pay-per-click advertisingPay-per-click advertising is a model where you pay a platform each time someone clicks your ad. Where the ad appears is decided by an auction, not a fixed price.
- Performance MaxPerformance Max is a Google Ads campaign type that runs across Google’s inventory, including YouTube, Display, Search, Discover, Gmail and Maps, from a single campaign. You supply assets and goals, and Google’s AI assembles the ads.
- PhishingPhishing is an attempt to trick you into giving away a password, payment details or access, usually by pretending to be someone you trust. It arrives as email, text messages or calls, and often looks like a message from a bank, a delivery firm, your hosting company or a colleague.
- physical availabilityPhysical availability is how easily a brand can be bought, in the format, amount and price a buyer needs. For a service business it includes being findable, bookable and quick to reply.
- plain languagePlain language is writing that is clear and easy for its intended audience to understand the first time. It uses familiar words, active voice and short sentences.
- PluginA plugin is an add-on that gives a WordPress site a new feature, such as contact forms, SEO settings, caching, backups or security scanning. Plugins save a great deal of development work, but each one is extra code that must be kept up to date.
- positioningPositioning is the decision about who a business is for and why it is the better choice compared with the alternatives. It is made inside the business and then repeated until buyers repeat it back.
- product structured dataProduct structured data is code that labels a product page’s name, image, price, availability and reviews so search engines can read them. It uses Schema.org Product and Offer types.
- prompt setA prompt set is a fixed list of buyer questions used to test how AI assistants answer, so results can be compared over time. A good set covers the commercial questions your buyers ask before they decide.
Q
- qualified leadA qualified lead is an enquiry judged likely to become a customer, using a written rule such as location, budget and need. It is not simply anyone who filled in a form.
- Quality ScoreQuality Score is a diagnostic Google shows for Search keywords, rated through three components: expected click-through rate, ad relevance and landing page experience. Google states it is not an input in the ad auction.
- query fan-outQuery fan-out is when an AI system breaks one question into several related searches, runs them and combines the results into a single answer. A page is more likely to be used if it answers one of those sub-questions well.
R
- redirect chainA redirect chain happens when one address redirects to a second, which redirects to a third. Each extra hop slows the visitor and adds a point of failure.
- Responsive designResponsive design means a page rearranges itself to fit the screen it is shown on, so the same site works on a phone, a tablet and a wide monitor. Columns stack, menus collapse into a button and text resizes, instead of the visitor pinching and zooming.
- retrieval-augmented generationRetrieval-augmented generation (RAG) is a method where an AI system first retrieves relevant documents, then writes its answer using them. Many AI search features work this way, which is why crawlable, relevant pages matter.
- revenue per visitorRevenue per visitor is total revenue divided by sessions. It shows what each visit is worth, whatever the conversion rate says.
- RICE scoringRICE scoring ranks ideas by Reach times Impact times Confidence, divided by Effort. Intercom published the method in 2018.
- robots.txtrobots.txt is a file at the root of a site that tells crawlers which paths they may or may not fetch. Blocking an AI crawler here can keep your pages out of that product’s answers.
S
- sales funnelA sales funnel is a model of the steps a buyer takes from first noticing you to paying, with fewer people reaching each later step. It is used to count people at each step and find where they drop out.
- sales qualified leadA sales qualified lead is a lead that the sales team has confirmed as a potential customer, usually after reviewing it or speaking to the person. It is further along than a marketing qualified lead.
- sameAssameAs is a Schema.org property that points to a page which unambiguously identifies the same thing, such as an official profile or a Wikidata entry. It helps systems confirm that several pages describe one business.
- sample sizeSample size is the number of visitors in a test or measurement. Small samples produce wide, unreliable ranges, so a rate from a few dozen visits tells you very little.
- scannable textScannable text is written so a reader can grasp the main points by skimming: meaningful headings, short paragraphs with one idea each, and lists where they help.
- schema markupSchema markup is structured data that labels what a page contains, using the shared schema.org vocabulary, so machines read it without guessing. It does not guarantee a rich result or a citation, but it removes ambiguity.
- search crawlerAn AI search crawler is a bot that builds the index an assistant searches when it answers a question. Allowing it is what makes your pages eligible to be cited in that assistant’s answers.
- search engine optimizationSearch engine optimization is the work of making a website easy for search engines to find, understand and trust. Its aim is to appear for searches made by people who are ready to buy.
- search intentSearch intent is the purpose behind a search query: what the person wants to learn, compare, buy or find. Matching it is central to ranking and converting.
- session recordingA session recording replays a single visitor’s visit, including cursor movement, scrolling and clicks. It lets you see where people hesitate, get stuck or leave.
- share of answersShare of answers is the percentage of AI answers, across a set of prompts and repeated runs, that name or cite a business. It turns a noisy, variable channel into a number that can be tracked month to month.
- site migrationA site migration is any move that changes a site’s addresses, domain, platform or structure in a way search engines must follow. A redesign that changes URLs is a migration.
- Smart BiddingSmart Bidding is Google’s set of automated bidding strategies that use machine learning to optimize for conversions or conversion value in each auction. Examples are Target CPA and Target ROAS.
- speed to leadSpeed to lead is how quickly a business first responds to a new enquiry. A 2011 Harvard Business Review article reported that most companies respond to online leads too slowly.
- SPFSPF is a DNS record listing which mail servers are allowed to send email using your domain name. When a message arrives claiming to be from you, the receiving server checks the sending server against that list.
- split testA split test shows different visitors different versions of a page or headline and compares what they do. It measures behaviour but does not explain why a version won.
- SSL certificateAn SSL certificate, more precisely a TLS certificate, is a small file that lets your site load over HTTPS, the secure version of HTTP. It does two things: it encrypts data traveling between the visitor and your server, and it confirms the visitor has reached the domain they typed.
- staging siteA staging site is a private copy of a website used to build and test changes before they go live. It must be kept out of search results with a login or a noindex rule.
- statistical significanceStatistical significance means a difference between two results would be unlikely to appear by chance if the change had no effect. A common cut-off is a 5% chance.
- stock keeping unitA stock keeping unit (SKU) is your own code for one sellable version of a product, such as a size and colour. It tracks stock and orders.
- store conversion rateStore conversion rate is the share of store sessions that end in a completed order. It is calculated as orders divided by sessions.
- switch interviewA switch interview is a customer interview with someone who recently bought or changed provider. You reconstruct the timeline of events that led to the decision.
T
- ThemeA theme controls how a WordPress site looks: layout, fonts, colors and the structure of pages and menus. Your content stays in the database while the theme decides how to display it, which is why you can switch themes without retyping everything, though the result will need checking.
- topical authorityTopical authority is the depth and breadth of a site’s coverage of a subject, built from a connected set of pages that answer the questions around it. It helps both search engines and AI systems see a site as a reliable source on that topic.
- touchpointA touchpoint is any point where a person meets your business, such as a search result, a review, your website, an email, a phone call or the service itself.
- training crawlerA training crawler is a bot that collects web content that may be used to train an AI company’s models. Blocking one signals that your content should not be used for training, and it does not by itself remove you from that company’s search answers.
- TTLTTL is a number on a DNS record that says how many seconds other computers may remember the answer before asking again. A TTL of 3600 means up to one hour.
- Two-factor authenticationTwo-factor authentication asks for a second proof of identity in addition to your password, usually a code from an authenticator app, a text message or a physical security key. Even if someone steals or guesses your password, they cannot log in without that second item.
U
- UptimeUptime is the share of time your website is reachable and working, usually shown as a percentage over a month or year. A figure like 99.9 percent still allows roughly 43 minutes of downtime in a 30-day month, so the extra nines matter.
- URL mappingURL mapping is a spreadsheet that lists every old address next to the new address it should lead to. It is the plan behind every redirect in a redesign or migration.
- user-triggered fetcherA user-triggered fetcher is a bot that visits a page because a person asked an assistant about it, not because it is crawling your site. Vendors say robots.txt rules may not apply to these requests.
- UTM parameterA UTM parameter is a small tag added to the end of a link, such as utm_source=newsletter, that tells your analytics where a visit came from. The common ones are source, medium and campaign.
V
- vanity metricA vanity metric is a number that looks good but does not guide a decision, such as page views, followers or impressions. If you would not know what to do differently when it moves, it is vanity.
- voice of customerVoice of customer is the way your buyers describe their problems, goals and doubts, in their own words. Copywriters collect it and reuse it so visitors recognise themselves on the page.
W
- WikidataWikidata is a free, open knowledge base of structured facts that anyone can edit and that other sites reuse. A business can have an item only if it meets the notability policy, usually through serious, independent references.
- wireframeA wireframe is a plain layout of a page that shows where content and actions sit, without colour, imagery or brand styling. It lets a team test structure before investing in design and code.
