SEO Terms: A Glossary of Common Search Marketing Phrases

With any B2B marketing strategy, it’s easy to get lost in the jargon. This is definitely true of search engine optimization.

There are so many tactics, channels, metrics and tools involved with modern SEO that trying to keep them all straight can be downright scary!

As you embark on your quest to master the art of B2B SEO, it’s essential to familiarize yourself with the key terminology that will be your guiding stars. Here’s a glossary of the top SEO terms tailored specifically for B2B marketers:

1. Bounce Rate: The percentage of visitors who navigate away from your website after viewing only one page. A high bounce rate could indicate that your content isn’t meeting visitors’ expectations.
2. SERP (Search Engine Results Page): The page that displays the results of a user’s search query. Ranking higher on the SERP increases the likelihood of your content being clicked and visited.
3. Keyword Research: The process of identifying and selecting keywords and phrases that your target audience is likely to use when searching for information related to your products or services.
4. On-Page Optimization: Refers to optimizing individual web pages to improve their search engine rankings. This includes optimizing content, headings, meta tags, and URLs.
5. Meta Tags: HTML tags that provide information about a web page to search engines and website visitors. Important meta tags include the title tag (title of the page) and meta description (a brief description of the page’s content).
6. Backlinks: Also known as inbound links, these are links from other websites that point to your website. High-quality and relevant backlinks can boost your site’s authority and search engine rankings.
7. Organic Traffic: The traffic that comes to your website from search engines without any paid advertising. The relevance and quality of your content drives it.
8. Paid Traffic: The visitors who come to a website through paid advertising efforts rather than through organic search results. While SEO focuses on improving a website’s visibility in non-paid (organic) search engine results, paid traffic involves using various advertising methods to drive visitors to a website and generate immediate visibility.
9. E-E-A-T: Experiences, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (EEAT) are essential criteria used by search engines, especially Google, to evaluate the quality and credibility of a website’s content.
10. Crawling and Indexing: Crawling is the process by which search engines discover and analyze web pages. Indexing involves adding these pages to the search engine’s database for retrieval in search results.
11. Alt Text: Descriptive text added to images on a web page. Alt text helps search engines understand the content of the image and is important for accessibility.
12. Long-Tail Keywords: Longer and more specific keyword phrases that typically have lower search volume but higher intent. They are valuable for targeting niche audiences.
13. Canonical URL: The preferred version of a web page that search engines should consider as the main source of content when there are multiple similar versions.
14. Mobile-Friendly: A website that is designed to provide a seamless and user-friendly experience on mobile devices, which is crucial for SEO rankings since search engines prioritize mobile-friendly sites.
15. Page Speed: The time it takes for a web page to load. Faster-loading pages are favored by both users and search engines.
16. Schema Markup: Code added to a website’s HTML to provide search engines with additional information about the content. It can enhance how your site is displayed in search results.
17. Meta Description: A brief summary of a web page’s content that appears in search engine results. A compelling meta description can improve click-through rates.
18. Intent-Based Strategy: The approach of optimizing content and web pages to align with the specific intent or purpose behind a user’s search query, focuses on understanding the underlying motivation of users. (Learn more!)
19. Snippet: A concise preview or summary of a web page’s content that is displayed in search engine results that is designed to provide users with a snapshot of what they can expect to find on the linked page before they click on the search result.
20. Crawl Budget: The number of pages search engines will crawl on your site during a given time. Optimizing for crawl budget ensures that important pages are crawled and indexed.
21. Content Marketing: The strategic creation and distribution of valuable and relevant content to attract and engage a target audience. SEO plays a vital role in content marketing by driving organic traffic to your content.

In the world of B2B marketing, SEO isn’t just an option – it’s a necessity. The foundation of a robust B2B content marketing strategy is built upon the pillars of enhanced visibility, credibility, and quality lead generation that SEO provides. By mastering the basics of SEO – from deciphering the bounce rate to building backlinks – you’ll be ready to get the most out of your brand’s valuable marketing content.

Learn more about TopRank Marketing’s SEO services and how we can help you make sense of your search strategy.