20 basic SEO terms

This short list of basic terms is very helpful reminder for beginners of SEO. If you cannot memorize them at once – keep this article next to you. Be sure that after learning SEO theory you will be able to use your practice skills more effectively.
Analytics
Software which analyzes data about website usage, allows tracking page views, user path, conversion statistics and presents elements of website’s performance. The leading industry of website package is Google Analytic which does not need any payments from users.
Anchor text
The text of a backlink which is visible for the website user and which is clickable on the website page. It helps search engines to associate the relevancy of the website and of the link to the content on the landing page. It is good to have keyword rich anchor with SEO so search engines will indicate these keywords with the website’s content.
Alt tag
It is a text description of the image and HTML attribute of the IMG tag. It gets displayed when the image cannot be loaded. It is valuable for SEO, because when search engine cannot see the image, it can read the alt tag.
Black hat SEO
It is name for all SEO practices which are going against the terms of service and which are manipulative and unethical. It can hurt the website or even being banned.
Backlink
It is a link which is on one website and pointing back to another website. It is the most important factor for SEO as affects and influence on search ranking.
Conversions
It is measurement and achievement which can record quantifiable goals and activities on a website. For example, it can be add clicks, sign ups or sales. .
Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)
It is the part of the codes which defines a representation of different elements in the website - design, style of links, headers, text etc.
Cost per click (CPS)
It is a special figure which shows the cost for each time a user clicks on an advertisement links.
Indexed Pages
The pages on a website that search engines has explored and stored. Without indexed pages website cannot show up in search engine results. .
Keywords
It is a single descriptive word or phrase that a user enters into a search engine query. With help of specific keywords SEO can achieve the goal to be in the top of search results.
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Linkbait
It is a part of website content which can be text, video, picture or audio and which attracts as many backlinks as possible.
Meta Tags
The website code that is invisible for users and can be refers to the keywords and description tags in SEO, with help of which search engines explain users about the website.
Nofollow
A line of code which instructs search engines no to follow links or one link on a page.
Organic Search Results
It occurs when you visit an engine search, enter keywords and press search. The results that appear after it are organic search results.
Pay per Click (PPC)
Methods of contextual advertisement scheme that charges by clicking on a picture, text or other medium advertisement.
Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
A term which is used to describe acts involves with marketing services or products via search engines. It is divided in SEO and PPC techniques. For example, it is paid listing and function to increase traffic.
Search Engine Rankin Page (SERP)
It is a page which appears after you type query into a search engine. Normally it has 10 or more results.
Sitemap
It is a special file on a website that informs search engines about position of all the website pages. That is why search engines can show up them on the results page. Typically, sitemap is in a XML format.
White hat SEO
It is opposite of Black hat SEO and it includes practices which improve a website by proper techniques and less manipulative features.
301 Redirect
It is a permanent website server function that makes one website page redirects the visitor to another page. It informs search engines that this page has changed the address permanently.