SEO Glossary
Key terms and concepts used throughout SitePx and in SEO generally.
Alt text
A text description of an image that helps search engines understand its content and assists screen reader users. Also called “alternative text”.
Breadcrumb
A navigation aid showing the path to the current page (e.g. Home → Shoes → Running Shoes). Helps users and search engines understand site structure.
Canonical URL
The “official” version of a page URL. Tells search engines which version to index when similar content exists at multiple URLs.
CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift)
A Core Web Vital measuring visual stability. Low CLS means page elements don't shift around as the page loads.
Core Web Vitals
Google's set of metrics for page experience: LCP (loading), INP (interactivity), and CLS (visual stability).
Crawling
The process where search engines discover and download pages from your site using automated bots (crawlers).
CTR (Click-Through Rate)
The percentage of people who click your search result out of those who see it. Higher CTR indicates a more compelling listing.
E-E-A-T
Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness. Google's framework for evaluating content quality.
Hreflang
An HTML attribute that tells search engines which language and region a page targets. Important for multi-language stores.
Impressions
The number of times your page appeared in search results, regardless of whether anyone clicked.
Indexing
When a search engine adds a page to its database so it can appear in search results.
INP (Interaction to Next Paint)
A Core Web Vital measuring responsiveness. How quickly a page responds to user interactions.
JSON-LD
A format for adding structured data (schema markup) to web pages. Used by SitePx for schema injection.
LCP (Largest Contentful Paint)
A Core Web Vital measuring loading speed. The time it takes for the largest visible element to render.
Meta description
A short summary of a page's content shown in search results. Should be compelling and include relevant keywords.
Meta title
The page title shown in search results and browser tabs. One of the most important on-page SEO elements.
Noindex
A directive telling search engines not to include a page in search results.
Rich results
Enhanced search results with extra visual elements (star ratings, prices, images, FAQs) enabled by schema markup.
Robots.txt
A file at your domain root that tells search crawlers which pages to access or avoid.
Schema markup
Structured data added to pages that helps search engines understand content. Powers rich results in search.
Sitemap
An XML file listing all pages on your site. Helps search engines discover and crawl your content efficiently.
Structured data
Machine-readable information about a page's content. Schema markup is the most common form.
TTFB (Time to First Byte)
How quickly a server begins responding to a request. Affects perceived page speed.
WebP
A modern image format that provides better compression than JPEG or PNG, resulting in smaller file sizes without visible quality loss.