SEO Glossary Core Technical Terms.

SEO Glossary Core Technical Terms for Crawling, Indexing, and Ranking.

Before moving into implementation, this glossary standardizes the terminology used throughout the guide. Use it as a quick reference when you encounter unfamiliar SEO terms.

• Algorithm: The ranking logic (rules + models) a search engine uses to select and order results for a query. It evaluates many signals (content relevance, link signals, performance, trust) and is continuously updated.
• Alt Text (Alt Attribute): An HTML attribute that provides a text description of an image. It supports accessibility (screen readers) and supplies machine-readable context to help search engines interpret image content.
• Anchor Text: The clickable text in a hyperlink. It acts as a semantic label for the destination URL and helps both users and crawlers infer the topic and intent of the linked page.
• Backlink (Inbound Link): A hyperlink from an external domain pointing to your site. Backlinks are authority signals; quality is determined by relevance, credibility, and context not volume alone.
• Black Hat SEO: Manipulative tactics designed to exploit ranking systems and violate search engine guidelines (e.g., cloaking, keyword stuffing, link schemes). These can trigger demotions, deindexing, or manual actions.
• Bounce Rate: The percentage of sessions where a user lands on a page and exits without additional interaction/navigation. High bounce rate can indicate mismatch in intent, UX friction, or slow/poor content depending on page purpose.
• Canonical Tag (rel="canonical"): A directive that declares the preferred (primary) URL when multiple URLs serve duplicate or near-duplicate content. It consolidates indexing and ranking signals to a single canonical target.
• Click-Through Rate (CTR): The ratio of clicks to impressions in search results for a listing. CTR is influenced by title, snippet, perceived relevance, and SERP layout/features.
• Conversion: Completion of a target action (purchase, signup, form submission, inquiry). SEO is successful when it attracts qualified traffic that converts not just raw visits.
• Crawl (Crawling): Automated discovery of pages by search engine bots that follow links and fetch resources. Crawling is the acquisition step before indexing and ranking.
• Crawl Budget: The effective crawl capacity a search engine allocates to your site over time. It matters most for large sites; optimizing internal linking, eliminating low-value duplicates, and improving server performance helps allocate crawls to priority URLs.
• Index (Indexing): The search engine’s stored database of processed pages eligible to appear in results. A page must be indexed to rank; crawling alone does not guarantee indexing.
• Domain Authority (DA): A third-party comparative score (e.g., by Moz) estimating ranking potential based largely on link and domain signals. It is not a Google metric, but it can be useful for benchmarking.
• Duplicate Content: Substantially similar content accessible via multiple URLs. It can split signals and reduce ranking efficiency; typical mitigation includes canonicalization, redirects, and clean URL strategy.
• E-E-A-T: Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness quality concepts referenced in Google’s rater guidelines. In practice, it means demonstrating credible authorship, accurate content, transparent sourcing, and user trust signals (especially for sensitive topics).
• Google Analytics: A measurement platform that tracks user sessions and behavior (acquisition channels, engagement, conversions). It supports performance analysis and ROI measurement for SEO and content.
• Google Search Console (GSC): A diagnostic and performance tool for how Google sees your site (indexing status, query impressions/clicks, coverage issues, sitemaps, enhancements, security/manual actions). It’s the primary source for search performance telemetry.
• Internal Link: A hyperlink between pages within the same domain. Internal links define site architecture, distribute link equity, and guide crawlers to important content.
• Keyword: A query term users type into search engines. In SEO, “targeting a keyword” means aligning a page’s content and intent to rank for that query cluster.
• Long-Tail Keyword: A longer, more specific query (typically 3+ words) with clearer intent and often lower competition. Long-tail queries commonly convert better because the user’s requirement is more defined.
• Meta Tags: HTML metadata that describes page content to search engines and social platforms. Key SEO-related tags include the title tag, meta description, and robots directives (e.g., noindex, nofollow).
• Noindex: A directive via meta robots tag or HTTP header instructing search engines not to index a page. Useful for admin pages, duplicates, staging pages, and low-value utility endpoints.
• On-Page SEO: Optimizations applied within the page/site boundaries: content quality, headings, titles, URLs, internal linking, structured data, media optimization, and intent matching.
• Off-Page SEO: External signals influencing perceived authority and trust primarily backlinks, mentions, citations, reviews (local), and brand presence across the web.
• Organic Traffic: Visits originating from unpaid search results. This excludes paid ads and typically reflects visibility earned through relevance, quality, and authority.
• Page Speed: Page load and usability performance (especially on mobile). Speed impacts user experience and can affect rankings; it is influenced by images, scripts, server response, caching, and rendering efficiency.
• SERP: Search Engine Results Page the output interface for a query. SERPs can include classic links plus features (snippets, maps, videos, shopping, news) that change click behavior.
• SSL / HTTPS: Transport encryption that secures data between browser and server. HTTPS is a baseline trust requirement, improves security posture, and is a lightweight ranking signal.
• White Hat SEO: Best-practice SEO aligned with search engine guidelines and user value. It prioritizes sustainable growth through quality content, sound technical architecture, and legitimate authority building.

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U.S. Government Shutdown

Understanding a U.S. Government Shutdown: what it is, why it’s happening, and whether it “fixes” anything

A “government shutdown” in the United States sounds like a sci-fi switch someone flipsand suddenly a whole country goes dark. Reality is messier, more legalistic, and (unfortunately) more human: it’s not the nation shutting off, it’s certain federal agencies losing legal authority to spend money, which then ripples into paychecks, services, contracts, and public trust.

The shutdown story, from the beginning

In the U.S., most federal agencies operate on annual appropriations money that must be authorized by law. When that authorization expires and lawmakers don’t pass a replacement in time, the government hits a legal wall called a “lapse in appropriations.” The result is what people call a shutdown.

That’s what happened on Saturday, January 31, 2026: a partial shutdown began when funding lapsed for key areas, including the Department of Homeland Security, the Pentagon (Defense), and the Department of Transportation, even though other parts of government had already been funded and kept running. 

“Partial” matters: some programs keep operating normally (because they were funded earlier or have separate funding sources), while others must reduce operations or stop non-essential work. 

What a shutdown really is (the legal mechanism)

A shutdown is not (usually) because the government “ran out of money.” It’s because the government ran out of permission.

Under the Antideficiency Act, federal agencies generally can’t spend or commit funds without appropriations. That law forces agencies to pause “non-excepted” work and do an orderly shutdown when appropriations lapse. 

The Office of Personnel Management explains how “shutdown furloughs” work: agencies must stop non-excepted activities funded by annual appropriations if no new funding law or continuing resolution is passed. 

So the shutdown is basically the law saying: “No signature, no spending.”

Why funding is stalled this time

This January 2026 shutdown is unusually tied to one specific pressure point: DHS funding, especially money and operating rules connected to immigration enforcement.

Multiple reports describe how a series of events in Minneapolis ignited a political firestorm after two U.S. citizens were killed by federal immigration officers/agents, triggering demands especially among Democrats for reforms and restrictions connected to immigration enforcement tactics. 

In response, the United States Senate passed a funding approach that would keep much of government funded while giving DHS only a short, temporary extension essentially buying time to negotiate DHS/ICE-related reforms (like body cameras and warrant requirements, according to reporting). 

Then the conflict moved into the United States House of Representatives, where internal politics and bargaining power became the bottleneck. Hakeem Jeffries warned Mike Johnson not to count on Democratic votes to end the shutdown quickly, making the math harder. 

That’s the core reason funding is “stuck”: not because lawmakers don’t understand what a shutdown is, but because ending it requires agreeing on what DHS should be allowed to do, how it should do it, and under what oversight.

What happens to workers, normal people, and the “everyday street?”

Shutdowns hit people in three main ways:

1. Federal employees

some are furloughed. Some are deemed “excepted” (often called essential) and must keep working even if pay is delayed until funding is restored. 

2. Contractors

Contractors can get hit even harder and faster, because work can pause when agency staff aren’t available, and payments can be delayed. Legal/industry guidance warns that shutdowns can disrupt contracts and contractor cashflow in complicated ways. 

3. Services you notice only when they wobble

Air travel is a classic stress point: functions may continue, but strain builds if people are working unpaid or operations are understaffed. FEMA disaster response concerns also come up when DHS funding lapses. 

“ICE behavior,” the political fuse, and why it became this symbolic

Immigration enforcement has always carried moral heat in America because it sits at the intersection of law, identity, safety, and civil liberties. Right now, the heat is higher because enforcement actions in Minnesota described by critics as aggressive were followed by deaths that fueled protests and legal battles over federal authority and tactics. 

Reporting describes widespread public backlash, protests, and court action. One federal judge denied a request from Minnesota cities to halt the operation on constitutional grounds, even while acknowledging serious concerns raised in the case (the decision focused narrowly on the constitutional argument rather than fully adjudicating tactics). 

That helps explain why “ICE reforms” became a shutdown trigger: for many lawmakers and advocacy groups, DHS funding is the leverage point to demand accountability mechanisms (for example: body cameras, tighter rules for operations, and clearer requirements around warrants). 

The U.S. “reward and punishment” system: does it work?

America’s system of accountability isn’t one single machine it’s a bundle of overlapping controls:

• Political accountability: elections, hearings, budget leverage (like this shutdown fight).

• Legal accountability: courts, constitutional limits, civil suits.

• Administrative accountability: inspector generals, internal investigations, agency discipline, policy guidance.

The shutdown is a weird kind of accountability tool: it’s the legislative branch using its “power of the purse” to force negotiations. It can produce change, but it’s also blunt-force trauma applied to real lives.

Even the Antideficiency Act itself has “punishment” language: officials who violate it can face administrative discipline and even criminal penalties in extreme cases. 

And on the worker side, the system can be contradictory: Congress passed the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act to guarantee back pay for federal employees after a shutdown ends, but recent disputes about interpretation and implementation have created uncertainty and political fighting over whether back pay must be explicitly provided in the legislation that ends a shutdown. 

That’s a very American paradox: the law tries to prevent chaos, then the politics re-inject chaos.

Does a shutdown help society always, sometimes, or never?

A shutdown is rarely “good.” At best, it’s a symptom of a system designed to prevent any one branch of government from spending freely without public authorization. That restraint is a real democratic value.

But here’s the honest tradeoff:

Potential upsides

• Forces public debate and transparency about priorities (what gets funded, what conditions apply).

• Can pressure agencies or leadership to accept reforms that might otherwise be ignored.

• Reminds everyone that budgets are moral documents, not just spreadsheets.

Real downsides

• Turns workers and families into bargaining chips (even if back pay eventually arrives). 

• Disrupts contractors and local economies in ways back pay doesn’t fix. 

• Damages trust: people see government as chaotic, even when the intent is “oversight.”

So, is it “good on the long line”? Not automatically. If reforms genuinely improve safety, oversight, and civil rights, some may argue the pain produced results. If it ends as a temporary political flex with no durable changes, the shutdown becomes pure waste a high-cost performance where the bill is paid by ordinary people.

Where this likely goes next

Most reporting suggests leaders expect the shutdown to be short, with votes scheduled as lawmakers return, but the outcome depends on whether the DHS/ICE reforms reach an acceptable compromise. 

The big picture: this shutdown isn’t just about numbers. It’s about the rules of enforcement, the limits of federal power, and the human cost of using budgets as leverage.

If you’re writing this for readers who want to “get it” fast, the cleanest summary is:

A shutdown happens when the U.S. government loses legal authority to spend because Congress hasn’t passed funding on time. This one is driven largely by a fight over DHS funding and immigration enforcement accountability after deadly incidents sparked public outrage. 

#politics

#usa

#shutdown 

What is SEO and Why Does It Matter?

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. In everyday terms, SEO means making improvements to your website so that it appears higher in Google’s unpaid (organic) search results. Why care about that ranking? Think about your own behavior: when you search on Google, how often do you go past the first page of results? Rarely! Most people click one of the top suggestions. If your website isn’t on that coveted first page (or better yet, in the top few results), it’s practically invisible to most searchers. SEO is what helps your site climb those rankings so people can discover you.

Importantly, SEO isn’t just about any traffic it’s about relevant traffic. You want to attract visitors who are actively looking for what you offer, whether that’s a product, service, or information. For example, if you run a local bakery, good SEO can help your site show up when someone nearby searches “best bakery in Your Town”. If you write a travel blog, SEO can help your articles appear for searches like “travel tips for Japan” 4. In other words, SEO connects you with people who want what you have.

At its core, doing SEO means understanding what people search for (the keywords they type or speak) and what their intent is then making your website relevant to those searches 5. That involves making sure search engines can access and index your site, providing high-quality content that meets user needs, and offering a good user experience.

Why SEO is Crucial:

- Visibility and Traffic: For many websites, organic search is the largest source of visitors. Ranking high means more eyeballs on your site without paying for ads 6.

- Credibility and Trust: People tend to trust Google’s recommendations. If your site shows up at the top, it’s like a vote of confidence users assume you’re one of the best options. High rankings build brand credibility.

- Cost-Effectiveness: Unlike pay-per-click ads, organic traffic is essentially free. SEO does require time and effort (or money if you hire someone), but the return on investment can be huge since each click doesn’t cost you money. A well-ranked page can keep bringing in visitors for months or years.

- Competitive Advantage: If customers are searching for products or services you offer, and your site doesn’t show up, guess who gets the business? Your competitors. By investing in SEO, you capture opportunities instead of ceding them to others 8.

SEO has evolved from the days of simply stuffing keywords on a page. Today it’s a blend of technical know-how, content strategy, and understanding human behavior 9. But don’t be intimidated this guide will break down all the fundamental components of SEO in practical, everyday language. Always remember: SEO is about helping search engines help people find you.

If you focus on making your site great for users, you’re on the right track.

Common Beginner Mistakes: SEO is not magic or a one-time task.

Here are some pitfalls newbies often encounter:

• Chasing “quick fixes”: Be wary of anyone promising “instant #1 rankings.” Sustainable SEO takes time and consistent effort. There’s no secret cheat code for overnight success.

• Ignoring the audience: Don’t optimize for Google at the expense of your readers. Creating content just to rank (and cramming in keywords) will backfire. Always write for humans first search engines reward content that truly helps users 13.

• Keyword obsession: Yes, keywords matter, but stuffing a keyword everywhere it fits (and where it doesn’t) will hurt more than help. Focus on overall topic relevance and quality, not repeating a phrase 100 times.

• “Set it and forget it” mentality: SEO isn’t a one-and-done deal. The web changes, competitors change, Google’s algorithms change you need to update and improve your site over time. Regularly reviewing your SEO and refreshing content is key to maintaining and growing visibility.

Quick Wins Getting Started:

If you already have a website, here are a few quick, actionable steps to kickstart your SEO:

• Google your business: Do a quick Google search for your own site or business name. Do you appear? How does your listing look? This gives you a baseline of your current visibility 16. Next, search for a primary product or service you offer (e.g., “cupcakes Your City” or “affordable plumber Your City”). If your site isn’t listed, note which competitors are you’ll learn from them as we go.

• Clarify your value: Write down 3 things that make your website or content valuable to your target audience 17. This is your unique value proposition. It will guide your content and optimization everything in SEO ties back to offering value to your audience.

• Set up analytics tools: If you haven’t already, set up Google Analytics and Google Search Console for your site. Both are free. Google Analytics will help you track visitors and their behavior, while Search Console will show how your site appears in search, what queries you rank for, and alert you to any issues 18. We’ll touch on how to use these later, but get the setup done now (it’s as simple as creating accounts and following their verification steps).

By the end of this guide, you’ll understand how all the pieces of SEO fit together from keywords to site structure to content creation. More importantly, you’ll be equipped with practical steps to improve your own site’s SEO. Keep your website’s purpose and your audience in mind throughout everything in SEO ultimately comes down to connecting those dots (a person with a query -> your site with the answer) as effectively as possible.

Let’s start with some foundational concepts and then dive deeper!

Glossary of Key SEO Terms

Before we dive into the how-to sections, let’s clarify some common SEO jargon in simple terms. Feel free to skip this section and refer back anytime you encounter an unfamiliar term:

• Algorithm: In SEO, this usually refers to the search engine’s algorithm the set of rules Google (or another search engine) uses to decide what results to show for a given search. Google’s algorithm looks at hundreds of factors to rank pages and is constantly updated. Think of it as the recipe that determines which websites appear first for a search query.

• Alt Text (Alt Attribute): A written description for an image in your website’s HTML code. Alt text serves two main purposes: it helps visually impaired users (via screen readers) understand what an image is, and it helps search engines understand the image content. For example, an image tag might look like: <img src="puppy.jpg" alt="Brown puppy playing in grass">. Descriptive alt text can also help your images appear in Google Image search.

• Anchor Text: The clickable text of a hyperlink. For instance, in the link <a href="page.html">SEO guide</a>, the words “SEO guide” are the anchor text. Anchor text tells users and search engines what the linked page is about. Using descriptive anchor text (instead of something vague like “click here”) is good practice for SEO.

• Backlink: A link from another website that points to your site. Backlinks are also called “inbound links.” High-quality backlinks (from reputable, relevant sites) are like votes of confidence for your content they can boost your site’s authority and help you rank higher. (Not all backlinks are equal, though a link from a well-known site is more valuable than one from a random low-quality blog).

• Black Hat SEO: Shady or unethical SEO practices that violate search engine guidelines. Examples include keyword stuffing (overloading pages with keywords), cloaking (showing search engines different content than users), or buying links in bulk. These tactics might work temporarily but can lead to penalties or getting your site banned from search results. Always stick to white hat SEO (ethical tactics that focus on users’ needs and follow the rules).

• Bounce Rate: The percentage of visitors who land on a page of your site and then leave without clicking anywhere else on your site. For example, if 100 people visit a page and 70 of them leave immediately (no further interaction), that page’s bounce rate is 70%. A high bounce rate can indicate that visitors didn’t find what they were looking for or the user experience was lacking. (Note: Bounce rate can be context-dependent a high bounce on a quick info page might be fine if the user got their answer and left).

• Canonical Tag (rel="canonical"): A piece of code (<link rel="canonical" href="...">) that tells search engines “this page is the preferred version” when you have duplicate or very similar content accessible through multiple URLs. For instance, if your site can be accessed at both http://example.com/page and http://www.example.com/page, you’d set one as canonical to avoid confusion over duplicate content. This helps consolidate ranking signals to one URL.

• Click-Through Rate (CTR): In SEO, this often refers to the percentage of people who click your site’s link when it appears in the search results. If 100 people see your page listed in Google and 5 people click it, you have a 5% CTR. A compelling title and description in your snippet can improve CTR 27.

• Conversion: When a visitor completes a desired action on your site for example, making a purchase, signing up for a newsletter, or filling out a contact form. Getting traffic is step one getting that traffic to do something valuable on your site is the ultimate goal. SEO aims to bring relevant traffic that is likely to convert 28.

• Crawl (Crawling): The process by which search engine bots (also called crawlers or spiders like Googlebot) systematically browse the internet to discover new and updated pages. Crawlers follow links from page to page, much like a person might browse, but at a massive scale and speed 29. “Crawling” is essentially the discovery phase.

• Crawl Budget: The amount of attention or number of pages a search engine will crawl on your site in a given time. Search engines have finite resources, so they can’t crawl endless pages on every site daily. If you have a large website, you want to use your crawl budget wisely by guiding bots to your important pages and perhaps blocking truly unimportant pages so that Google doesn’t waste time on duplicate or low-value pages 30. (For a small site, crawl budget isn’t usually a big concern, but it matters for very large sites.)

• Index (Indexing): The index is the search engine’s database of all the content it has crawled and deemed worthy to serve up to users. “Indexing” a page means the search engine has processed it and added it to this database 31. If a page isn’t indexed, it cannot appear in search results. Think of crawling as discovering a book, and indexing as adding that book to the library catalog if it’s not in the catalog, no one can find it.

• Domain Authority (DA): A metric (0–100) created by an SEO company (Moz) to estimate a website’s overall strength or likelihood to rank. It’s not an official Google metric, but SEO professionals use DA or similar metrics to compare sites. Generally, more high-quality backlinks and established history lead to higher DA 32. (Don’t obsess over the exact number just know that getting good links and building a solid site increases your authority in the eyes of search engines).

• Duplicate Content: Content that appears in more than one place (URL) on the internet. If you have the same substantial content on multiple pages of your site (or even on other sites), search engines might get confused which one to rank. It can dilute your SEO efforts. Solutions include using canonical tags or redirects to point to the original/content you want to rank 33.

• E-E-A-T: Stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness. It’s a concept from Google’s Quality Rater Guidelines (used by human reviewers) emphasizing that content should be produced by someone with firsthand Experience and Expertise, and that the website/author should be Authoritative and Trustworthy on the topic. In practice, this means: demonstrate you know your stuff (e.g., credentials, real-life experience), cite reputable sources, get good reviews, and generally build trust with your audience. This is especially important for “Your Money or Your Life” topics (like health, finance, legal) where bad info can be harmful.

• Google Analytics: A free tool from Google for tracking website traffic and user behavior. It shows you how many people visit, how they found your site (search, social, etc.), which pages they look at, how long they stay, and much more. It’s essential for measuring the results of your SEO (e.g., are you getting more organic visitors? What do they do on the site?).

• Google Search Console (GSC): Another free Google tool that helps you monitor and troubleshoot your site’s presence in search results. In GSC, you can see what keywords people search to find you, your average position for those queries, click-through rates, and if Google had any issues indexing your pages. You can also submit sitemaps and individual URLs, and check for any penalties or security issues. It’s like a direct line of communication with Google about your site.

• Internal Link: A hyperlink that points to another page on the same website (as opposed to an external link, which goes to a different site). For example, if you link from your homepage to your blog page, that’s an internal link. Internal links help users navigate your site and help search engines understand your site’s structure and which pages are most important. We’ll discuss internal linking strategy in detail later.

• Keyword: A word or phrase that people type into search engines when looking for information. In SEO, when we talk about “targeting a keyword,” we mean we’re optimizing a page to rank for that search term. Keywords can be single words (“shoes”) but more often are phrases (“men’s running shoes size 11”). Understanding which keywords your audience uses is central to SEO.

• Long-Tail Keyword: A longer, more specific search phrase, usually three or more words (e.g., “best noise-cancelling headphones for air travel”). Long-tail keywords typically have lower search volume than broad terms, but they often represent more specific intent and can have higher conversion rates. For instance, someone searching “buy 4K HDR 55 inch TV online” has a pretty clear idea of what they want if you sell TVs, that’s a great long-tail phrase to target. Long-tails are usually less competitive, making them great for smaller sites to target.

• Meta Tags: Bits of text in a page’s HTML code that provide information about the page, primarily to search engines (and sometimes used in the search results snippet). Two very important meta tags are the title tag and meta description. The title tag is what usually appears as the clickable title in Google results it should briefly and accurately describe the page’s content (and include a keyword naturally). The meta description is a short summary that often appears below the title in search results, influencing whether users click. Meta tags don’t directly make you rank higher, but they affect how your listing looks and can impact CTR and relevance. There’s also a meta robots tag which can tell search engines whether to index a page or follow its links (e.g., “noindex” or “nofollow”).

• Noindex: A directive (via a meta tag or HTTP header) that tells search engines not to include a certain page in their index. You might noindex pages like internal admin pages, duplicate pages, or thank-you pages any content you don’t want showing up in search results. If a page is noindexed, it won’t rank (and likely won’t even be stored in Google’s index).

• On-Page SEO: The practice of optimizing elements on your website to improve rankings. This includes things like your content quality, usage of keywords, title tags, meta descriptions, headings, URL structure, internal links, and image alt text. Basically, anything on the page or site that you can control to make it more search-engine-friendly (and user-friendly). We’ll cover on-page techniques in our content section.

• Off-Page SEO: The opposite of on-page these are factors that aren’t on your site, primarily backlinks and mentions. Off-page SEO often boils down to link building (getting other sites to link to yours), but also includes things like social media mentions, Google My Business reviews (for local), and brand presence elsewhere. Off-page signals help establish your site’s authority and reputation in the wider web 43.

• Organic Traffic: Visitors who come to your website through unpaid search results (as opposed to paid ads or social media links, etc.). When you “do SEO,” the goal is usually to increase organic traffic from search engines.

• Page Speed: How fast your webpage loads and becomes usable for the user. Faster is better not only do users prefer it (less waiting = happy visitor), but Google uses page speed as a ranking factor, especially for mobile searches. Large images, bulky code, or slow servers can hurt your page speed. Tools like Google’s PageSpeed Insights can help identify and fix issues.

• SERP: Stands for Search Engine Results Page. It’s simply the page you see after you enter a query into a search engine it lists the results, which can be a mix of websites, images, videos, news, maps, etc. (For example, Google’s SERP for “pizza near me” will likely show local map results, some pizza restaurant websites, maybe a delivery app, etc.) Optimizing for SERP features (like snippets, local packs, etc.) is part of SEO strategy.

• SSL / HTTPS: SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer, which encrypts data between the user’s browser and your website. When a site has SSL, its URL starts with https:// instead of http://. Having an HTTPS site is important for security and privacy. It’s also a minor ranking factor Google gives a slight boost to HTTPS sites, and browsers will often label non-HTTPS sites as “not secure” now. In short, use HTTPS if at all possible (most web hosts provide free SSL certificates these days).

• White Hat SEO: Refers to ethical, best-practice SEO techniques that focus on a good user experience and follow search engine guidelines (essentially all the things we’ll cover in this guide!). White hat is the opposite of black hat it might take longer to see results, but those results are sustainable and won’t get you penalized.

That covers the basic terminology we’ll use. Next, let’s look at the big picture: how do search engines actually work, and what does that mean for your website?