Website & SEO
Glossary

There is so much jargon around search engine optimization (SEO), websites, and technology it will make your head spin. To help me better understand all this information, I created a glossary of terms and their meanings for my personal use and thought it might be helpful for others. The following is a list of terms and their meanings that are used throughout the Website Services section of this website. Hopefully, this sheds some light on what in the world/(pick your adjective) all this stuff means? 🤞 😁

Note: This page is constantly evolving/expanding, so be sure to check this page from time to time for additions and possibly subtractions.

• 404 Page - A 404 page is an error page a visitor sees when they try to access a non-existent or broken URL on a website. This error corresponds to a 404 HTTP status code, which indicates that the page could not be found on the server. A 404 page guides visitors back to relevant pages on the site and reduces bounce rates.
• AMP - (Accelerated Mobile Pages) - is a framework developed by the AMP Open Source Project.^‍ It was originally created by Google as a way to build fast, user-first websites and ads. Google created it as a competitor to Facebook Instant Articles and Apple News. AMP is built with basically a scaled-down version of HTML, CSS, and Javascript. AMP is used primarily for static webpages (pages whose content doesn't change often) rather than dynamic webpages (pages with user interaction and whose content changes more frequently) on websites.
• API - (Application Programming Interface) - In the context of APIs, the word Application refers to any software with a distinct function. Interface can be thought of as a contract of service between two applications. This contract defines how the two software programs communicate with each other using requests and responses.
• Back-end - A framework is a collection of languages, libraries, and utilities designed to help developers build applications. Frameworks often include some of the basic functionality you’ll need to build an app and provides structure for things like organizing and communicating with your database, handling requests from users, and sending out registration or password reset emails. While some choose to forgo frameworks and code everything from scratch, they often end up with a more complicated, time-consuming build.
• Bounce Rate - is defined as the percentage of visitors that leave a webpage without taking an action, such as clicking on a link, filling out a form, or making a purchase.
  Bounce Rate is important for 3 main reasons:
  1.) Someone that bounces from your site (obviously) didn’t convert. So when you stop a visitor from bouncing, you can also increase your conversion rate.
  2.) Bounce Rate may be used as a Google Ranking factor. In fact, one industry study, as noted by Backlinko, found that Bounce Rate was closely correlated to first page Google rankings.
  3.) A high Bounce Rate lets you know that your site (or specific pages on your site) has issues with content, user experience, page layout, etc.
• CMS - (Content Management System) - a software application that uses a database and allows users to build and manage a website without having to code it from scratch, or know how to code at all.
• Canonical URL - the URL of the best URL representative page from a group of duplicate pages, according to Google.
• Copy - Copy content is used for the purpose of advertising or marketing. This type of written material is often used to persuade a person or group as well as raise brand awareness.
• Front-end - The services and frameworks you use to build the user experience, including the user interface and all the client-side functionality in your product.
• FTP - File Transfer Protocol - a networkvprotocol for transmitting files between computers over Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) connections.  Within the TCP/IP suite, FTP is considered an application layer protocol.
• Google Algorithm - Google algorithms are the sets of rules that Google uses to rank websites in search results. Google’s complex system retrieves data from websites and seeks to understand what searchers are looking for and rank webpages according to relevance and quality.
• Content - the information and experience(s) directed toward an end-user or audience. Content is something that is to be expressed through some medium, as speech, writing, or any of the various arts. Copywriting is content, but content is not copywriting. Content potentially extends far beyond writing, and can be videos, infographics, images, and other assets.
• Google Search Console - Google Search Console is a free service offered by Google that helps you monitor, maintain, and troubleshoot your site's presence in Google Search results. You don't have to sign up for Search Console to be included in Google Search results, but Search Console helps you understand and improve how Google sees your site.
• Google Analytics - Also a free service from Google. Google Analytics helps you learn more about your users, including who they are, how they found you, and how they interact with your website.
• HTTPS - Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure - is an extension of Hypertext Transfer Protocol. It is used for secure communication over a computer network, and is widely used on the internet. The communication is encrypted using Transport Layer Security, or, formerly Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) see above
• Internal Linking - Looks at how well a website links between its pages.
• Keyword Stuffing - refers to the practice of filling your content with irrelevant keywords in an attempt to manipulate where the page ranks on search results pages
• Sitemap - a type of file that provides information about the pages onyour site. It helps Google bots crawl your website faster and more efficiently.Sitemaps tell Google which pages you think are essential. 
• SSL - (Secure Sockets Layer) - is a standard security technology for establishing an encrypted link between a server and a client—typically a web server (website) and a browser, or a mail server and a mail client.
  We use SSL on all our pages as denoted by the https in the URL.
• Tech Stack - is the combination of technologies a company uses to build and run an application or project. Sometimes called a “solutions stack,” a tech stack typically consists of programming languages, frameworks, a database, front-end tools, back-end tools, and applications connected via APIs.
• URL - Uniform Resource Locator - Just as buildings and houses have a street address, webpages also have unique addresses to help people located them. On the internet they are the URLs.