SEO & AI Glossary

A text file at the root of a domain that instructs search engine crawlers which pages or sections they should or shouldn't crawl.

A specialist agency that provides search engine optimisation services — strategy, implementation, content creation, and link building — to client businesses.

A comprehensive evaluation of a website's technical health, content quality, and off-page factors to identify issues and opportunities.

Software used to crawl and analyse websites for technical SEO issues — including broken links, missing meta tags, duplicate content, speed problems, and structured data errors.

The use of scripts, APIs, and tools to automate repetitive SEO tasks — rank tracking, reporting, audit alerts, and bulk content optimisation.

A document provided to writers before creating a piece of content that outlines the target keyword, search intent, recommended structure, and key topics to cover.

The craft of writing content that is both compelling for human readers and optimised for search engine ranking signals — balancing conversion copy with keyword relevance.

The practice of using historical traffic data, keyword search volumes, and ranking projections to predict the future impact of SEO investments.

The policies, processes, and accountability structures that ensure SEO best practices are embedded across an organisation's content and development workflows.

The key performance indicators used to measure the effectiveness of SEO programmes — including organic traffic, keyword rankings, backlink growth, and conversion rates.

The process of managing SEO preservation and risk during major site changes — replatforming, redesigns, domain changes, or URL structure overhauls.

An enterprise or agency software solution that consolidates SEO research, rank tracking, site auditing, and reporting into a single integrated tool.

The return on investment from SEO activities, calculated by comparing the revenue attributable to organic search against the cost of SEO programmes.

The regular communication of SEO programme performance to stakeholders through dashboards, scorecards, and presentations that tie organic search metrics to business outcomes.

A prioritised, time-phased plan documenting SEO initiatives, their expected impact, dependencies, and resource requirements over a defined period.

A controlled experiment methodology for testing SEO changes — title tags, page structure, content — by comparing search traffic to a test group vs. a control group over time.

Software products used by SEO practitioners to research keywords, track rankings, audit technical health, analyse backlinks, and measure search performance.

SEO strategies adapted for early-stage companies with limited authority and resources, prioritising the fastest paths to organic visibility and product-market-fit validation.

Search Engine Results Page — the page displayed by a search engine in response to a user query, containing organic listings, ads, and SERP features.

Non-standard elements in Google's search results beyond the traditional ten blue links—including featured snippets, local packs, image carousels, and knowledge panels.