Web Design, SEO & AI Search Glossary

Plain-English definitions for the terms that come up most when building, ranking, and growing a business website.

Each entry explains what the term means, why it matters, and links to deeper guides when you're ready to act.

An AI-generated summary Google displays above traditional search results, pulling answers directly from indexed web content.

A canonical URL tells search engines which version of a page is the "official" one when the same content exists at multiple addresses.

A CMS is software that lets you create, edit, and publish website content without writing code.

Core Web Vitals are Google's three page-experience metrics — loading speed, interactivity, and visual stability — used as ranking signals.

CRO is the practice of increasing the percentage of website visitors who take a desired action, such as filling out a form or making a purchase.

E-E-A-T stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness — Google's framework for evaluating content quality.

GEO is the practice of optimizing content so it appears in AI-generated answers from tools like ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, and Perplexity.

Google Business Profile is a free listing that controls how your business appears in Google Search and Maps.

A headless CMS stores and delivers content via API without a built-in front end, letting developers use any framework for the display layer.

llms.txt is a plain-text file placed at your site's root that tells AI crawlers what content is available and how they should use it.

Local SEO is the process of optimizing your online presence so your business ranks in searches tied to a specific geographic area.

robots.txt is a plain-text file at your site's root that tells search engine crawlers which pages they are — and are not — allowed to index.

Schema markup is structured data code added to a page that helps search engines understand the content and display rich results.

SEO is the practice of improving a website so it ranks higher in unpaid search results and attracts more relevant organic traffic.

An XML sitemap is a file that lists every important URL on your site, helping search engines discover and crawl your content efficiently.

Want help putting these terms to work?

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