Search engine optimization is one of the many crucial tools for companies to build brand awareness. Appearing in the top 10 on the Google search engine result pages (SERPs) is a big deal for any company. In the world of digital marketing, it's one of the pillars of a good campaign.

Getting your company's name out there with relevant keywords and good copywriting is the perfect way to build online traffic.

And sure, while you can technically limp your way through an SEO campaign with minimal knowledge about the field, why fly blind? It's time to check out the Sprinkles Media SEO glossary for 2022 and beyond.

SEO Glossary: Laying The Foundation

Like any field, SEO has a slew of terms and terminology that industry veterans know well. But what if you want to break into the SEO game? Well, there's no time like the present. Why wait on becoming an SEO specialist?

Here's a breakdown of the essential SEO terms to know this year and beyond—school's back in session.

SEO Glossary Terms

Let's look at some iconic (and not so iconic) SEO terms that will ensure that your next digital marketing campaign is ready to go.

Black Hat SEO

Black Hat SEO refers to the unsavory, underhanded SEO tactics to get pages to appear higher on the Google rankings.

However, black hat SEO doesn't pay. As we've explored in our article about black hat vs. white hat SEO, these black hat tactics are taboo.

For example, there's keyword stuffing, where the writer water downs the content to allow for nonsensical keyword placement. Additionally, there's making the text the same color as the web page's background, followed by writing various keywords you want to rank for on Google.

In short, don't do any black hat SEO. We promise it's not a good look for your company. Not to mention one of the biggest SEO mistakes you can make.

Backlinks

Backlinks are links pointing towards your site. Backlinks are an essential part of your digital marketing vocabulary, too.

Think of backlinks like small endorsements from other web domains. The more you have, the more legitimate Google and search engines view your site. More backlinks mean more authoritativeness, expertise, and trustworthiness. And in SEO, those terms mean something.

Backlinks are unique in that businesses can't organically acquire a massive network of backlinks overnight. It's often a long process, but one that's well worth investing in for your business.

Building a network of backlinks is crucial for online e-commerce growth. They're also known as inbound links.

Crawling

Crawling is how search engines like Google find your page and read it. Essentially, it's when Google and search engines recognize that your web page is there.

To ensure that Google crawls your web page, upload an XML sitemap with the pertinent links. This is so Google has an easy time finding and establishing your page.

Crawling is not the same as indexing, however. We'll get to that in a bit.

Featured Snippets

Featured snippets are boxes that appear when asking a question on Google. Featured snippets appear right at the top of your search result page. This means that if you score a featured snippet, that's a pretty big deal.

It's even sometimes referred to as 'Position 0' for its coveted placement on the search engine results page.

Google My Business

A Google My Business listing is a tool for a business to maintain its presence on Google. It will show potential customer and consumer reviews, maps, services, pictures, and more. It's a fantastic way for your business to stand out in local SEO, especially.

It also helps businesses directly connect and communicate with their target audience. And that leads to brand awareness.

'People Also Ask' Boxes

When searching for anything, often there will be a 'people also ask box' with similar questions to your own. Through the power SEO (and the SEO glossary), you can rank for these good SERP positions.

Indexing

Indexing is the method in which Google and search engines categorize and store your website's content. Indexing is crucial to successful SEO campaigns. If the Googlebot crawls your page (remember page crawling?), it will index your content.

In short, you want to ensure all your pages are indexed. If not, they won't show up for people looking for a trip down the marketing funnel.

What's The Difference Between Crawling and Indexing in SEO?

Google crawling your web page doesn't mean it will be indexed. In short, crawling is the exploratory search by Google to evaluate your website. Indexing happens if Google determines your content is valid. If Google crawls your page and decides that it's relevant to your industry, it will index it.

White Hat SEO

White hat SEO is essentially today's state of SEO best practices. And easily one of the most important SEO glossary terms.

These guidelines, established by search engines like Google, ensure that no underhanded or unsavory techniques are used to maximize SEO gains. That's right; no more keyword stuffing, invisible text, and posting duplicate content.

Unlike the SEO myths propagated by black hat SEO users, white hat SEO is the way to go. Keep it organic!

Webmaster Guidelines

The Webmaster guidelines are the crucial guidelines set by search engines like Google as a framework. Content creators follow these guidelines to market and advertise to users, improving SEO along the way.

It's the first step in building a cohesive content marketing strategy.

Web Traffic

Something SEO helps with is traffic. Traffic is how many visits your web page receives. Traffic accumulates through organic efforts or paid advertising. This is where search engine marketing (SEM) comes in, another vital SEO glossary term.

Search Engine Marketing

SEM is the culmination of both paid and organic content creation efforts. While SEO focuses on building traffic through organic visits to web pages, SEM focuses on achieving a high search engine results page ranking from paid efforts.

Meta Descriptions

Meta descriptions are brief summaries of what someone can find on your web page. You'll see meta descriptions underneath the page's title on the Google results page.

Meta descriptions are perfect for adding in your primary keyword. Keep the meta description simple, straightforward, and informative.

Meta tags are essentially not only for on page SEO but to communicate with your customers effectively.

Heading Tags (H tags)

Heading tags, also known as H tags, are basic HTML elements that help bring your website together.

For example, this paragraph is under an H3 tag. That means it's under an H2 tag (SEO Glossary Terms) and under the H1 tag, or the page's title. The H1 tag should include your primary SEO keyword.

These heading tags are great ways to implement SEO keywords and elements. When doing keyword research, compile some frequently asked questions. Post them as a heading tag and answer the question underneath. It's a classic way to boost SEO on your web page and help your reader comprehend a particular topic.

It's a simple way to improve user experience added with SEO. What's better than that?

Alt Text

Alt text is the text that describes an image. Primarily used for accessibility options, alt text and SEO get along together swimmingly.

If applicable, you can insert your chosen keywords into an image's alt text. This doesn't mean that you can perform some unwieldy keyword stuffing.

Remember, alt text serves a crucial purpose; to describe images accurately.

Keep alt text descriptions short and simple. If you find a chance to insert a keyword, go for it. But don't make it overly complicated.

Need Help With SEO? Go Beyond The SEO Glossary

Don't just stop at the SEO glossary. Take it a step further than SEO terms and help your business grow with unique search engine optimization.

At Sprinkles Media, we provide a holistic approach to digital marketing. We do a deep dive into what your company needs to succeed online.

Whether that's a concerted SEO effort, PPC advertising, or even a brand new website, we've got you covered.

Just drop us a line about what your company needs, and we'll see how we can help you grow your brand online.