Fundamentals of SEO – Introductory Vocabulary

A set of core vocabulary flashcards summarizing the fundamental SEO terms and concepts introduced in the first lesson.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

The practice of improving a website’s visibility in search engines to gain free, or organic, traffic.

Organic Traffic

Website visitors who arrive via unpaid (non-advertising) search engine results.

Digital Marketing

A broad field of online promotional activities, within which SEO is one strategic channel.

Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

The practice of bidding on paid ads in search engines to gain visibility for specific keywords.

Social Media Marketing

Using social networks for brand engagement and both free and paid promotional activities.

Content Marketing

Creating and distributing written or multimedia content (e.g., blogs, newsletters) to attract and retain an audience.

Public Relations (PR)

Building relationships and promoting newsworthy content to enhance a brand’s public image.

Local SEO

Optimizing a site to rank for geographically-based searches and local business queries.

Technical SEO

Improving a website’s technical elements (e.g., crawlability, speed) to help search engines index and rank it.

SEO Copywriting

Writing text that is both user-friendly and optimized for targeted keywords.

White Hat SEO

SEO tactics that follow search engine guidelines and best practices.

Black Hat SEO

Aggressive or manipulative tactics that violate search engine guidelines, risking penalties.

Gray Hat SEO

Methods that fall between white and black hat practices, partially outside official guidelines.

Penalty (Google Penalty)

A negative action by a search engine that lowers a site’s rankings due to guideline violations.

Churn-and-Burn Approach

A black-hat strategy that quickly exploits tactics for short-term gains before a site is penalized.

Search Engine

A tool (e.g., Google, Bing) that indexes web pages and returns results for user queries.

Google

The dominant global search engine and primary focus for most SEO efforts.

Yahoo

One of the major search engines, though with smaller market share than Google.

Bing

Microsoft’s search engine, also part of the major search engine ecosystem.

Baidu

China’s leading search engine, important for Chinese-language SEO.

Yandex

Russia’s primary search engine, central to Russian-language SEO.

Naver

South Korea’s dominant search engine and portal platform.

Organic Listing (Organic Result)

A non-paid search result shown on the search engine results page (SERP).

Paid Advertisement (Search Ad)

A sponsored result purchased through bidding, shown above or beside organic results.

Keyword

A word or phrase users type into a search engine, targeted by both SEO and SEM.

First-Page Ranking

A position within the top ten search results, where over 70 % of clicks occur.

Top Five Results

The highest positions on a SERP, capturing roughly 68 % of user clicks.

Keyword Psychology

Understanding user intent behind search terms to attract engaged visitors who convert.

Keyword Research

The process of identifying and evaluating search terms valuable to a website’s goals.

Conversion

A desired action taken by a visitor (e.g., purchase, sign-up) after arriving at a site.

Market Share (Search Engine)

The proportion of total search queries handled by a specific search engine.