SEO terms business owners can use in a project conversation
A shared vocabulary makes SEO proposals and reports easier to assess. These terms describe different stages of discovery, measurement and improvement.
Crawling, indexing and ranking
Crawling is the process of accessing a page. Indexing is the decision to include information in a search engine’s index. Ranking concerns which results are shown for a particular query. A working page is not automatically indexed, and an indexed page is not automatically prominent for the searches you care about.
Canonical URLs and redirects
A canonical URL identifies the preferred version of similar content. A redirect sends a visitor or crawler from one address to another. They have different uses. During a migration, keep useful existing paths where practical and send retired pages to a closely related replacement rather than redirecting everything to the homepage.
Impressions, clicks and conversions
An impression records an appearance in a reporting context; a click records an interaction leading toward a visit. A conversion is an action defined by the business. Always ask what that action is. A button click and a saved enquiry should not be reported as though they were the same outcome.
Search intent and page purpose
Intent describes what someone is trying to accomplish through a search. A page’s purpose is the useful job it performs for that person. A strong brief connects the two, names the evidence needed and defines the next step. Use this language to turn a vague request for more SEO into a specific piece of work.