Glossary
The web, explained
102 results
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A
A/B testing
A/B testing means showing two versions of a page to two halves of an audience and measuring which version performs better.
Acceptance testing
Acceptance testing is the systematic testing of a website before launch to check that everything really works.
Accessibility
Accessibility is a website’s ability to be used by everyone, including people using a screen reader, navigating without a mouse or living with impaired vision.
AI citation
An AI citation is a source link displayed alongside an answer produced by an assistant or a generative search engine.
AI recommendation
An AI recommendation is an answer that suggests a company, product or service to meet the need expressed by the user.
Alt text
Alt text describes an image’s content for people who cannot see it and for search engines that cannot look at it.
Analytics
An analytics tool measures website activity: visitor numbers, page views, traffic sources, devices and completed actions.
Anchor text
Anchor text is the clickable text of a link. It tells search engines what the destination page is about.
API
An API is an entry point that allows two pieces of software to exchange data automatically, without human intervention.
Average order value
Average order value is the average amount of an order, calculated by dividing revenue by the number of orders.
Average position
Average position is a page’s average ranking in search results, weighted by the number of impressions.
B
Backlink
A backlink is a link to your website from another website. It is one of the oldest and strongest signals of reputation.
Backup
A backup is a complete copy of a website and its database, allowing it to be restored after an outage, mistake or hack.
Brand guidelines
Brand guidelines define a brand’s visual rules: its logo and how to use it, colours, typography and image treatment.
Branded traffic
Branded traffic means visits from searches containing the name of a company, brand or identified product.
Breadcrumb
A breadcrumb is the navigation trail showing where you are in a website’s structure: home, then category, then page.
Business email
A business email address uses your domain name, such as contact@yourcompany.fr, rather than a generic free address.
Business website
A business website presents a company and its services without selling online. Its role is to turn a visitor into an enquiry: a call, a form submission or a request for a quote.
C
Call to action
A call to action is the element that invites visitors to do what the page is designed for: call, request a quote or buy.
Canonical URL
A canonical URL declares which address is the reference version of a page when several addresses display the same content.
CDN
A CDN is a geographically distributed network of servers that delivers a website’s files from the location closest to the visitor.
Change log
A change log records the date, scope and purpose of changes made to a website.
Click-through rate
Click-through rate is the share of impressions that result in a click. One hundred impressions and three clicks give a rate of 3 per cent.
CMS
A CMS is software that lets you change a website’s content without writing code. WordPress, Shopify, Wix and Squarespace are examples.
Conversion funnel
The conversion funnel is the sequence of steps a visitor takes before completing the intended action, together with the measurement of drop-offs at each step.
Conversion rate
Conversion rate is the share of visitors who take the intended action: calling, submitting a form or buying.
Cookies
Cookies are small files stored on a visitor’s device. Those used for measurement or targeting require the visitor’s prior consent.
Core Web Vitals
Core Web Vitals are the three measurements Google uses to assess a page’s loading experience: how quickly the main content appears, responsiveness to interactions and visual stability.
Cost per click
Cost per click is the amount paid for a visitor brought in by a search advertisement. It varies with competition for the keyword.
CRM
A CRM is software that brings together contacts, communication history and the progress of current sales opportunities.
Customer review
Customer reviews are public evaluations left on a business profile or platform. They influence local rankings and the decision to call.
D
Design system
A design system is a library of reusable components, such as buttons, fields and cards, together with rules for using them.
DNS
DNS is the directory that translates a domain name into a server address. It determines where your website points and where your emails arrive.
Domain authority
Domain authority is a score created by third-party tools to estimate a website’s strength. Google neither uses nor publishes it.
Domain name
A domain name is the address you type to reach a website, such as klymax.fr. It is rented annually from a registrar; it is never bought outright.
Doorway page
A doorway page is created solely to capture a search query, without providing its own content, and directs the visitor to the real content.
Duplicate content
Duplicate content is the same text available at several URLs, on one website or across several websites.
E
F
Favicon
A favicon is the small icon displayed in the browser tab and in bookmarks.
Featured snippet
A featured snippet is the answer box Google displays above the search results, using a passage from a page.
Functional scope
Functional scope describes the actions, journeys and rules a website or software application must support.
G
GDPR
The GDPR is the European regulation governing the collection and use of personal data. It applies to any website that collects even an email address.
GEO
GEO means working to improve a company’s presence in generative search answers, particularly through mentions, recommendations and links to its pages.
H
Heading tags
Heading tags structure a page’s content, from H1 for the main heading to H6 for the most detailed subdivisions.
Headless
A headless architecture separates where content is managed from where it is displayed, with the two communicating through a programming interface.
Hosting
Hosting is the service that stores a website’s files on a permanently connected server and sends them to visitors who request them.
HTTPS
HTTPS is the encrypted version of the web protocol. It ensures that data travelling between a visitor and the website cannot be read or altered on the way.
I
Impression
An impression is counted each time a page appears in a user’s search results, whether they click or not.
Indexing
Indexing means that a search engine has stored a page in its database and can therefore display it in search results.
Internal linking
Internal linking is the network of links connecting pages within the same website.
K
L
Landing page
A landing page is designed around a single offer and a single action, usually to receive traffic from a campaign.
Lazy loading
Lazy loading delays loading images outside the screen until the visitor scrolls towards them.
Legal notice
A legal notice contains the identification details required on every French business website: publisher, legal form, registration, contact details, hosting provider and publication director.
llms.txt
The llms.txt file is an optional website summary intended to help tools that support it identify the site’s content and important pages.
Loading time
Loading time is the delay between a visitor’s click and the moment the page becomes usable.
Local pack
The local pack is the block of three businesses accompanied by a map, displayed at the top of the results for a nearby search.
Local SEO
Local SEO covers what makes a business appear in location-based results and in the map displayed at the top of nearby searches.
Logo
A logo is the mark that identifies a brand. On a website, it sits in the top-left corner and always links back to the homepage.
Long tail
The long tail consists of specific queries with few searches individually, but which together account for most traffic.
M
Maintenance
Maintenance covers the work that keeps a website running: updates, monitoring, backups, security fixes and small changes.
Meta description
The meta description is the grey text displayed below the title in search results. It plays no direct role in rankings.
Mobile first
Mobile first means designing for a phone screen first, and refers to Google indexing a website’s mobile version rather than its desktop version.
Mockup
A mockup is a visual representation of a website before it is built: layout, hierarchy, colours and button placement.
N
O
P
Paid search
Paid search means buying a position in search results. You pay for each click, and visibility stops as soon as you stop paying.
Payment gateway
A payment gateway is the service that collects card payments on a website and transfers the money to the merchant.
Plugin
A plugin is a component added to a CMS to give it a feature it does not have by default: a form, shop, cache or analytics.
Position zero
Position zero is the space above the first organic result, occupied by a featured snippet.
Privacy policy
A privacy policy explains which personal data a website collects, why, how long it keeps it and how people can exercise their rights.
Project specification
A project specification describes what a website must do, who it serves and which pages and features it needs, before anyone starts building it.
Q
Qualified conversion
A qualified conversion is an action or enquiry that meets the commercial criteria defined for the business.
Query fan-out
Query fan-out means running several searches related to a question to gather the information needed for an AI answer.
Quote
A quote is a priced proposal detailing what will be delivered, at what cost, within which timescale and under which conditions.
R
Registrar
A registrar is the company from which a domain name is rented. OVH, Gandi, Namecheap and Cloudflare are examples.
Responsive design
A responsive website adapts its layout to the screen size: the same page reorganises itself to remain readable on phones, tablets and computers.
Robots.txt
Robots.txt is a file placed at a website’s root that tells search engine crawlers which areas they may explore.
S
Search Console
Search Console is Google’s free tool showing how a website performs in its results: search queries, impressions, clicks, average position and indexing issues.
Search intent
Search intent is what a person wants to obtain by entering a query: information, a comparison, an address or a purchase.
Semantic entity
A semantic entity is something identifiable within content: a company, person, place, product or concept.
SEO
SEO covers everything that improves a website’s position in a search engine’s unpaid results.
SERP
The SERP is the results page a search engine displays for a given query.
Site architecture
Site architecture is the way a website’s pages are organised in relation to one another, and the paths visitors follow between them.
Sitemap
A sitemap is a file listing a website’s addresses to help search engines discover them all.
Structured data
Structured data describes a page’s content using a standard vocabulary, for example to identify a business, article or product.
Structured FAQ
A structured FAQ pairs frequently asked questions with their answers and can describe them using FAQPage markup.
T
Terms and conditions of sale
Terms and conditions of sale set the rules for a transaction: prices, payment, delivery, withdrawal rights, warranties and dispute handling.
Thin content
Thin content is a page that tells readers nothing they did not already know, or pads out information that would fit into three lines.
Title tag
The title tag is a page’s title, displayed in the browser tab and as the blue link in search results.
Topic cluster
A topic cluster organises a website’s pages by subject: a main page covers the topic as a whole, supporting pages explore each aspect in depth, and all the pages link to one another.
U
UI
UI is the visible, interactive part of a website: typography, colours, buttons, spacing and hover states.
Update
An update replaces a version of a CMS, theme or plugin with a corrected version, generally to fix a security vulnerability.
UX
UX is what a visitor experiences when using a website: whether they find what they need, understand what to do and get it done without effort.
W
WebP
WebP is an image format that produces files around 30 per cent smaller than a JPEG of equivalent quality. AVIF goes further still.
Website redesign
A redesign is the rebuilding of an existing website, generally to modernise its appearance, structure or technology.
Whois
Whois is the public lookup showing who registered a domain name, with which registrar and until what date.
WordPress
WordPress is the world’s most widely used CMS. The software is free, but hosting, themes and especially maintenance are not.
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