DIGITAL GLOSSARY / PLAIN ENGLISH
Less jargon.More clarity.
A practical guide to the branding, website, SEO, hosting and advertising terms that tend to appear during a digital project.
Above the fold
The part of a webpage visible before scrolling. Important information should be clear here without trying to squeeze everything into the first screen.
Alt text
A written description attached to an image for accessibility and context. Useful alt text explains the image rather than stuffing it with keywords.
Backlink
A link from another website to yours. Relevant, credible backlinks can help search engines understand the authority and reputation of a site.
Brand identity
The recognisable visual and verbal system around a business: logo, typography, colour, imagery, tone and the rules that keep them consistent.
Call to action (CTA)
A prompt that asks a visitor to take the next useful step, such as calling, requesting a quote, booking or sending an enquiry.
Canonical URL
The preferred URL for a page when similar or duplicate versions exist. It helps search engines understand which version should be treated as primary.
Conversion
A valuable action completed by a visitor. The exact conversion depends on the business: an enquiry, phone call, purchase, booking or another defined goal.
Core Web Vitals
Google metrics that assess aspects of real-world page experience, including loading performance, responsiveness and visual stability.
Domain name
The human-readable address of a website, such as brandingexperts.com.au. The domain is separate from the website files and hosting account.
DNS
The system that directs a domain to services such as a website or email. DNS records tell internet services where the relevant destination lives.
Google Ads
Google’s advertising platform. Search campaigns can show ads for selected searches, with advertisers generally paying when someone clicks an ad.
Google Business Profile
The business listing that can appear in Google Search and Maps with details such as address, service area, hours, reviews and contact information.
Hosting
The infrastructure that stores and serves a website. Good hosting should support reliable uptime, security, backups and fast delivery.
HTTP status code
A server response that describes what happened to a request. Common examples include 200 for success, 301 for a permanent redirect and 404 for not found.
Indexing
The process by which a search engine stores and organises eligible pages so they can potentially appear in search results.
Internal link
A link from one page of a website to another page on the same site. Internal links help visitors navigate and help search engines understand site structure.
Keyword
A word or phrase associated with what people search for. Modern SEO focuses on satisfying search intent and topic relevance, not repeating a phrase mechanically.
Landing page
A page designed around a particular audience, offer or campaign. It usually has a focused message and a clear conversion action.
Local SEO
Search optimisation focused on visibility for location-relevant searches, often involving local landing pages, business information, reviews and Google Business Profile.
Meta description
A short page description supplied to search engines. It may be used as the descriptive snippet in search results, although Google can choose different text.
Mobile responsive
A layout that adapts to different screen sizes and input methods rather than simply shrinking a desktop design.
On-page SEO
Optimisation carried out on the website itself, including page structure, headings, content, metadata, internal links, media and technical signals.
Off-page SEO
Signals developed away from the website, including relevant links, citations, mentions and reputation signals that can support authority and discovery.
Redirect
An instruction that sends a visitor and search engine from one URL to another. A 301 redirect is commonly used when a page has permanently moved.
Schema markup
Structured data that gives search engines explicit information about entities and content such as organisations, services, articles or breadcrumbs.
SEO
Search engine optimisation: improving a website’s technical foundation, relevance, content and authority so it can earn useful organic search visibility.
Sitemap
A machine-readable list of important URLs that helps search engines discover and revisit pages. An XML sitemap does not guarantee indexing.
SSL certificate
The certificate used to establish an encrypted HTTPS connection between a visitor’s browser and the website server.
Title tag
The HTML title of a page. It is an important relevance signal and is often used as the headline shown in search results.
Tracking
The measurement setup used to understand meaningful website or campaign actions, such as calls, form submissions, purchases and other conversions.
UI
User interface: the visual controls and components people interact with, such as navigation, buttons, forms, cards and menus.
UX
User experience: how clear, efficient and intuitive the overall experience feels while someone is trying to complete a task.
WordPress
A content management system used to build and manage websites. Its performance depends heavily on the theme, plugins, hosting and implementation choices around it.