Local Search & SEO Glossary

This is the standard HTTP status response, a code that says your web page has loaded successfully.

A server response code that represents a permanently moved page. In these instances, you should use a 301 redirect.

Status Code – Represents a temporarily moved page. In these instances, you should use a 302 redirect.

A server response code that represents a page that can’t be found. These aren’t problematic in themselves but (broken) links pointing to 404 pages can hurt your search ranking. These links should be removed or amended.

Status Code - Forbidden. The server refuses action even though the request is valid.

Status Code - A server is down for maintenance or because of too many requests, usually a temporary state.

Above the fold, as it applies to Web design, is the portion of a Web page that is visible in a browser window when the page first loads. The portion of the page that requires scrolling in order to see content is called “below the fold.” Google’s page layout algorithm penalizes the overuse of ads above the fold.

On a Web page the point at which users have to scroll down is not constant because many variables can affect the way a page displays. The size of a device’s display, for example, changes what content appears above the fold. Other variables include the end user’s choice of browser, browser toolbars, browser custom setting and the operating system (OS) the device is using.

Because users engage more with the content above the fold than below the fold, key site functions and content related to business goals should appear at the top of the Web page. To understand how to work with "the fold", a Web designer should keep in mind the average screen sizes being used by a particular site’s audience or explore responsive design techniques, an approach to Web page creation that makes use of flexible layouts, flexible images and cascading style sheet (CSS) media queries.

Above the fold was first used to describe the placement of content on a newspaper’s front page. The paper’s headline and lead stories are placed on the portion of the front page that remains visible to the reader when the paper is folded horizontally for display on a news stand.

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An absolute link is any link that shows the full URL address. Relative links, on the other hand, use shorter versions of the URL address. Because relative links are more prone to being hacked, using an absolute link is the preferred method.

Accelerated Mobile Pages is an Open Source framework designed to speed up load times for mobile internet users. This article explains what AMP is, looks at why and how it developed, explores its benefits for different stakeholder groups and runs you through how to bring your website up to speed for AMP.

Status notation on the Google Places for Business dashboard if the listing is live

Activity bias is the act of advertising in certain areas, or websites, where people are more likely to be drawn. One example of activity bias would be advertising vitamin supplements on a health website. All in all, advertising primarily relies on location.

Google AdWords app, which is essentially an advertising platform designed to match advertisers’ products to users’ online search terms. AdWords, which uses a pay-per-click (PPC) pricing model, matches keywords or phrases relevant to your products with your prospects’ online search behaviors. See also: PPC (pay-per-click)

Affiliate marketing allows a company or business to expand their growth by paying agents a commission for every member conversion. In other words, the agent gets paid every time they refer someone to the company. Most of those in affiliate marketing make very little. However, there are a few who are extremely successful in this field.

When it comes to the SEO world, age refers to how long a particular website, website page, user account page or any other document has been around. This allows one to make a more informed decision on whether or not they can trust that particular website.

One of four primary data sources of local business data for all major search engines in the United States. See also: Infogroup, Localeze, Factual

AdCenter, now called Bing Ads, is a pay-per-click service with a bunch of different cool features, including dayparting and demographic based bidding. Compared to Google Adwords, adCenter is actually pretty new and recent. As a result, most of adCenter’s prices are relatively low.

The alt attribute provides alternative information for an image if a user for some reason cannot view it (because of slow connection, an error in the src attribute, or if the user uses a screen reader).

Alt text is optional phrasing you can add to an HTML element. The most common use is for images, where providing search engines with context proves your images are relevant to the content on your page. Eg:

Every image on your site should have alt text, preferably including your main keyword for that page.

Amazon’s lead generation program via which is acts as a middleman between service-oriented businesses, like handymen, and homeowners who need to hire a contractor.

Any tool or program that tracks user behavior, such as traffic to a website, duration of visits, and conversions. Google Analytics is a popular product. Within the Google My Business dashboard, the latest iteration of analytics data is called Insights.

Anchor links are hyperlinks that send users to a specific place on the page – either the same page or a separate one. We’re using anchor links in this article to help you navigate from A-Z.

The text contained in a web link. Descriptive words in link text can be used to improve the relevancy of the page to which the link points. For instance, “Minneapolis plumber” is more descriptive than “click here”

A prominent user review website. An important citation source for many businesses, especially home services. Name updated to simply "Angi's" in 2022.

Apple’s mobile mapping application.

Arbitrage is the practice of buying and reselling a product or service for profit gain. In fact, ad services, including AdSense, buy traffic from main search engines such as Google then sell it to lower level marketers.

In local SEO, the term “audit” if often used to describe a thorough analysis of an aspect of a company’s marketing. This could include a citation audit, a content audit, or a competitive audit.

An historic term for a single Google Places listing displayed by a large map embedded in a traditional search result page. In the past, considered the “holy grail” of local search optimization, but not as common today. See also: universal algorithm / universal results, OneBox, Google Places

A general term used to describe the influential power of a domain, a website, a citation source, a review, or other entities. Search engines are said to view some resources as being more authoritative than others, meaning that authoritative sources have an enhanced ability to influence rankings.

For starters, most advertising services are paid in bids. In order to help larger companies with their business growth, advertising companies have created programs that help one spend their advertising budget more efficiently and effectively, which is primarily done by analyzing one’s analytics.

Asynchronous JavaScript and XML is a type of programming that allows a webpage to send and receive information from a server to change that page dynamically without reloading.

An absolute link is any link that shows the full URL address. Relative links, on the other hand, use shorter versions of the URL address. Because relative links are more prone to being hacked, using an absolute link is the preferred method.

Activity bias is the act of advertising in certain areas, or websites, where people are more likely to be drawn. One example of activity bias would be advertising vitamin supplements on a health website. All in all, advertising primarily relies on location.

Status notation on the Google Places for Business dashboard if the listing is live

An historic term for a single Google Places listing displayed by a large map embedded in a traditional search result page. In the past, considered the "holy grail" of local search optimization, but not as common today. See also: universal algorithm / universal results, OneBox, Google Places

A company that maintains and supplies the underlying business database for local search directories. The most important U.S. aggregators are Infogroup, Localeze, Acxiom, and Factual. These companies compile data about businesses from multiple online and offline sources including phone bills, business registration records, chamber of commerce membership rosters, and many other sources. An aggregator is also known as a �data aggregator� or �data provider.�

Formerly Angies List. A prominent user review website. An important citation source for many businesses, especially home services. See also: citation, review

Affiliate marketing allows a company or business to expand their growth by paying agents a commission for every member conversion. In other words, the agent gets paid every time they refer someone to the company. Most of those in affiliate marketing make very little. However, there are a few who are extremely successful in this field.

Authority is a concept of using the reputation and credentials of a person who writes content online as a ranking factor. Originally, Google tested this in combination with Google+ but despite several patents filed, no evidence supports author authority as a ranking factor. Google is placing emphasis on E-A-T to reduce disinformation online, especially in YMYL niches such as health and finance. In these spaces, building the authority of an author is recommended for a brand to show credibility, even if it currently doesn�t influence ranking..

The science of making computers perform tasks that require human intelligence. Rather than following a set of programmed rules (like an algorithm), an AI computer system is basically a digital brain that learns. AI can also make and carry out decisions without human intervention.

AI Sentiment Analysis, also known as Opinion Mining, is a Natural Language Processing (NLP) technique that uses artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms to determine the sentiment or emotion expressed in a piece of text. The goal of sentiment analysis is to automatically identify whether the expressed sentiment is positive, negative, or neutral. This is done by processing the texts provided then extracting features from the text data. From there the data is classified by the AI and is ultimately then predicted and read back to the user.

Officially launched in January 2022, Apple Business Connect is the system businesses use to manage their appearance on Apple Maps. You sign up, verify your business, and you can then add photos, post updates (called �showcases�), and allow customers to message you. Another way of putting it if you�re familiar with Google is that Apple Business Connect is to Apple Maps what Google Business Profile is to Google Maps

A special formula used by search engines to rank webpages in order of importance or relevance for a particular keyword search. See also: crawl, spider, local algorithm / local results, organic algorithm / organic results, universal algorithm / universal results

Some algorithmic changes go completely unnoticed. However, the impact of a major algorithmic change can usually be seen quite quickly, though the change sometimes takes a few weeks to completely roll out. Algorithmic changes come in three forms: Algorithm Update: The search engine changes certain signals of an existing algorithm.Algorithm Refresh: The search engine re-runs an existing algorithm using the exact same signals as last time.New Algorithm: The search engine adds a new algorithm to improve search quality. For example: Google Panda, Google Penguin.

The rating that shows up next to a business listing on any directory that features business reviews, such as Yelp and Google. The review score is calculated from user ratings and a variety of other factors, and after someone leaves a new review, it may take up to two weeks to get an updated review score.

The alt attribute provides alternative information for an image if a user for some reason cannot view it (because of slow connection, an error in the src attribute, or if the user uses a screen reader).

The abbreviation for Artificial General Intelligence. It refers to the hypothetical development of super-smart AI that is capable of performing any intellectual task in a way that a human can do. AGI is often considered the ultimate goal of AI research and development. The term “AGI” has become more prominent as discussions about the future potential and direction of AI technology have intensified. While AGI remains a theoretical goal rather than a current reality, the concept represents a significant leap in the field of AI.

The simulation of human intelligence in machines programmed to think and learn like humans

The software that acts autonomously or semi-autonomously on behalf of a user or another system to perform tasks, solve problems, or achieve specific goals.

The practices, principles, and methodologies aimed at ensuring AI systems operate in a manner that is secure, ethical, and aligned with human values and societal norms. It involves the proactive identification and mitigation of potential risks associated with AI development and deployment, such as bias, malfunction, unintended consequences, and the misuse of AI technologies. The term has a significant surge in 2022-2024 that can be due to attributed to breakthroughs in text-to-image models such as DALL-E, Stable Diffusion, Midjourney. Generating incredibly realistic photos, these models raised security concerns. As a result, specialists and entire teams dedicated to addressing AI safety issues are emerging within companies.

Business-to-business, when a business’s customers are other businesses.

Business-to-consumer, when a business’s customers are end-users.

Also called an "inbound link" or "incoming link," is created when one website links to another. The link between the two websites is the backlink - so named because it points back to the linked-to page.

Baidu is a Chinese website and search engine that enables individuals to obtain information and find what they need.Baidu offers functional online search, Tieba community search, industry-based vertical search, mp3 search, portal channels, and instant messaging services. Its products include Baidu Webpage, Baidu Video, Baidu Map, hao123.com, BaiduPedia, Baidu Input, Baidu Toolbar, TTPlayer, Iqiyi, and Sky Software.The company was formerly known as Baidu.com, Inc. and changed its name to Baidu, Inc. in December 2008. Baidu, Inc. was founded in 2000 and is headquartered in Beijing, the People's Republic of China.

A complex computer program that is poorly understood. Inputs and outputs can be observed, but there is no access to the process itself due to its confidential nature. For example, Google�s algorithm is a black box.

The name of Microsoft�s search engine. Bing launched in June 2009, replacing Microsoft Live Search (previously MSN Search and Windows Live Search). Since 2010, Bing has powered Yahoo�s organic search results as part of a search deal Microsoft and Yahoo struck in July 2009.

B2B local SEO is a digital marketing strategy that can help you optimize your website to rank higher in search results and reach more potential business customers in your local area.

Bad Neighborhood refers to websites that have been severely downgraded by search engines for violating search engine guidelines of for containing terms like "gambling", "casino", "pornography" or "Viagra".Bad Neighborhood websites typically appear far down in the search results or not at all.

Best of the Web (BOTW) is local business directory for U.S. businesses. Business owners can create a listing for free.

An historic term for search engine results that combine both organic factors See also: universal algorithm / universal results

A bot (otherwise called a spider or crawler) is a piece of software or an application that runs automated tasks. In the case of SEO, these tend to be search bots, which discover and rank new content and updated pages.

Because comments on a blog, or any site for that matter, can be used for links, people try to take advantage and post comments for links. This spam commenting can be done either manually or automatically. The latter method requires software. If you have a comment system on a local business website, I would recommend removing or turning off.

Bold is simply the text format of a word or word phrase, which appears dark black, hence the name. This feature, or format, is most commonly used in subheadings. The main purpose is to grab the reader's attention.

A form of web-based publication that allows readers to interact with the publisher via commenting. One of the most popular blog platforms is WordPress. A blog can be a component of a website or act on its own as a complete website. See also: social media (SM)

The number of bookings completed by customers. Note: To track this metric, your client must have set up bookings with an online provider.

Bounce rate is the number of visitors who leave your site without viewing a second page. In most cases, a high bounce rate is considered bad, but there are times when higher bounce rates could be a good thing (e.g. a user converts right away and leaves).

Bait and switch is the act of attracting customers by advertising really low prices, then encouraging the person to buy more expensive items, goods or services. This is a very common practice throughout the entire business world. Another effective method is to link to information websites rather than commercial, as people are more attracted to them. Bait and switch can also be used with business pages, where a business page takes calles but then farms the service out to a different business.

When it comes to SEO terminology, bias refers to the behavior of search engines. For the most part, search engines are geared toward giving better content to people. Therefore, non commercial websites, such as informational websites, will typically receive better prominence. Search engines also prefer websites that have been around and are well sited.

Refers to practices which are specifically designed to fool search engines into seeing a website as having more value than it really does, almost always in violation of the search engines� webmaster guidelines.�It's important to note that the guidelines change rather frequently, so it's important to remain updated. The hands-down most effective, long terms business strategy is to stay away from tempting quick routes that will have only a short-term�impact.

Founded in 1912, the BBB publishes reviews of the reliability of businesses in the U.S. and Canada. BBB listings can act as a citation for local businesses.

This is a process that breaks down a web page into smaller segments, or blocks. Not only does this make it easier for search engines to analyze, but it helps the engines distinguish between content that's either page or navigational specific, along with many other things.

Blogger, owned by Google, is a free website that allows people to create their own sites and blogs. Although it's free, one who's serious about growing their business should consider that the domains offered by blogger still belong to the website.

Bing's local business component. Users can create listings for their businesses.

Brand pages are used, well by brands, that typically don't have a single bricks and mortar premises. They could have thousands or none. Brand pages are not connected to Google maps and they don't produce a knowledge panel in search like a business page would.

While people browse online, they're bombarded with tons of different advertisements from different companies. At first, these ads may attract some people's attention. However, a person eventually becomes blind and ignores the ads entirely. Banner blindness can also be applied to websites / business sites that have a scrolling banner above the fold, it may show several slides about the business, ultimately this is what users are becoming blind to.

A Bayesian average is a method of estimating the mean of a population consistent with Bayesian interpretation, where instead of estimating the mean strictly from any or all available data set, other existing information related to that data set may also be incorporated into the calculation in order to minimize the impact of large deviations, or to assert a default value when the data set is small.This was relevant to local SEO and reviews management due to the statement by Google relating to how they determine an average star rating."Your score is calculated from user ratings and a variety of other signals to ensure that the overall score best reflects the quality of the establishment."Many SEO consultants and people who work with programming algorithms feel that the part about a variety of other signals means that Google uses what is called a Bayesian average to look not just at the raw numbers, but incorporating other factors that may cause deviation in the formula.******In early 2017, Google switched from a minimum of five reviews to Google is awarding stars for as little as one review. The also switched to using a more standard arithmetic mean calculation.

Behavioral targeting is an advertising strategy that monitors web surfers' online activity and even purchases. Once you have clicked onto a specific site that uses cookies with re-targeting engaged, their specific ads will follow you around online, popping up on other sites. They last for a set amount of time, before the targeting expires.

Like the old traditional bookmark, an online bookmark keeps tabs on certain websites or pages that one visits. A number of browsers, including Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, Safari, Mozilla and Firefox, have this bookmark feature. Bookmarks help people be more productive through better organization.

The number of clicks on a hotel�s free booking link. This metric only applies to hotels.

Adding, changing, or deleting data for more than one business/citation/location at the same time. This is usually done through a tool (such as LocalClarity) and is especially useful for agencies, as well as enterprise or multi-location businesses.

A branded link includes the name of a brand in the anchor text and normally points to their home page. For example, our own branded link would look like Vertical Leap.

A broken link is a URL that isn't working properly - normally because it's pointing to a page that has been moved or no longer exists. The main thing to remember is that broken links on your site can affect your page ranking. Run regular tests to pinpoint any broken links and get them fixed or, better yet, use an automated tool that alerts you as soon as any break.

In the local search arena, the term brick-and-mortar is used to indicate a business model operating within a physical building. Examples of brick-and-mortar business models include dental clinics, restaurants, and retail shops. By contrast, a service area business is one that serves customers at remote locations (like a plumber, electrician, or housekeeping service) instead of within the walls of a physical business. Different rules have historically governed these two types of business models in the local search arena.

Typically refers to the act of creating multiple local business listings for multi-location business models at once, typically via a spreadsheet or other type of form, on a given platform. For example, a business might bulk upload 1,000 of its locations to the Google Business Profile all at once, instead of manually creating 1,000 individual listings one-at-a-time.

A Google business page is used for a business with a physical address that customers can visit in person during the stated business hours. The business page will appear in Maps, local pack and provide a knowledge panel for the business name in search.

The name of a business - specifically the name of a business as registered at one of the major local search engines or online Yellow Pages directories. Combined with physical address and phone number, the business title represents a third of a business's online identity See also: phone number, physical address, NAP / NAP+W (Name Address Phone + Website)

Business directories are listing of business and details, either by category, location or specialty. Local business directories are the easiest starting point for citations.

Sometimes simply called "description." Describes a field provided for a text description of a business on a local business listing. Length and rules about the types of content one can include in the business description field vary from platform to platform.

A navigation system that shows users the path they've taken through a website. This is particularly important for eCommerce sites and other website setups with a lot of categories. Here are some examples from Google:

A technical flaw in a digital medium. In local search, bugs may arise on major local business platforms like the Google Business Profile. It is then up to the affected platform to resolve the bug.

When a user�s query includes an exact match, or variation, of a specific company or brand name. For instance, �LocalClarity�, �LC�, �localclarity.com�, and �LocalClarity Glossary� are a few examples of branded keywords.

The name given to the collection of variables (e.g., proximity, categories, keyword in business title) that relate to the details of the "Business" that are used to determine local search rankings. See Link Signals, On-page Signals, Citation Signals, Review Signals, Behavioral Signals, Personalization, and Social Signals

Business-to-business, when a business�s customers are other businesses.

Business-to-consumer, when a business�s customers are end-users.

The buyer's journey is the process buyers go through to become aware of, evaluate, and purchase a new product or service. The journey is a three-step process:1) Awareness Stage2) Consideration Stage.3) Decision StageDuring the Awareness stage, buyers identify their challenge or an opportunity they want to pursue. They also decide whether or not the goal or challenge should be a priority.During the Consideration stage, buyers have clearly defined the goal or challenge and have committed to addressing it. They evaluate the different approaches or methods available to pursue the goal or solve their challenge.In the Decision stage, buyers have already decided on a solution category. For example, they could write a pro/con list of specific offerings and then decide on the one that best meets their needs.

A buyer persona is a semi-fictional representation of a company's ideal customer based on market research and real data about existing and target customers.When creating a buyer persona(s), companies should consider including customer demographics, behavior patterns, motivations, and goals. The more detailed you are, the better.Buyer personas can provide tremendous structure and insight for your company. A detailed buyer persona will help determine where to focus time, guide product development, and allow for alignment across the organization. As a result, companies will be able to attract the most valuable visitors, leads, and customers.

ChatGPT is a language model, a form of artificial intelligence that uses a data source to answer questions and respond to prompts. It's particularly interesting in local SEO as it can be used to scale up the creation of content in bulk and complete simple tasks in a cost-effective way. However, experts recommend you always check and edit the content it creates rather than using it blindly.

What is a canonical tag? A canonical tag (aka "rel canonical") is a way of telling search engines that a specific URL represents the master copy of a page. Using the canonical tag prevents problems caused by identical or "duplicate" content appearing on multiple URLs. Practically speaking, the canonical tag tells search engines which version of a URL you want to appear in search results. Why does canonicalization matter? Duplicate content is a complicated subject, but when search engines crawl many URLs with identical (or very similar) content, it can cause a number of SEO problems. First, if search crawlers have to wade through too much duplicate content, they may miss some of your unique content. Second, large-scale duplication may dilute your ranking ability. Finally, even if your content does rank, search engines may pick the wrong URL as the "original." Using canonicalization helps you control your duplicate content.

The number of people who click the call button on your client�s business profile. Note: This metric requires your business phone number for Insights to track calls. As of 2023, there are no changes that have been publically announced by Google.

A complete or partial web-based reference to a business's name, address, phone number and other core data. Structured citations can occur in the form of formal local business listings on local business data platforms, or can be of an unstructured nature, occurring as simple mentions of a business on a blog, news site, website, or other online publication. For a complete understanding of the role of citations in local SEO, read Local Listings and SEO. See also: directory, IYP (Internet Yellow Pages), unstructured citation. Structured citations occur when your NAP(W) data shows up on Internet yellow pages (IYP) or other specialized directories. These websites are generally collections of businesses of a specific type or within a certain locale. An example of a local directory would be a site like the Omaha Chamber of Commerce, whereas a specialized directory would be more specific to the industry, like this "find a dentist" site. Unstructured Citations are a bit more relaxed. These citations are more likely to appear on local blogs, in local newspapers, on social media, and in other more "relaxed" places. Unstructured citations aren't always complete citations. Sometimes, they're partial mentions of a business' maybe just a business name, or a name and a phone number, or even just the address of the business. These are less likely to be something your business has attempted to build and more likely to arise from someone else talking about your business.

A call to action, or CTA, tells your audience what to do next. This may be as simple as a contextual phrase ("Contact us today!") or a graphic site element (a button, for example, labeled, "Click Here to Order").