56+ SEO terms - from AI Overview to Zero-click search - explained in plain English, with context for the Sri Lankan market. Bookmark this page. Share the link when someone asks "what's that mean?".
The strategic integration of AI tools (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, Jasper) into SEO workflows - keyword research, content optimisation, technical audits, and ranking analysis. Different from GEO, which is about ranking IN AI search engines.
Google's AI-generated answer block that appears above traditional search results. Cites 3-8 websites as sources. Appearing in an AI Overview is the new #1 ranking position.
See also: GEO · SGE · Generative Search
The descriptive text for an image, read by screen readers and used by Google Images. Should describe the image naturally; keyword-stuffing is a penalty signal.
The clickable text of a link. Internal anchor text with target keywords (naturally placed) is one of the strongest on-page ranking factors.
A change to Google's ranking algorithm. Core updates (March, August, November) and spam updates are the big ones. Sri Lankan sites often see big swings during these.
A link from another website to yours. Editorial backlinks from high-authority, topically-relevant sites are the #1 off-page ranking factor.
The % of visitors who leave after viewing one page. High bounce rate on a landing page often signals intent mismatch or poor UX. GA4 replaces bounce rate with 'engagement rate'.
A secondary navigation showing the page's location in the site hierarchy (e.g. Home › Blog › Post Title). Helps both users and search engines understand site structure.
The 'master' version of a page when multiple URLs have the same content. Set via <link rel='canonical'> to tell Google which version to index.
Google's three official UX metrics that directly impact ranking: Largest Contentful Paint (LCP, < 2.5s), Interaction to Next Paint (INP, < 200ms), and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS, < 0.1).
See also: LCP · INP · CLS · PageSpeed
The number of pages Google is willing to crawl on your site in a given time. Large sites must prioritise crawl budget via robots.txt, internal linking, and sitemap hygiene.
% of people who click your result out of those who saw it. Higher-than-expected CTR is a ranking signal; improving title tags often moves rankings before content changes do.
Moz's 0-100 score predicting how well a site ranks. Not a Google metric. Industry shorthand only - use Ahrefs DR or organic traffic for real comparison.
Two or more URLs with identical or near-identical content. Split authority, confuse Google. Fix with canonical tags, 301 redirects, or consolidation.
Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness. Google's framework for evaluating content quality and author credibility. Critical for Your-Money-Your-Life (YMYL) topics and AI citation.
A concrete thing (person, place, brand, concept) Google recognises in its Knowledge Graph. Being recognised as an entity makes you AI-citation-eligible.
The answer box at the top of Google results (above even AI Overviews sometimes). Formats: paragraph, list, table, video. Schema helps; clear Q→A structure helps more.
JSON-LD structured data marking up Q&A sections. Used to appear in rich FAQ results and cited in AI Overviews. Every maxinium.com landing page ships FAQ schema.
The practice of optimising content so AI search engines (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, Bing Copilot) cite your content as a source. Different from SEO - GEO's goal is citation, not clicks.
Google's free tool showing your clicks, impressions, average position, and indexing status. Ground truth for SEO performance - if it's not in GSC, it's not happening.
HTML attribute declaring which language/region a page targets. Critical for Sri Lankan sites serving English-LK, Tamil, and Sinhala or expanding to Indian-English audience.
The primary heading of a page. Should contain the primary keyword in a natural, compelling sentence. Only one H1 per page.
The process of Google storing your page in its searchable database. Being crawled ≠ being indexed. Check indexing status in GSC → Pages.
A link from one page on your site to another. The most under-used SEO lever. Internal-linking from your oldest strong page to your weakest target page often moves rankings within two weeks.
JavaScript Object Notation for Linked Data - the recommended format for structured data / schema markup. Invisible to users, readable by Google and AI crawlers. Every maxinium.com page emits 5-8 JSON-LD schemas.
A 0-100 score estimating how hard it is to rank #1 for a keyword. Tool-specific (Ahrefs KD differs from Semrush KD). Use as a relative, not absolute, measure.
Google's unique identifier for an entity in its Knowledge Graph. Being recognised in the KG is the single biggest moat in AI search.
Core Web Vital measuring how fast the main content renders. Good: under 2.5s on mobile 4G. The #1 thing to fix if your site feels slow.
The 3 Google Maps results that appear for local searches ('SEO company near me', 'seo company colombo'). Powered by Google Business Profile, reviews, citations, and proximity.
A specific, multi-word search phrase (4+ words). Lower volume but higher intent and much easier to rank. Maxinium targets 85+ Sri Lanka SEO long-tails.
A standardised plain-text file at the root of your site (/llms.txt) that tells LLMs which pages to cite and what your site is about. Maxinium ships one.
The 155-character summary shown under the page title in search results. Doesn't directly impact ranking, but massively impacts CTR which indirectly affects ranking.
Google now crawls and ranks based on your mobile site, not desktop. A mobile-unfriendly site can't rank in Sri Lanka where 60%+ of search is mobile.
Name, Address, Phone - the three data points that must be identical across your Google Business Profile, website, and every directory citation. Inconsistent NAP kills local ranking.
rel='nofollow' on a link tells Google not to pass authority through it. Used for affiliate links, untrusted UGC, and advertorial content.
Everything you optimise on the page itself - title, meta, H1, content quality, internal links, alt text, schema, URL structure, Core Web Vitals.
Everything that happens off your site - backlinks, brand mentions, reviews, social signals, citations, thought-leadership PR.
Google's free tool at pagespeed.web.dev that scores your Core Web Vitals and gives fix-it recommendations. The PSI mobile score is what matters.
A long, comprehensive page targeting a head keyword, supported by a cluster of narrower pages linking back to it. Modern SEO architecture.
What the searcher actually wants (informational, navigational, transactional, commercial). Match intent or you won't rank, regardless of keyword volume.
A permanent redirect from old URL to new URL that passes ~100% of link equity. Essential when changing URLs, migrating CMS, or consolidating pages.
Any search result with visual enhancements - stars, FAQs, product details, how-tos - powered by structured data.
Root file telling crawlers which pages to ignore. In 2026 it's where you tell GPTBot, Google-Extended, ClaudeBot, and PerplexityBot whether to crawl you.
Structured data (usually JSON-LD) that describes your content to search engines - Organization, Person, LocalBusiness, FAQPage, HowTo, Article. Required for rich results and AI citation.
The page you see after typing a query in Google. Modern SERPs include: AI Overview, featured snippet, People Also Ask, knowledge panel, images, videos, local pack, then organic results.
XML file at /sitemap.xml listing every canonical URL on your site with last-modified dates. Submit to GSC for faster indexing.
JSON-LD annotation marking which sections of your page should be read aloud by voice assistants. Maxinium ships this on every page.
Data in a standardised format (schema.org JSON-LD) that helps search engines understand your content.
The clickable headline in search results and the browser tab. Put the primary keyword in the first 50 characters, end with your brand. Your single highest-impact on-page element.
A pillar page + supporting cluster posts all internally linked. The topic-cluster model has replaced the keyword-centric model in serious SEO since 2019.
An experimental Google/Yahoo metric measuring how close a page is to a seed set of trusted sites in the link graph. Signal, not score.
The human-readable tail of a URL (e.g. /ai-search-playbook/). Keep short, lowercase, hyphenated, keyword-rich, stable.
Search via spoken query through Google Assistant, Alexa, Siri. Dominated by long-tail, conversational, locally-intended queries. Optimise via FAQ content + speakable schema.
SEO done within Google's guidelines - long-term, ethical, sustainable. The only kind Maxinium practises.
Pages that could impact a user's health, finances, safety, or happiness. Google holds YMYL content to the highest E-E-A-T standards.
A search where the answer is given directly on the SERP (AI Overview, featured snippet, knowledge panel) so the user never clicks a website. 60%+ of Sri Lankan Google searches in 2026 are zero-click.
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