The search engine optimization industry is loaded with acronyms, so if you’re looking to get involved in this important aspect of digital marketing, you’ll want to learn them.
Due to the array of terms, tools, programs and ideas associated with search engine optimization, there are literally hundreds of shorthand names, though. We’ve compiled ten of the most important search engine optimization acronyms you’ll want to be familiar with as you start working to optimize your website for search.
SEO
Even if you’re brand-new to search engine optimization, you probably already know that its shorthand is SEO. As the name implies, search engine optimization or SEO is a discipline developed to help websites perform well with search engines.
Search engines like Google crawl websites to find the most relevant links and information to return when users enter search terms. By optimizing your website for the most relevant keywords and utilizing SEO best practices, visitors can find your website via searches.
Getting quality organic traffic to your website via search engines is a much more affordable marketing tactic than by running costly ads through pay-per-click or PPC advertising; that’s why SEO is so crucial for any website and business!
As we continue with our list of the top ten SEO acronyms you should know, some of you might notice that most of these terms are technically initialisms, not acronyms. However, in the interest of SEO (see what we did there?), we’re using the more common “acronyms” keyword for this blog post.
SERP
A search engine results page, or SERP, describes the page displayed once you perform a search on Google. Every digital marketer and business wants to show up on page 1 of the SERPs, and that’s what SEO is all about.
At the top of any SERP on Google, you’ll first see ads. Below that, you’ll see all the organic search results based on what keywords or terms a user entered.
CTA
A CTA is any Call to Action on a webpage. Typical CTAs include text or an image that encourages the visitor to take a certain action, such as clicking a button or link to visit another page, fill out a contact form or subscribe to a newsletter.
CRO
Conversion rate optimization is a similar idea to SEO, but it focuses squarely on improving conversions on a website. By making changes to your website, marketing strategies and ads through the process of CRO, you can increase the rate at which visitors turn into conversions.
What constitutes a conversion varies by business and website, but for some, it may be downloading a PDF, submitting a form or buying a product.
CTR
The click-through rate or CTR is the ratio of users who click on a certain link or ad relative to how many users viewed the initial page or were served the ad. If you create a new landing page, and a link to that page receives ten clicks out of 1,000 total views or impressions, then the CTR is 1%.
NAP
We hope you’re not getting tired of us as we roll through the top ten SEO terms you should know, because this next one is crucial for businesses and Local SEO! NAP stands for name, address, and phone number.
Google will pull your business’s NAP listings from across multiple online directories. If these sources have a wrong or outdated phone number or address, Google might have trouble providing search engine users with accurate details on how to contact or visit your business.
Having consistent NAP across the web is vital if you want prospective customers to find your business online and offline!
CMS
A Content Management System is an online platform that makes it easy for website administrators, bloggers, business staff and digital marketers to publish and modify webpages on a website.
WordPress is the most popular Content Management System, but any proper CMS helps people of varying web skill sets and experience maintain a website.
BR
Bounce rate is a digital marketing term used when analyzing website traffic. It’s the percentage of visitors that view just one page of your website before exiting.
When you’re optimizing your website for search engines, you want to provide relevant information for the search terms and keywords users might enter. In other words, if you are keyword-stuffing terms throughout your content that don’t relate to your website, business, products or services, then users might visit your site but bounce when they find that it is not relevant to their search.
ROI
Return on Investment isn’t a term exclusive to SEO: it’s a principle used throughout the business world and anywhere that profits are to be made. When it comes to digital marketing, ROI is the amount you make from any given marketing effort compared to what you spent to achieve that result.
Search engine optimization often has a high return on investment because many SEO efforts are completely free or highly affordable to implement. However, it can take time to realize a return on your investment through SEO, as results don’t happen overnight.
MUM
Multitask Unified Model, or MUM, is a new technology developed by Google utilizing AI (Artificial Intelligence) to improve search capabilities. It’s designed to tackle more complex questions and search queries. The hope is that MUM will help users find expert answers with far fewer searches.
That wraps up our list of the top ten SEO terms, initialisms and acronyms you ought to know. If you’re intrigued by the advanced search capabilities of Google’s new MUM technology, stay tuned for more details from the fusionZONE team!