Glossary
Short, plain-language definitions of the terms that come up when planning, building, and ranking a website: search and AI answer visibility, speed, accessibility, and the platforms sites are built on.
Answer Engine Optimization
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Answer Engine Optimization (AEO)
Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) is the practice of structuring a website so AI tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews can understand its content and cite it in their answers.
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llms.txt
llms.txt is a plain text file placed at the root of a website that gives large language models a short, readable summary of who the site belongs to, what it offers, and which pages matter most.
Search Engine Optimization
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Canonical URL
A canonical URL is the single preferred address for a page, declared with a canonical link tag, that tells search engines which version to index when the same content is reachable at more than one URL.
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On-page SEO
On-page SEO is the optimization of the content and HTML on each individual page, including titles, headings, descriptions, internal links, and structured data, so search engines understand what the page is about.
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Schema markup (JSON-LD)
Schema markup is structured data added to a web page, usually as a JSON-LD script, that tells search engines and AI tools exactly what the page describes, such as a business, a service, a person, or a list of questions and answers.
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Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the work of making a website easier for search engines like Google to crawl, understand, and rank for the searches its customers actually make.
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XML sitemap
An XML sitemap is a machine-readable file that lists the pages on a website so search engines can find and crawl them, even pages that are not well linked from elsewhere.
Performance
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Core Web Vitals
Core Web Vitals are three metrics Google uses to measure real-world page experience: Largest Contentful Paint (loading speed), Interaction to Next Paint (responsiveness), and Cumulative Layout Shift (visual stability).
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Page speed
Page speed is how quickly a web page loads and becomes usable for a visitor, and it affects search rankings, conversions, and how many people leave before the page finishes loading.
Accessibility
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WCAG
WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) is the international standard, published by the W3C, that defines how to make websites usable for people with disabilities, with conformance levels A, AA, and AAA.
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Web accessibility
Web accessibility is the practice of building websites that people with visual, hearing, motor, or cognitive disabilities can use, including people who rely on screen readers, keyboards, or zoom.
Platforms
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Shopify
Shopify is a hosted e-commerce platform that lets businesses run an online store, including products, checkout, payments, and inventory, without managing their own servers.
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Static site
A static site is a website whose pages are built into ready-made HTML files ahead of time and served as-is, rather than generated by a server and database on every visit.
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WordPress
WordPress is an open-source content management system (CMS) that powers a large share of the web, letting site owners edit pages and posts through an admin dashboard and extend the site with themes and plugins.