SEO and Digital Marketing terms and definitions

Google's search console has multiple helpful features, such as checking sites for indexing errors, site speed and measuring traffic and performance.

Google has a platform where you can explore data visualizations on the latest search stories, trends, and topics. It also analyzes popularity of the top search queries.

Google Analytics is a web analytics platform used to track and report on audience behavior, content performance and traffic sources.

A geographic modifier, (also known as a geo-modifier, location modifier or location qualifier), is a part of a search term which references a location. Examples of keywords with geographic modifiers would be “plumber London” or “plumber near me”, rather than just “plumber”.

The Google Sandbox refers to an alleged filter which stops new websites from reaching their full ranking potential for several months after launch. The Sandbox phenomenon has never been officially confirmed by Google, but many SEOs are confident that it exists because of the slow results that are seen when trying to rank new websites.

Panda is the name given to a major Google algorithm change which took place in 2011. This update focused on quality, with the aim of stopping sites with low-quality and thin content from appearing at the top of search results. In response to the Panda Update, web content writers began to focus on creating high-quality pages, rather than large numbers of low-quality or short pages.

Penguin is the name given to a major Google algorithm change that took place in 2012. This update focused on decreasing the rankings of websites with unnatural backlink profiles. In response to the Penguin Update, SEOs reduced participation in black-hat link-building schemes and began disavowing links that were suspected to be spammy or harmful.

Google keyword planner is a keyword research tool by Google to help you research keywords for search campaigns. You will need a Google AdWords account to run it.

Hummingbird is the name given to a major Google algorithm change which took place in 2013. This update improved the accuracy of natural language queries, making improved use of context and meaning over individual keywords. In response to the Hummingbird Update, web content writers began to optimise their sites with natural language, rather than forced keywords.