Website terminology glossary
There’s a lot of tech-speak around website projects, so here are common terms explained
A
Analytics
A tool that helps you see how many people visit your website and what they do on it.
Alt Text
A short description added to images to help search engines and accessibility tools understand them.
B
Backup
A saved copy of your website that can be restored if something goes wrong.
Blog
A section of your website where you can publish articles, news or updates.
C
CMS (Content Management System)
A system that lets you update your website content yourself. WordPress is a CMS.
Contact Form
A form visitors can use to send enquiries through your website.
Cookie
A small file stored in a visitor’s browser to help websites remember information.
D
Domain Name
Your website address, such as yourbusiness.co.uk.
Drag and Drop Builder
A visual system for building websites by moving blocks and sections around.
E
Ecommerce
A website that allows you to sell financial services online.
F
Footer
The bottom section of a website, usually containing contact details and useful links.
G
Google Analytics
A free Google tool used to track website visitors and activity.
Google Search Console
A Google tool that helps monitor how your website appears in search results.
H
Header
The top section of a website, usually containing the logo and navigation.
Hosting
The service that keeps your website online and accessible.
Homepage
The main page visitors usually see first on your website.
I
Internal Link
A link from one page of your website to another page on the same website.
K
Keyword
A word or phrase people type into Google when searching online.
L
Landing Page
A page designed to encourage visitors to take a specific action, such as making an enquiry.
M
Metadata
Information behind the scenes that helps search engines understand a webpage.
Mobile Responsive
A website that automatically adapts to phones and tablets.
N
Navigation
The menu system used to move around a website.
O
On-page SEO
The process of improving website pages to help them rank better in Google.
P
Page Speed
How quickly your website loads for visitors.
Plugin
An add-on that adds extra functionality to a WordPress website.
Q
Query
A piece of WordPress code that essentially retrieves information from the database and displays it on your site.
R
Responsive Design
A website layout that adjusts to different screen sizes.
S
SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)
The process of improving your website so it appears more often in Google searches.
SSL Certificate
A security feature that protects your website and displays the padlock icon in browsers.
Schema
Extra information added to a website to help search engines understand the content.
T
Template
A pre-designed layout used as a starting point for building websites.
Technical SEO
The behind-the-scenes optimisation that helps search engines crawl your website properly.
U
URL
The address of a webpage.
W
Web Hosting
The service that stores your website files and keeps your website live online.
WordPress
The world’s most popular website platform used to build and manage websites.
X
XML Sitemap
A file that helps search engines discover your website pages.
Y
Yoast
A popular WordPress plugin used for SEO.
Z
Z-index
A piece of code that arranges content in layers, for example, z-index:1 would be below z-index-2.
