SEO acronyms and abbreviations are important terms that everyone who is interested in search engine optimization should know.
People in the SEO industry often use short words and phrases to represent important jargon and meanings that are common among search engine experts.
And if you want to be well-prepared throughout your SEO career and understand the details of SEO news updates, then this complete list of SEO abbreviations and acronyms is a good place to find out what they all mean.
Below, you’ll find the most common SEO terms, definitions, and slang on search engine optimization in alphabetical order. So read through them all one by one if you’re new to the industry or scan through the list to find a particular acronym or abbreviation you need the SEO meaning for right now.
When you’re done here, you may also want to read my introduction guide on what is SEO to get an in-depth understanding of the topic. I also have a collection of SEO case study examples to learn more about search engine optimization to rank your content higher on Google.
SEO Acronyms and Abbreviations List
Numbers
| Acronym |
Meaning |
| 200 |
The request has succeeded and is being processed |
| 201 |
The request is successful and as a result, a resource has been created |
| 202 |
The request has been accepted for processing, but the processing has not been completed |
| 301 |
Resource Moved Permanently (A permanent redirect code to a new domain or location) |
| 302 |
Resource Moved Temporarily (A temporary redirect code to a new domain or location) |
| 401 |
Unauthorized Access to Resource (requires authentication) |
| 403 |
Forbidden (Access not allowed – the server understood the request but refuses to fulfill it) |
| 404 |
Resource not found |
| 503 |
The server is unavailable (usually a temporary response due to overloading or maintenance) |
A
| Acronym |
Meaning |
| AJAX |
Asynchronous Javascript and XML |
| ALT |
Alternative Text Attribute |
| AOV |
Average order value |
| API |
Application Program Interface |
| AR |
Augmented reality |
| AS |
Article Submission |
| ASP |
Application service provider |
| ASP.NET |
A program that runs inside IIS which allows web programmers to build dynamic websites on Microsoft servers |
| ATD |
Agency trading desk |
| AV |
AltaVista |
B
| Acronym |
Meaning |
| B2B |
Business to Business |
| B2C |
Business to Consumer |
| BH |
Black Hat |
| BHW |
Black Hat world |
| BL |
Backlink |
| BR |
Bounce rate |
C
| Acronym |
Meaning |
| ccTLD |
country code top-level domain |
| CAPTCHA |
Completely Automated Public Turing Test to Tell Computers and Humans Apart |
| CF |
Citation flow |
| CGI |
Common Gateway Interface |
| CLV |
Customer lifetime value |
| CMS |
Content Management System |
| COA |
Cost of Acquisition |
| CPA |
Cost Per Acquisition |
| CPC |
Cost per Click |
| CPI |
Cost Per Impression |
| CPL |
Cost Per Lead |
| CPM |
Cost Per Thousands |
| CPO |
Cost Per Order |
| CPV |
Cost Per View |
| CR |
Conversion rate |
| CRM |
Customer relationship management |
| CRO |
Conversion Rate Optimization |
| CSE |
Comparison Shopping Engine/Custom Search Engine |
| CSS |
Cascading Style Sheets |
| CTA |
Call to Action |
| CTR |
Click Through Rate |
| CX |
Customer experience |
D
| Acronym |
Meaning |
| DC |
Data Center |
| DFO |
Data Feed Optimization |
| DKI |
Dynamic Keyword Insertion |
| DLP |
Directory Listings Page |
| DLR |
Deep Link Ratio |
| DMCA |
Digital Millennium Copyright Act |
| DMOZ |
Directory – Mozilla |
| DMP |
Data management platform |
| DNS |
Domain name system |
| DR |
Domain Ranking |
| DR |
Direct response |
| DS |
Directory Results Pages |
| DRPs |
Directory Submission |
| DSP |
Demand-side platform |
| DSRP |
Directory Search Results Page |
E
| Acronym |
Meaning |
| ECPC |
Enhanced Cost Per Click |
| EMD |
Exact Match Domain |
| EPC |
Earnings per click |
| EPM |
Earnings per thousand |
| ERD |
Education referring domains |
| ESP |
Email service provider |
F
| Acronym |
Meaning |
| FBML |
Facebook Markup Language |
| FCP |
Frequently Cached Page |
| FFA |
Free For All Pages |
| FTP |
File transfer protocol |
G
| Acronym |
Meaning |
| G+ |
Google Plus |
| GA |
Google Analytics |
| GAP |
Google Advertising Professional |
| GAS |
Guaranteed Article Submission |
| GDS |
Guaranteed Directory Submission |
| GIS |
Google Image Search |
| GIY |
Google It Yourself |
| GRD |
Government referring domains |
| GSC |
Google Search Console |
| GTM |
Google Tag Manager |
| GUI |
Graphical user interface |
| GWT |
Google Webmaster Tools |
| GYM |
Google Yahoo MSN |
H
| Acronym |
Meaning |
| H1 |
Level 1 heading markup |
| H2 |
Level 2 heading markup |
| H3 |
Level 3 heading markup |
| H4 |
Level 4 heading markup |
| H5 |
Level 5 heading markup |
| Href |
HypertextReference |
| HTML |
Hypertext Markup Language |
| HTTP |
HyperText Transfer Protocol |
| HTTPS |
Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure |
I
| Acronym |
Meaning |
| IBL |
In Bound Links |
| IDF |
Inverse Document Frequency |
| IFTTT |
If this than that |
| IM |
Internet Marketing |
| IP |
Internet Protocol (Address) |
| ISP |
Internet Service Providers |
J
| Acronym |
Meaning |
| JGI |
Just Google It |
K
| Acronym |
Meaning |
| KD |
Keyword Density |
| KDA |
Keyword Density Analyzer |
| KEI |
Keyword Effectiveness Index |
L
| Acronym |
Meaning |
| LB |
Link Building |
| LPO |
Landing Page Optimization |
| LSA |
Latent Semantic Analysis |
| LSEO |
Local SEO |
| LSI |
Latent Semantic Indexing |
| LTKW |
Long Tail keyword |
| LTV |
Lifetime value |
M
| Acronym |
Meaning |
| MCP |
Moderately Cached Page |
| MFA |
Made For Advertising |
| MQL |
Marketing qualified Lead |
| MTO |
Meta Tags Optimization |
| MVT |
Multivariate testing |
N
| Acronym |
Meaning |
| NAP |
Name Address Phone Number |
| NSEO |
Negative SEO |
O
| Acronym |
Meaning |
| OBL |
Outbound Link |
| ODP |
Open Directory Project |
| ORM |
Online Reputation Management |
| OS |
Operating system (sometimes this is used for ‘open source’) |
| OSE |
Open Site Explorer |
| OWBL |
One Way Back Link |
P
| Acronym |
Meaning |
| P4P |
Paid For Placement |
| PBN |
Private Blog Network |
| PDF |
Portable Document Format |
| PFI |
Pay For Inclusion |
| PFL |
Paid For Listings |
| PFP |
Pay for Performance |
| PHP |
Hypertext Preprocessor |
| PPC |
Pay Per Click |
| PPCSE |
Pay Per Click Search Engine |
| PPL |
Pay Per Lead |
| PPR |
Pay Per Rank |
| PPS |
Pay Per Sale |
| PR |
Press Release |
| PR |
Page Rank |
| PV |
Pageviews |
Q
| Acronyms |
Meaning |
| QA |
Quality assurance |
| QS |
Quality score |
R
| Acronym |
Meaning |
| RD |
Referring Domains |
| RFI |
Request for information |
| RI |
Regular index |
| RM |
Reputation management |
| ROI |
Return on Investment |
| RON |
Run of network |
| ROR |
Ruby on Rails |
| ROS |
Run of site |
| RSS |
Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary |
| RTD |
Real time data |
| RTL |
Regional Long Tail |
S
| Acronyms |
Meaning |
| SaaS |
Software as a service |
| SB |
Social Bookmarking |
| SD |
Semantic Distance |
| SE |
Search Engine |
| SEM |
Search Engine Marketing |
| SEO |
Search engine optimisation |
| SEOs |
Search Engine Optimization Performance |
| SEP |
Search Engine Positioning |
| SER |
Search Engine Ranking |
| SERM |
Search Engine Results Management |
| SERP |
Search Engine Results Page |
| SES |
Search Engine Strategies |
| SEW |
Search Engine Watch |
| SI |
Supplemental Index |
| SLA |
Service level agreement |
| SMB |
Small and Medium Businesses |
| SMEs |
Small And Medium-Sized Enterprises |
| SMM |
Social Media Marketing |
| SMO |
Social media optimisation |
| SMP |
Social media platform |
| SNS |
Social Networking Service |
| SQL |
Sales qualified lead |
| SRM |
Search Reputation Management |
| SSI |
Server Side Includes |
| SSL |
Secure Sockets Layer |
| SSP |
Supply-side platform |
| STW |
Search The Web |
| SWL |
SiteWide Link |
T
| Acronym |
Meaning |
| TBPR |
Toolbar PageRank |
| TF |
Trust Flow |
| TF-IDF |
Term frequency-inverse document frequency |
| TLD |
Top level domain |
| TLP |
Top Level Page |
| TOS |
Terms of service |
| TR |
Trust Rank |
| TSETSB |
The Search Engine That Spam Built |
| TTF |
Topical Trust Flow |
U
| Acronym |
Meaning |
| UCD |
User-centric design |
| UI |
User interface |
| UR |
Url Ranking |
| URL |
Uniform Resource Locator |
| USP |
Unique Selling Point |
| USP |
Unique selling proposition |
| UTM |
Urchin Tracking Module |
| UV |
Unique visitor |
| UX |
User experience |
V
| Acronym |
Meaning |
| VA |
Virtual Assistant |
| VIPS |
Visual-block Page Segmentation |
| VOD |
Video on demand |
W
| Acronym |
Meaning |
| W3C |
World Wide Web Consortium |
| WH |
White Hat |
| WMT |
Web Master Tools |
| WMW |
Webmaster World |
| WOMM |
Word of mouth marketing |
| WWW |
World Wide Web |
| WYSIWYG |
What you see is what you get |
X
| Acronym |
Meaning |
| XHTML |
Extensible HyperText Markup Language |
| XML |
Extensible Markup Language |
Y
| Acronym |
Meaning |
| Y! |
Yahoo! |
| Y2K |
Year Two Thousand |
| YOY |
Year on year |
| YTD |
Year to date |
SEO Abbreviations and Acronyms Summary
I hope you enjoyed this list of SEO acronyms and SEO abbreviations.
As you get deeper into your SEO career, you’ll find more and more people using these search engine optimization terms and jargon in their communications with each other.
Additionally, many of these terms apply across other businesses and industries outside of SEO. Therefore, it’s good to learn the most common SEO meanings so you can communicate properly with other marketers as an SEO specialist.
SEO Chatter is dedicated to teaching the fundamentals of search engine marketing to help marketers understand how to increase organic website traffic and improve search engine rankings.
