This local SEO glossary is your definitive A-Z guide, explaining 200+ terms from basic to advanced. Quickly understand concepts like NAP, citations, and the Local Pack to improve your business’s visibility in local search results.
Local SEO Glossary: 200+ Essential Terms Defined
A
- Absolute URL: The full web address of a page, including the protocol (https://), domain name, and path.
- Aggregator (or Data Aggregator): A company that collects, verifies, and distributes business data (name, address, phone number) to a wide network of online directories and platforms. The major data aggregators in the U.S. are Infogroup, Localeze, and Factual. Submitting correct information to these sources is a foundational step in ensuring NAP consistency.
- Algorithm: A complex set of rules and calculations used by search engines like Google to determine how to rank web pages and business listings for a given search query. The local algorithm is distinct from the general organic algorithm, as it evaluates businesses based on three core pillars: Relevance, Distance, and Prominence. Understanding this framework provides essential context for many other terms in this glossary.
Relevance: How well a local business’s profile and services match what a user is searching for.
Distance (or Proximity): How far each potential search result is from the location of the searcher or the location term used in the search.
Prominence: How well-known and reputable a business is, based on information Google finds across the web, such as links, online reviews, and directory listings.
- Alt Text: A short, written description of an image on a webpage, which helps search engines understand the image’s content and improves accessibility.
- Anchor Text: The visible, clickable words used for a hyperlink. Optimizing anchor text with relevant keywords can help search engines understand the context of the linked page.
- Apple Business Connect: The free platform provided by Apple that allows business owners to create and manage their business listings on Apple Maps. Optimizing this profile is crucial for reaching users of iPhones, iPads, and other Apple devices.
- Audit (Local SEO): A comprehensive analysis of a business’s online presence, best understood as a diagnostic process to identify strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities for improvement. An effective audit reveals specific issues like inconsistent citations or areas of poor visibility on a map—problems that specialized tools like Local Dominator’s “Custom Audit” and “Scan Analyzer” features are built to uncover and help remedy. The process typically examines Google Business Profile optimization, citation consistency, online reviews, website on-page SEO, and the local backlink profile.
- Authority: The perceived credibility and trustworthiness of a website in the eyes of search engines, often influenced by factors like high-quality backlinks and expert content.
B
- Backlink: A hyperlink from one website to another. In local SEO, backlinks from other locally relevant websites (like a local newspaper, a community event page, or a neighboring non-competing business) are particularly valuable as they act as a strong signal of local prominence to search engines.
- Bing Places for Business: Microsoft’s free platform for managing a business’s listing on Bing Search and Bing Maps. It is the direct equivalent of Google Business Profile and is essential for visibility on the Bing search engine.
- Bounce Rate: A web analytics metric that measures the percentage of visitors who land on a webpage and then leave without visiting any other pages on the site.
- Branded Keyword: A search query that includes a business’s brand name, such as “Starbucks coffee”.
- Breadcrumb Navigation: A secondary navigation system on a website that shows a user’s location in the site’s hierarchy (e.g., Home > Services > Plumbing).
- Brick-and-Mortar: A term used to describe a business that operates from a physical storefront that customers can visit, as opposed to a service-area business that travels to its customers.
C
- Call Tracking Number: A unique phone number used in a specific marketing campaign to measure how many calls that campaign generates.
- Centroid: A technical term in local search that refers to the central point of a geographic area. Historically, it was a key factor in how Google determined proximity, though its importance has evolved with user-based location tracking.
- Check-in: A digital action where a customer announces their presence at a business’s physical location, typically on a social media platform like Facebook.
- Citation:
Definition: An online mention of a business’s core information: Name, Address, and Phone number (NAP). Citations are a foundational element of local SEO and can appear on business directories, social media platforms, websites, and apps.
Why It Matters: Search engines use citations across the web to verify the existence, legitimacy, and location of a business. A high volume of consistent citations is a powerful signal of Prominence, which directly impacts local search rankings. Inconsistencies in NAP information can confuse search engines and harm rankings.
Types of Citations: Citations are generally categorized as either structured or unstructured.
Citation Type | Description | Common Examples |
Structured | Your business information (NAP) listed in a formal online business directory with designated fields. | Yelp, Yellow Pages, TripAdvisor, Angi |
Unstructured | A mention of your business NAP on a blog, news article, forum, or event page in a free-form text format. | A local food blogger writing about your restaurant; a local newspaper article mentioning your business sponsorship. |
- City Landing Page: A webpage on a business’s website created specifically to rank for searches in a particular city or neighborhood, often used by businesses with multiple locations.
- Click-Through Rate (CTR): The percentage of users who click on a specific link (like a search result or an ad) compared to the total number of users who saw it.
- Conversion: A specific, desired action taken by a user, such as making a purchase, filling out a form, or calling the business.
- Crawler (or Bot/Spider): An automated program used by search engines to browse the internet, discover webpages, and collect information to add to their index.
D
- Dead Link: A hyperlink that leads to a page that is no longer available, often resulting in a 404 error.
- Deep Link: A hyperlink that points to a specific page on a website other than its homepage.
- Direct Traffic: Visitors who arrive at a website by typing the URL directly into their browser or using a bookmark.
- Directory: A website that lists businesses, typically organized by category and location. Examples include Yelp and Yellow Pages.
- Disavow: The process of submitting a list of low-quality backlinks to Google, requesting that they not be taken into account when assessing your site’s ranking.
- Domain Authority: A metric developed by Moz that predicts a website’s ability to rank in search results, based on factors like its backlink profile. It is important to note that Domain Authority is a third-party metric and not a direct Google ranking factor. Instead, it serves as a useful proxy for concepts Google does value, such as the quality and quantity of a website’s backlink profile. A high DA score generally correlates with a strong backlink profile from authoritative sites, which is a confirmed ranking signal for both organic and local search.
- Duplicate Content: Content that is identical or very similar across different URLs, which can confuse search engines and negatively impact rankings.
- Dwell Time: The amount of time a user spends on a webpage after clicking a link from a SERP before returning to the results page.
E
- E-E-A-T: An acronym for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. It is a framework from Google’s guidelines used to assess content quality.
- Editorial Link: A link given naturally by another website because they find your content valuable, without you asking for or paying for it.
- Entry Page: The first page a visitor views when they arrive on your website from an external source.
- Evergreen Content: Content that remains relevant and valuable to readers over a long period without needing significant updates.
- External Link: A hyperlink that points from your website to a page on a different domain.
F
- Favicon: A small icon representing a website, typically displayed in the browser tab next to the page title.
- Featured Snippet: A special box that appears at the top of Google’s search results to provide a direct, concise answer to a user’s query. The content is automatically pulled from a webpage in Google’s index.
- Filter: A parameter used by search engines to limit or alter search results. In local SEO, a business may be “filtered” out of results if it is too close to another, more prominent competitor.
- Fresh Content: New or recently updated content on a website, which can signal to search engines that the site is active and relevant.
G
- Geographic Modifier: A location-based term added to a search query, such as “near me” or “in Chicago,” to specify a geographic area.
Geogrid Ranking: A specialized form of rank tracking that shows a business’s search ranking for a specific keyword at multiple points across a geographic area. Traditional rank tracking from a single point is often unreliable for local SEO because results are heavily personalized based on the searcher’s location. A geogrid solves this problem by providing a true picture of a business’s visibility.
The results are typically displayed as a color-coded grid or “heatmap” on a map, providing a visual representation of a business’s true visibility across its service area and revealing:
Where rankings are strong (typically near the business address).
Where rankings drop off significantly, showing the effective service area visibility.
Areas where competitors are dominant.
The impact of proximity filtering, where a business may be filtered out of results in favor of a competitor that is closer to a specific search point.
- Geotagging: The process of adding geographic metadata (like latitude and longitude) to media such as photos or videos.
- Google Ads: Google’s pay-per-click (PPC) advertising platform, where businesses can bid to display ads in search results and other Google properties.
- Google Analytics: A free web analytics service from Google that tracks and reports website traffic, providing insights into user behavior.
- Google Business Profile (GBP):
Definition: A free tool from Google that allows business owners to create and manage their online presence across Google products, including Search and Maps.This profile is what appears in the Local Pack and is often referred to by its former name, Google My Business (GMB).
Why It Matters: An optimized GBP is the single most critical element of local SEO. It is the primary source of information Google uses to evaluate a business against the three pillars of Relevance, Distance, and Prominence. A fully completed and actively managed profile is a prerequisite for ranking in local search results.
Best Practices: Key optimization tasks include selecting the most accurate business categories, writing a detailed and keyword-inclusive business description, uploading high-quality photos and videos, encouraging and responding to customer reviews, and using features like Google Posts and Q&A.
- Google Maps Marketing: The process of using Google Maps to make a business easier for customers to find and choose, primarily by optimizing the Google Business Profile.
- Google Search Console: A free service from Google that helps website owners monitor their site’s performance in search results, track keywords, and identify technical issues.
H
- H1 Tag: An HTML tag that indicates the main heading on a webpage. It is a strong signal to search engines about the page’s primary topic and there should generally only be one per page.
- Header Tags (H1-H6): HTML tags used to structure content on a page in a hierarchical order (H1 being the most important). They help both search engines and users understand the page’s organization and content flow.
- Heat Map: A data visualization tool that uses a color-coded system to show where users click, move, or scroll on a webpage, offering insights into user behavior and engagement.
- Homepage: The main or introductory page of a website, which typically provides an overview of the site’s content and navigation to other sections.
- Hyperlocal: Pertaining to an extremely small and specific geographic area, such as a single neighborhood or city block.
I
- Implicit Keyword: A search query that does not contain a specific location but has local intent (e.g., “emergency plumber”). Google uses the searcher’s location to provide relevant local results.
- Inbound Link: Another term for a backlink; a hyperlink from an external website pointing to your site.
- Index: The database used by search engines to store and organize the information they’ve collected from crawling the web. For a page to appear in search results, it must first be in the search engine’s index.
- Internal Link: A hyperlink that points from one page to another page on the same website.
- IP Address: A unique numerical label assigned to each device on a computer network. It can be used to approximate a user’s geographic location for delivering localized search results.
J
- JavaScript (JS): A programming language used to create dynamic and interactive elements on websites. While it enhances user experience, search engines can sometimes struggle to crawl and index content that relies heavily on JavaScript.
- JavaScript SEO: The practice of optimizing websites that use JavaScript to ensure their content is discoverable, crawlable, and indexable by search engines.
- JSON-LD: A lightweight structured data format that uses JavaScript Object Notation for Linked Data. It’s a popular method for embedding schema markup on a webpage to help search engines understand information like business hours, addresses, and reviews.
- Junk Pages: Low-quality pages created to spam search engines, often stuffed with keywords and providing no real value to users. These are also known as doorway pages.
- Justifications: Snippets of text that Google adds to a business’s Local Pack listing to show why it’s relevant to a search query. These can be pulled from sources like Google Posts, reviews, or the business’s website.
K
- Keyword: A word or phrase that users type into a search engine. Optimizing for relevant keywords is a core component of any SEO strategy.
- Keyword Cannibalization: An SEO issue that occurs when multiple pages on the same website compete for the same keyword, potentially harming the ranking potential of all pages involved.
- Keyword Density: The percentage of times a specific keyword appears on a webpage relative to the total number of words on that page.
- Keyword Research: The process of identifying popular and relevant search terms that people use when looking for products, services, or information related to a business.
- Keyword Stuffing: The practice of overloading a webpage with keywords in an attempt to manipulate search rankings. This is considered a black-hat SEO tactic and can lead to penalties.
- Knowledge Panel: An information box that appears on Google’s search results page (usually on the right side) when a user searches for an entity like a person, place, or organization.
L
- Link Building: The process of actively acquiring backlinks from other websites to your own to improve search engine rankings.
- Local Pack (or Map Pack): A prominent feature on the Google SERP that displays the top three local business listings relevant to a query, shown alongside a map. Appearing in the Local 3-Pack is a primary goal of local SEO, as these listings receive a significant share of user clicks.
- Local Service Ads (LSAs): A pay-per-lead advertising platform from Google for specific service-based industries (e.g., plumbers, electricians, lawyers). These ads appear at the very top of the search results, even above traditional Google Ads and the Local Pack. Businesses must pass a screening process to become “Google Guaranteed” or “Google Screened” to participate.
- Location Pages: Individual pages on a website dedicated to each of a business’s physical locations, optimized with unique content for that specific area.
M
- Manual Penalty: A penalty applied to a website by a human reviewer at Google for violating its guidelines, which can result in a significant drop in rankings.
- Map Pack: Another term for the Local Pack, the group of local business listings shown with a map on the SERP.
- Meta Description: A brief summary of a webpage’s content that appears under the title in search engine results. While not a direct ranking factor, it can influence click-through rates.
- Meta Keywords: A type of meta tag used in the past to specify a page’s target keywords. Most major search engines now ignore this tag for ranking purposes.
- Mobile-First Indexing: Google’s practice of primarily using the mobile version of a website’s content for indexing and ranking.
- Mobile-Friendly: A term describing a website that is designed to display and function correctly on mobile devices like smartphones and tablets.
N
- NAP (Name, Address, Phone Number): The acronym for the three core pieces of business information that form the basis of a local citation. Maintaining the consistency of NAP data across all online platforms is one of the most critical tasks in local SEO.
O
- On-Page SEO: The practice of optimizing individual web pages to rank higher and earn more relevant traffic. This includes optimizing title tags, content, internal links, and meta descriptions.
- Open Graph (OG): A protocol that allows you to control how your webpage’s content is displayed when shared on social media platforms like Facebook.
- Optimization: The process of improving a website and its content to increase its visibility and performance in search engine results.
- Organic Traffic: Visitors who arrive at a website from unpaid search engine results.
- Outbound Link: A link from your website to another website, also known as an external link.
P
- Pay-Per-Click (PPC): An online advertising model where advertisers pay a fee each time one of their ads is clicked. Google Ads is the most common PPC platform.
- Prominence: One of the three core pillars of local search ranking. It refers to how well-known and reputable a business is, both online and offline. Google measures prominence through factors like online reviews, backlinks from other websites, directory listings, and mentions in online articles.
- Proximity: Another term for the “Distance” pillar of local search rankings, referring to how close a business is to the searcher.
R
- Rank Tracking: The process of monitoring a website’s ranking position in search results for specific keywords over time.
- Relevance: One of the three core pillars of local search ranking. It measures how well a business’s profile and services match the user’s search query. Choosing the correct business categories and providing detailed service information are key to optimizing for relevance.
- Reviews: Feedback left by customers on platforms like Google Business Profile, Yelp, Facebook, and industry-specific sites. The quantity, average star rating, and recency of reviews are significant ranking factors that heavily influence a business’s Prominence.
- Rich Snippets: Enhanced search results that display additional information, such as star ratings, prices, or review counts, directly on the SERP.
S
- Schema Markup: A form of structured data (code) added to a website to help search engines better understand its content and provide more informative results (rich snippets).
- SERP (Search Engine Results Page): The page of results that a search engine displays after a user submits a query. Local SERPs are characterized by features like the Local Pack and Google Maps integrations.
- Service-Area Business (SAB): A business that travels to its customers’ locations to provide services, such as a plumber, electrician, or cleaning service, rather than serving them at a physical storefront. These businesses can define a service area in their Google Business Profile instead of displaying a physical address.
- Structured Data: A standardized format for providing information about a page and classifying its content. Schema.org is the most common vocabulary used for structured data.
T
- Technical SEO: The process of optimizing the technical aspects of a website—such as site speed, mobile-friendliness, and crawlability—to help search engines find, index, and understand it more effectively.
- Thin Content: Content on a webpage that provides little to no value to the user. Search engines may penalize sites with a large amount of thin content.
- Title Tag: The HTML element that specifies the title of a web page. It appears as the clickable headline in search results and is a critical on-page SEO factor.
- Top of Funnel (TOFU): The initial stage of the buyer’s journey where potential customers are becoming aware of a problem or need. Content at this stage is typically informational and educational.
- Trackback: An automated notification sent from one blog to another to let the owner know that someone has linked to their content.
U
- Unclaimed Listing: A business listing on a directory or platform that has been automatically generated but has not been claimed or verified by the business owner.
- Unstructured Citation: A mention of a business’s NAP information that does not follow a structured format, such as in a blog post or news article.
- URL (Uniform Resource Locator): The web address of a specific page or resource on the internet.
- User Experience (UX): The overall experience a person has when interacting with a website or application, including how easy and pleasant it is to use.
- User-Generated Content (UGC): Any form of content, such as reviews, photos, or Q&A, created by users rather than the business itself. Reviews are a critical form of UGC for local SEO.
V
- Vertical Search: A search engine that focuses on a specific niche, industry, or type of content, such as a job search engine or a travel booking site.
- Visibility: The degree to which a website or business appears in search engine results for relevant queries.
- Virtual Tour: A simulation of a location, usually composed of a sequence of videos or still images, which can be added to a Google Business Profile to enhance the listing.
- Voice Search: The use of spoken commands to retrieve information from a search engine, often performed via a smartphone or smart speaker.
X
- X-Robots-Tag: An HTTP header response that provides indexing and serving directives to search engine crawlers, similar to a robots meta tag but used for non-HTML files like PDFs or images.
- XML Sitemap: A file that lists all the important pages on a website, making it easier for search engines to find and crawl them.
- XPath: A query language used to navigate through elements and attributes in an XML or HTML document, often used in web scraping and technical SEO audits.
Y
- Yahoo! Search: A web search engine owned by Yahoo. While it has a smaller market share than Google, it can still be a source of traffic for local businesses.
- Yelp: A popular online directory and review site where users can find and review local businesses. It is a critical citation and review source for many industries.
- YMYL (Your Money or Your Life): A category of topics (e.g., health, finance, safety) that Google holds to a much higher standard of E-E-A-T because misinformation could have severe consequences for users.
- YouTube: A video-sharing platform owned by Google, often considered the second-largest search engine. Videos can be optimized to appear in both YouTube and Google search results.
Z
- Zagat: A well-known restaurant rating service that provides curated reviews and ratings for dining establishments.
- Zero-Click Search: A search query where the user’s question is answered directly on the search results page, so they do not need to click through to a website.
- Zombie Page: A page on a website that generates little to no organic traffic and provides minimal value to users. Identifying and improving or removing these pages can sometimes boost overall site performance.
