A Handy Web Design, Web Development and SEO Lexicon

A list of all the terms web designers, developers & SEO use

Are you a non-techie person and always get confused when designers, developers and SEO folks keep using these industry terms that they just expect you to know about? We are sure that happens pretty often and that’s why we have put together this list of all the jargon our tech guys use here in our Dubai office.

 

Accessibility
Website accessibility refers to how many barriers have been removed from the website so that users with disabilities can use the website the same way any other users would. This is particularly important for websites that are run by the government and health care related websites etc.

 

Anchor Text
Anchor text refers to the text used in the link to a particular website or page. The proper use of anchor text improves usability and makes it easier for search engines to understand what the page being linked to is about.

 

Automagically
This is a combination of the words “auto” and “magically” and refers to complex programming and algorithms that do their magic behind the scenes. On the front end, the users see only a great feature or function while there is lots of processing going on underneath the hood. Such a scenario is aptly referred to as “automagical”.

 

Back End
The back end refers to the part of the website that is hidden from the users. It’s generally a content management system (CMS) that manages and structures the content on the website.

 

Backlink
If a website links to your website, you can say you have got a “backlink” from that website. Backlinks lie at the core of how search engines find new websites and new pages on the internet. It’s also a strong ranking signal for SEO and search engines as a website with many backlinks would generally be considered more important than a one with fewer backlinks.

 

Bandwidth
Bandwidth refers to the speed at which data can be transferred from a hosting provider. Bandwidth can also refer to the total amount of data that can be transferred during a specific period.

 

Below the Fold / Above the fold
In web design and marketing speak; “below the fold” refers to the area of a page (or webpage) below the top half of the page. In websites, it’s the area that users have to scroll down in order to get to. “Above the fold” refers to the top half of the page – the area users can see without scrolling down.

 

Bounce Rate
Bounce rate refers to the percentage of visitors that leave the website from the same page they landed on – in other words, the user didn’t visit another page other than the one they landed on. Google and other search engines use bounce rate to judge how good the usability of the website is.

 

Content Management System
A content management system (CMS) is a tool that is used to manage all the content on the website – images, text, videos etc.

 

Domain
The domain of the website is the name by which the website is identified by. For instance, the domain of this website is www.cactimedia.ae or www.cactimedia.com. The domain can be any combination of letters and numbers.

 

Favicon
Favicons are the little icons you see in your browser’s tab next to the name of the website.

 

Fold
See “Below the fold” and “above the fold” above.

 

Graphical User InterfaceGUI or Graphical User Interfaces are those front-end interfaces that use graphical layouts to make it easier for users to interact with the application. The icons on your desktop, the folders, the menu bars etc. are all parts of the GUI.

 

Hyperlink
Hyperlinks are meant to “link” one page to another. For instance, This is a hyperlink that will link this page to our web design services page.

 

Landing Page
A landing page is a page through which users enter a website.

 

Meta Data
A website’s metadata is the information Google and other search engines look for when determining what a website is all about and therefore which search results it should show up for. Ironically, the word meta means data and therefore, “metadata” means data about data. Some examples of metadata are meta titles, meta descriptions, meta keywords etc. Relevant metadata is absolutely essential for SEO purposes.

 

Navigation
The navigation of a website is one of the most important aspects of its web design and usability. Navigation generally refers to menus, breadcrumbs, in-page links that link to other pages etc. A website with good navigation will generally be loved by both humans and search engines. It’s great from both an SEO standpoint and a web design standpoint.

 

Plug-In
Plug-ins are third-party pieces of code that are meant to enhance (or extend) the functionality (or usability) of a website. Using a plugin would generally save the web developer the pain of developing the features from scratch. An example of a plugin could be a third party checkout page on an e-commerce website.

Web Server
A web server is basically a computer that hosts the website and “serves” it to the internet. The web server generally has strict security features and networking capabilities.

Edited By: Avdhoot Shitre