Glossary

A

A/B Testing

Experimentation method which consists of comparing two versions (A and B) of a page, an element or a message in order to identify the one which performs best according to a specific objective (conversion, click, engagement).

Above the Fold

A portion of a web page visible on the screen without scrolling. A strategic area to capture attention and encourage action.

AI Overview

A feature in Google Search that displays a summary generated by artificial intelligence.

Attribution Model

Rule used to attribute the conversion to one or more touchpoints (e.g., last click, first click, linear, data-driven).

Anchor

Clickable text of a hyperlink. In SEO, it helps search engines understand the content of the target page.

B

Backlink

An inbound link from another website to yours. A key factor in popularity and authority in SEO.

Behavior flow

Visualization of user journeys on a website, showing pages viewed and exit points.

Bounce rate

Percentage of sessions during which the user leaves the site without further interaction. Interpretation should be based on context and page type.

Breadcrumb

A hierarchical navigation system that helps the user (and Google) understand the site’s structure.

C

Call To Action (CTA)

An incentive element (button, link, text) that prompts the user to perform a specific action: register, purchase, download, etc.

(SEO) Cannibalization

A situation where several pages of the same site rank for the same keyword, harming overall performance.

Canonical (Canonical tag)

HTML tag indicating to search engines which is the main version of a page when there is duplicate or very similar content.

Click-Through Rate (CTR)

Ratio between the number of clicks and the number of impressions in Google search.

Cohort analysis

An analysis method that involves grouping users according to a common characteristic (acquisition date, behavior, source) in order to observe their evolution over time.

Conversion rate

Percentage of users who completed a target action compared to the total number of visitors or sessions.

Core Web Vitals

Performance indicators created by Google and measuring the actual user experience (loading, interactivity, visual stability).

D

Data Layer

Centralized data structure used to send consistent information to analytics and tracking tools (e.g., Google Tag Manager).

Data-Driven

An approach based on data analysis rather than intuition for making marketing or product decisions.

Duplicate content

Identical or very similar content appearing on multiple URLs. May harm SEO.

Dashboard

A visual interface that brings together key performance indicators (KPIs) to track the progress of a site or strategy.

Dynamic Content

Content that automatically adapts according to the user’s profile, behavior or context (location, device, history).

E

E-E-A-T (Expertise, Autority, Experience, Trust)

A concept used by Google to evaluate the quality of content, particularly on YMYL sites.

Engagement rate

Indicator measuring the level of user interaction with content (clicks, scrolling, time spent, interactions).

Event tracking

Tracking specific actions performed by users (clicking a button, scrolling, downloading) via analytics tools.

Experimentation

A structured approach consisting of testing hypotheses (CRO, UX, SEO) using measurable data.

Exit rate

Percentage of sessions ending on a given page. Not to be confused with the bounce rate.

F

Funnel

Representation of the successive steps a user must go through before reaching a conversion.

First Input Delay (FID)

Former Core Web Vitals metric measuring the delay between the first user interaction and the browser response.

Featured snippet

A response block highlighted by Google in position zero, aimed at directly answering a query.

G

GEO (or AIEO)

Optimize your site for AI tools such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, etc.

Google Analytics

An analytics tool that allows you to collect and analyze user behavior on a website.

Google Search Console

A free tool from Google that allows you to track a site’s SEO performance, indexing, and technical issues.

Granularity

Level of detail of the data analyzed (by page, by session, by user, by event).

H

Heatmap

Graphical visualization of user interactions (clicks, scrolls, mouse movements) to optimize UX and conversion.

HTTP Status Code

Code returned by a server indicating the status of a request (200, 301, 404, 500, etc.).

Hypothesis

Testable assumption formulated before a CRO or SEO experiment, based on data or observations.

I

Impressions

Number of times a page or result appears in the SERPs or in an interface, whether or not there is a click.

Indexing

The process by which a search engine analyzes and stores a page in its index so that it can be displayed in the results.

Intent

The actual objective of the user behind a request (informational, navigational, commercial or transactional).

J

JavaScript SEO

A set of optimizations aimed at ensuring proper crawling, rendering, and indexing of sites using JavaScript.

Journey mapping

Detailed visualization method of the user journey including friction points, emotions and optimization opportunities.

K

Keyword difficulty

An index estimating the difficulty of ranking for a given keyword, often based on competition and the authority of existing pages.

KPI (Key Performance Indicator)

A key indicator for measuring the performance of a marketing objective or action.

L

Landing page

Landing page designed to convert visitors around a specific goal (lead, sale, registration).

LCP (Largest Contentful Paint)

Core Web Vitals indicator measuring the loading time of the main element visible on the screen.

Log analysis

Analysis of server log files to understand the behavior of robots (crawl, frequency, errors).

Looker Studio

A data visualization tool that allows you to create dynamic dashboards from different data sources.

M

Machine Learning

A subfield of artificial intelligence that allows algorithms to learn from data and improve their predictions without explicitly programmed rules.

Internal linking

Strategic organization of internal links aimed at distributing popularity, facilitating crawling and strengthening the semantic understanding of the site.

Metric

Quantitative measure used to track behavior or performance (sessions, clicks, conversions).

Micro-conversion

Intermediate action indicating progress towards the final conversion (add to cart, scroll, click on a CTA).

N

Noindex

A directive instructing search engines not to index a specific page.

Nofollow

Link attribute instructing search engines not to pass on popularity to the target page.

O

Orphan page

Page with no internal links pointing to it, difficult for users and search engines to discover.

Q

Quality score

Score used (mainly in SEA) to evaluate the relevance of a keyword, an ad and the landing page in relation to search intent.

R

Redirection

Mechanism allowing to automatically send a user and a bot from one URL to another (301, 302).

Referrer

Source indicating the origin of a visitor’s traffic (search engine, external site, campaign).

S

Session

Represents a visit to a website. Expires after 30 minutes of inactivity.

SERP

Results page displayed by a search engine after a query.

T

Tracking

Process of collecting user navigation and interaction data.

U

URL

A unique address that provides access to a resource on the web. An optimized URL is readable, short, and descriptive.

User Experience (UX)

A user’s overall perception during their interaction with a site or product (ergonomics, clarity, fluidity).

V

Vanity metrics

Flattering but not very actionable indicators (likes, impressions only) which do not always reflect real performance.

Variant

An alternative version of an element tested in an experiment (A/B test, split test).