Website Terminology Explained
Promoting your business amid the ever-changing digital landscape is challenging enough without hiding simple concepts and updates behind jargon, and so we’re here to bring some of the most important and commonly used terms to life. You never know, after reading this article you might even feel confident enough to throw a few website buzzwords around for yourself!
Let’s Start With The Abbreviations.
CMS: Content Management System. This is essentially a template-driven platform that allows non-web developers to develop simple websites, for example, WordPress.
SEO: Search Engine Optimisation. This is the process of using research to establish your keywords, then using them cleverly in copy and content to ensure your website ranks highly on search pages.
PHP: A backend language that ensures your website is correctly generated and displayed for the user through their browser.
CSS: Cascading Style Sheet. This is responsible for presenting the style of the website through chosen colours, fonts, layouts etc.
HTML: The code which holds the key to information about the website’s CSS. HTML is what ensures everything is in the right place when the website is displayed.
IP: A unique address that corresponds with the user connection. Most websites and servers have an IP address.
SSL: Secure Sockets Layer. Having an SSL certificate means that any data entered into your website is entirely secure and encrypted upon entry. SSL tells the user and search engines that your website is safe and secure.
2FA: 2 Factor Authentication. Every time you try to enter a website or log into a system, two-factor authentication helps make sure that you are who you say you are. You know those little “Select all the boxes that contain…” challenges? 2FA.
VPN: Virtual Private Network. Responsible for keeping information within your network exclusive to the network – and protected from prying external eyes. This is how businesses can encrypt data on public networks.
SERP: Search Engine Results Page – whether it be Google, Bing, or any other search engine. Google is the most common though.
PPC: Pay Per Click. A method of digital marketing that invites businesses and websites to attract and entice traffic by paying the search engine to display adverts.
GDPR: A policy that has been in place since 2018 and protects the data of customers and users. GDPR is a legal requirement and demands that businesses do not hold onto the data of any customer who has not expressly authorised them to do so.
UX / UI: User Experience / User Interface. The former refers to the usability of a website, while the latter refers to the aesthetic of the website and the way it is presented to the user.
CTA: Call to Action. An integral part of websites designed to market and sell, encouraging action from the user. This could be anything from a sign-up button to a purchase button.
CRO: Conversion Rate Optimisation. The actions you take to improve your website and make it more in tune with a high conversion rate. This could refer to anything from small usability changes to big formatting changes.
And Now For The rest…
Ecommerce
The art of selling online. Ecommerce is a crucial area of online business, with retailers and service providers operating both through bricks and mortar locations, and online ecommerce sites. It is important to understand the full customer journey when looking at a high performing ecommerce site.
Traffic
Users that visit your website, regardless of where their journey initiated from.
Server
The home of your website’s files and systems. The server is the home of all the software your website needs to operate and is usually a computer located in a large datacentre. If you don’t have a server of your own, you will need to create your website through a hosting provider (for example a CMS website).
Domain
This is the web address entered in order to reach your website.
Frontend vs Backend
Frontend is the code which runs through your computer and establishes how the website will be presented to the user. Backend is the code which runs behind the scenes and determines how the site works and responds to user activity.
Javascript
The code which manipulates the different elements of your webpage. Javascript can often be responsible for shifting elements if your website is not user optimised, so requires a high level of attention in ensuring the presentation of your site is as good as possible.
Caching
Caching essentially holds your website in place, rather than reloading and refreshing all the content every time a user enters a new page. Caching is one of the easiest fixes for a slow loading webpage by holding all the content static – as if transfixed in time.
Session
The duration of a user’s single journey through your website – including where they arrived to and where they went during their experience.
Keywords
Used as part of your SEO strategy, these are the terms which ensure that search engines read your content and link it with your target audience and the words that they are searching for.
Longtail Search Terms
The more specific search terms that can send a browser to your website. A good strategy will include a selection of longtail and shorter search terms and keywords.
Internal Linking
Linking different pages on your website together. A good way to do this is with blogs that link to service and contact pages.
Meta Data
Information that tells a search engine what your webpage is all about. Every single webpage has metadata.
Landing Page
The page that you design specifically to entice users who arrive on your website. Often at the end of a sales funnel or targeted advertising campaign.
Navigation
Everything you do on your website which helps the user to find what they are looking for!
In Summary...
There are so many website terms and buzzwords out there, that creating a complete list would be an endless job of updating and adding more terms virtually every day. Having said that, we hope that this user-friendly list provides you with insight into some of the most commonly used terms in the world of websites.
