Website and search glossary
Find a term, see the decision it changes, then follow the related guide when you need more detail. These short explanations use illustrative website examples; they are not claims about a client's results.
Storefront and measurement terms
A product term should help you inspect a real page or data handoff. Start with the question the buyer brings: which option can they order, where does inventory come from, or which action is being counted? Use the definition to make that question precise before choosing a fix.
Conversion rate in a store or SaaS funnel
A conversion rate compares defined conversions with a specified audience or set of opportunities. Name both counts: orders per session differs from the share of sessions with a purchase. The ratio is the conversion count divided by the chosen denominator; multiply by 100 to express it per hundred. Counting each converting session once produces a share of sessions. Counting orders can include more than one order per session and is not the same measure.
Read the definition ↗Lead attribution
Lead attribution is the process of assigning source or touchpoint information to an enquiry or sales opportunity. It describes the evidence and rules used to connect a demo request with marketing activity; it does not automatically reveal every interaction that influenced the buyer.
Read the definition ↗UTM parameters
UTM parameters are labels added to a link’s query string to identify campaign traffic in analytics. Common fields describe the source, medium and campaign. They describe how a visit was labeled; they are not a conversion event or a new customer.
Read the definition ↗Product variant
A product variant is a particular combination of a product’s options, such as a size and color. A variant may have its own stock, image, price or identifier. The selected options must agree with the item the shopper adds to the cart.
Read the definition ↗Product detail page (PDP)
A product detail page, or PDP, describes one product and gives the buyer the information and controls needed to choose the correct item. It connects specifications, available options, price and purchase conditions with the action of adding that item to the cart.
Read the definition ↗Product listing page (PLP)
A product listing page, or PLP, presents a group of products for browsing and comparison. It helps the buyer narrow the selection and reach a suitable product detail page through useful labels, filters, sorting and product links.
Read the definition ↗Cart abandonment
Cart abandonment describes a shopping journey in which a buyer adds an item to a cart but does not complete a purchase within the measurement rule being used. Checkout abandonment describes a later step, after the buyer begins the checkout process.
Read the definition ↗Product feed
A product feed is a structured set of product records supplied to a shopping destination or other receiving system. A record commonly connects an item identifier with its title, destination URL, price and availability using that destination’s required format.
Read the definition ↗Customer acquisition cost (CAC)
Customer acquisition cost, or CAC, is the acquisition spending allocated to a defined group or period divided by the number of new customers acquired under the same method. It describes cost per acquired customer, rather than cost per click, enquiry or demo request.
Read the definition ↗Qualified demo
A qualified demo is a demonstration request that meets a business’s agreed criteria for a commercially relevant sales conversation. The criteria might include an appropriate use case, organization fit and a real buying need. There is no universal form submission that proves qualification.
Read the definition ↗Analytics key event
An analytics key event is an event marked as important to the business in Google Analytics. It can represent a meaningful action such as a confirmed enquiry or purchase. Marking an event as important does not prove that the underlying action was recorded correctly.
Read the definition ↗Inventory synchronization
Inventory synchronization is the process of keeping stock information consistent between systems such as a warehouse, commerce platform and storefront. It must account for the specific product variant, location and stock state rather than treating one displayed quantity as the whole inventory record.
Read the definition ↗Search and visibility terms
Search terms describe different jobs. A redirect moves a visitor to another URL; a canonical signals a preferred URL; a sitemap lists URLs for discovery. Knowing which job you need prevents one mechanism being used as a substitute for another. Read the example and the linked primary reference where a definition depends on a platform.
Canonical URL
A canonical URL is the preferred address for a page when several URLs contain duplicate or closely similar content. A canonical tag is one way a site signals that preference to a search engine; it does not move the shopper to another page.
Read the definition ↗Anchor text
Anchor text is the visible wording of a text link. It tells the reader what they can expect at the destination and gives search engines context about the linked page.
Read the definition ↗Breadcrumb navigation
Hierarchical breadcrumb navigation is a short trail showing a page’s position within a website’s structure. On a store, it usually connects a product to a useful collection or department so shoppers can move back to broader choices.
Read the definition ↗Search impressions
A search impression records an appearance in search results under the reporting system’s counting rules. It is different from a click, a website session or an order. In Google Search Console, impressions describe search visibility within the report’s selected scope.
Read the definition ↗Search intent
Search intent is the task or purpose behind a search query. For a store, that purpose may be comparing product types, checking a specification or finding a known model. Intent is an interpretation that should be tested against the query and available evidence.
Read the definition ↗301 redirect
A 301 redirect is an HTTP response indicating that a resource has moved permanently to a different URL. The response points to the new address, allowing a browser or crawler to request the destination instead of remaining at the old location.
Read the definition ↗AI citation
An AI citation is a reference or source link attached to an AI-generated answer. It gives the reader somewhere to inspect supporting information, but the presence of a link does not by itself establish that every nearby claim is accurate.
Read the definition ↗Doorway page
A doorway page is a page created to capture similar search queries while taking visitors through an intermediate destination that adds little value to their task. Google describes this pattern as doorway abuse; it can involve multiple pages or sites.
Read the definition ↗XML sitemap
An XML sitemap is a machine-readable file listing URLs a site wants search engines to know about. It helps communicate discovery and update information. Listing a URL does not require a search engine to crawl, index or display that page.
Read the definition ↗Faceted navigation
Faceted navigation lets shoppers narrow a catalog using combinations of attributes such as size, color and brand. Those combinations can generate many URLs, including different paths to the same or nearly the same product set.
Read the definition ↗Hreflang
Hreflang is an annotation that identifies equivalent pages intended for different languages or language-and-region audiences. It helps Google understand alternate versions of a page. It does not translate content or redirect a visitor to the appropriate storefront.
Read the definition ↗Pagination
Pagination divides a collection or results set into a sequence of pages. Each page provides access to another portion of the items. For a store, the sequence should let both shoppers and crawlers reach products beyond the first group.
Read the definition ↗Query fan-out
Query fan-out is a technique in which a search system explores several related searches or subtopics while developing an answer to a broader question. Google states that its AI Overviews and AI Mode may use this technique; it is not a visible query log for every answer.
Read the definition ↗Structured data
Structured data is machine-readable information that describes a page’s content using an agreed vocabulary. On a product page, it can identify the product and its offer details. The markup should describe the visible, current facts of the item rather than introduce hidden claims.
Read the definition ↗Redirect chain
A redirect chain occurs when requesting one URL leads through more than one redirect before reaching the final destination. The intermediate hops can accumulate when a site changes addresses repeatedly but earlier mappings are left pointing to the previous version.
Read the definition ↗Website structure and delivery terms
Delivery terms help you set boundaries between a screen, its content, the system behind it and the checks needed before launch. Use them when describing a requirement or reviewing a proposal. A definition is a starting point for discussion, not a promise that a particular integration or feature is included.
Alternative text
Alternative text is the text equivalent supplied for an image’s information or function. Appropriate alt text depends on why the image appears on that page. A meaningful product image, an image used as a control and a decorative divider have different jobs.
Read the definition ↗Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)
Cumulative Layout Shift, or CLS, is a measure of unexpected visual movement during a page’s lifetime. It uses the largest burst of layout-shift scores, rather than simply adding every movement on the page. It is one of Google’s Core Web Vitals.
Read the definition ↗Content management system
A content management system, or CMS, lets authorized people create, organize and edit website content through an interface. The editing permissions and publishing workflow determine what an editor can change; the presence of a CMS does not imply control of every part of the website.
Read the definition ↗Payment gateway
A payment gateway is a service that securely passes payment information and authorization messages between a merchant’s checkout and the payment processing system. It is part of the payment flow, rather than the whole storefront or the bank’s decision to approve a payment.
Read the definition ↗Webhook
A webhook is an event notification one system sends to an endpoint in another system when something happens. A store can use it to notify an order service about a payment or stock change without waiting for that service to ask repeatedly.
Read the definition ↗Staging site
A staging site is a separate environment used to review and test website changes before they reach the live site. Its purpose is to expose problems without treating test content, orders or enquiries as ordinary customer activity.
Read the definition ↗Headless commerce
Headless commerce separates the storefront’s presentation from the systems providing commerce functions such as catalog data and cart operations. The storefront communicates with those systems through interfaces such as APIs, instead of depending on a single tightly coupled theme and backend.
Read the definition ↗Information architecture
Information architecture is the way a website organizes, names and connects its content so people can find the destination they need. In a store, it shapes departments, collections, product relationships and navigation labels before visual styling is applied.
Read the definition ↗Website design system
A website design system is a maintained set of design rules, reusable components and usage guidance. It connects the way controls look with how they behave, including states such as focus, loading, validation errors and unavailable options.
Read the definition ↗Website accessibility
Website accessibility means designing and developing a website so people with disabilities can perceive, understand, navigate and interact with it. For a buyer, that includes completing the same meaningful task with different ways of reading, moving through controls or entering information.
Read the definition ↗Web page rendering
Web page rendering is the process of turning page resources into the content and interface a browser displays. The initial response HTML and the page after JavaScript runs can contain different information, which matters when product details depend on later requests or scripts.
Read the definition ↗Website content freeze
A website content freeze is an agreed period when specified content changes pause so a team can move or verify a stable version of a site. The agreement needs to name what pauses, what continues and how urgent corrections are handled.
Read the definition ↗Put a term to work
Suppose a fictional store has five color URLs for the same shirt. “Duplicate content” alone does not specify what to change. First establish whether the URLs show equivalent products, whether shoppers need to share the selected color and which address should be the search destination. Then review canonical signals, internal links and the sitemap together.
If the issue is an old product that no longer exists, the question changes. Inspect the replacement and visitor intent before choosing a redirect. A similar name alone does not make a destination equivalent.
For a complete workflow, browse the website and search guides. For a project decision, use the platform fit matrix or the migration URL mapper. Neither tool checks a live platform or deploys a redirect.
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