The short version
- SEO is about showing up in Google's regular results and the map pack when people search for your services in your area.
- Local SEO and your Google Business Profile usually bring the most calls for service businesses.
- Technical terms like indexing, Core Web Vitals and schema are about making your site easy for Google to read and fast for visitors.
- Ads terms like CPC, Quality Score and negative keywords decide how much you pay per call.
- AI search terms like AI Overviews, GEO and citations describe how tools like ChatGPT and Google's AI answers pick which businesses to mention.
SEO basics
The words you'll hear in almost every SEO conversation.
- SEO (search engine optimization): the work of getting your website and Google profile to show up for searches that bring you customers, without paying per click.
- SERP: the search engine results page, everything Google shows after someone searches: ads, the map pack, organic results and AI answers.
- Organic results: the regular, unpaid listings below the ads and the map.
- Keyword: the words someone types into Google, like "garage door repair near me".
- Search intent: what the searcher actually wants. "Burst pipe" means call a plumber now; "how to fix a leaky faucet" means do it yourself.
- Search volume: roughly how many times a keyword is searched each month in an area.
- Long-tail keyword: a longer, more specific search, like "emergency locksmith for car keys in Dallas". Fewer searches, but often more ready to call.
- Ranking: where your page shows up for a given search. Position 1 is the top organic result.
- Impressions: how many times your site appeared in search results, whether or not anyone clicked.
- CTR (click-through rate): the share of people who saw your result and clicked it.
- E-E-A-T: experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trust, Google's way of describing content that deserves to rank. For contractors: real photos, licenses, reviews and clear answers.
Google Maps and local SEO
Terms about showing up on Google Maps and in local searches, where most service calls start.
- Local SEO: SEO focused on showing up in your service area, especially on Google Maps.
- Map pack (local pack): the three businesses Google shows with a map for local searches. Getting into it is the goal for most trades.
- Google Business Profile (GBP): your free business listing on Google Search and Maps, with hours, services, photos and reviews.
- Primary category: the main category on your Google profile, like Plumber or Locksmith. One of the strongest local ranking signals.
- Service area business (SAB): a business that goes to the customer and hides its address on Google, like most contractors.
- NAP: name, address and phone number. They should match exactly on your site, Google profile and directories.
- Citation: any online listing of your business name, address and phone, like Yelp, BBB or Apple Maps.
- Proximity, relevance and prominence: the three things Google says decide local rankings: how close you are to the searcher, how well you match the search and how well known and reviewed you are.
- Review velocity: how steadily new reviews come in. A steady flow usually helps more than an old pile of reviews.
- Local Services Ads (LSA): Google's pay-per-lead ads for home services, shown at the very top with a Google Guaranteed or Google Screened badge.
- Location page (town page): a page on your site for a specific town you serve, with real local details, not just the city name swapped in.
Website and technical SEO
The technical side: how Google finds, reads and judges your website.
- Crawling: Google's bots visiting your pages to read them.
- Indexing: Google adding a page to its database so it can show up in search. A page that isn't indexed can't rank.
- Sitemap: a file that lists the pages you want Google to find.
- Robots.txt: a file that tells search engines which parts of a site not to crawl.
- Core Web Vitals: Google's speed and stability measurements: how fast the main content loads (LCP), how quickly the page responds to taps (INP) and how much it jumps around while loading (CLS).
- Mobile-first indexing: Google judges your site mostly by its mobile version, which is also how most homeowners find you.
- Schema markup (structured data): code that tells Google and AI tools exactly what's on a page, like your business type, services, reviews and FAQs.
- 301 redirect: a permanent redirect from an old URL to a new one. Essential when you change pages or rebuild a site.
- 404 error: a page that doesn't exist. A few are normal; broken links to important pages aren't.
- Canonical tag: a tag that tells Google which version of a page is the main one when similar pages exist.
- Duplicate content: the same or near-identical text on several pages, common with copied town pages. It weakens all of them.
- Internal links: links from one page of your site to another. They help visitors and pass strength to important pages.
- Title tag and meta description: the page title and short summary Google often shows in results. They affect whether people click.
Content and links
Terms about what's on your pages and who links to them.
- Service page: a page about one service you offer, like "water heater repair". Usually your most important pages for calls.
- Thin content: pages with little useful information. Google tends to ignore them.
- Content hub (pillar page): a main page on a topic, linked to more detailed pages about each part of it.
- Keyword cannibalization: several of your own pages competing for the same search, so none of them rank well.
- Backlink: a link from another website to yours. Links from trusted, relevant sites help rankings.
- Anchor text: the clickable words in a link.
- Domain authority: a third-party score estimating how strong a website's link profile is. Useful for comparison, not a Google metric.
- Nofollow link: a link marked so it passes little or no ranking value.
- Link building: earning links from other sites, like suppliers, associations, local news and directories.
- Black-hat SEO: tactics that break Google's rules, like buying spammy links or hiding text. They can get a site penalized.
Google Ads and paid search
Terms you'll hear when running ads on Google.
- PPC (pay-per-click): ads where you pay each time someone clicks, like Google Ads.
- CPC (cost per click): what you pay for one click on your ad.
- Quality Score: Google's rating of how relevant your ad, keyword and landing page are. Higher scores usually mean cheaper clicks.
- Negative keywords: searches you block your ads from, like "jobs" or "DIY", so you don't pay for useless clicks.
- Match type: how closely a search has to match your keyword for your ad to show.
- Landing page: the page people land on after clicking an ad. A focused page for each service usually converts better than the homepage.
- Call-only ad / call asset: ad formats that let people call you directly from the ad.
- Ad schedule: the days and hours your ads run, ideally matched to when someone can answer the phone.
- Impression share: how often your ads showed out of all the times they could have.
Tracking and results
Terms about measuring whether your marketing works.
- Conversion: an action you care about, like a call, a form or a booked job.
- Conversion rate: the share of visitors who convert.
- Cost per lead (CPL): what you spend to get one call or form.
- Cost per acquisition (CPA): what you spend to get one paying customer or booked job.
- ROI (return on investment): how much you earn compared with what you spend on marketing.
- Call tracking: using tracking numbers to see which marketing source each phone call came from.
- Attribution: deciding which marketing gets credit for a lead when people saw several before calling.
- Google Analytics 4 (GA4): Google's free tool for measuring website visits and actions.
- Google Search Console: Google's free tool that shows which searches your site appears for, which pages are indexed and any technical problems.
- Bounce rate / engagement rate: how many visitors leave quickly versus how many interact with the page.
AI search terms
Newer terms about how AI tools find and recommend businesses.
- AI Overviews: AI-written summaries Google shows at the top of some searches, often with links to the sources it used.
- AI Mode: Google's chat-style search experience that answers follow-up questions.
- GEO (generative engine optimization): making your business easy for AI tools to understand, trust and mention in their answers.
- AEO (answer engine optimization): writing clear, direct answers to common questions so search engines and AI tools can quote them.
- LLM (large language model): the technology behind tools like ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude.
- AI citation: when an AI tool names or links to your business or website as a source.
- Entity: a clearly defined thing Google and AI tools recognize, like your business, with consistent details across the web.
- Brand mentions: places your business is named online, even without a link. AI tools use them to judge who's trusted.
- Zero-click search: a search where the person gets the answer on Google, from the map pack or an AI answer, without visiting a website. For contractors, that often still means a call.