- Quick glossary (A-Z)
- Newer search acronyms (GEO, AEO, LLMO)
- Core SEO acronyms(SEO, SERP, CTR, CRO)
- Tools and platforms(GA, GSC, GBP)
- Which SEO acronyms matter most for your goals?
- How to use this glossary in real life
- When to get specialist help for your SEO
- FAQs
SEO comes with a heck of a lot of jargon. There’s so many SEO acronyms invariably created by a variety of stereotypical tech bros. And if you’ve ever sat in a marketing call, or tried to have a look online for clarification and wondered what “EEAT”, “CWV”, or “GSC” actually means, this glossary is for you!
I’ve put together a list below that will help you find the meanings behind the most common SEO acronyms in plain English, plus I’ve added a quick note on why each one matters in practice. Aren’t I lovely?
Psssst…Want a cheap and easy audit?
I’m doing a special offer right now, and for £39, if you send me your website, we’ll have a chat and you’ll get back a full report with what you need to do!
Quick glossary (A-Z)
AEO is about structuring content so it can show up as a direct answer in search results. Think featured snippets, “People also ask”, and voice search.
If customers ask questions like “What is CRO?” or “What are Core Web Vitals?”, AEO helps your answers appear first.
AIO is the wider idea of making your brand and content easy for AI systems to understand. That includes search, chat tools, and voice assistants.
You might care about AIO if your audience increasingly finds information through AI rather than clicking through traditional search results.
AISO focuses specifically on AI-powered search experiences that summarise information, not just list links.
You might care about AISO if your industry is competitive and you want your expertise to be included in AI-driven summaries.
CLS measures how much a page layout moves around while it loads. For example, when a button jumps just as someone goes to click it.
You might care about CLS if people bounce from your site because it feels clunky or frustrating.
CRO is improving the percentage of visitors who take a useful action, such as enquiring, booking, or buying.
You might care about CRO if you are already getting traffic but leads are not turning into customers.
CTR is the percentage of people who click your listing after seeing it in search results.
You might care about CTR if rankings look fine but your pages are not getting as many visits as you expected.
Core Web Vitals are Google’s key user experience performance metrics. The main ones you will hear about are LCP, INP, and CLS.
You might care about CWV if your site feels slow, conversions are low, or your rankings are being held back by performance issues.
EEAT is Google’s way of describing what “good” content looks like, especially for topics where accuracy matters.
You might care about EEAT if you work in a high-trust area (health, finance, law) or you need to prove credibility to both Google and humans.
Google Analytics is a tool that shows what people do on your website, such as where they came from and what they clicked.
You might care about GA if you want to understand which pages drive enquiries and where people drop off.
Your Google Business Profile is the listing that appears in Maps and local search results, showing reviews, opening hours, and contact details.
You might care about GBP if local customers are important and you want more calls, visits, or location-based enquiries.
GEO is about making content easy for generative AI search to understand and use in summaries and answers.
You might care about GEO if your customers are starting to search in ways that ask AI to “explain” or “compare” options, rather than just looking for links.
Google Search Console is a free tool that shows how your website performs in Google search. It highlights queries, clicks, indexing, and errors.
You might care about GSC if you want to know what keywords you show up for, or if Google is struggling to crawl key pages.
An H1 is the main headline on a page. It tells readers (and search engines) what the page is about.
You might care about H1s because strong structure improves clarity, keeps people reading, and helps search engines interpret your content.
INP measures how responsive a website feels when someone interacts with it, such as clicking a menu or pressing a button.
You might care about INP if your site feels laggy on mobile or users complain that it is slow to respond.
LCP measures how quickly the main content on a page loads. It is one of the Core Web Vitals.
You might care about LCP if pages feel slow and people leave before they even see what you offer.
LLMO is about making sure your brand’s information is consistent, accurate, and easy for tools like ChatGPT to reference.
You might care about LLMO if customers ask AI for recommendations in your space and you want the right information to be surfaced.
LSI is often talked about as “related keywords”, but the important point is context. Search engines look for meaning, not just exact matches.
You might care about this because overstuffing keywords rarely helps, while clear, well-covered topics usually do.
NLP is how search engines process human language. It helps Google understand intent even when searches are phrased differently.
You might care about NLP because writing naturally and answering real questions is usually more effective than writing for keywords alone.
ROI measures whether your marketing work is paying off. It compares what you spent to what you gained.
You might care about ROI if you need to justify budget or decide which marketing activities to keep or cut.
SEM is a mix of paid search and organic search activity. In practice, people often use it to describe paid ads.
You might care about SEM if you need quick visibility while SEO builds longer-term results.
SEO is the work that helps your website show up in unpaid search results. It includes content, technical fixes, and authority-building.
You might care about SEO if you want steady, high-intent traffic and leads without paying for every click.
The SERP is the page you see after you search on Google. It includes organic results, ads, featured snippets, maps, and more.
You might care about SERPs because visibility is not just “rankings”. What shows up on the results page affects whether people click.
SXO combines SEO and user experience. It looks at what happens after someone lands on your site.
You might care about SXO if you get traffic but people do not convert, or if your site is hard to use on mobile.
Want a cheap and easy audit?
I’m doing a special offer right now, and for £39, if you send me your website, we’ll have a chat and you’ll get back a full report with what you need to do!
Newer search acronyms (GEO, AEO, LLMO)
These three are worth learning in a bit more depth because they reflect how search behaviour is changing.
GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation)
So we know that GEO is about making content easy for generative AI search to understand and use in summaries and answers, but unlike some more simple acronyms, it’s not clear.
In short, GEO helps you stay visible when search engines summarise answers.
AEO (Answer Engine Optimisation)
AEO is about structuring content so it can show up as a direct answer in search results, that bit at the top of Google.
AEO helps you earn direct-answer placements.
LLMO (Large Language Model Optimisation)
It’s easy for a lot of people to lump AI and LLMs in the same basket, but LLMs are the large language models. LLMO is about making sure your brand’s information is consistent, accurate, and easy for tools like ChatGPT to reference.
LLMO helps AI tools reference your business accurately.
Core SEO acronyms
(SEO, SERP, CTR, CRO)
If you only remember a few terms, start here.
SEO is how you earn visibility.
SERP is where that visibility plays out.
CTR shows whether your listing is compelling.
CRO makes sure traffic turns into enquiries.
Tools and platforms
(GA, GSC, GBP)
These are the three tools that help you “see what is really happening”.
GA tells you what people do on your site.
GSC tells you how Google sees your site.
GBP matters if local search is a key source of customers.
Which SEO acronyms matter most for your goals?
If you want more enquiries
Focus on the terms that link directly to visibility, clicks, and conversions:
SEO (being found)
SERP (what people see)
CTR (what people click)
CRO (what turns into enquiries)
GSC (what is working in search)
If you want better website performance
Start with Core Web Vitals and the experience side of SEO.
CWV (overall performance signals)
LCP (loading)
INP (responsiveness)
CLS (stability)
SXO (overall experience)
If you want authority and trust
This is where quality and credibility signals matter most.
EEAT (trust signals in content)
Clear structure (H1, headings, and plain language)
Plain English SEO Audits for £39!
Sick of all the SEO Acronyms? I’m doing a special offer right now, and for £39, if you send me your website, we’ll have a chat and you’ll get back a full report with what you need to do!
How to use this glossary in real life
When reviewing an SEO proposal or monthly report
Skim the terms that come up in the report and write down the questions you want answered.
A good report should make it obvious:
what changed
why it changed
what happens next
When rewriting or briefing content
Use the glossary to keep briefs clear. Headings (H1, H2, H3) are not just for SEO – they help humans scan and understand.
A simple first step:
Write a one-sentence answer to the page’s main question, then build the rest of the content underneath it.
When auditing a website
If you are not sure where to start, check GSC and Core Web Vitals first.
They usually highlight the biggest technical issues and the pages that matter most.
Credibility checks and “don’t get caught out” notes
Common misunderstandings
LSI keywords: you will hear this phrase a lot, but most of the time people mean “related terms”. Focus on clarity and coverage, not keyword lists.
SEO = rankings: rankings matter, but the real goal is qualified traffic that turns into enquiries.
CRO fixes everything: CRO helps, but it cannot rescue an unclear offer or a slow, broken site.
What good reporting should include
A useful metric always comes with context. And there’s no better context that regular reporting. You can compare with your competition, but start with your site first. If you sign up for an SEO audit, the focus initially should always be the technical SEO. Then you get a follow-up audit and look for the provided context.
How will you know if your CTR is where it should be if you don’t have the information of based on your history. Say your CTR is 5%, and next month it’s still 5%. Do you know how many search impressions there’s been and for what page with which query?
What if your CTR was 5%, but it’s now 15%, but you’ve not got any more enquiries. Does that mean 5% was better? No. It means there’s probably something else that’s dropped off.
When to get specialist help for your SEO
If you are spending time or money on SEO and still feel confused, that is a sign to pause and ask for clarity. I mean, you’ve made it this far through the blog, perhaps that alone means it’s time!
So what’s the plan? Make sure you look for someone who can explain:
what they did
what they learned
what they would do next, and why
I mean, that’s me to be fair. I’ve had enough of talking in SEO Acronyms for a lifetime, so perhaps it’s time you clicked that button and took me up on the offer of a £39 audit, or even better; the £59 one with the NEW AI Audit in there too! No jargon almost guaranteed!
Still not sure and want to try it yourself? Have a read of my SEO Tips for Beginners or check out some other blogs below!
Oi! You’ve got this far! Want that audit?
I’m fairly sure you know by now, but I’m doing a special offer, and it’s literally only £39.
Sign up, send me your website, and you’ll get back a full report with what you need to do!
FAQs
Start with SEO, SERP, CTR, and CRO. They cover the basic journey from being found, to getting clicks, to turning visits into enquiries. Add GSC next so you can see what is happening in search, then learn EEAT and Core Web Vitals as your next layer. Remember that there’s plain-English behind every SEO Acronym, so don’t get too caught up in the terminology, just try to keep it well structured, real and truthful.
EEAT stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. It is a way to think about credibility. Google wants content that is accurate and helpful, written by people who know the topic, and backed up with signals that build trust, such as clear authorship and useful references.
Core Web Vitals are Google’s key performance metrics for user experience. They focus on loading speed (LCP), responsiveness (INP), and visual stability (CLS). Strong scores usually mean a smoother site, which can support better rankings, lower bounce rates, and more conversions.
GEO stands for Generative Engine Optimisation. It is the practice of making content clear and structured so AI-powered search can understand it and include it in summaries and answers. It usually means writing in plain language, answering questions directly, and making key information easy to find.
