Glossary of SEO and GEO for ecommerce.
The 18 terms you will hear most when hiring for, or doing, SEO on an online store, explained in a sentence or two and linked to the full guide where there is one.
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Basic concepts.
SEO
A set of actions so your pages rank higher in the results of search engines such as Google.
GEO
Actions so that ChatGPT, Gemini or Google AI mention and recommend your brand. Full guide.
SERP
The results page a search engine shows after a query.
Search intent
What the searcher really wants: to buy, compare or find information. Each page should answer one.
Keyword
A query a user types and that you want to appear for.
Search Console
A free Google tool that shows how it finds and crawls you. Essential.
Technical terms.
Crawling and indexing
Crawling is Google visiting a URL; indexing is it storing the page so it can be shown.
Canonical
A tag that tells Google which is the preferred version when several URLs are almost identical. It is a hint, not an order.
301 redirect
A permanent move from one URL to another that keeps a good part of its value.
Soft 404
A page that doesn’t exist but responds as if it did, or redirects pointlessly. See out-of-stock products.
Structured data (schema)
Code that describes your page to machines: product, price, reviews. Product schema guide.
JSON-LD
The recommended format for writing structured data inside the page.
Faceted navigation
Filters that generate combinations of URLs. How to manage them.
Product feed
A file with your catalogue for Google Merchant Center. Feed guide.
Authority and content.
Inbound link (backlink)
A link from another website to yours. Quality, relevant ones help; bought or mass ones don’t.
E-E-A-T
Google’s quality framework (experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness). It is not a score you can measure.
Cannibalisation
Several of your pages competing for the same search. How to detect it.
llms.txt
A proposed file to list your key pages for language models. Its effect is unproven: what it is and whether you need it.
Frequently asked questions
Are SEO and GEO the same thing?
No, but they complement each other. SEO aims to rank your pages; GEO aims to get your brand mentioned inside an AI’s answers. Good SEO is the foundation of GEO.
Do I need to know all this to hire an agency?
No, but it helps you spot empty promises. If your report uses terms you don’t understand, ask them to explain.
Does your current report sound like another language?
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