Blogging Glossary

A backlink is a link from another website to your website, and it acts like a vote of trust for your content. Search engines like Google use backlinks to judge authority, relevance, and SEO strength. High-quality backlinks from trusted sites can help your pages rank higher in organic search, bring referral traffic, and improve your domain credibility, especially when the anchor text matches the topic.

A branded keyword is a search term that includes a company name, website name, product name, or trademark, such as RightBlogger, Lululemon, or Lululemon yoga pants. Branded keywords show that the searcher already knows the brand and is looking for it on Google. In SEO and blogging, they help you track brand awareness, protect your reputation, and capture high-intent traffic that is ready to click, buy, or sign up.

A canonical tag is an HTML link tag (rel="canonical") that tells Google and other search engines which URL is the main, preferred version of a page when you have duplicate or very similar content. It helps prevent duplicate content issues, consolidates ranking signals, and improves SEO by making sure the right page shows in search results.

A companion content is extra blog, video, podcast, or social media content made to support a main piece of content and improve the audience experience. It adds helpful context, summaries, behind-the-scenes notes, links, resources, or follow-up tips. Companion content boosts engagement, keeps readers and viewers longer, strengthens SEO with internal linking and keywords, and helps creators build trust and a stronger content strategy.

A Dead Internet theory is a claim that much of today’s internet content, activity, and engagement is created by bots, AI tools, and scripted accounts instead of real people. It says social media posts, comments, news sites, and even search results may be filled with automated or fake content. Bloggers mention it when talking about content quality, trust, online authenticity, and bot-driven traffic.

An external link is a hyperlink on your blog that sends readers to a different website or domain, not another page on your own site. Bloggers use external links to cite sources, share helpful resources, and add context with articles, videos, tools, or research. Used well, external links can improve trust and user experience, but they should be relevant, safe, and not distracting from your content.

A fractured intent is a mismatch between what your blog post, headline, thumbnail, or meta description promises and what the content actually delivers. It happens when search intent and reader expectations are not met, causing confusion, higher bounce rate, and lower engagement. Fixing fractured intent means aligning your topic, keywords, intro, and main points with the real user goal, so readers get the answer they came for.

A guest blogging (guest posting) is a content marketing tactic where you write and publish a blog post on another website to reach a new audience. It helps build authority, earn backlinks for SEO, drive referral traffic, and grow your brand. The host site benefits by getting fresh, high-quality content and expert insights for its readers.

An infographic is a visual content format that uses charts, icons, images, and short text to explain information fast. Bloggers use infographics to break down complex topics, share data and statistics, and tell a story in a clear, easy way. A good infographic improves readability, supports SEO by earning backlinks and social shares, and helps readers understand and remember key points.

Internal linking is a website SEO strategy where you link one page or blog post on your site to another related page on the same site. It helps search engines crawl and understand your content, shares page authority, and strengthens your site structure. Internal links also guide readers to helpful posts, improve navigation, and can increase time on site and conversions.

A newsjacking strategy is a content marketing tactic where you quickly create a blog post, social media update, or email based on a breaking news story or trending topic. It works by adding your expert take, tips, or opinion while people are already searching and sharing the topic. Newsjacking can boost traffic, engagement, and brand visibility when the content is timely, relevant, and accurate.

A NoFollow link is a hyperlink with a rel="nofollow" attribute that tells search engines not to pass SEO value (link equity or PageRank) to the linked page. Bloggers use nofollow links for ads, sponsored posts, affiliate links, and untrusted sources to avoid endorsing them and to help manage SEO risk. Search engines may still crawl it, but they treat it differently than a normal follow link.

A noindex-tag is a meta robots tag or HTTP header that tells search engines like Google not to index a specific web page, so it won’t appear in search results. Bloggers use it to block thin content, duplicate pages, admin pages, and staging or thank-you pages while keeping the page accessible to users. It helps protect SEO by focusing crawl and ranking signals on your best content.

A search volume is an estimated number of times a keyword or search query is typed into a search engine like Google within a set time period, usually per month. In keyword research, search volume helps bloggers judge demand, pick topics, and compare keywords for SEO content planning. Higher search volume can mean more potential traffic, but it should be balanced with keyword difficulty, search intent, and relevance to your audience.

A sitemap is a file or page that lists the most important URLs on your website, often in XML format, so search engines like Google can find, crawl, and index your content faster. It helps bots understand your site structure, discover new blog posts, and spot updated pages. A good sitemap can improve SEO by making it easier for search engines to access your pages.

A subdomain is a part of your main domain name that creates a separate section of a website, like blog.example.com under example.com. It lets you organize content for a blog, store, help center, or landing pages without buying a new domain. Subdomains can have different designs, settings, or hosting, while still building your brand and SEO under the same root domain.