Blogging Terms You Have To Know

Do you ever feel intimidated by all the blogging terms around the internet? Have you ever tried to follow a blogging tutorial to attempt to make your blog more awesome than it already is, but then gave up because it got too technical?

Trust me, I have shut more than one article just because of that. Like I don’t have time to learn all that! I just want to know what to do make my blog better without having to get a PhD on blogging. Are you with me or is it just me?

Do you ever feel intimidated by all the blogging terms? This post will help you understand them, even if you are a non techie. Click To Tweet

Blogging terms you have to know

If you are like me, your girl is here to save your butt. I put together a glossary for all those pesky blogging terms so that you don’t have to search anymore. And it is beginner friendly, so fret not.

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SEO or Search Engine Optimization

As the name suggests, SEO techniques help the search engine AKA Google (or whatever you are using) to find our website. 

Do you often go to the second page of results on Google? I guess not. It is essential for us to rank higher on the SERP. The higher our page shows up in the search results page, better chances of a visitor clicking it. 

Second page Blogging terms

While there are so many things that one can do to improve their SEO, I will talk about a few basic things that even the most non tech savvy one of us can do on my next post

Keyword

To put it simply, Keyword(s) is what you type on Google when you are looking for something online. If we type a bunch of words, then it is called the keyphrases (since it is a bunch of keywords).

For example, if you are searching for “Common grammar mistakes in writing on Google“, that is your keyword. 

Blogging terms to know - Keyword

When you look at it from the other side as a blogger, when I am writing an article on the topic 8 Common grammar mistakes to avoid while writing, I have to make sure I sprinkle the keyword “Common grammar mistakes in writing” a few times.

This will help Google know what am talking about, and to show the page to someone who is looking for it.

Alternative text/tag/attribute

Alternative text describes when the image does not get loaded or is not visible. Screen readers usually read out these Alt texts, thus helping a visually impaired reader understand the image better. 

Blogging terms to know - Alt text or Alt tag

Not only that search engines also use these texts to index the images in your post better and improves your SEO.  So do not shy away from adding them to your images!

If you are posting an article on the topic 8 Common grammar mistakes to avoid while writingwith relevant images, all you have to do is add descriptive text to those images in the alt tags. Here I used ‘Blogging terms to know – Keyword’. Pretty simple isn’t it?

Meta Description

Meta description is a short preview or snippet of what your post is about. These two lines are what Google shows you at the first glance before you click a link to a site.

Meta description for elgeewrites Blogging terms

They are also relevant for the search engines because meta elements (like meta descriptions) provide the administrative details about the author, description, date of publishing related to every post. 

When you do not provide with a meta description, the search engines usually pick the first lines as the default settings, which may or not be an accurate description. So make sure your meta description is brief and straight to the point, even if your first few lines are not.

Take a look at my meta description for my review on A very large expanse of sea!

Meta description for a post Blogging terms

Backlinks

Backlinks refers to incoming links from other sites or blogs. For example when a blogger links to your post in their blog it is called a backlink.

Though it is not considered as important as it was once, backlinks still are important for a blog for the search engines to consider it important. 

So do not disregard those tag posts, linking each other is a great idea. The same goes for weekly memes and comments with link back to your blogs.

Permalink and the slug

While permalink and slug are not the same, they are very similar in this context. 

permalink vs slug Blogging terms

Permalink refers to the URL of your post in your website. Slug is a part of the permalink and it comes after your domain. 

I promise I will write more on SEO and other blogging related stuff focusing on new bloggers. But you will have to wait for that. Until then you can take a look at these related posts. 

Similar posts you might like

Check out this link for more of such posts.

Also if you have any questions or issues related to blogging you want me to address, feel free to leave a comment or contact me through social media. 

Pin me!

Blogging terms you should know today Pinterest

Let’s chat

Do blogging terms and techniques intimidate you? Do you follow any of such tips and tricks on your blog? Is there something specific you want me address in this series? Let us talk. 

23 Comments

  1. Jordan

    Some great tips here for a newbie like me. Thanks for sharing!

    Reply
    • Gayathri

      I am glad to be of use.

      Reply
  2. Molly @ Molly's Book Nook

    Super helpful! I personally gave up with basically everything on this list haha but I remember I used to put a lot of work into each one to make sure it was perfect.

    Reply
  3. Kyra Rodriguez

    I’m a newbie blogger and this is very helpful for a newbie like me. Thanks a lot!

    Reply
  4. Charvi Koul

    Oh wow there were some terms here that I did not know about but thankfully now I do! šŸ˜€

    Reply
  5. Sim @ Flipping Through the Pages

    This is such important info. I am sure the newbies will learn a great deal from this article šŸ™‚

    Reply
  6. Dani @ Perspective of a Writer

    Nice Gayathri! I learned all of these when I started self hosting. This would have been so helpful then. ā¤ļø

    Reply
  7. Jenn @ Bound to Writing

    I remember being so confused when I started blogging. There are so many terms and abbreviations that it made my brain hurt. Haha. Great post, this information is very useful!

    Reply
  8. Shruti

    Ooh because Iā€™m in marketing, I was quite unfazed by these terms, but I can see how helpful it can be for the layperson!

    Reply
  9. Ara @ Open Pages

    Thanks for the list. And the links! Things for me to do a little more research on, I think. Haha.

    Reply
  10. Bentley

    Great post! This is so informative, full of information I wish I had known a long time ago haha.

    Reply
  11. Kathy West

    Thanks for the tips!

    Reply
  12. Ashley Jayne

    great post, ive never took any notice of that sort of thing but will defo try now

    Reply
  13. DJ Sakata

    I’m far too lazy, I’m such a bad blogger, so I just call myself a reviewer who uses a blog šŸ˜‰

    Reply
  14. Megan

    This is very helpful! Thanks!

    Reply
  15. Gemma

    Very informative but I am still quite oblivious when it comes to the technical side of blogging. I tend to just write and share.
    Gemma @ Gemma’s Book Nook

    Reply
  16. Karen E Alderman

    TBH, I don’t worry about a lot of that anymore but you’ve explained SEO/attribute in a way that I finally understand how to do it myself. At least the basic version. Thanks you!

    Karen @ For What It’s Worth

    Reply
    • Gayathri

      I am glad that I was of help, Karen!

      Reply
  17. Sam@wlabb

    As always, thank you for dropping the knowledge!

    Reply
    • Gayathri

      I am glad to be of use.

      Reply

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Gayathri

Gayathri

Gayathri has been reviewing books since 2010. When she is not reading books or creating online content, she works as a writer and a digital marketer. Head over to meet me!