Web, SEO & AI glossary.

The quality of a site that can be used by everyone, including people with visual, motor or cognitive disabilities: adequate contrast, keyboard navigation, alternative text for images. Beyond being the right thing to do, it's increasingly required by law.

These are the AI-generated summaries Google shows at the top of results for many searches. They answer the question directly, citing a few sources. Appearing among these sources is the new visibility goal, alongside traditional ranking.

The text description of an image, read by screen readers and by search engines that can't "see" pictures. Written well it improves accessibility, helps ranking in Google Images and keeps the page meaningful if the image fails to load.

The clickable text of a link. Written descriptively ("guide to local SEO" rather than "click here") it helps users know where they're going and gives Google a signal about what the destination page covers.

It's the technology that lets software perform tasks that would require human intelligence: understanding language, recognising images, generating text. Applied to the web it powers virtual assistants, automation and answering searches in a conversational way.

It's the use of software and AI to carry out repetitive tasks automatically: replying to emails, managing bookings, updating catalogues, sorting requests. Applied well it saves time and reduces errors, leaving people the work that really matters.

It's a link from another site to yours. Google reads them as votes of trust: the more quality, relevant backlinks you get, the more authoritative you appear. A few links from serious sites count far more than many from poor sources.

It's a tag that tells Google which is the official version of a page when similar or duplicate addresses exist. Used well it stops a site "competing with itself" and concentrates value on the right page, improving ranking.

Short for Content Delivery Network, it's a network of servers around the world that deliver images and files from the point closest to the visitor. It cuts loading times, especially for people visiting from far away, and copes better with traffic spikes.

These are conversational tools that answer users on the site in natural language, day and night. Well designed, they guide visitors, answer frequent questions and collect requests, easing the workload without replacing human contact when needed.

Short for Content Management System, it's the system that lets you manage your site's content — text, photos, products — without knowing how to code. WordPress is the most widespread. A well-configured CMS makes you independent for daily updates, leaving technical work to the agency.

It's the action you want the user to take on the site: a quote request, a purchase, a call, a sign-up. The conversion rate measures how many visitors take it. An effective site doesn't just bring visits, it turns them into concrete results.

Small files a site saves in the visitor's browser. Technical ones are needed for the site to work and are free to use; profiling or third-party statistical ones require explicit consent via a banner, under the GDPR and the data protection authority's guidelines.

These are the metrics Google uses to measure the quality of a page's experience: loading speed, responsiveness and visual stability while loading. Good Core Web Vitals improve both user satisfaction and ranking in search results.

The program search engines use to explore the web by following links, discovering and updating pages. Googlebot is the best known. Today there are also AI crawlers, gathering content to train or feed conversational assistants.

Short for Call To Action, it's the button or phrase telling visitors what to do next ("Request a quote", "Call us"). A clear, visible CTA repeated in the right places is one of the elements that most affects how many enquiries a website generates.

It's the address book of the internet: it translates your site's name (dominiribelli.it) into the numeric address of the server hosting it. DNS settings are touched when changing host or setting up business email, and a mistake here can make the site unreachable for hours.

The list of servers allowed to send email on behalf of your domain, published in your DNS. Without it anyone can put your address in the sender field and nobody can tell. Careful: two SPF records on the same domain make the check invalid.

The cryptographic signature your mail server adds to every outgoing message. The recipient verifies it against the public key in your DNS: if the message was altered the signature fails, and nobody can sign in your name without the private key.

The rule that ties SPF and DKIM together and tells recipients what to do when the checks fail: ignore, quarantine or reject. It also sends you reports on who is sending with your domain. Always start at «p=none», in observation only.

The oldest way to move files between your computer and the web server. It still works, but it sends the password in clear text: today you use the encrypted version, SFTP. If a supplier asks for your FTP credentials by email, it is worth asking a few questions.

Where a website keeps everything that changes: pages, articles, products, orders, users. The files make the look, the database makes the content. It is the smallest part by size and the one you cannot replace: a backup of files alone rebuilds a shop with shelves and no goods.

It's your website's address, the one people type into the browser, for example dominiribelli.it. The domain is your identity on the web: it's important that it's registered in your name and not the agency's, so it stays yours whatever happens. A good domain is short, memorable and consistent with your business name.

It's a site that sells online: catalogue, cart, payments and order management. It goes beyond a simple showcase because it must guide the user to purchase with clear product pages, smooth flows and optimisation for mobile and Google Shopping.

The frontend is the part of the site the user sees and interacts with in the browser. The backend is the hidden part — server, database, logic — that makes everything work behind the scenes. A site built well in both is fast, secure and easy to grow over time.

The European regulation on personal data protection. For a website it means having a proper privacy policy, collecting consent where required and handling contact data transparently. It applies to every business, however small.

Short for Generative Engine Optimization, it's optimisation for generative search engines like ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews and Perplexity. While SEO aims to rank among links, GEO aims to get the AI to cite your site in its answers. It requires clear, structured, easily extractable content.

It's the free listing that shows your business on Google and Maps: hours, address, photos, reviews. Managing it well is one of the most effective and affordable ways to be found locally and appear in the map box at the top of results.

When an AI generates plausible but false information and presents it confidently. It happens because language models predict the most likely text, not the truth. That's why AI answers should always be checked when they involve data, names or figures.

An architecture where the CMS — WordPress, for instance — is only the panel used to manage content, while what the visitor sees is a separate front end, often built in JavaScript. It gives total freedom over design and excellent performance, but demands care over what search engines can actually read.

It's the space on a server where your site's files live, active around the clock so your pages are always reachable. Hosting quality affects speed, security and reliability: slow or unstable hosting harms user experience and Google ranking alike.

Software that keeps availability and rates aligned across every sales channel of an accommodation business: booking portals, its own website, agencies. It prevents double sales by making a unit unavailable everywhere as soon as a booking arrives. Systems used in Italy also handle guest registration and tourist tax.

Free booking links that Google shows in search results for accommodation providers, alongside the paid listings of the portals. They let a property display availability and prices with a direct link to its own website, with no commission. They require current availability and a working booking path.

Accommodation that is not a hotel: holiday lets, holiday homes, bed and breakfasts, farm stays, guest rooms. In the Veneto it has overtaken the hotel sector in overnight stays. From 2026 anyone managing more than two units in Italy must register for VAT.

The tag telling Google what language a page is written in and which pages are its equivalents in other languages. On a multilingual site it's essential: it stops versions competing with each other and sends each user to the right language.

It's the process by which Google discovers, analyses and stores your site's pages so they can appear in results. If a page isn't indexed, for Google it effectively doesn't exist. Sitemap, clean structure and correct canonical tags help smooth indexing.

These are the words people type into Google. Understanding which ones your audience uses — and with what intent — is the starting point of SEO: a site's content should be built around the real searches of potential customers, not the ones we imagine.

A page built around a single goal: getting the visitor to take one specific action, such as requesting a quote or signing up. Unlike a normal page it removes distractions and leads to one clear call to action. It's often paired with advertising campaigns.

Short for Large Language Model, it's the type of AI model behind tools like ChatGPT, Gemini or Claude. Trained on huge amounts of text, it understands and generates natural language. It's what lets AI assistants answer questions citing sources from the web.

It's a text file sites can publish to present their content to AI assistants in an orderly way, a bit like the sitemap does for search engines. It helps LLMs understand and cite the site's information. It's an emerging GEO practice.

It's SEO focused on geographic searches, like "web agency in Vicenza". It aims to get you found by people searching near you, using your Google profile, reviews, territory pages and consistent business data. It's decisive for local, area-based businesses.

These are pieces of information hidden in the code that describe a page to search engines, like the title (the blue heading in results) and meta description (the text below). Written well, they improve ranking and encourage clicks, boosting visits even at the same position.

It's the instruction you give an AI to get an answer: a question or request written in natural language. The quality of the prompt determines the quality of the result; knowing how to "talk" to AI clearly is an increasingly useful skill in everyday work too.

Short for Retrieval-Augmented Generation, it's the technique where an AI assistant looks up current information from external sources before answering, rather than relying only on what it learned in training. It's why some tools cite real web pages in their answers.

A responsive site adapts automatically to every screen — smartphone, tablet, desktop — rearranging text and images to stay readable everywhere. Today most traffic comes from mobile, so responsive isn't an extra but a basic requirement, also for Google ranking.

A file telling search engines which parts of the site they may visit and which they may not. It stops them wasting time on useless pages, and today it also governs whether AI crawlers are allowed access.

The free tool where Google shows how it sees your site: which pages it has indexed, which searches you appear for, what errors it found. It's the most reliable source on the real state of your visibility, far more than any external estimate.

The reason someone types a particular query: to learn, to compare, to buy or to reach a specific site. Understanding it is decisive, because a page answering the wrong intent won't convert even if it ranks well.

Short for Search Engine Optimization, it's the set of activities that make a site more visible in Google's organic (unpaid) results. It covers technical aspects, content and reputation. Good SEO brings qualified, lasting traffic, unlike advertising which stops the moment you stop paying.

It's the results page Google shows after a search (Search Engine Results Page). Besides classic links it includes maps, images, answer boxes and, increasingly, AI-generated summaries. Appearing high in the SERP for the right searches is the goal of SEO.

A file listing your site's pages to help Google discover them all, including those that are hard to reach by following links. Keep it updated and declared in Search Console: it's one of the simplest ways to speed up indexing of new content.

The SSL certificate encrypts the data exchanged between the site and its visitors, turning the address from http to https (with the padlock in the browser). It's essential to protect forms and payments, for user trust and as a positive signal for Google.

It's information added to the code that explains to engines the meaning of content: that a page is an article, a product, a FAQ or a local business. It helps Google and AI assistants understand and cite the page, and can generate rich results in the SERP.

The smallest unit an AI breaks text into: it can be a word or part of a word. Models have a limit on how many tokens they can process at once, and paid services often price usage by the tokens consumed.

UX (User Experience) is the overall experience of using a site: how easy it is to find what you want and reach your goal. UI (User Interface) is the visual side you interact with: buttons, colours, typography. Good UX and UI together turn visitors into customers.

The visible alteration of a website by whoever breached it: the page is replaced with a message or an image. It is the most obvious kind of attack and, precisely for that reason, the least common: anyone wanting to exploit a site over time prefers to stay invisible.

The sequence of steps leading from the cart to a completed payment in an online shop. It is the most delicate point: every unnecessary field, late-shown cost or unclear step increases abandonment.

An order left halfway: the customer adds products but does not complete the purchase. The most common causes are shipping costs shown late, mandatory registration and overly long procedures.

What you pay each time someone clicks a paid advert. It varies widely between sectors and determines, together with the value of a customer, whether an advertising campaign is sustainable.

The percentage of visitors who open a page and leave without doing anything else. On its own it says little: on a blog article it can be normal, on a product page it signals that something is not convincing.

The instruction telling browsers and search engines that a page has moved permanently to a new address, passing the value it had built up to that destination. It is how a site is rebuilt without losing its rankings: without it, the old addresses answer with nothing.

A ready-made copy of a page, stored so it can be served without being rebuilt on every visit. It makes a site far faster, but it must be excluded from pages that differ per user: cart, checkout and customer account.

A component added to a CMS to extend what it does without rewriting it. Convenient, but every plugin brings code to load, an update to keep up with and a possible hole: most compromised sites are breached through an out-of-date plugin.

The extension that turns a WordPress site into an online shop: catalogue, cart, checkout, orders and customers. It is free and open source, but the shop lives on your own hosting and the maintenance stays with you.

The set of rules holding a mark, colours, typefaces and spacing together, on screen and in print. Without it every new piece of material starts from scratch and the company looks different each time.

The work of building how a company is recognised and remembered: the mark, the visual system around it and the discipline of applying both consistently. It is not the logo, which is only its most visible piece.

A site that exists in several languages, written for each market rather than machine-translated. Three things make it work: content thought out for the people reading in that language, separate addresses for each version, and the hreflang tags that tell Google which version to show to whom. Without them the versions compete with each other and foreign visitors land in the wrong language.

The booking engine installed on an accommodation provider’s website: it shows availability and rates in real time and takes the booking without going through the portals. It is what makes direct booking possible, and therefore commission-free; it has to stay aligned with the other channels through a channel manager.