Glossary
Technical terms, in plain English
The technical terms used on this site, explained in a sentence or two.
- Analytics
- Data showing how many people visit your site and how they use it.
- Answer engine optimization (AEO)
- Structuring a website so AI tools like ChatGPT can find, understand and reference it.
- Content delivery network (CDN)
- A network of servers around the world that delivers your site quickly to visitors, wherever they are.
- Content management system (CMS)
- The system behind the scenes that lets your website's content — text, images, pages — be updated.
- Cookie consent
- The notice asking website visitors to agree to data tracking, required by EU privacy law.
- Core Web Vitals
- Measurements Google uses to judge how fast and smooth a website feels to use.
- Domain
- Your website's address (for example, yourbusiness.com).
- Domain Name System (DNS)
- The system that connects your domain name to your website, like a phone book for the internet.
- Email authentication (SPF, DKIM and DMARC)
- Records that prove your emails really come from you, so they land in the inbox instead of spam.
- Hosting
- The service that keeps your website online and reachable.
- Localization
- Adapting your website's content into other languages for visitors from other countries.
- Redirect
- A rule that automatically sends visitors from an old web address to a new one.
- Registrar
- The accredited company where a domain is registered and renewed each year.
- Registrar lock
- A safeguard that stops your domain from being transferred without your explicit approval.
- Retainer
- An ongoing monthly fee for support and maintenance.
- Search engine optimization (SEO)
- Structuring a website so search engines like Google can find and rank it properly.
- Transport Layer Security (TLS)
- The security certificate that encrypts the connection between your website and its visitors, shown as the padlock in the browser.
- Two-factor authentication (2FA)
- A second check, like a code on your phone, needed on top of a password to sign in.
- Uptime
- How reliably your website stays online, measured as a percentage of time.
- WHOIS privacy
- Keeps your personal contact details out of the public directory of domain owners.
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