Quick reference for jargon that showed up above. Each implementation card already explains its own issue in plain terms — this list is for sharing with the rest of the team.
- Canonical link
- A canonical link tells search engines which version of a page is the "real" one, when the same content is reachable at more than one address.
- Why it matters. Without it, search engines can split credit for that page across several web addresses instead of ranking one properly — or index the wrong copy.
- Internal links
- Internal links are the links from one page on your site to another. A page with none pointing to it is called "orphaned." Broken ones lead to dead ends.
- Why it matters. Search engines mostly discover and rank pages by following links — broken or missing links waste crawl budget and frustrate real visitors.
- Broken page
- A client error (like a 404) means the page at that address doesn't exist — often because a link points to a page that moved or was deleted.
- Why it matters. Broken pages waste the crawl budget search engines give your site and frustrate real visitors who click through.
- Sitemap
- A sitemap is a list you publish of the pages you want search engines to find. It should only include pages that are allowed to appear in search.
- Why it matters. Pages left out of the sitemap can stay undiscovered; pages that should stay private but are listed waste crawl time and blur which URLs actually matter for ranking.
- Redirect chain
- A redirect chain happens when a web address forwards to another address, which forwards to another, before landing on the real page.
- Why it matters. Every extra hop slows the page down and makes it more likely a search engine gives up before reaching the real content.
- Page title
- The page title is the clickable headline shown in a Google search result and in the browser tab — separate from the heading on the page itself.
- Why it matters. It's one of the strongest signals search engines use to understand what a page is about, and the first thing a searcher reads before clicking.
- H1 heading
- The H1 is the main on-page heading — the large title text at the top of the page content, separate from the browser-tab title.
- Why it matters. It helps both readers and search engines quickly confirm the page delivers what they were looking for.
- Meta description
- The meta description is the short summary text that can appear under a page's title in search results.
- Why it matters. It doesn't directly affect ranking, but a clear one gives a searcher a reason to click your result instead of a competitor's.
- Local listing / NAP
- NAP means Name, Address, and Phone — the core facts customers and Google use to trust that your website and your Google Business listing are the same business.
- Why it matters. Mismatched or missing NAP confuses Google’s local pack and makes you look less trustworthy next to competitors who show one clean phone and address everywhere.
- AI crawler access
- This checks whether your robots.txt file is accidentally blocking the bots that let AI tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google's AI answers cite your site — a different, separate decision from blocking the bots that train AI models.
- Why it matters. Blocking the wrong bot removes you from AI-generated answers entirely, for no privacy or training benefit — almost always an accident from an old "block all AI" robots.txt rule.
- llms.txt
- llms.txt is a short plain-text file at the root of your website (similar idea to robots.txt) that explains what your business does, which pages matter most, and how AI tools should cite you.
- Why it matters. AI assistants that recommend local services increasingly look for this file. Without it they guess from scraps of your site — or skip you when someone asks for a provider in your market.
- Security header
- Security headers are settings a web server sends that tell browsers how to handle your site safely — they're a site-hygiene detail, not a ranking factor.
- Why it matters. They protect visitors from certain attacks; worth fixing, but they won't move your search rankings on their own.