Website words, explained in plain English.

Forty terms a UK tradesperson runs into when they get a website built, each one answered in a couple of minutes. Plain English throughout, and nothing to sign up for.

Forty website words a UK tradesperson runs into when getting a site built, each one explained in plain English in a couple of minutes. Domains, hosting, schema, Core Web Vitals, citations, town pages and the rest. Plain English throughout, and nothing to sign up for. Use it to read a quote or a report from a web designer and know what you are looking at.

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  • 301 redirect A permanent instruction sending an old web address to its replacement.
  • 404 page The page a visitor sees when the address they tried does not exist.

A

  • Alt text The written description of a photo, read out by screen readers and shown if it fails to load.

B

  • Backlink A link to your site from someone else site, and why quality beats quantity.

C

  • Canonical URL The tag naming the one true address for a page with more than one.
  • CDN A network of servers worldwide that serves your site from the one nearest the visitor.
  • Citation A mention of your business name, address and phone number on another website.
  • Cloudflare Pages Free hosting for static sites, served straight from Cloudflare worldwide network.
  • CMS A content management system, the admin panel some sites are edited through.
  • Conversion A visitor doing the thing you wanted, usually ringing you or sending an enquiry.
  • Cookie banner The pop up asking permission to store cookies, and how to avoid needing one.
  • Core Web Vitals Google three measurements of how a page feels to load and use.
  • CTA The call to action, meaning the one thing you want the visitor to do next.
  • Custom coded A site written by hand rather than assembled from a template.

D

  • DNS The address book that points your domain name at the server holding your website.
  • Domain name The address people type to reach your site, registered in your name, not your designer name.

F

  • Favicon The tiny icon on a browser tab and on a saved home screen shortcut.

G

I

  • Indexing Google storing your page so it can appear in search results at all.

K

  • Keyword The phrase somebody types into Google before they land on your page.

L

  • Landing page The page a visitor arrives on, which is often not your homepage.
  • Lazy loading Loading images only as a visitor scrolls near them, instead of all at once.
  • Lighthouse score Google free page test, scored out of a hundred for speed, accessibility and more.
  • Local SEO Getting found by people searching for your trade in your town.

M

  • Meta description The couple of lines under your title in Google results.
  • Mobile first Designing for the phone screen first, because that is where your customers are.

N

  • NAP consistency Writing your name, address and phone number the same way on every site that lists you.

O

  • OG image The picture that shows when your link is shared on WhatsApp, Facebook or in a text.

P

  • Page builder Drag and drop website software, and what it costs you in speed.
  • Privacy policy The page saying what personal information you collect, why, and how long you keep it.

Q

  • Quote form The form that asks enough questions to let you price a job before you ring back.

R

  • Review link The short Google link that opens the review box on a customer phone, stars ready.

S

  • Schema markup Hidden code telling search engines what your business and pages actually are.
  • Search Console The free Google tool showing what people searched, what is indexed and what is broken.
  • Search intent What the searcher actually wants, and whether your page is the right kind of answer.
  • Service area business A business that travels to its customers rather than having premises they visit.
  • Sitemap A file listing every page you want Google to find.
  • SSL and HTTPS The padlock in the address bar, and why a site without one gets a warning.

T

  • Town page A page about the work you do in one particular town, written for that town only.

W

  • Web hosting The service that stores your website files and serves them when someone visits.

Ask about any of these on a call and we will answer it straight, whether you buy or not.

  • Free live demo. We build it first and put it on a real web address. You open it before any money changes hands.
  • Keep your domain. Your web address stays yours. If you need one we buy it in your name.
  • Live in 7 days. Seven days from sign-off. Photos, copy, forms, the lot.
  • Nothing monthly at the sale. One fixed price for the build, published on our pricing page. The care plan is a separate talk later.