15 terms
Free glossary
Plain-English definitions of the finance, SEO and web-performance terms you run into most. No jargon towers, just what it means and why you'd care.
Updated April 2026
Finance
- DefinitionAPRAPR (Annual Percentage Rate) is the total yearly cost of borrowing money, expressed as a percentage — including the interest rate plus most fees. It's the number you should compare between loans, not the 'interest rate'.
- DefinitionAPYAPY (Annual Percentage Yield) is the total yearly return on a savings account, CD, or investment — expressed as a percentage and including the effect of compounding. When comparing savings products, APY is the fair number.
- DefinitionCompound interestCompound interest is interest earned on both your original money AND the interest it's already earned. Over long periods, this 'interest on interest' effect is what turns modest monthly contributions into retirement-level balances.
- DefinitionAmortizationAmortization is the process of paying off a loan with equal periodic payments that are split between interest and principal. In the early months, most of your payment goes to interest; as the balance shrinks, more goes to principal.
- DefinitionROIROI (Return on Investment) is a percentage that measures profit relative to the cost of an investment. It answers 'how much did I make for every dollar I put in?'
SEO
- DefinitionCanonical URLA canonical URL is the one 'official' URL for a piece of content, declared to search engines via a <link rel="canonical"> tag. It tells Google 'if you find this page at multiple URLs, treat this one as the main version.'
- DefinitionMeta descriptionA meta description is a 150-160 character HTML tag that summarizes a web page. Google often uses it as the search-result snippet beneath the blue title — which directly affects click-through rate.
- DefinitionJSON-LDJSON-LD (JSON for Linked Data) is the format Google prefers for structured data on web pages. It embeds Schema.org markup as a <script type="application/ld+json"> block, telling search engines exactly what kind of content a page contains.
- DefinitionSchema (Schema.org)Schema.org is a shared vocabulary of types (Article, Product, Event, FAQPage, etc.) that websites use to describe their content in a machine-readable way. Google and Bing use Schema.org to generate rich results.
- Definitionrobots.txtrobots.txt is a small text file served at /robots.txt that instructs search-engine crawlers which parts of a site they can and can't crawl. It's a suggestion, not a lock — well-behaved bots honor it.
- DefinitionXML sitemapAn XML sitemap is an XML file that lists every URL you want search engines to crawl and (usually) index. It's not a ranking factor, but it helps Google discover and re-crawl your pages faster.
- DefinitionCTRCTR (Click-Through Rate) is the percentage of people who click a search result, ad, or link after seeing it. CTR = clicks / impressions × 100%. Higher CTR usually means your title and description are working.
Web performance
- DefinitionCore Web VitalsCore Web Vitals are three Google-defined metrics that measure the real-user experience of a web page: LCP (loading), INP (interactivity), and CLS (visual stability). They're a direct ranking signal as of 2021.
- DefinitionLCPLCP (Largest Contentful Paint) is the time from when a page starts loading to when the largest visible content element finishes rendering. Google's target is 2.5 seconds or less on the 75th percentile.
- DefinitionCLSCLS (Cumulative Layout Shift) measures how much visible content jumps around unexpectedly as a page loads. Google's target is 0.1 or less. It's the metric that scores how 'janky' a page feels.