In short
This glossary explains, in plain words, the terms most used when talking about an online presence: what a domain and hosting are, what SEO, AEO and GEO mean, and how social media, QR codes and cookies work. Each entry links to the guide that covers it in depth.
The groups.
- 01Your website20 terms
- 02Getting found21 terms
- 03Social media and ads12 terms
- 04Digital products6 terms
- 05Privacy6 terms
Your website.
- Domain
- Your website’s address, for example yourbusiness.it: what people type into the browser or hear you spell out on the phone. It should be registered in your name, because whoever controls the domain decides where your website and your email point. Domain, hosting and business email
- Hosting
- Space on a server, always on and connected to the internet, where your website’s files live. If the domain is your shop sign, hosting is the premises people actually walk into. Domain, hosting and business email
- DNS
- The system that links your domain name to the servers where your website and email actually live. DNS settings have separate entries for the website and for email, so whoever rebuilds your site should only touch the website ones and your email keeps arriving. Domain, hosting and business email
- HTTPS and SSL certificate
- HTTPS is the secure version of the connection between the browser and your website: data travels encrypted thanks to a certificate (still called SSL, although today’s technology is TLS). Without HTTPS, browsers flag the site as “not secure”. Is your website working? 7 free checks
- Brochure website
- A website that presents your business: who you are, what you offer, where to find you and how to get in touch. It doesn’t sell online, but it brings in enquiries, calls, bookings and visits. Brochure website or online store?
- E-commerce
- An online store, with a catalogue, a basket and payments, for selling to people who can’t come in person. Beyond the website itself, it takes ongoing work on products, orders, shipping and customer service. Online store with Shopify
- Landing page
- A page built for a single purpose, usually the one people reach after clicking an ad: an offer, a form, a button to book. The fewer distractions, the easier it is for visitors to do what they came for. Boosted post or campaign?
- CMS
- Short for content management system: the dashboard that lets you edit your website’s text, photos and pages without writing code. WordPress is a CMS; Wix, Squarespace and Shopify each come with one built in. WordPress, Wix or custom website?
- WordPress
- A free, open-source CMS widely used for websites and blogs, installed on a hosting plan and extended with themes and plugins. It’s flexible, but like any website it needs regular updates and maintenance. WordPress, Wix or custom website?
- Responsive website
- A website that adapts on its own to whatever screen it’s opened on: phone, tablet or computer. That means readable text, buttons that are easy to tap and no sideways scrolling, even on a phone. Custom websites
- Core Web Vitals
- The measures Google uses to judge the experience of a page: how quickly the main content appears (LCP), how fast it responds to a tap or click (INP) and how much it “jumps around” while loading (CLS). They’re based on real visits and you can check them for free with PageSpeed Insights. Is your website working? 7 free checks
- Accessibility (WCAG)
- Building a website that people with disabilities can use too: readable, well-contrasted text, images with descriptions, everything reachable by keyboard. The technical benchmark is the WCAG, the W3C’s international guidelines, usually at level AA. Accessible website guide
- Backup
- A safety copy of your website, files and content included, kept somewhere other than the site itself. It lets you get the site back up quickly after a mistake, a failure or an attack. Domain, hosting and business email
- 301 redirect
- An instruction telling browsers and search engines that a page has moved permanently to a new address. It’s essential when you rebuild a website: people following old links land on the new page, and Google passes on the signals the old one had built up. Website redesign
- 404 page
- The page that appears when the address someone asked for doesn’t exist, for example because of a broken link or a deleted page. A good 404 page explains this politely and helps people find their way again. Is your website working? 7 free checks
- Business email
- A mailbox that uses your own domain, like name@yourbusiness.it. It looks more professional than a generic free address and stays yours even if you switch email provider. Domain, hosting and business email
- VAT number on the website
- In Italy, the VAT number must be shown on the home page of a business website, as required by Article 35 of Presidential Decree 633/1972, which from 2027 becomes part of the new Consolidated VAT Act. It usually goes in the footer, visible from every page. What a business website must include by law
- REA
- The Italian Chambers of Commerce register of economic and administrative information about businesses. The REA or business register number is among the details a business website in Italy must show. What a business website must include by law
- Website builder
- A subscription service, such as Wix or Squarespace, that bundles hosting, design templates and an editor to build a site yourself. Many now also offer to generate it with artificial intelligence. Free website, AI builder or professional
- Right of withdrawal
- A consumer’s right to cancel a distance purchase, for example online, within fourteen days without giving a reason, except in the cases provided for by the Italian Consumer Code. What a business website must include by law
Getting found.
- SEO
- Short for search engine optimisation: the work of getting found in the results of search engines like Google and Bing. In practice it means useful, clear pages that are technically sound and linked to by other trustworthy sites. Guide to SEO, AEO and GEO
- AEO
- Short for answer engine optimisation: writing content so it becomes the ready-made answer, in Google’s answer boxes or in the answers of assistants such as Gemini on your phone. Google treats this as part of ordinary SEO done well. Guide to SEO, AEO and GEO
- GEO
- Short for generative engine optimisation: getting mentioned and recommended by AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Gemini or Copilot. These assistants search the web before answering, so SEO is still the foundation; what others write about you, such as reviews and articles, also matters a lot. Guide to SEO, AEO and GEO
- SERP
- Short for search engine results page: the page you see after running a search. Besides the classic links, it can include maps, AI-written summaries, images, videos and related questions. Guide to SEO, AEO and GEO
- Keyword
- The words people type, or say, when they search for something, for example “hairdresser Genoa”. Use them naturally in headings and copy: repeating them over and over doesn’t help and counts as spam. Guide to SEO, AEO and GEO
- Title tag
- The page title written in the code, shown on the browser tab and usually as the clickable link in Google’s results. It should say in a few words what the page is about, and the page should deliver on it. Guide to SEO, AEO and GEO
- Meta description
- A short summary of the page written in the code, which Google may show under the title in its results. It won’t lift your ranking, but a clear description makes people more likely to click; sometimes Google picks a different passage from the page instead. Guide to SEO, AEO and GEO
- Structured data (schema.org)
- Information written in the code using the schema.org vocabulary, telling search engines precisely who you are, where you are, your opening hours and what you sell. It can earn richer results, but it isn’t a shortcut to ranking higher. Is your website working? 7 free checks
- Sitemap
- A file listing your website’s pages, to help search engines find all of them. You submit it in Google Search Console; it doesn’t guarantee that every page will show up in the results. Is your website working? 7 free checks
- Indexing
- The step where a search engine, having read a page, adds it to its database, known as the index. Only indexed pages can appear in the results, and in the answers of AI tools that rely on that index. Is your website working? 7 free checks
- Crawler
- An automated program, also called a bot or spider, that visits web pages by following links and reads their content. Googlebot is Google’s crawler; Bing and AI services have their own. Guide to SEO, AEO and GEO
- robots.txt
- A small file in your website’s root folder that tells crawlers which parts they may visit and which they may not. It isn’t a way to hide a page from the results: that takes a separate instruction called noindex. Guide to SEO, AEO and GEO
- Backlink
- A link from another website to yours. Links from real, relevant sites, such as local newspapers, associations or suppliers, help you get found; bought or swapped links break Google’s rules. Guide to SEO, AEO and GEO
- Local pack
- The box with a map and a few nearby businesses that Google shows for searches like “pizzeria near me”. Getting in takes good reviews and being close to the person searching. How to get Google reviews
- AI Overviews
- The AI-written summaries Google shows at the top of some searches, with links to the pages the information comes from. According to Google, nothing special is needed beyond SEO to appear in them: the page has to be indexed and eligible to show with a snippet in the results. Guide to SEO, AEO and GEO
- AI Mode
- Google’s search mode where you ask a question as if in a conversation and get AI-written answers, with links to sources and the option to ask follow-ups. Here too, Google says the same SEO principles apply. Guide to SEO, AEO and GEO
- Query fan-out
- The technique AI Mode, AI Overviews and other assistants use to break a question into many smaller searches, read the results and merge them into a single answer. That’s why it pays to answer the related questions around your main topic well too. Guide to SEO, AEO and GEO
- Google Search Console
- Google’s free tool that shows how Google sees your website: which pages are indexed, which searches you appear for, how many clicks you get and any problems to fix. Is your website working? 7 free checks
- llms.txt
- A proposed standard: a text file in your website’s root folder that summarises your content for AI language models. None of the major search engines or assistants has confirmed using it; it does no harm, but it isn’t a requirement. Guide to SEO, AEO and GEO
- E-E-A-T
- Short for experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness: the qualities Google asks its human raters to look for in content. It isn’t a score, but it sums up well what makes a page worth trusting, and trust is the most important of the four. Guide to SEO, AEO and GEO
- hreflang
- A tag in the code that tells Google which pages are the same page in different languages, for example Italian and English. That way, people searching are shown the version in their own language. A multilingual website for tourists
Social media and ads.
- Content calendar
- A plan of what to post on social media, when and where, prepared in advance. It helps you stay consistent and tie your posts to seasons, events and news from your business. Social media management
- Reach
- The number of different people who saw a piece of content at least once. It isn’t the same as views, which also count each time the same person sees it again. Social media management
- Engagement
- Everything people do with a piece of content: likes, comments, shares, saves, clicks. It shows how much a post resonates, more than view counts alone. Social media management
- Reel
- A short vertical video, made for phones, on Instagram and Facebook. Reels can be shown to people who don’t follow you yet, which makes them a good way to get discovered. Social media management
- Boosted post
- A post you’ve already published that you pay to show to more people. It’s the simplest form of social media advertising, but it doesn’t replace a campaign built around a clear goal. Boosted post or campaign?
- Ad campaign
- A plan of paid ads built around a goal, such as bookings, enquiries or shop visits, with a chosen audience, a budget and a set duration. Results are measured and the campaign is adjusted as it runs. Social media advertising
- Audience targeting
- Choosing who sees an ad: by area, age, interests, or because they’ve already visited your website. A well-chosen audience keeps you from paying to reach people who will never become customers. Boosted post or campaign?
- Pixels and tracking tools
- Small snippets of code added to a website, like the Meta Pixel or the Google tag, that record what visitors arriving from an ad go on to do, such as making a booking. They’re used to measure campaigns and, in Europe, may only switch on after the visitor gives consent. Privacy and cookies guide
- Cost per click (CPC)
- What each click on an ad costs on average. It’s handy for comparing ads, but on its own it doesn’t tell you whether a campaign works: what counts is how many clicks turn into customers. Social media advertising
- Conversion
- The action you want a website visitor or ad viewer to take: a booking, a phone call, a form sent, a purchase. Counting conversions tells you whether a campaign is bringing real results. Boosted post or campaign?
- Monthly report
- A regular summary of website, social media and campaign results: visits and enquiries from the website, what was published, how many people were reached, which content worked, how much was spent and what came back in return. It usually ends with what to change the following month. Social media management
- Ad auction
- The mechanism Meta uses to choose which ad to show each person: what counts is the bid, how likely the person is to take the desired action and the quality of the ad. TikTok also uses auction ads. How much it costs to promote on Instagram and Facebook
Digital products.
- QR code
- A square code you scan with your phone’s camera to open a web page, without typing any address. It can be printed on tables, shop windows, business cards or in guest rooms. Digital products: menus, price lists and catalogues on a QR code
- A restaurant or bar menu you view on your phone, usually by scanning a QR code. Compared with a PDF it’s easier to read on screen and can be updated in moments when dishes or prices change. Digital menu for restaurants
- Digital welcome book
- A guide for guests at a holiday home, B&B or hotel, opened on their phone: Wi-Fi, check-in and check-out, house rules, tips on the area. It answers the most common questions before guests have to ask. Digital welcome book
- Digital price list
- A list of services and prices viewed on a phone, for example for a hair salon, beauty centre or practice. It can be updated without reprinting anything. Digital price list
- Digital wine list
- A wine list to browse on a phone, with details, food pairings and filters by style or region. A wine that’s run out can be removed, or a new one added, in seconds. Digital wine list
- Allergens on the menu
- In the European Union, the presence of the 14 allergens listed in Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011, such as gluten, milk, eggs or nuts, must be communicated to customers, including for dishes served in restaurants. A digital menu makes it easy to mark them dish by dish and keep them up to date. Guide to digital menus with QR codes
Privacy.
- GDPR
- The European regulation on personal data protection (Regulation (EU) 2016/679). It sets out how people’s data may be collected, used and stored and what rights they have; whoever decides which data to collect and why, usually the business owner, is responsible for it. Privacy and cookies guide
- Privacy notice
- The text that explains in plain language who collects the data, why, how long it’s kept, who it may be shared with and what rights people have. On a website it’s usually linked in the footer and next to every form. Privacy and cookies guide
- Cookies a website needs to work, for example to remember the chosen language or what’s in the basket. A notice is enough for these: if a site only uses technical cookies, it doesn’t need a banner. Privacy and cookies guide
- Cookies and similar tools that track people’s browsing habits, for example to show them targeted ads. They may only be switched on after consent: on a first visit, nothing beyond technical cookies should run. Privacy and cookies guide
- The box that asks for consent to non-technical cookies. Under the Italian data protection authority’s guidelines, it must have an X that closes it without accepting; scrolling the page doesn’t count as consent, and choices must be changeable at any time. Privacy and cookies guide
- AI Act
- The EU regulation on artificial intelligence (Regulation (EU) 2024/1689). Since 2 August 2026 it requires transparency on chatbots and on generated images, video and audio that look real. The AI Act and your business