Local Search & SEO Glossary

Originally released as a blogging platform, WordPress has become a popular platform for the development of whole websites

Stands for "What You See Is What You Get." Usually refers to interfaces in content management systems that allow someone who doesn't know computer code to create and edit webpage information. See also: HTML (HyperText Markup Language), CMS (content management system)

eXtensible Hypertext Markup Language. A language which reformulates HTML 4.0 in XML syntax.

Bare-bones computer code that is very easy for search engines to read. XML is similar to HTML but is not really intended to be read by humans. Sitemaps are usually uploaded to Google Webmaster Tools and are in XML format.

An XML sitemap is the list of pages and resources in an .xml file that you submit to Google.

The X-Robots-Tag allows you to control how individual pages are indexed in Google. Using the HTTP header you can define these settings, as needed when you create individual pages in HTML.

The local business listing center of Yahoo.com. As of 2020, it is being managed through a Yext.com partnership.

Yandex is a technology and Internet services company in Russia. It is the most popular website and search engine in Russia, with traffic close to or surpassing Google.Yandex started as a Russian search program for MS-DOS called Arkadia, written by Arkady Volozh and Arkady Borkovsky. In 1997, they launched the search engine Yandex.ru and today offer search and other services.

Founded in 2004, Yelp has become a dominant player in the world of local business reviews. Most local business owners will wish to create a Yelp profile. Yelp has earned both considerable popularity and a measure of criticism for marketing practices which have resulted in legal settlements.

Stands for "Your Money or Your Life" and is a term used by Google to categorize certain types of web content. These are pages that, if inaccurate, could significantly impact a person's happiness, health, financial stability, or safety. Google holds YMYL sites to a higher standard because of the potential for harm from misinformation.

Founded in 2005, Yodle offers a paid lead generation and advertising service to local businesses.

A video sharing platform owned by Google and cited as the second largest search engine in the world. Local business owners may invest in the development of video content which can be published via YouTube as a social media tactic and form of advertising.

An Internet Yellow Pages website to which local business listings can be added.

A business rating service purchased by Google in 2011. Zagat ratings on a 30-point scale are currently displayed as a component of local listing data in Google's search results. In March of 2018, Google sold Zagat to Infatuation, the restaurant recommendation website, for an undisclosed amount.

This refers to search engine queries where users find the information they need directly on the search engine results page (SERP) without clicking through to a website. Search engines like Google now provide AI-generated answers to many queries within the search results, eliminating the need to click on any links.

The capability of an AI model to correctly perform tasks it has never explicitly been trained on. This is particularly relevant to models like GPT, which can generate responses to prompts they have never seen before based solely on patterns learned during their initial pre-training.

Zomato, an Indian restaurant search and discovery service founded in 2008, was a major source of international reviews. As of November 2021, Zomato ceased most international operations, including in the US, UK, Singapore, and Lebanon, focusing on three segments: India, UAE, and Rest of the World.