Glossary

Website words, in plain language

Every term a shop owner runs into while getting a site online, defined once and explained in terms of what you actually do next.

404 pageA 404 page is what a website shows when someone asks for an address it does not have — a mistyped link, or a page that was deleted or renamed. 404 is the code the server returns to say the address is not here. It is a normal, expected answer, not a sign that the whole site is broken.
Above the foldAbove the fold is everything a visitor sees the moment a page opens, before any scrolling. The phrase comes from a newspaper folded on a stand. On a phone that window is small, and what sits inside it decides whether anyone reads the rest of the page.
Alt textAlt text is a short written description attached to an image, read aloud by screen readers and shown in place of the picture when it fails to load. It describes what the image shows and why it is there, in one plain sentence, so someone who never sees the picture loses nothing.
Bounce rateBounce rate is the percentage of visitors who arrive on a page of a website and then leave without clicking a link, opening a second page, or taking any action the site can measure. Analytics tools report it per page, and different tools count it in different ways.
Call to action (CTA)A call to action, or CTA, is the one thing a page asks a visitor to do next: call, book a table, get directions, add to cart, send a message. It is usually a button, labelled with the action itself, and a page should carry one obvious first choice rather than five equal ones.
Canonical URLA canonical URL is the one address a page declares as its official version, using a tag in the page's code. When the same content is reachable at several addresses — with and without www, with a tracking code on the end, from two menu positions — the canonical says which one to treat as real.
CDN (content delivery network)A CDN, or content delivery network, is a group of servers spread across many locations, each holding a copy of your website. A visitor is served from the copy nearest to them, so the page arrives sooner than if every request had to travel to one machine in one country.
CMS (content management system)A content management system, or CMS, is the part of a website that lets a non-technical person add and edit pages, text, prices and photos through a form-based screen instead of editing code. It keeps the content separate from the design, so changing a word does not mean rebuilding the site. Most of what a shop owner is shown as a website maker, a website creator or a no-code website tool is a CMS with the editing screen made friendlier.
DNSDNS, the Domain Name System, is the internet's phone book. Computers find each other by number, so when someone types your domain, DNS looks up the number of the machine holding your site and sends them there. Pointing a domain at a new site means editing these records.
Domain nameA domain name is the address people type to reach your website, like sunnybakery.com. You rent it from a registrar, usually one year at a time, and while that registration is active nobody else in the world can use that exact name. It is only the name — the website itself lives elsewhere.
FaviconA favicon is the small square image a browser shows beside your page title — on the tab, in the bookmark list, in history, and on a phone home screen when someone saves your site. It is usually a simplified mark or a single letter, not your whole shopfront sign.
Google Business ProfileA Google Business Profile is the free listing that decides how your business appears in Google Search and Google Maps — the name, address, opening hours, phone number, photos and reviews shown in the panel beside the ordinary search results. You claim it and manage it yourself, through Google.
hreflanghreflang is a tag that links the language versions of the same page together and labels each one, so a search engine can show a Spanish reader the Spanish page and an English reader the English one. It only applies to a site that publishes the same content in more than one language, at more than one address.
Landing pageA landing page is whichever page a visitor arrives on first — from an advert, a search result, a printed QR code, or the link in a social profile. In marketing it also means a page built for one campaign and one action, with nothing else on the screen competing for attention.
Meta descriptionA meta description is a short summary a page gives about itself, written in the page's code and used by search engines as the grey line of text under the blue link. It does not appear on the page itself, and a search engine may replace it with wording taken from the page.
Page speedPage speed is how long a page takes to become usable for a real visitor — not only when the server answers, but when the main content is visible and a button responds to a tap. It is always measured on a particular device and connection, so one page can be fast on office wifi and slow outdoors.
Responsive designResponsive design means one set of pages that rearranges itself to fit whatever screen it is opened on — phone, tablet or desktop — instead of a second, separate mobile site. Images resize, menus collapse, and the visitor never has to pinch and zoom to read a price.
SitemapA sitemap is a file, usually at yoursite.com/sitemap.xml, that lists the URL of every page on a website along with when each page last changed. Search engines read it to discover pages instead of finding them only by following links, which matters most for pages nothing links to yet.
Source code ownershipSource code ownership means the files your website is actually made of are in your hands, so you can take them to another host, another developer or another tool without asking permission. When a platform only shows you your pages inside its own editor, you own the content but not the working site.
SSL certificate (HTTPS)An SSL certificate is a file on the server that proves a site is the one it claims to be and scrambles everything sent between it and the visitor. It is what makes an address begin with https, and what stops a browser labelling the page as not secure.
Static siteA static site is a website whose pages are built once, in advance, and then served to every visitor exactly as they were built. Nothing is assembled while the visitor waits, so pages load fast, and there is far less to break, to attack, or to keep patched than on a site that builds each page on request.
Structured dataStructured data is extra code placed in a web page that labels what its content means — that this figure is a price, this line is an opening time, this number is a rating — using a vocabulary search engines already understand. Visitors never see it; it exists so a machine does not have to guess.
SubdomainA subdomain is an extra name placed in front of a domain you already own, separated by a dot — shop.example.com, booking.example.com. You create them yourself in the domain's settings at no extra cost, and each one can point at a different site or service.
Web accessibilityWeb accessibility means a website works for people who use it differently: someone enlarging the text, someone blind reading it with a screen reader, someone who cannot use a mouse, someone reading a phone in bright sun. In practice it is ordinary build choices — readable contrast, real text, labelled buttons, keyboard-reachable links.
Web hostingWeb hosting is space on a computer that stays switched on and connected, holding your website's files and sending them to anyone who opens your address. The domain is the address; hosting is the premises behind it. It is rented monthly or yearly, and when the rent stops the site goes dark.