Website words, in plain English.
Short meanings for the terms you meet when you build a site. Each one takes a sentence or two.
Easy to mix up.
Six pairs that sound alike but do different jobs. One line settles each pair.
Domain or hosting?
The domain is your address. Hosting is the building.
- Domain
- The name people type, like bluebirdbakery.com. You rent it by the year.
- Hosting
- The computer where your site lives. You rent space on it, like a shop.
Website or web page?
A page is one room. The site is the whole house.
- Website
- All of your pages together under one name.
- Web page
- One page on the site, like your menu or your contact page.
Browser or search engine?
A browser opens pages. A search engine finds them.
- Browser
- The app you read pages in. Chrome, Safari, and Edge are browsers.
- Search engine
- A site that finds other sites. Google and Bing are search engines.
Template or theme?
A template is the starting layout. A theme is the paint.
- Template
- A pre-built page you fill with your own words and pictures.
- Theme
- The colors, type, and button shape. It changes the mood, not the layout.
Homepage or landing page?
The homepage welcomes everyone. A landing page has one job.
- Homepage
- The front door of your site. It helps every kind of visitor find a path.
- Landing page
- A page built for one visitor and one action, often linked from an ad.
The rest, group by group.
Four small groups. Read the one you need today and skip the rest.
Your address on the web.
- URL
- The full address of one page, like bluebirdbakery.com/menu.
- Subdomain
- A word in front of your name, like shop.bluebirdbakery.com. It works like a separate site.
- Slug
- The end of a URL, like /menu. Keep it short and plain.
- DNS
- The web’s phone book. It points your domain at the computer that holds your site.
- Redirect
- A forward. When a page moves, a redirect sends people from the old address to the new one.
- SSL (HTTPS)
- The lock in the address bar. It keeps what people type on your site private.
The parts of a page.
- Hero
- The big first block on a page. One headline, a few words, and one next step.
- CTA
- Call to action. The button that asks for the next step, like Book a time.
- Favicon
- The tiny icon in the browser tab, next to your page’s name.
- Above the fold
- What people see before they scroll. Put the plain answer there.
Behind the scenes.
- CMS
- The tool you use to change your site without code. Short for content management system.
- Cache
- A saved copy that loads faster. If a change does not show up, an old copy may be the reason.
- 404
- The page not found error. People see it when a link points to a page that is gone. A redirect fixes it.
- Responsive
- A site that fits every screen. One page that works on a phone and a desktop.
- Draft
- The private copy you edit. Visitors never see a draft.
- Publish
- Making your changes live. Until you publish, only you can see them.
Getting found.
- SEO
- Search engine optimization. Helping search engines understand your site so the right people find it. Slow and steady, not a switch.
- Keyword
- The words people type into a search box. Write pages that answer them.
- Meta description
- The short text under your name in search results. You can suggest it, but Google may write its own.
- Alt text
- A short description of a picture. Screen readers speak it, and search engines read it.
- Sitemap
- A list of your pages made for search engines, not visitors.
- Analytics
- The counts. Which pages people visit, and where they came from.
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