Web terms,
plainly explained.

A 301 redirect is a server response that permanently sends visitors and search engines from an old URL to a new one.

It preserves traffic, bookmarks, and most search signals when pages move, URLs change, or a site is rebuilt. Missing redirects after a redesign are a common cause of lost rankings and 404 errors. Redirect each old URL directly to its closest new equivalent, avoid chains, and use a temporary 302 only for genuinely temporary moves.

RelatedSlug Canonical URL Technical SEO

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Above the fold is the part of a page visible without scrolling when it first loads.

On a service page it should answer what you do, where you work and how to get in touch. The fold moves with every screen size, so check it on a real phone, not only on a desktop monitor. A large hero image can push all useful content below the fold on mobile and slow the page down.

RelatedCall to action (CTA) Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)

ReadHow to structure a service page around customer questions

Acorn is a framework from Roots that brings Laravel components, including Blade, the service container, and Artisan-style console commands, into WordPress themes and plugins.

It lets developers organize WordPress code with the same patterns used in Laravel applications, which makes larger custom builds easier to structure and test. Sage relies on it, but it can also be used on its own. It adds a dependency that must be kept updated alongside WordPress and PHP.

RelatedSage Bedrock

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Advanced Custom Fields is a WordPress plugin for adding structured, custom editing fields to posts, pages, users, and settings screens, beyond the default title and content.

It turns free-form pages into predictable forms, so editors fill in fields like price, address, or team bio and the theme handles the layout. The free version covers common field types; ACF PRO adds features such as repeaters, flexible content, and ACF-based blocks. Field definitions can be saved as JSON and kept in version control.

RelatedGutenberg blocks WooCommerce

Bedrock is a WordPress boilerplate from Roots that manages WordPress core and plugins with Composer and uses an improved folder structure and environment-based configuration.

Dependencies are declared in one file and installed at exact versions, so every environment runs the same code and updates are deliberate. Settings such as database credentials live in an .env file instead of the repository. It requires a developer workflow, so plugins are added through Composer rather than only from the admin screen.

RelatedSage Acorn Staging environment Composer

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Blade is the templating language from Laravel, used in Sage themes to build pages from small layouts and components.

Blade keeps markup readable: a page extends a layout and includes components, while data is prepared elsewhere, for example in Acorn view composers. In WordPress, Blade templates are compiled to plain PHP, so they add no runtime dependency for visitors.

RelatedSage Acorn

ReadWhy we build WordPress on Bedrock, Sage and Acorn

A call to action is the button, link or phone number that invites a visitor to take the next step.

Good CTAs are specific (“Book a visit” rather than “Submit”), use the same wording across a page and appear after each block where a visitor might be ready to act. Several competing primary actions dilute each other; one main action with a quieter alternative usually works better.

RelatedAbove the fold

ReadHow to structure a service page around customer questions

A canonical URL is the preferred address of a page when the same or very similar content is reachable at several URLs, usually declared with rel="canonical".

Duplicates appear easily, for example through tracking parameters, filters, or http and https versions, and they split signals between URLs. Declaring a canonical helps search engines consolidate them, but Google treats it as a strong hint rather than a command. Internal links, sitemaps, and redirects should all point to the same canonical version.

Related301 redirect Technical SEO hreflang

ReadHow to translate SEO titles, descriptions and slugs in TranslatePress

Composer is the dependency manager for PHP: it installs and updates the libraries a project needs, at the versions it lists.

In a Bedrock project, WordPress core, plugins and themes are Composer dependencies. composer.json declares them with version constraints; a committed composer.lock lets Composer install the same versions in every environment, and updates become reviewed changes. Deployment needs Composer on the server or in the build pipeline.

RelatedBedrock Staging environment

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A content delivery network is a group of servers in many locations that store copies of a site's files and serve each visitor from a nearby server.

It shortens the distance data travels, reducing load times for visitors far from the main server and absorbing traffic spikes. Many CDNs also offer security features such as DDoS protection and a web application firewall. Caching rules need care so logged-in pages, carts, and forms are not served stale or to the wrong user.

RelatedStatic site generation (SSG) Core Web Vitals

ReadHow to serve WebP from WordPress without server configuration

Core Web Vitals are Google's three user-experience metrics for loading, responsiveness, and visual stability: Largest Contentful Paint, Interaction to Next Paint, and Cumulative Layout Shift.

"Good" thresholds are LCP within 2.5 seconds, INP of 200 milliseconds or less, and CLS of 0.1 or less, measured at the 75th percentile of real visits. Google uses them as part of its page experience signals, but relevant content still matters far more for rankings. Check field data in Search Console or PageSpeed Insights, not only lab scores.

RelatedLargest Contentful Paint (LCP) Interaction to Next Paint (INP) Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)

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Cumulative Layout Shift measures how much visible content unexpectedly moves around while a page loads or is used, expressed as a unitless score.

Shifting layouts cause misclicks and make a site feel unreliable; a good score is 0.1 or less. Common causes are images without set dimensions, late-loading ads or banners, and web fonts that swap in. Reserving space with width and height attributes or CSS aspect-ratio fixes most cases.

RelatedCore Web Vitals Responsive images

ReadWhat actually moves LCP and INP on a WordPress siteHow to serve WebP from WordPress without server configuration

A custom post type is a content type in WordPress beyond posts and pages, such as services, projects, models or error codes.

Each type can have its own fields, template, archive and URL structure, so editors add an entry through a simple form and the design follows automatically. It is how a site library grows for years without new design work. Register types in a plugin or theme code, not through ad-hoc page duplicates.

RelatedAdvanced Custom Fields (ACF) Gutenberg blocks

ReadDesigning a website for an independent La Cornue service

E-E-A-T stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness, the qualities Google's quality rater guidelines use to assess whether content is reliable.

It is not a single ranking factor or score, but it describes what Google's systems aim to reward, especially on topics affecting health, money, or safety. In practice it means showing who wrote the content, their real experience, clear contact details, and accurate claims. Trust is described as the most important of the four.

RelatedGenerative engine optimization (GEO) Technical SEO

ReadHow to structure a service page around customer questions

Eleventy is an open-source static site generator written in JavaScript that turns templates, Markdown, and data files into plain HTML pages.

It ships no client-side JavaScript by default, which makes fast, lightweight sites straightforward to build. It supports several template languages, including Nunjucks, Liquid, and Markdown, and can pull content from a CMS such as WordPress at build time. Hosting the output needs only a static file server or a CDN.

RelatedStatic site generation (SSG) Headless WordPress

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Fetch priority is a browser hint, the fetchpriority attribute, that signals how important a resource is relative to others.

Setting fetchpriority="high" on the main hero image, the usual Largest Contentful Paint element, can raise its priority once the browser discovers it. It does not guarantee download order or make the image discovered earlier; that is what a preload does. Use it sparingly: marking everything as high priority means nothing is. It complements, rather than replaces, correctly sized images and a fast server.

RelatedLargest Contentful Paint (LCP) Responsive images

ReadWhat actually moves LCP and INP on a WordPress site

Generative engine optimization is the practice of making a site's content easy for AI-powered search and answer tools to find, understand, and cite accurately.

More people now get answers from AI overviews and chat assistants, which summarize sources instead of listing ten links. GEO is an emerging practice rather than a standard, and it largely builds on SEO basics: crawlable pages, clear factual writing, structured data, and a reputation others reference. No one can guarantee that a specific AI tool will cite a given page.

RelatedTechnical SEO Structured data llms.txt

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Gutenberg blocks are the individual content units, such as paragraphs, images, and custom sections, that make up pages in the WordPress block editor.

The block editor has been WordPress's default editor since version 5.0 in 2018. Custom blocks let a team assemble pages from approved, on-brand sections without touching code or breaking the layout. Blocks can be built with React or, for simpler cases, registered with ACF and rendered in PHP or Blade.

RelatedAdvanced Custom Fields (ACF) Sage Headless WordPress

Headless WordPress is a setup where WordPress manages content only, and a separate front end fetches it through an API to render the public site.

It lets editors keep the familiar WordPress admin while the public site uses a static generator or JavaScript framework. It adds cost and complexity: two systems to host and maintain, and many plugins that affect the front end stop working as-is. It is worth it mainly when content must feed several channels or the front end has special requirements.

RelatedStatic site generation (SSG) Eleventy (11ty) Gutenberg blocks

ReadWordPress to edit, static to serve: the RefrigeratorRepair.center build

hreflang is an HTML attribute or sitemap annotation that tells search engines which language or regional versions of a page exist and how they correspond.

It helps search engines show the Spanish page to Spanish speakers and the US page to US visitors, instead of the wrong version. Each version must list all the others, including itself, and the links must point to each other in both directions. It is a signal, not a redirect, so visitors can still land on any version.

RelatedCanonical URL XML sitemap

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Interaction to Next Paint measures how quickly a page visibly responds to clicks, taps, and key presses, based on the slowest typical interaction during a visit.

INP replaced First Input Delay (FID) as a Core Web Vital in March 2024; a good score is 200 milliseconds or less. Slow INP usually comes from heavy JavaScript, such as too many third-party scripts, sliders, or chat widgets. Because it needs real user input, it is measured from field data rather than a single lab test.

RelatedCore Web Vitals Lighthouse

ReadWhat actually moves LCP and INP on a WordPress site

JSON-LD (JavaScript Object Notation for Linked Data) is a format for writing structured data as a self-contained script block, separate from the visible HTML.

Google recommends JSON-LD for structured data because it is easy to add, generate, and maintain without touching page markup. On WordPress it is typically output by an SEO plugin or the theme from existing fields. Validate it with Google's Rich Results Test or the Schema Markup Validator after template changes.

RelatedStructured data Rich results Schema.org

ReadWhat is llms.txt, and does your WordPress site need one?Local business schema: which JSON-LD actually matters

Largest Contentful Paint measures how long it takes for the largest image or text block visible on screen to appear after a visitor starts loading the page.

It is the Core Web Vital closest to what people perceive as "the page has loaded"; a good score is 2.5 seconds or less. The usual culprit is a large hero image or slow server response. Serving that image in a modern format at the right size, and not lazy-loading it, often helps most.

RelatedCore Web Vitals Responsive images WebP Fetch priority

ReadHow to structure a service page around customer questionsWhat actually moves LCP and INP on a WordPress siteHow to serve WebP from WordPress without server configuration

Lighthouse is Google's open-source tool that audits a web page for performance, accessibility, best practices, and SEO, producing scores and specific recommendations.

It runs in Chrome DevTools and powers the lab section of PageSpeed Insights. Its results come from a single simulated load, so scores vary between runs and can differ from what real visitors experience. Use it to find and debug problems, and judge success by field data such as Core Web Vitals.

RelatedCore Web Vitals Interaction to Next Paint (INP)

ReadWordPress to edit, static to serve: the RefrigeratorRepair.center buildWhat actually moves LCP and INP on a WordPress site

llms.txt is a proposed plain-text Markdown file at a site's root that gives large language models a short summary and curated links to key pages.

It is a community proposal published in 2024, not an adopted web standard, and major search engines have not committed to using it. Adding one is cheap and harmless, but it does not replace crawlable pages, a sitemap, or structured data. Treat it as an experiment and keep it in sync with the site's real content.

RelatedGenerative engine optimization (GEO) robots.txt XML sitemap

ReadWhat is llms.txt, and does your WordPress site need one?

noindex is a robots meta tag or HTTP header directive that tells search engines not to include a page in their search results.

It is the right tool for thank-you pages, internal search results, or thin pages that should exist but not appear in search. The page must stay crawlable, because a crawler blocked by robots.txt never sees the noindex. Check that it is removed when a staging site goes live, a common launch mistake.

Relatedrobots.txt Staging environment

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An off-site backup is a copy of a website’s files and database stored away from the server and hosting account that runs the site.

Backups kept on the same server can be lost with it, through a hosting failure, a hacked account or a billing problem. Keep at least one copy elsewhere, run backups on a schedule that matches how often the site changes, and restore one occasionally to prove it works.

RelatedStaging environment Uptime monitoring

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Responsive images are images offered in several sizes or formats so each browser downloads the version best suited to the visitor's screen and layout.

Without them, phones often download desktop-sized images, wasting data and slowing the page. In HTML this uses the srcset and sizes attributes or the picture element; WordPress generates multiple sizes and srcset automatically for images inserted through the editor. Getting the sizes attribute right matters as much as generating the files.

RelatedWebP Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)

ReadWhat actually moves LCP and INP on a WordPress siteHow to serve WebP from WordPress without server configuration

Rich results are enhanced search listings that show extra information, such as review stars, prices, events, or breadcrumbs, typically generated from a page's structured data.

They can make a listing more noticeable and informative than a plain blue link. Valid structured data makes a page eligible, but Google decides whether to show a rich result, and it has narrowed some types over time. Check eligibility with the Rich Results Test and the Search Gallery before investing in a markup type.

RelatedStructured data JSON-LD

ReadLocal business schema: which JSON-LD actually matters

robots.txt is a plain-text file at a site's root that tells crawlers which paths they may or may not crawl, following the Robots Exclusion Protocol.

It manages crawler access, such as keeping bots out of admin or search-result pages, and can point to the sitemap. It does not reliably keep a page out of search results, because a blocked URL can still be indexed if other sites link to it; use noindex for that. It is a request that reputable crawlers follow, not access control.

Relatednoindex XML sitemap llms.txt

ReadWhat is llms.txt, and does your WordPress site need one?What monthly WordPress care actually includes

Sage is a WordPress starter theme from Roots that uses Laravel's Blade templating engine and modern front-end build tooling for compiling scripts and styles.

Blade templates keep markup cleaner and more reusable than traditional PHP theme files, which helps when a theme is maintained for years. Current versions of Sage depend on Acorn to run Blade inside WordPress. It is a starting point for custom themes, not a ready-made design.

RelatedAcorn Bedrock Gutenberg blocks Blade

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Schema.org is the shared vocabulary used to describe things on web pages for search engines, such as businesses, services and articles.

It defines types like LocalBusiness, Plumber, Dentist, Service and Article, and the properties each can have. Search engines read it from structured data, usually written as JSON-LD. Choose the most specific type that is true, and only describe what visitors can see on the page.

RelatedStructured data JSON-LD Rich results

ReadLocal business schema: which JSON-LD actually matters

A slug is the readable part of a URL that identifies a specific page, such as "pricing" in example.com/pricing, usually generated from the page title.

Short, descriptive slugs are easier for people to read and share, and give search engines a small hint about the page. Changing a slug on a live page changes its URL, so the old address must be redirected. In WordPress the slug can be edited in the page settings before publishing.

Related301 redirect Canonical URL

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Speculative loading lets the browser fetch or prepare the next page a visitor is likely to open, so navigation feels instant.

It uses the Speculation Rules API with two modes: prefetch downloads the next page’s HTML, while prerender also renders it and runs its scripts. WordPress 6.8 introduced conservative prefetching for logged-out visitors on sites using pretty permalinks, in supporting browsers. Prerender can fire analytics or widgets for pages nobody opened, so use it with care.

RelatedInteraction to Next Paint (INP) Core Web Vitals

ReadWhat actually moves LCP and INP on a WordPress site

A staging environment is a private copy of a website, matching the live setup, where updates and changes are tested before they reach real visitors.

Testing plugin updates, redesigns, or code changes on staging prevents broken checkouts and layouts on the live site. Staging should be kept out of search results, for example with password protection, and must not send real emails or process real payments. WordPress can identify it through the WP_ENVIRONMENT_TYPE setting.

RelatedBedrock noindex WooCommerce Off-site backup

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Static site generation is building a website's pages into ready-made HTML files ahead of time, rather than assembling each page on the server per request.

Prebuilt pages are fast, cheap to host, and expose less to attack because there is no database or PHP running per visit. The trade-off is that content changes require a rebuild, and dynamic features like search, forms, or carts need separate services. It suits marketing sites and documentation that change on a schedule.

RelatedEleventy (11ty) Headless WordPress Content delivery network (CDN)

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Structured data is machine-readable code added to a page that describes its content, such as a business, product, article, or event, using a shared vocabulary.

It helps search engines and other tools understand what a page is about without guessing, and it is required for many rich results. Search engines usually rely on the schema.org vocabulary, most often written as JSON-LD. The markup must describe content that is actually visible on the page, or it can be ignored or flagged.

RelatedJSON-LD Rich results Generative engine optimization (GEO) Schema.org

ReadHow to structure a service page around customer questionsDesigning a website for an independent La Cornue serviceWhat is llms.txt, and does your WordPress site need one?Local business schema: which JSON-LD actually matters

Technical SEO is the work that lets search engines crawl, render, and index a site correctly, covering URLs, redirects, sitemaps, metadata, speed, and markup.

Good content cannot rank if search engines cannot reach it, or if they find duplicate or broken versions of it. Typical tasks include fixing crawl errors, setting canonical URLs, managing redirects, and keeping sitemaps accurate. Google Search Console is the free, primary tool for spotting these problems.

RelatedCanonical URL XML sitemap robots.txt

ReadLocal business schema: which JSON-LD actually matters

Uptime monitoring checks a website from outside at regular intervals and alerts someone when it stops responding.

It catches outages before customers report them, including expired SSL certificates and domains. Useful monitoring checks a real page rather than only the server, sends alerts to a person who will act, and keeps a history that shows whether problems repeat.

RelatedOff-site backup Content delivery network (CDN)

ReadWhat monthly WordPress care actually includes

WebP is an image format developed by Google that supports lossy and lossless compression and transparency, typically producing smaller files than comparable JPEG or PNG images.

Smaller images load faster, which helps Largest Contentful Paint and mobile visitors on slow connections. All current major browsers support it, and WordPress has accepted WebP uploads since version 5.8. AVIF can compress further in some cases; keep originals so images can be re-encoded later.

RelatedResponsive images Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)

ReadWhat actually moves LCP and INP on a WordPress siteHow to serve WebP from WordPress without server configuration

WooCommerce is a free, open-source WordPress plugin that adds an online store, including products, cart, checkout, payments, shipping, and order management.

It keeps the shop and the rest of the website in one system the team already knows, with a large ecosystem of extensions. Stores need more care than brochure sites: updates should be tested on staging, and checkout performance and security deserve regular attention. Many payment and shipping integrations are paid extensions.

RelatedAdvanced Custom Fields (ACF) Staging environment

ReadWhy we build WordPress on Bedrock, Sage and AcornBefore you ask someone to fix your website: what to send

An XML sitemap is a file listing the URLs a site wants search engines to discover, optionally with details such as when each page was last modified.

It helps search engines find new and updated pages faster, especially on large sites or pages with few internal links. Listing a URL does not guarantee it will be crawled or indexed. Include only canonical, indexable pages, and submit the sitemap in Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools.

Relatedrobots.txt Canonical URL Technical SEO

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