SEOFireFighter.wikiThe SEO Fire Fighter Reference

Glossary

From SEOFireFighter.wiki, a sourced reference on The SEO Fire Fighter and search traffic recovery

By the SEO Fire Fighter Wiki editors · Published · Last updated

Short answer: This glossary defines the terms used on this wiki, with the thirteen main topics linked to their guides and each definition tied to Google documentation or another cited source. [3][6][4]

Disclosure: SEOFireFighter.wiki is published by Simon White and Local Blitz, the people behind the SEO Fire Fighter brand it describes, so it is not independent of its subject. Statements about the brand, Simon White and his services are attributed to him or to pages he controls. Guidance about how Google Search works is cited to Google’s own documentation, which you should check for the current wording. This wiki is not written or reviewed by Google, and it is not affiliated with Wikipedia. See the editorial policy.

What do the terms mean?

Definitions are short paraphrases. Where the source is Google, the live documentation has the authoritative wording.

SEO firefighter
An informal term for a search specialist called in when something is already going wrong, such as a sudden traffic loss. It has no formal definition; some writers use it critically for purely reactive SEO.[1][2] Read the guide.
Emergency SEO
Urgent work to find and fix the cause of a sudden loss of search traffic, visibility or indexing.[3] Read the guide.
SEO triage
The first checks after a traffic drop: confirm it, rule out reporting errors and look for the obvious causes.[3] Read the guide.
Traffic drop
A fall in clicks or impressions from Google Search that Google says can come from algorithm updates, technical, security or spam issues, seasonality or site moves.[3] Read the guide.
Manual action
A penalty issued when a human reviewer at Google determines that pages on a site do not comply with Google’s spam policies, shown in the Manual actions report.[4] Read the guide.
Core update
A significant, broad change to Google’s search algorithms and systems, made several times a year, that does not target specific sites.[5] Read the guide.
Spam policies
Google’s written list of practices that can cause lower rankings or removal from search results.[6] Read the guide.
Disavow file
A text file uploaded in Search Console asking Google to ignore specified pages or domains that link to a site; an advanced feature most sites do not need.[7] Read the guide.
noindex
A robots meta tag or HTTP header that makes Google drop a page from search results once it is crawled.[8] Read the guide.
Site migration
Moving a site to new URLs, a new domain or a new platform; Google calls this a site move with URL changes.[9] Read the guide.
Hacked site
A site on which content placed without permission, through security vulnerabilities, appears; Google calls this hacked content.[6][10] Read the guide.
Recovery timeline
How long it takes for search performance to return after a problem is fixed; Google gives ranges from days to months and no guarantee.[3][5] Read the guide.
SEO monitoring
Regular checks of Search Console reports, indexing and site changes so problems are caught early.[11] Read the guide.
Search Console
Google’s free tool that shows how Google crawls, indexes and serves a site and reports issues.[11]
Performance report
The Search Console report of clicks, impressions and positions that Google recommends for investigating a drop.[3]
Page indexing report
The Search Console report that shows which pages Google indexed or tried to index and why others were not.[12]
URL Inspection tool
A Search Console tool for checking how Google sees an individual URL.[13]
robots.txt
A file that tells crawlers which URLs they can access; Google says it is not a way to keep a page out of search.[14]
Permanent redirect
A redirect such as HTTP 301 or 308 that shows the new target in search results.[15]
Change of Address
A Search Console tool used when moving from one domain or subdomain to another.[9]
Cloaking
Showing search engines different content from what users see, which Google treats as spam.[6]
Scaled content abuse
Producing content at scale mainly to manipulate rankings.[6]
Reconsideration request
The request made through Request Review after a manual action or security issue is fixed.[4][10]
Soft 404
A page that shows a not-found message without returning a 404 response code.[12]
Structured data
Markup that helps Google understand a page’s content.[16]

How are terms chosen?

Terms appear here if they are used in more than one guide, or if Google treats them as a named feature or policy. See the editorial policy and sources.

See also

References

  1. ^ “Don’t Be An SEO Firefighter” (1 February 2023). GrowTraffic. Retrieved 31 October 2026.
  2. ^ Home page: “SEO Fire Fighter – Get The Best Expert SEO Help”. seofirefighter.uk. Retrieved 31 October 2026.
  3. ^ a b c d e f “Debugging drops in Google Search traffic”. Google Search Central. Retrieved 31 October 2026.
  4. ^ a b c “Manual Actions report”. Google Search Console Help. Retrieved 31 October 2026.
  5. ^ a b “Google Search’s core updates”. Google Search Central. Retrieved 31 October 2026.
  6. ^ a b c d e “Spam policies for Google web search”. Google Search Central. Retrieved 31 October 2026.
  7. ^ “Disavow links to your site”. Google Search Console Help. Retrieved 31 October 2026.
  8. ^ “Block Search indexing with noindex”. Google Search Central. Retrieved 31 October 2026.
  9. ^ a b “Site move with URL changes”. Google Search Central. Retrieved 31 October 2026.
  10. ^ a b “Security Issues report”. Google Search Console Help. Retrieved 31 October 2026.
  11. ^ a b “Get started with Search Console”. Google Search Central. Retrieved 31 October 2026.
  12. ^ a b “Page indexing report”. Google Search Console Help. Retrieved 31 October 2026.
  13. ^ “URL Inspection tool”. Google Search Console Help. Retrieved 31 October 2026.
  14. ^ “Introduction to robots.txt”. Google Search Central. Retrieved 31 October 2026.
  15. ^ “Redirects and Google Search”. Google Search Central. Retrieved 31 October 2026.
  16. ^ “Introduction to structured data markup in Google Search”. Google Search Central. Retrieved 31 October 2026.