Core SEO terms
SERP — Search Engine Results Page. The list of results for a query. StretchSEM's SERP checker shows who ranks in the top organic results for a keyword.
Organic position / rank — where a domain appears in unpaid search results (position 1 is the top). A null rank means the domain isn't in the fetched window (typically the top ~15).
Keyword difficulty — how hard it is to rank for a term, scored 0–100 and banded easy (under 40), medium (40–69), or hard (70+). StretchSEM estimates it from the SERP's composition — exact-match titles, authority domains, and known-strong domains in its link graph.
Search demand / volume — how much a term is searched. With no external provider, StretchSEM shows a 0–100 demand estimate (banded very low / low / medium / high) from autocomplete breadth; with DataForSEO or Google Ads it shows exact monthly search volume.
CPC — cost per click, the average paid-ad price for a keyword. Available when an external provider is connected; a strong proxy for commercial value.
Competition — how many advertisers bid on a keyword (from Google Ads/DataForSEO). Distinct from organic difficulty.
Content & on-page terms
On-page optimization — how well a single page targets a keyword through its title, H1, meta description, URL, headings, and body. StretchSEM scores this 0–100.
Keyword density — the share of a page's words made up of the target keyword. StretchSEM treats roughly 0.3%–2.5% as healthy; higher risks keyword-stuffing.
Content brief — a data-backed outline for a keyword, built from the pages that currently rank: target word count, subtopics, example headings, competitors, and related terms.
Subtopic — a theme that appears across multiple ranking pages' headings. Covering the common subtopics is table stakes for competing on a keyword.
Thin content — a page with very little substantive text (StretchSEM flags under ~300 characters). Thin pages rarely satisfy search intent.
Site-structure & technical terms
Site Health — a 0–100 score summarizing a domain's technical condition, computed as 100 minus a weighted density of audit issues (errors weigh most).
Orphan page — an indexed page with no internal links pointing to it, so it's hard for crawlers and users to reach. Fix by linking to it from relevant pages.
Broken link — a link whose target returns a 4xx/5xx error. Fix by updating the link or restoring the target.
Non-200 page — an indexed page that doesn't return HTTP 200 OK (e.g. a 301, 404, or 500).
Keyword cannibalization — when multiple pages on the same site target the same term and compete with each other, splitting ranking signals. StretchSEM detects this from indexed per-page keywords (excluding sitewide nav/brand terms) and lists the competing pages so you can consolidate or differentiate.
Entity — a named person, place, organization, or product. StretchSEM's entity profile shows the entities your pages emphasize, reflecting your topical focus.
Backlink terms
Backlink — a link from another site to yours; a core ranking signal.
Referring domain — a distinct site that links to you. Often more meaningful than raw backlink count (20 links from 20 domains beats 100 from one).
Anchor text — the clickable text of a link. StretchSEM's top-anchors view helps you spot over-optimized or empty anchors.
Dofollow / nofollow — whether a link passes ranking signals (dofollow) or is marked to not pass them (nofollow). StretchSEM reports the split.
Link graph — StretchSEM's own index of link edges between pages and domains, from which all backlink profiles are computed. It grows as more of the web is harvested.
StretchSEM-specific terms
Credit — the metering unit. Each live tool run costs 1 credit; reads are free; failed runs are refunded. Shared with StretchBAS.
Campaign / Project — a saved preset of a domain, keyword list, and optional competitor for one-click re-runs.
Keyword intelligence — StretchSEM's proprietary, crawl-based scoring of how well your site covers and targets each term, with strength / opportunity / covered signals.
Movers — the keywords whose rank changed the most since the previous check, sorted by the size of the move.
Data source — one of the six providers (three built-in engines plus DataForSEO, Google Ads, and Google Search Console) that supply StretchSEM's data.
Provider readiness — the Data sources panel showing which providers are connected and reachable.
Tips
- When a metric is an estimate, StretchSEM labels it — treat estimates as directional and connect a provider for exact figures.
- Referring domains and keyword difficulty are usually more decision-useful than raw backlink counts or demand scores alone.
- Cross-reference terms: duplicate titles in the audit often signal cannibalization in the Domain report.
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