Web glossary — no jargon, just meaning

Web glossary — terms explained in plain English

The jargon of hosting, design and marketing, explained without the mystery. New terms are added as we publish guides.

Hosting terms

Term	Meaning
Shared hosting	Multiple sites share one server's resources — the affordable starting point.
VPS	A virtual private server with guaranteed CPU and RAM — predictable performance.
Dedicated server	Your own physical machine — full power and control.
cPanel	The control panel where you manage files, email, databases and domains.
SSL	Encryption between visitor and site — the padlock in the address bar.
Uptime	The percentage of time your site is reachable. We guarantee 99.9%.
DNS	The phonebook that turns your domain into a server address.
Bandwidth / transfer	The data your site serves each month.

Design terms

Term	Meaning
CMS	A content management system — edit pages yourself, no code.
Responsive design	The layout adapts to phone, tablet and desktop.
Core Web Vitals	Google's speed and stability metrics — LCP, INP, CLS.
Wireframe	The skeleton of a page before visual design.
CTA	Call to action — the button you want people to click.

Marketing terms

Term	Meaning
SEO	Search engine optimisation — making pages rank on Google.
Keyword	The search phrase you want to be found for.
Backlink	Another site linking to yours — a trust signal.
CTR	Click-through rate — clicks divided by impressions.
Conversion	A visitor completing the action you wanted — enquiry, call, sale.
GA4	Google Analytics 4 — the tool that tracks your traffic and conversions.

More definitions

Deeper explainers live in the blog — for example DNS explained, SSL explained and uptime explained.