Glossary of web terms for business owners

Short explanations of words that come up in quotes, contracts and conversations with developers. No jargon — so you know what you are paying for and what you are agreeing to.

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Domain and hosting

Domain — the address of a website, such as example.ee. It is registered to a specific person or company and renewed regularly.
Registrar — the company through which a domain is bought and renewed. .ee domains are registered through registrars accredited by the Estonian Internet Foundation (EIS).
DNS — the system that connects a domain to the servers for the website and email. A wrong DNS record is a common reason why a site or mailbox “disappears”.
Hosting — the server the website runs on. It can be a separate service or part of a platform’s maintenance.
HTTPS and SSL certificate — encryption of the connection between the visitor and the site. Without it, browsers mark the site as not secure.
Backup — a saved copy of the site and its database, used to restore it after a failure or mistake.

SEO and search

SEO — work that helps a site get found in search for the right queries: technical setup, copy, structure, links.
Indexing — adding a site’s pages to a search engine’s database. A page that is not indexed does not appear in search results.
Title and description — the page title and summary that Google usually shows in search results.
Sitemap — a file listing the site’s pages that helps search engines find all of them.
Hreflang — markup that tells search engines a page has versions in other languages and which one to show to whom.
Core Web Vitals — Google’s metrics for page experience: how fast the main content loads, how quickly the page responds to input and how stable the layout is.
Google Business Profile — a business listing in Google Search and Maps with address, opening hours and reviews.

Advertising and analytics

Google Ads — paid advertising in Google Search and on partner sites. You usually pay per click, and the budget goes directly to Google.
Facebook and Instagram ads — ads in Meta’s social networks, targeted by interests, age and location.
Conversion — a target action by a visitor: an enquiry, a booking, a purchase. The share of visitors who take it is the conversion rate.
Landing page — a standalone page for one offer or ad campaign, with a single main call to action.
UTM parameters — tags added to a link that show in your statistics which ad or newsletter a visitor came from.

Online stores and payments

Payment provider — a service that accepts payments on the site and transfers the money to the seller minus a fee. In Estonia, examples include Montonio, Maksekeskus and Stripe.
Bank link — a payment method where the buyer is sent to their own bank’s online banking to confirm the payment there.
Parcel locker — an automated pickup point for parcels. The main networks in Estonia are Omniva, DPD and SmartPosti.
Right of withdrawal — an online shopper’s right to return goods within 14 days without giving a reason, with exceptions set by law.
Cart and checkout — the steps where a buyer collects products, chooses delivery and pays. Every unnecessary step here reduces the number of purchases.

Design and content

CMS — content management system: software for changing a website's texts, images, prices and pages without touching the code. On the studio's websites this role is played by the built-in admin panel.
UX — user experience: how easily a visitor finds what they need, understands the offer and takes an action — books, buys or sends a request.
Responsive design — a layout that adapts to phone, tablet and desktop screens.
Admin panel — the private part of a site where the owner edits copy, prices and photos and handles orders.
Brand identity — a set of design rules: logo, colours and fonts used on the site, on social media and in print.
Redesign — reworking the look and structure of an existing website.
301 redirect — a rule that sends visitors from a page’s old address to its new one and preserves search rankings during a move.

Legal and privacy

GDPR — the EU General Data Protection Regulation: it defines what personal data may be collected, on what basis and for how long.
Cookies — small records stored in the visitor’s browser. Non-essential cookies, such as advertising and analytics cookies, require the visitor’s consent.
Cookie banner — a window where the visitor accepts or rejects non-essential cookies. Rejecting must be as easy as accepting.
Privacy policy — a page where the site explains what data it collects, why, and what rights visitors have.
Web accessibility — the ability of people with visual, hearing or motor impairments to use a site. For some online stores in the EU, it has been a legal requirement since 2025.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Why should a business owner know these terms?

To read quotes and contracts without an intermediary and understand what you are paying for — for example, whose name the domain is in and what happens if you change developers.

Which terms are most important to check in a contract?

Domain (whose name it is in), hosting (who is responsible), backups and data export. These decide whether you can move to another provider without losses.

A term is missing from the glossary. What now?

Write via the form below — the reply comes within 24 hours, and frequent questions make it into the glossary over time.

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