Glossary | Habefast
What is a glossary?
Etymologically, it is borrowed from the Latin glossarium meaning language. For a long time, it was used to designate dictionaries explaining glosses, i.e. slang or foreign words and expressions by other terms of the same language.
Today, a glossary defines a collection of terms specific to a field that provides definitions and details of technical terms.
It differs from a dictionary or lexicon in the length of the definitions. They are usually more detailed and complete, e.g. they contain data or examples about the defined term.
Also, a glossary focuses on a specific field whereas a lexicon or dictionary designates and defines all the words in a language.
What is the purpose of a glossary?
- Useful for obtaining information
It is very useful in translation because it allows, for example, to translate common expressions from an old slang, or dialects from an old patois by other terms of the language.
By focusing on a specific field, the glossary allows anyone who wants to learn more about a specific topic to easily find definitions of the vocabulary used in that field in a single document or on a single site.
- Useful for a website
It also allows various websites to facilitate the understanding of certain technical terms by the readers or users of the site. It improves both the user experience and the natural referencing of the site, notably by generating more traffic on the site, if the terms present in the glossary are terms regularly searched by Internet users.
By creating content that helps your users, you make them want to visit your site again and you also help strengthen your SEO strategy.
By producing quality definitions you can eventually establish yourself as a reference site. Also, by providing definitions of words specific to your site, you are implementing a retention strategy and improving your internal linkage, which will have a positive impact on your SEO.