|
Search
Engine Marketing and Search Engine Optimization Glossary
Absolute link
Hyperlinks that include the
complete URL, which is the domain name, pathname (if used), and
filename.
Agent name delivery
The process of delivering
specific web pages to a search engine spider by means of the
spider's agent name. For example, the agent name of Google’s
search engine spider is Googlebot. With this process, search
engine spiders and end users do not view the same page. See
cloaking.
Algorithm
The mathematical formula used to
determine how web pages are ranked in a search engine's or
directory’s search results.
Alternative text
In HTML, text placed inside the
image source tag. If a graphic image does not appear on a
browser screen, the alternative text appears in place of the
graphic image. The same text appears when end users view a web
page with a text-only browser. Also known as alt text.
Anchor text
In HTML, text that is placed
between the <a> and </a> tags. Commonly referred to
as a text link.
Applet
A small program written in the
Java programming language that usually runs in a web browser, as
part of a web page. Search engine spiders currently do not
record the text inside a Java applet.
B2B
Abbreviation for Business to
Business. A B2B web site sells products and services to other
businesses.
B2C
Abbreviation for Business to
Consumer. A B2C web site sells products and services to
consumers and the general public.
Boolean search
A search on a computer database,
such as a search engine, for keywords that best describe your
topic using Boolean operators such as AND, OR, and NOT.
Breadcrumbs
A form of text navigation
showing a hierarchical linking structure of a web site. The
current location within the site is indicated by a list of pages
above the current page in a hierarchy, leading up to the home
page. A typical set of breadcrumb links might look like this:
Home > Products > Teas
> Green Tea
Bridge page
Another term for a doorway
page.
Browser
The software used to view,
manage, and access web pages by interpreting hypertext and
hyperlinks. Two of the most common browsers are Netscape
Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer.
Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)
A feature of HTML developed by
the W3C. They enable web designers and end users to create style
templates (sheets) that specify how different text elements
(paragraphs, headings, hyperlinks, and so on) appear on a web
page. Style sheets can also be used for positioning elements on
a web page. Currently, not all browsers express CSS formatting
in the same manner.
CGI
Abbreviation for common gateway
interface. CGI refers to programs used to produce content for
browser delivery. Common CGI programming languages include Perl,
C, Java, and Visual Basic.
Classification
The process of organizing
information into topical categories, usually in a hierarchical
structure.
Click-through or click-thru
The process of clicking a link
from one web page to go to another web page. In search engine
marketing, it is the process of clicking a link from a search
results page to a specific web page.
Click-through popularity or
click-thru popularity
In
search engine
marketing, the
number of times end users click the link from search engines to
a web site and how long end users stay on the site after they
click the link from the search engine. Some search engines use
click-through popularity to determine relevancy. Also known as
click tracking.
Cloaking
The process of delivering custom
content to a search engine spider that is hidden from site
visitors. With cloaking, search engine spiders see one page, and
visitors view another page with different content.
Clustering
Listing only one or two pages
from each web site in a search engine's or directory's list of
search results.
Concept search
A search for documents related
to a keyword or keyword phrase. Different from a search
specifically containing the keyword itself.
Content page
Another term for an information
page.
Conversion rate
The measure of the number of
specific calls to action divided by the total number of unique
page visitors. For example, if 10 visitors purchase a product or
service and 100 visitors view the web page, the page has a
conversion rate of 10 percent.
Cookie
A message given to a web browser
by a web server. One of the main purposes of cookies is to
identify web site users/visitors and possibly prepare customized
web pages for them.
Counter
A program or script that
measures the number of hits on a web page. Can also measure the
number of page views on a web site.
CPA
Abbreviation for cost per
action. Type of advertising in which a web site gets paid each
time an end user performs a desired action.
Abbreviation for cost per
click.
Type of advertising in which a web site gets paid each time an
end user clicks a link to the advertiser's web site.
Abbreviation for cost per
thousand. Type of advertising in which a web site gets paid
based on the number of impressions. Calculated in blocks of
1000.
Crawler
Another word for a search engine
spider.
Cross linking
Linking among web pages within
the same web site.
Dead link
A link to a web page that does
not exist on a web server.
Deep linking
Linking to content that is two
or more directories deep within a web site. Can also be linking
directly to individual web pages within a site, rather than to
the home page.
Destination page
The web page a visitor is taken
to after clicking a search engine listing or advertisement. Also
known as a landing page.
Directory
Web site that focuses on listing
web pages or sites by specific categories, using human editors
to manually place web sites or web pages into the categories.
Commonly called a "human-based" search engine.
Directory enhancement
The process of selecting the
most appropriate category (or categories) in a directory and
writing a keyword-rich description that accurately describes the
content of a web site or web page.
DNS
Abbreviation for Domain Name
System. The DNS translates URL text addresses (such as www.scoreboard-media.com
) into a numeric Internet address (such as
201.214.12.6).
DNS lookup
The process of converting a
unique IP address (of a site visitor) to its domain name. Often
used in site statistics software to analyze server log files.
Domain name
Generally, a text address that
corresponds to one or more numeric IP addresses. An exclusive
name that identifies a web site, such as www.scoreboard-media.com
Doorway domain
A collection of doorway pages on
a web site. A doorway domain's sole purpose is to rank well on
the search engines and to redirect traffic to a different site.
Doorway pages
Web pages created specifically
for obtaining top search engine positions and not to benefit end
users. Typically computer generated, doorway pages are usually
created to rank high on specific search engines and are often
cloaked.
Dynamic IP
An IP address that changes every
time a user connects to the Internet.
Dynamic URLs
The URL of a dynamic web page.
Dynamic URLs typically contain characters such as ?, =, %,
+, or cgi-bin.
Entry page
The first page an end user views
after clicking a link to a web site. Also known as a landing
page.
FFA
Abbreviation for free-for-all
links. FFA web pages contain a collection of indiscriminate,
often unrelated, links to other web pages. FFA links are
commonly used to artificially boost link popularity and are
considered spam by the major search engines.
Filter words
Common words that search engines
remove when adding web page information to their full-text
indexes because they tend to slow down search queries without
improving the results. Common filter words are as follows: the,
a, an, or, for, of, but, is, and it.
Frames
An HTML technique that enables
web site designers to divide the browser screen into two or more
sections. Each section, or frame, is a single web page.
Full-text index
A database, or index, containing
every word of every web document, including filter words and
stop words.
Gateway domain
See doorway domain.
Gateway page
See doorway pages.
Hallway page
A site map created specifically
for doorway pages on a web site.
Hidden text
Text on a web page that is not
visible to end users in a browser, at any time, but is visible
to search engine spiders. Considered spam by all the major
search engines if used to artificially increase keyword density.
Hit
A single request made to a web
server for an object on your web site. The object can be an HTML
file, a graphic image, or any other embedded object, such as a
sound file, in your web pages.
HTML
Abbreviation for Hypertext
Markup Language. A cross-platform, text-formatting system for
creating web pages, including text, images, sounds, frames, and
animation.
HTTP
Abbreviation for Hypertext
Transfer Protocol. The system used to transfer data between a
web server and a browser.
Hypertext link
A word or set of words placed
inside an anchor tag.
Image map
A single graphic image,
generally in a GIF or JPEG format, containing multiple
hyperlinks.
Inbound link
A link from an external domain
to a web site, bringing traffic to that site. Inbound links are
used to measure link popularity.
Index
A searchable database of words
pointing to documents created by search engine software.
Indexer
The part of the search engine
that processes and places spidered, or crawled, web documents
into a database. The indexer typically processes a document by
removing all tags, storing links in a queue, removing filter
words, looking for stop words, and storing the document in a
searchable database.
Information page
A static web page that contains
quality content about a specific topic. The page is written for
a site's target audience but formatted for easy search engine
spidering. Also known as a focus page or a content page.
Invisible web
Web sites or pages that search
engine spiders cannot or will not crawl because the content is
locked up in a database.
IP address
A unique number that identifies
every computer on the Internet. Currently, an IP address
consists of four, 32-bit numbers (from 0 to 255) separated by
periods, such as 255.195.12.13.
IP delivery
A type of cloaking technique
where customized content is delivered to a site visitor based on
the visitor's IP address. Because search engines have IP
addresses, content delivered to the search engines is not the
same content delivered to site visitors.
IP spoofing
The act of sending messages to a
computer using an IP address from a trusted source to gain
unauthorized access to that computer. IP spoofing is illegal in
many countries.
ISP
Abbreviation for Internet
service provider. An ISP is a company that provides access to
the Internet.
Java
A programming language created
by Sun Microsystems that enables small applications to run on
different types of computers and operating systems. Currently,
search engines do not record the content inside a Java applet.
JavaScript
An open-source scripting
language developed by Netscape that enables web designers to
create more animated and dynamic web pages.
A single word typed into a
search engine query. Also a single word that accurately
describes the contents of a single web page or web site.
A term used in search engine
advertising in which advertisements appear when a keyword or set
of keywords is typed into a search query.
A measure of the number of times
keywords occur within a web page's text divided by the total
number of words on a web page. Search engines have unique
algorithms for calculating keyword density.
Keyword domain name
A domain name that contains one
or more keywords.
Keyword phrase
A set of words typed into a
search engine query. Also a set of words that accurately
describes the contents of a single web page or web site.
Keyword prominence
Refers to how "high
up" on a web page a keyword appears. Generally, if keywords
are visible on the first screen on a web page without site
visitors having to scroll, the words are said to have high
keyword prominence.
Keyword proximity
Refers to how close keywords are
to each other on web pages.
Keyword stacking
Placing gibberish sentences and
phrases on a web page in order to artificially boost keyword
density, keyword prominence, and keyword proximity. Keyword
stacking often occurs in title tags, meta tags, and invisible
text.
Keyword stuffing
Placing gibberish sentences and
phrases inside graphic images or CSS layers. Often has the same
meaning as keyword stacking.
Link farm
A collection of indiscriminate,
often unrelated, web sites that link to each other to
artificially boost link popularity.
Link popularity
Refers to the number and quality
of inbound links to a web site from other web sites. One of the
highest quality inbound links is a link from a major directory
such as Yahoo!.
Meta refresh
Attribute in a meta tag in which
one URL is replaced with another URL after a specified period of
time. A method of redirecting end users from one URL to another.
Meta revisit
Attribute in a meta tag in which
web designers instruct the search engine spiders to return to a
web page within a specified period of time. Search engines do
not honor this attribute.
Meta tag
An HTML tag, placed between the
<head> and </head> tags, that gives information
about the content of a web page, such as what HTML
specifications a web page follows or description of a web
page’s content. A meta tag, however, does not affect how a web
page is displayed on a browser. For online marketing, the most
common uses for meta tags are the keyword, description, and
robots exclusion attributes.
Mirror domains or mirror sites
Multiple copies of web sites,
often on different servers, with the exact same, or similar,
content. Used to artificially boost link popularity and search
engine visibility.
Mirror pages
Multiple copies of web pages,
often on different servers, with the exact same, or similar,
content. Most mirror pages are doorway pages tailored for each
search engine.
noframes
An element commonly used on
framed pages. Content placed between the <noframes> and
</noframes> tags display when a browser does not support
frames or is configured not to display frames. Because almost
all browsers support frames, search engines either ignore or
place low weight on the content inside the <noframes>
tags.
noscript
If a browser does not support a
scripting language or if an end user has disabled client-side
scripting in a browser, content between the <noscript> and
</noscript> tags is displayed. This element enables web
developers to display alternative content in the event a script
is not executed.
The process of designing,
writing, coding (in HTML), and submitting web pages to the
search engines to increase the probability that your web pages
will appear at the top of search engine queries for selected
keywords and keyword phrases. The process of making a web page
as perfect or effective as possible for end users and the search
engines.
Outbound link
A link from a web site to a
different web site with a different domain name.
Page views
In site statistics software, the
total number of times users view a single web page.
A numeric value that represents
how popular a web page is based on Google’s link analysis
calculations. Part of this numeric value is the quality and
quantity of links pointing to a web page.
PFI
Abbreviation for pay for
inclusion. In a PFI program, in exchange for payment, a search
engine guarantees that a web page will (a) be included in a
search engine index, (b) be added to the search engine index
within days, and (c) be respidered within a specified period of
time.
Power combination
The first three words in a title
tag that, when typed in any combination in a search query, will
contain a keyword phrase.
Abbreviation for
pay
per click. A type of
search engine advertising model where
the advertiser pays a specified amount of money to the host
every time an end user clicks a link to the specified site.
Reciprocal links
The mutual exchange of links
from one site to another.
Relative link
A link that does not include an
entire domain name, subdirectory (if used), and filename
together in the URL. A link that is defined by its relative
position to the current URL.
Relevancy
A search engine's numeric
measure of how well a particular URL matches terms entered in a
search query.
Robot
A software program that search
engines use that visits every URL on the web, follows all the
links, and catalogs all the text of every web page that (a)
contains text, and (b) that can be visited or crawled. Also
known as a spider or crawler, but the term "robots" is
more and more commonly associated with automated agents.
Robots Exclusion Protocol
A text file that you place on
your server that instructs search engine spiders to not spider
and record the information in specified areas on your web site.
The same function can also be utilized using the meta-robots
tag.
Search engine
Software that searches an index
or database and returns relevant matches based on the
information typed into a query.
SERP
Abbreviation for search engine
results page.
Spam
The act of taking extreme or
excessive measures to achieve top search engine positions. Spam
also can be the act of using any words, HTML code, scripting, or
programming on a web page that is not meant to benefit the end
user experience.
Spider
Software used by a search engine
to find and retrieve web pages to include in its index.
Stemming
Stemming is the ability for a
search engine to search for variations of a word based on its
root. For example, if the word “running” is typed into a
search query, search engines that utilize stemming might also
display documents that contain the word "run."
Stop words
Extremely common words that the
search engines will not record. This is done to save space on
their servers and to speed up searches. Examples of common stop
words include the, a, an, for, and, but, to, and so forth.
Text link
See anchor text.
Title
The text placed between the
<title> and </title> tags on a web page.
Traffic
The number of unique visitors to
a single web site.
Unique visit
Represents a single, unique
viewer who has visited a web site within a specified time
period.
URL
Abbreviation for uniform
resource locator. Address referring to the location of a file on
the Internet. In terms of search engine marketing, it is the
address of an individual web page element or web document on the
Internet. Every web document and web graphic image on a web site
has a URL.
Visit
Represents one unique viewer who
has visited a web site. One site visitor can view many web
pages.
Web copywriting
The process of writing content
specifically for display on web pages, including potential
search result pages.
XHTML
Abbreviation for Extensible
Hypertext Markup Language. Is a hybrid of XML and HTML. Web
pages designed in XHTML should look the same across all
platforms.
XML
Abbreviation for Extensible
Markup Language. XML enables web site designers to create
customized tags to describe data.
|
