Adwords
This is the name for Google’s Pay-Per-Click advertising program. Also referred to as ‘paid search’
Algorithms
Algorithms are a set of rules used by search engines to rank searches on their index pages for users’ queries. The algorithms are proprietary secrets of search engine companies to keep websites from cheating to get top results for search queries.
Backlinks
Backlinks are links that point back to a website; also known as inbound links.
Blog
Blog is short for weblog. It is a journal or newsletter that is regularly updated and often reflects the personality of the author.
Bot
Bot is an abbreviation for a robot or spider that scans the web. Bots are geared toward different functions from indexing web pages for search engines to harvesting e-mail addresses for spammers.
Broken or Dead Link
A broken or dead link is any link that does not actually point to a web page on the internet.
Click Through Rate
Click Through Rate (CTR) refers to the number of people who view a link versus the number of people who actually click on that link; the rate is represented in a percentage.
Conversion
Conversion refers to an action taken by a users such as making a purchase, signing up for a newsletter or filling out a form. Analytical software can help determine visitor’s actions within a website to increase performance for a more productive ROI.
Conversion Cost
Conversion Cost is a term representing the total cost of advertising or investment divided by the number of sales conducted during the advertising campaign. An example would be 10 sales where $1,000 spent on the campaign would result in $100 conversion cost.
Cost-Per-Click
Cost-Per-Click (CPC) is the figure used to determine how much an advertiser pays when a potential buyer clicks on the ad to be taken to the advertiser’s site.
Directory
Directory is an organized collection of internet sites; some directories are related to specific topics called niche directories.
Dynamic Pages
Dynamic pages are web pages that change on a regular basis versus static pages that rarely change or add content. Users actions or selections may change the page with content delivered from a database.
Googlebot
Google’s spider that crawls web pages and indexes them.
Heading or Header Tag
An html tag for headings and subheadings where up to 6 headings are allowed on a page. The search engines consider them important when keywords are contained in the (sub)headings.>
Hidden Text
Hidden text is not visible to humans but is visible to search engines. Most often the web designer hides the text from view by making it the same color as the web page.
Hit
A hit is the number of requests on a server when accessed by a user. Hits are often confused with page views or visitors ie. a web page with 3 images would deliver 4 hits, one for the webpage and 3 for the images.
Inbound Link (IBL)
Inbound link is a connection from another web page to your website.
Indexable
Indexable refers to the ability for web pages to be viewed and categorized by search engines. Text within graphics is an example of content that search engines can not index.
Java Script
Java script is a simple programming language that is not search engine optimization friendly.
Keyword
Keyword is a descriptive word entered into a search engine query.
Keyword Phrase
Keyword phrase is a set of multiple words entered into a search engine for a query.
Keyword Stuffing
Keyword stuffing is when keywords are overused by web developers hoping to get better placement in the search results.
Link Farms
Link farms are websites that are set up for the sole purpose of having huge amounts of unorganized links and are designed to get as many links as possible without regard to the quality of site.
Link Popularity
Link popularity is an SEO term that refers to the number of inbound links and the quality of those links as far as page ranking (PR).
Link Swapping (Reciprocal Links)
Link swapping or reciprocal links refers to one website exchanging links with another website.
Log File
Every website has a log file that is stored on the server that has various information such as search terms that internet users entered into search engines to get to the site, other websites that brought traffic to the site, inbound links a user followed, how much time the user spent on pages, unique visitors, visitor geographic locations, etc.
Meta Description
Meta description is one or two sentences hidden within the html code describing the web page.
Meta Keywords
Meta keywords are the individual keywords or keyword phrases that are relevant to the web page and hidden with the html coding.
Meta Tag
Meta tag is entered within the head of a web page that describes the content of the web page.
OutBound Link
Outbound link is when your web page links to another webpage.
Page Rank (PR)
Page rank is a Google term given to a particular web page. That factor is now updated often if not daily and given a ranking score upon a multitude of variables known mostly to Google. The primary factor in determining page rank is link popularity.
Pay-Per-Click (PPC)
Pay-per-click is an advertising term where advertisers only pay for the ad if a user clicks the ad which takes the user to the advertiser. Pay-per-click is also known as paid search.
Query
Query is a word or group of words entered into a search engine’s search box by the user.
Ranking
Ranking refers to the position of a web page when a query is entered into a search engine. This would be the actual number from the top where your website appears in organic search.
Score
Score refers to the number web pages are assigned. The best scores or most relevant webpages should appear in the top of the search results while other pages are scored in reference to the top listing and are listed in scored order.
Search Engine Optimization
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the technique used to help website owners have their site optimized for search engines. The goal is to have your website show at the top or near the top of the search engine results page.
Search Engine Result Page (SERP)
Search engine results page refers to the list that search engines compile for the user once a search query has been entered.
Spiders
Spiders are search engine robots or bots that crawl web pages on sites to index them and gather the content on the site.
Splash Pages
A splash page is the beginning page on a website that uses Flash or another type of heavy graphics program. It usually has little value for search engines but aesthetic value to website visitors.
Upperfold
Upperfold refers to the viewable text on a folded newspaper; the upper half of a newspaper. Applies to long website pages that require the users to scroll down to see all the information on the page.