Internet terminology provides many different ways of saying the
same thing. A host of phrases are used in the web promotion business.
Although search engine specialists derive slight differences from
these terms, they essentially mean the same thing. These definitions
should help clarify:
Algorithm
The search engine program that ranks sites based on certain
criteria. Google has over 100 different ranking criteria that sites
need
to meet.
Bid for Click
A search engine under which you bid for your site to be ranked
under a keyword. You pay that price when someone.
Bot (Web Bot)
A search engine program that crawls the internet adding
sites to the search engine database.
Code
The background code that runs a web site. As well as HTML,
this can include: JavaScript, ASP, Coldfusion and more.
Crawl
The movement of a search engine spider (or bot) through
the internet by following the links between sites.
Directory
A list of web sites that is compiled under categories and
sub-categories. Yahoo is an example of a directory.
Dynamic Page Site
Pages that are created ‘on the fly’ from the
contents of a database. These pages cause many promotional
difficulties.
Frames
Some sites have pages that are made up of multiple HTML
pages. Typically the navigation will be on one page
and the content on another. You can tell if you scroll down
the page and the navigation remains static. Frames
are bad for a sites search engine promotion.
HTML
The basic code from which web pages are created.
Inbound Link
A link that comes in to your site.
Key Term (Key Phrase)
The sequence of keywords used by a search engine user to
find a site.
Keyword
A word used by a search engine user to find a site.
Keyword Density
The percentage of keywords compared to other characters
on an internet page.
Keyword Research
Researching the most effective key terms to be used in
web promotion.
Keyword Spamming
Deliberate repetition of keywords in a page by using invisible
or tiny text to increase keyword density. This is banned
by search engines.
Link Relevancy
How similar in content/services two linked sites are.
Meta Search Engine
A search engine that compiles it’s results from the
databases of other search engines.
Meta Tags
Specific areas built in to HTML code to hold information
for search engines to read. Meta tags no longer play
an integral role in the web promotion of a site.
Optimization
The process of altering site structure, code, content,
titles and meta content to be search engine friendly.
Outbound Link
A link that leaves your site.
Pay Per Click
A search engine, like Looksmart, that charges you a fixed
amount every time your listing is clicked on.
Promotion Page
Site pages that have been designed to rank highly in search
engines. The term ‘doorway’ page has been
negatively associated with poorly designed pages that
have little or no content for a user and that use tricks
to capture search engine attention. While these have
been banned by search engines, any page in a site can
legitimately be designed to rank highly in a search engine.
Reciprocal Link
An exchange of links between two sites.
Re-index
How often a search engine updates its index. Google updates
its index once a month.
Search Engine
An internet program that ranks relevant sites based on
the keywords that the user has typed in. Google is
a search engine.
Search Engine Promotion
The business of making web sites rank well in search engines.
Search Engine Positioning
The business of making web sites rank well in search engines.
Search Engine Report
A report detailing site rankings across the search engines
under specific keywords.
Spider
Also called a ‘bot’, a spider is a search engine
program that crawls the internet adding web sites to the
search engine database.
Web Promotion
The business of making web sites rank well in search engines.
