SEO Terms and Definitions

Impression

2009-01-25T07:39:00.000-08:00

IFRAME – “IFrame (from inline frame) is an HTML element which makes it possible to embed another HTML document inside the main document. The size of the IFrame is specified in the surrounding HTML page, so that the surrounding page can already be presented in the browser while the IFrame is still being loaded. The IFrame behaves much like an inline image, and the user can scroll it out of view. On the other hand, the IFrame can contain its own scroll bar, independent of the surrounding page's scroll bar. Source: Wikipedia

Image links - are hyperlinks which are formed solely around an image. Where image links are used for internal linking and web site navigation with no supporting text, it is important to use descriptive ALT tag and TITLE tag text to describe the link. Better still for SEO purposes, use text around the image within the same hyperlink.

Impression - (page view) The event where a user views a webpage one time. or The number of times your search ad is served to users by search engines. But it is more known as a single view of a web page, document or some other item to be measured by views.

In bound link (inlink, incoming link) Inbound links from related pages are the source of trust and pagerank (PR). Links that point to your site from sites other than your own.

Index (Noun) - a database of WebPages and their content used by the search engines.

Index (Verb) - to add a web page to a search engine index.

Indexed Pages - The pages on a site which have been indexed.

Inktomi
First introduced in September 1995, Inktomi Corporation from California was a key player in the search engine market where it pioneered online search technologies. It initially provided software to ISPs (Internet Service Providers) but then went onto power other well-known web search tools such as HotBot, Looksmart, MSN, regional search engines and others.

Abbreviation for Inktomi, the back-end search engine acquired by Yahoo. The Inktomi search engine is being phased out as Yahoo built a new search engine incorporating Inktomi's technology with elements of Yahoo's other search acquisitions.

Inlink (incoming link, inbound link) Inbound links from related pages are the source of trust and pagerank (PR).It is also called a backlinks.

Internal Links - An Internal Link is a hypertext link that points to another page within the same website. Internal links can be used as a form of navigation for people, directing them to pages within the website. Links assist with creating good information architecture within the site.

Interstitial Ad - An ad page that appears for a short period of time before the user-requested page is displayed. Also known as a transition ad, splash page, or Flash page.

Inventory - Advertising space available for purchase on a website. Based on projections, inventory may be specified as number of impressions or as a share of voice. Also known as ad avail.

Invisible Text - Text on a web page that is exactly the same color as the background. The use of invisible text to load a page with keywords was a popular SEO technique, but search engines can now detect invisible text and penalize sites that use it. But the general consensus is that it is not worth the risk.

Invisible Web - a term that refers to the vast amount of information on the web that is not indexed by the search engines. Coined in 1994 by Dr. Jill Ellsworth.

IP Address - IP Address stands for “Internet Protocol Address” and is sometimes referred to as “IP” or “Internet Address”. It is expressed as a four-part series of numbers separated by periods that identifies every sender and receiver of network data. The numbers represent the domain, the network, the subnetwork and the host computer. For example: 127.0.0.10 with each number ranging from 0 through to 255.

Each server or device connected to the Internet is assigned a unique permanent (static) or temporary (dynamic) IP address. The IP Address sometimes translates into a specific domain name.

IPTV – Acronym for Internet Protocol Television, which delivers digital television service using the Internet Protocol over a network. IPTV delivery may be through a high capacity, high speed broadband connection. Compared to traditional broadcast and cable television, IPTV may offer new venues for PPC search advertisers through program interfaces and stored individual preferences. Source: Wikipedia

IP Spoofing - A controversial technique for reporting a false IP address. In the context of search engines, IP spoofing is sometimes used to refer to the practice of cloaking.

ISP - (Internet Service Provider) employ a range of technologies to enable consumers to connect to their network. An ISP provides a range of Internet related services to customers including Internet connectivity, email, website hosting and domain name registration and hosting.

= J =

Java - Java is a coding language developed by Sun Microsystems. It is commonly used to code 'Applets' or as part of JSP. Many non-Internet applications are also coded using Java.

Java Applets - Is a small programs written in the Java programming language that can be embedded into web pages. Applet programs run on the Internet user's computer rather than the web server's computer. Search engines can not run Java applets. Consequently, if navigation or content is embedded in a Java applet, it will be invisible to the search engines and will not get indexed. Java source code gets compiled into executable code called "bytecode."

JavaScript - JavaScript is an 'in-page' coding language that allows interaction within web-pages. Generally, it is ignored by search engines, as it is used to manipulate content and change it, which is not something that search engine robots can easily calculate, nor search engine algorithms weight in SERP's. JavaScript is best used for dHTML, which allows the manipulation of Content, while keeping all content in HTML, where search engines can read it.

Jump Page Ad - A microsite reached by clicking a button or banner. The jump page itself can list several topics, which can link to your site.

Gateway Page

2008-12-28T08:18:00.000-08:00

Gateway Page - A web page optimized for certain keyphrase/s with the specific purpose of leading you to another page i.e. they offer nothing of value in themselves. Can be penalised by the search engines for this practice, so don't do it.

Google AdWords - PPC (pay-per-click) advertising program offered by Google.

Google Bombing - A technique where using the same text anchor links, many people link to a certain page - thus affecting SERPs.

Google Cache - Copies of web pages stored on the Google search engine database.

Googlebot - The Google spider which deep crawls web sites monthly.

Googlebowling - To nudge a competitor from the SERPs.

Google PageRank - is a numeric value that represents how important a page is on the web.

Googol - The term that inspired the name of Google - it means: 10100 = 1 followed by 100 zeros.

Google toolbar - The Google toolbar can be installed on to Internet Explorer. Once installed it can let you search from the toolbar, check the backlinks of a site, how many pages are indexed in Google from a site. You can also quickly navigate to the Google News site and many other Google resources. It can be installed from: http://toolbar.google.com

Heading Tag - An HTML tag that is often used to denote a page or section heading on a web page. Search engines pay special attention to text that is marked with a heading tag, as such text is set off from the rest of the page content as being more important.

Header tags - are HTML tags that help outline a web page or draw attention to important information. Keywords located inside header tags can provide a rankings boost in the search engines. Keywords in header tags are much like the head lines on a news paper.

Hidden Keywords - Keywords placed in the HTML source in such a way that they are not viewable by human visitors.

Hits - A hit takes place every time a file is accessed on your website. This page will show up in my log files as 4 hits, one for the webpage, one for the logo, one for the CSS file and the last for the JavaScript to display the Ads. A hits do not represent actual, or unique web page visits.

HTML - Stands for HyperText Markup Language - the programming language used to mark up web content and display it in a formatted manner.

HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) - A generic, stateless, protocol which can be used for many tasks.

HTTPS (HyperText Transfer Protocol Secure) - Same as HTTP, but has security features enabled to protect sensitive data.

Hub - A central, industry-specific and well-known point for information; usually has many outbound links rather than inbounds.

Hyperlinks - Links that take a visitor or a spider to another location; can be either images or text.

SEO Basic Terminology

2008-12-25T09:41:00.000-08:00

301 Redirect- Method of redirecting an old webpage to a new location. More simply, to display another web page for the web address that you are trying to visit.

Adwords - This is the Pay Per Click advertising program offered by Google.

Adsense - Contextual advertising by Google. Website publishers earn a portion of the advertising revenue for placing Google sponsored links on their site.

Algorithm - The search engine program that ranks sites based on certain criteria. It is an operational programming rule which is used to determine how a search engine indexes content and exhibits the results to its users. Google has over 100 different ranking criteria that sites need to meet.

Affiliate Marketing- A marketing program in which an advertiser pays an affiliate for driving event-driven traffic to their site. An event is primarily completing an order on the advertisers site but could simply be some sort of lead generation. Affiliate gets paid a commission based on order or lead.

AJAX - Asynchronous JavaScript and XML. A way to design web pages that are more end-user friendly and respond more quickly when the user requests data. A good example of AJAX in practice is Google Maps.

Alt Tag - An HTML attribute typically used within the IMG tag to provide alternate text when images cannot be displayed. Example:

Anchor Tag - An HTML tag that allows you to create a link to another document or web page or to a bookmark within the current web page. It is very extremely important what anchor text appears in links pointing to your web site e.g. if your web site is about cake recipes the anchor text 'Delicious Cake Recipes' will help your rankings more than the anchor text 'Donkeys like Carrots'.

Backlink - Links originating from one website and pointing to another website or web page.

Black Hat SEO - The use of unaccepted or frowned upon SEO practices in order to get higher rankings and more traffic. Use at the risk of being dropped from the engines or at least being removed from high rankings.

Bot - Programs written to scour the web automatically for various reasons (to index web pages, for spamming purposes, etc.) aka web robots, web crawlers, internet bots, spiders.

Bounce rate - This defines the percentage of visitors who arrive at your website, then leave the site without visiting other pages, that is, not going any farther into the site, thus they "bounce."

Cloaking - Showing a different web page to a search engine spider than what is normally seen. Method typically used by spammers.

Conversion - Ability to convert a website visitor into a customer, or at least taking that visitor a step closer to customer acquisition.

CPC - (Cost Per Click). Typical rate of measuring the expense involved with acquiring web traffic.

Crawler - A bot from a search engine that reads the text found on a website in order to determine what the website is about.

CSS - (Cascading Style Sheets) Used to define the look and navigation of a website. Used to control font styles, graphical layouts, color, etc.

CTR - Click Through Rate. Standard method of measuring the success of an online advertising campaign. Calculated by dividing the number of users who clicked on an ad by the number of times the ad was shown (also known as an impression). (Wikipedia)

Dead Link - A hyperlink pointing to a non-existent URL.

Description Meta Tag - Special HTML tag in the Head of an HTML document. Contains a brief description of the content found on the page.

Directory - Usually human edited, a directory contains sites that are sorted by categories.

Doorway Page
Any page created for the sole purpose of driving website traffic from the search engines and not a functional part of the website.

Downtime - Refers to a period of time or a percentage of a timespan that a machine or system (usually a computer server) is offline or not functioning.

Dynamic Site - A site that uses a database to store content and is delivered based on the variable passed to the page.

Dynamic Rotation - is delivering ads on a rotating, random basis.

Everflux - A term associated with the constant updating of the Google algorithm between major updates.

External Link - A link that points to another website.

Frequency - The average number of times an advertisement is run.

FreshBot
A sister to GoogleBot, this spider crawls highly ranked sites on a very frequent basis.