Seo Glossary Part 1
Absolute Link
<a href="http://www.netconcepts.com">www.netconcepts.com</a>
The above is an example of an Absolute Link.
It specifies a
- transfer protocol
- domain name
- and often a file name
'Absolute Link verses Relative Link'.
Accessibility
Accessibility is the practice of making websites usable by disabled people - especially blind people.
Because search engines are essentially blind (ie they can't see pictures or use Flash) accessible websites tend to have better search engine rankings than inaccessible websites.
AdSense
Google AdSense is a fast and easy way for website publishers of all sizes to display relevant Google ads on their website's content pages and earn money. Because the ads are related to what your visitors are looking for on your site or matched to the characteristics and interests of the visitors your content attracts you'll finally have a way to both monetize and enhance your content pages.
It's also a way for website publishers to provide Google web and site search to their visitors, and to earn money by displaying Google ads on the search results pages.
AdWords
Google's CPC (Cost Per Click) based text advertising. AdWords takes clickthrough rate into consideration in addition to advertiser?s bid to determine the ad?s relative position within the paid search results. Google applies such a weighting factor in order to feature those paid search results that more popular and thus presumably more relevant and useful. Google has also started taking into account the quality of the landing page and applying a quality score to the landing pages.
Agent Name
This is the name of the Crawler/spider that is currently visiting a page. Spider is a robot sent out by search engines to catalogue websites on the internet. When a spider indexes a particular website, this is known as 'being spidered'.
AJAX
Asynchronous JavaScript And XML
Allows you to create a more user-friendly web application by working behind the scenes (inside a web browser) by making web pages feel more responsive.
In short, it allows JavaScript scripts to send data requests and receive responses without having to reload the entire page.
Algorithm
An algorithm is an operational programming rule that determine how a search engine indexes content and displays the results to its users.
AllTheWeb
'AllTheWeb' is a search engine owned by Yahoo and using its database.
Alt Attribute
The ALT attribute is designed to be an alternative text description (provide a text equivalent) for images.
Alt tags
Alt tags alternate text associated with a web page graphic that gets displayed when the Internet user hovers the mouse over the graphic. Alt tags should convey what the graphic is for or about and contain good relevant keywords. Alt tags also make web pages more accessible to the disabled. For example, a vision-impaired user may have a web browser that reads aloud the text and alt tags on a page. (For those familiar with HTML, "alt" isn't actually a tag by itself but an attribute to the "img" tag.). Note that the value of Alt tags for SEO have been discounted over time by the search engines to the point that now it is of minimal value.
Anchor text
Anchor text is the actual text part of a link (usually underlined). Used by search engines as an important ranking factor. Google pays particular attention to the text used in a hyperlink and associates the keywords contained in the anchor text to the page being linked to. Also see "Google bombing."
Animated Ad
An ad with movement, often an interactive Java applet or Shockwave or GIF89a file.
Announce site to search engines
"Announce" a website to the engines by adding a link to it from another site; that is, one that's already indexed (by the search engines).
Beware! Search engine submission services which promise higher visibility in the SERPS are total a rip-off.
Announcing
See Submitting Definition
API
Abbreviation for Application Program Interface. An API is a set of routines, protocols and tools for building software applications; it determines how a service is invoked through the application.
ASP
An acronym for Active Server Pages, a Microsoft-invented, proprietary programming language for building dynamic web sites. ASP is also an acronym for Application Service Provider, a hosted service available via the Internet.
Automated Submitting
Automated Submitting is using automated software such as WebPosition Gold or an Application Service Provider (ASP) such as Microsoft b-central's Submit-It service to submit your web pages to the search engines.
This tactic is frowned upon by the search engines. Indeed, some search engines such as AltaVista have completely automated submissions by requiring the user to re-key in a one-time use submission code that is displayed on the submission page as a graphic..
Back links
Back links are inbound links pointing to a web page.
See: Inbound Links Definition
Bait and Switch
Bait and switch is considered as a spam technique when used in SEO. It provides one page for a search engine or directory and a different page for other user agents at the same URL. Sometimes it creates an optimized page and submits to search engines or directory, but replaces with the regular page as soon as the optimized page has been indexed.
Banned
When a search engine blocks your site from appearing in its search results.
Banner Ad
A graphic image, usually a GIF or JPEG, that can be placed anywhere on a web page, most frequently centered across the top. The tile ad is a smaller counterpart, typically grouped with other tile ads along a side margin. The standard banner ad is 468 x 60 pixels; the most common size for tile ads is 125 x 125 pixels.
The Interactive Advertising Bureau regulates guidelines and standards for display advertising sizes.
Beacon
A line of code placed in an ad or on a web page that helps track the visitor's actions, such as registrations or purchases. A web beacon is often invisible because it's only 1 x 1 pixel in size and has no color. Also known as web bug, 1 by 1 GIF, invisible GIF or tracker GIF.
Beyond The Banner
Any advertisement that is not a banner, such as an interstitial or a pop-up ad.
Bid management tool
Software or an ASP service used to manage bids on pay-per-click search engines such as Yahoo Search Marketing (formerly Overture) and Google AdWords.
Bidding
Bidding means placing a bid price that you are willing to pay as an advertiser on a pay-per-click search engine. The highest bid for a given keyword achieves the top spot in the PPC search results. In Overture, the top three bids are "featured" on Overture's partners' sites, including AOL, Altavista, Infospace, and others. The minimum bid amount on Overture is 5 cents per clickthrough.
Also see Pay Per Click / PPC Definition
Black Hat SEO
Black Hat SEO is sometimes called spamdexing (the opposite of White Hat SEO). Black Hat SEO can be any optimization tactics that cause a site to rank more highly than its content would otherwise justify or any changes made specifically for search engines that don't improve the user's experience of the site. In other words, Black Hat SEO is optimizations that are against search engine guidelines. If you step too far over the mark, your site may be penalized or even removed from the index.
For example, adding product reviews to e-commerce site is encouraged, because it adds useful content to the site. However, using bait-and-switch techniques to create a doorway page that hooks people querying for information on soccer, it then leads to information about health products will be unacceptable.
The following Black Hat SEO tactics should be avoided to keep your site away from penalties:
Keyword, anchor text and domain name stuffing
Using hidden text or links
Using techniques to artificially increase the number of links to your pages, such as link farms
Excessively cross-linking sites to increase link popularity
Cloaking, delivering different pages depending on the IP address and/or agent who is requesting it
Doorway / Gateway / Jump Pages
Duplicate content taken from other sites
Auto-generated content of no value to the end user
Spamming forums or blogs
Excessive outbound links to websites that use high risk techniques or spam
Last but not least, stay close to search engine guidelines is always a good idea while optimizing your site.
Search Engine Guidelines:
Yahoo! Search Content Quality Guidelines
Google Information on Search Engine Optimizers
MSN Guidelines for successful indexing
Blacklist
lists that either search engines or vigilante users compile of search engine spammers, which may be used to ban those spammers from search engines or to boycott them.
Blog
Also known as a "weblog". An online diary with entries made on a regular if not daily basis. Some blogs are maintained by an anonymous author who uses a nickname or handle instead of his or her real name.
Body copy
the 'meaty' textual content of a web page. Body copy refers to text visible to users, doesn't include graphical content, navigation, or information hidden in the HTML source code.
Bot
Short for robot. See "spider"
Bridge page
see "doorway page"
Broad Match
Broad Match is a form of "keyword matching" and refers to the matching of a search listing or advertisement to selected keywords in any order.
This means if selected keywords are "running shoes", then ads or a search listing may be displayed if the users searches upon the following example keywords:
Any Order: "shoes running"
Synonym: "running sneakers"
Plural, Singular: "running shoe"
Broad match terms are less targeted than exact or phrase matches.
Bulk submission services
an ASP that submits many URLs to the search engines on your behalf. For example: SubmitWolf. Search engines don't like these. (see "automated submitting")
Button
A clickable graphic that takes the user to another page or executes a program, such as a software demo or a video player.
Cache
copies of web pages stored locally on an Internet user's hard drive or within a search engine's database. A cache is the reason why web pages load so quickly when a user hits the Back button in their web browser, since the page is not being redownloaded off of the Internet. Google is unusual among search engines in that it allows Internet users to view the cached version of web pages in its index. Simply click on the word "Cache" next to the search result of interest and you will be taken to a copy of the page as Googlebot discovered and indexed it.This feature of Google makes it easy to spot cloaking...
Call To Action
A call to action is copy used in advertising to encourage a person to complete an action as defined by the advertiser.
Call to action words are "doing words" such as "Click here", "Buy Now", "Enter Now" or "Click to download".
Cgi-bin
a "virtual" directory contained in URLs indicates a CGI (Common Gateway Interface) script is in use. A sure tip-off to the spider that your page is dynamic.
Click-down Ad or Click-within Ad
An ad that allows the user to stay on the same web page, while viewing requested advertising content. Click-downs display another file on the user's screen, normally below or above the initial ad.
Click-withins allow the user to drill down for more information within the ad.
Clickthrough
The action of clicking an ad element and causing a redirect to another web page.
Clickthrough rate
the rate at which people click on a link such as a search engine listing or a banner ad. Studies show that clickthrough rates are six times higher for search engine listings than banner ads.
Cloaking
serving different content to search engine spiders than to human visitors. Cloaking is basically a "bait and switch" tactic, where the web server feeds visiting spiders content that is keyword-rich, thus fooling the search engine into placing that page higher in the search results. Yet when the visitor clicks on the link they are given different content, which may be totally unrelated. Search engines frown upon this practice and some will penalize or ban sites that they catch doing it.
Cold Fusion
a web scripting language with limited capabilities, mostly centered around database access. ColdFusion program files are saved on the web server with a .CFM file extension.
Content Integration
Advertising woven into editorial content or placed in a special context on the page, typically appearing on portals and large destination sites. Also known as web advertorial or sponsored content.
Conversion
the act of converting a web site visitor into a customer or at least taking that visitor a step closer to customer acquisition (such as convincing them to sign up for your e-mail newsletter)
Conversion rate
the rate at which visitors get converted to customers or are moved a step closer to customer acquisition.
Cookie
information placed on a visitor's computer by a web server. While the web site is being accessed, data in the visitor's cookie file can be stored or retrieved. Mostly cookies are used as unique identifiers (i.e. user IDs or session IDs) to isolate a visitor's movements from others' during that visit and subsequent visits. Other data that may get stored in a cookie include an order number, email address, referring advertiser, etc.
Cost Per Action (CPA)
the cost incurred or price paid for a specific action, such as signing up for an email newsletter, entering a contest, registering on the site, completing a survey, downloading trial software, printing a coupon, etc.
Cost Per Click (CPC)
the cost incurred or price paid for a clickthrough to your landing page.
Cost Per Lead (CPL)
Pricing based on the number of new leads generated.
For example, people who click from an ad and then complete an inquiry form is considered to be a lead. The advertiser would pay based on the number leads received.
Cost Per Order (CPO)
Pricing based on the number of orders received as a result of your ad placement. Also known as cost-per-transaction.
Cost Per Sale (CPS)
Pricing based on the number of sales transactions your ad generates. Since users may visit your site several times before making a purchase, you can use cookies to track their visits from your landing page to the actual online sale. Also known as cost-per-acquisition or pay-per-sale.
Cost Per Thousand (CPM)
the cost incurred or price paid for a thousand impressions
Counter
a simple program which tracks the total number of webpage impressions.
Crawler
see "spider"
CSS
Cascading Style Sheet - used to control the design of website
CTR - Click Through Rate
Click Through Rate is a measure of the number of clicks received from the number of ad impressions delivered.
The formula to calculate CTR is:
'number of clicks' / 'number of ad impressions' x 100
Custom error page
You can customize the content and the look-and-feel of the default page that is displayed on your web server when a 404 File Not Found error occurs. A good 404 error page has a friendly message explaining that the page they requested doesn't exist at the location, a site map to encourage the user to continue exploring the site, a search box so the user can conduct a search, and a look-and-feel that matches the rest of the site, including navigation of course. Creating a custom 404 error page not only helps keep visitors in your site, it is also an important part of the search engine optimization process. Inevitably pages on your site will get moved and removed over time. When a search engine spider returns to your site to reindex those now non-existent pages, they will have a set of links to explore in the form of the site map on the custom 404 page. You can test for whether a site has a custom 404 error page by trying to access a web page with a nonsense filename after the domain name in the web site address. For example: www.yourcompany.com/blah
Database-driven
As in "database-driven web site." Means that the website is connected to a database and web page content is based in part on information extracted from those databases.
Database-generated
As in "database-generated web page." Means that a web page is created dynamically 'on-the-fly' from a database, in contrast with a static HTML page.
Daughter Window
An ad that runs in a separate window associated with a concurrently displayed banner. In normal practice, the content and banner are rendered first and the daughter window appears a moment later.
Deep submitting
submitting URLs of pages deep in your site to the search engines. For example, if a webmaster of 200-page website submits each of those 200 pages. This tactic is frowned upon by some search engines because it unnecessarily clogs up their submission database when the search engine spider could find those pages on its own by exploring links starting at the home page.
Directory
Human editors group websites into categories and provide site descriptions or edit descriptions that are submitted to them. With a directory, picking the right category and composing a description rich in key phrases will ensure maximum visibility. Contrast this with a search engine, which is unedited and concerned primarily with the HTML of a site's constituent pages.
Doorway page
Also known as a "bridge page" or a "gateway page". A doorway page is a web page full of keyword-rich copy that doesn't deliver any useful information on it other than a link into the site, and whose sole purpose is to be fed to the search engines.
Dynamic
generated 'on-the-fly' from a database. Also see "database-driven."
Dynamic Rotation
Delivery of ads on a rotating, random basis. Dynamic rotation allows ads to be served on different pages of the site and exposes users to a variety of ads.
Error page
A web page stating an error message such as "File Not Found"
Exact Match
Exact Match is a form of keyword matching where the search query must be exactly the same as the advertisement keyword.
This means that the term "running shoes" will only match ads or search listings that contain the exact words "running shoes".
Exclusive Advertising
A contract that allows advertisers to purchase all inventory on a given page or for chosen keywords.
Expandable Banner
A banner ad that can expand to as large as 468 x 240 pixels after a user clicks on it or after a user moves the cursor over the banner.
Findability
How easily found your site is using search engines.
Flash
a technology developed by MacroMedia Corp. that allows a web designer to embed interactive multimedia into web pages. Often used for Flash intros, games, and animating navigation. If you visit a web page and see letters and numbers flying around with a fun
Flash intro
an animated 'short' created using Flash that Internet users are made to sit through upon entry to a home page. Flash intros annoy users. They also typically take the place of text content on a home page, and since search engines can't 'read' content embedded in Flash, the rankings of a home page that's just a Flash intro will suffer.
Floating Ads
An ad that appears within the main browser window on top of the page's normal content, appearing to "float" over the top of the page.
Flux
Shuffling of search engine positions in between major search engine updates
Forums
A virtual community. Also known as discussion forums. Used by search engine optimizers and webmasters for information exchange. Users can post messages in different forums, either to the group at large or to certain users. However, all postings can be seen by anyone else who has access to that forum, so save sensitive materials for private email. Forums are also threaded, which means a reply to a particular posting becomes part of the "thread" of that posting that can be followed to provide a cohesive progression through a particular topic.
Frames
when separate web pages are combined into one, each potentially with its own scrollbar. You know you're on a framed website when part of the page scrolls while the rest of the page stays in place. Frames frustrate people because much of the time when the person tries to bookmark a specific page, it doesn't actually work but instead bookmarks the "frameset" page which is typically the home page. Search engines don't like frames. A framed web site is at a severe disadvantage compared to non-framed sites in terms of search engine marketing. Most search engines support frames, but only, as Google says in its FAQ section, "to the extent that [we] can." Searchers clicking through to a framed page from search results sometimes end up on an orphaned page. You can use <noframes> in HTML to make the page indexed normally by the crawler.
Frameset
A web page that is made up of frames. A useful analogy: if the individual frames that make up the frameset are the 'children,' then the frameset is the 'parent.'
Frequency
The number of times an ad is delivered to the same browser in a single sessions or time period.
Fresh
The term that Google uses to refer to frequently changing home pages. When Googlebot ascertains that a given home page is changing frequently, Googlebot will revisit and reindex this page daily.
Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5
<a href="http://www.netconcepts.com">www.netconcepts.com</a>
The above is an example of an Absolute Link.
It specifies a
- transfer protocol
- domain name
- and often a file name
'Absolute Link verses Relative Link'.
Accessibility
Accessibility is the practice of making websites usable by disabled people - especially blind people.
Because search engines are essentially blind (ie they can't see pictures or use Flash) accessible websites tend to have better search engine rankings than inaccessible websites.
AdSense
Google AdSense is a fast and easy way for website publishers of all sizes to display relevant Google ads on their website's content pages and earn money. Because the ads are related to what your visitors are looking for on your site or matched to the characteristics and interests of the visitors your content attracts you'll finally have a way to both monetize and enhance your content pages.
It's also a way for website publishers to provide Google web and site search to their visitors, and to earn money by displaying Google ads on the search results pages.
AdWords
Google's CPC (Cost Per Click) based text advertising. AdWords takes clickthrough rate into consideration in addition to advertiser?s bid to determine the ad?s relative position within the paid search results. Google applies such a weighting factor in order to feature those paid search results that more popular and thus presumably more relevant and useful. Google has also started taking into account the quality of the landing page and applying a quality score to the landing pages.
Agent Name
This is the name of the Crawler/spider that is currently visiting a page. Spider is a robot sent out by search engines to catalogue websites on the internet. When a spider indexes a particular website, this is known as 'being spidered'.
AJAX
Asynchronous JavaScript And XML
Allows you to create a more user-friendly web application by working behind the scenes (inside a web browser) by making web pages feel more responsive.
In short, it allows JavaScript scripts to send data requests and receive responses without having to reload the entire page.
Algorithm
An algorithm is an operational programming rule that determine how a search engine indexes content and displays the results to its users.
AllTheWeb
'AllTheWeb' is a search engine owned by Yahoo and using its database.
Alt Attribute
The ALT attribute is designed to be an alternative text description (provide a text equivalent) for images.
Alt tags
Alt tags alternate text associated with a web page graphic that gets displayed when the Internet user hovers the mouse over the graphic. Alt tags should convey what the graphic is for or about and contain good relevant keywords. Alt tags also make web pages more accessible to the disabled. For example, a vision-impaired user may have a web browser that reads aloud the text and alt tags on a page. (For those familiar with HTML, "alt" isn't actually a tag by itself but an attribute to the "img" tag.). Note that the value of Alt tags for SEO have been discounted over time by the search engines to the point that now it is of minimal value.
Anchor text
Anchor text is the actual text part of a link (usually underlined). Used by search engines as an important ranking factor. Google pays particular attention to the text used in a hyperlink and associates the keywords contained in the anchor text to the page being linked to. Also see "Google bombing."
Animated Ad
An ad with movement, often an interactive Java applet or Shockwave or GIF89a file.
Announce site to search engines
"Announce" a website to the engines by adding a link to it from another site; that is, one that's already indexed (by the search engines).
Beware! Search engine submission services which promise higher visibility in the SERPS are total a rip-off.
Announcing
See Submitting Definition
API
Abbreviation for Application Program Interface. An API is a set of routines, protocols and tools for building software applications; it determines how a service is invoked through the application.
ASP
An acronym for Active Server Pages, a Microsoft-invented, proprietary programming language for building dynamic web sites. ASP is also an acronym for Application Service Provider, a hosted service available via the Internet.
Automated Submitting
Automated Submitting is using automated software such as WebPosition Gold or an Application Service Provider (ASP) such as Microsoft b-central's Submit-It service to submit your web pages to the search engines.
This tactic is frowned upon by the search engines. Indeed, some search engines such as AltaVista have completely automated submissions by requiring the user to re-key in a one-time use submission code that is displayed on the submission page as a graphic..
Back links
Back links are inbound links pointing to a web page.
See: Inbound Links Definition
Bait and Switch
Bait and switch is considered as a spam technique when used in SEO. It provides one page for a search engine or directory and a different page for other user agents at the same URL. Sometimes it creates an optimized page and submits to search engines or directory, but replaces with the regular page as soon as the optimized page has been indexed.
Banned
When a search engine blocks your site from appearing in its search results.
Banner Ad
A graphic image, usually a GIF or JPEG, that can be placed anywhere on a web page, most frequently centered across the top. The tile ad is a smaller counterpart, typically grouped with other tile ads along a side margin. The standard banner ad is 468 x 60 pixels; the most common size for tile ads is 125 x 125 pixels.
The Interactive Advertising Bureau regulates guidelines and standards for display advertising sizes.
Beacon
A line of code placed in an ad or on a web page that helps track the visitor's actions, such as registrations or purchases. A web beacon is often invisible because it's only 1 x 1 pixel in size and has no color. Also known as web bug, 1 by 1 GIF, invisible GIF or tracker GIF.
Beyond The Banner
Any advertisement that is not a banner, such as an interstitial or a pop-up ad.
Bid management tool
Software or an ASP service used to manage bids on pay-per-click search engines such as Yahoo Search Marketing (formerly Overture) and Google AdWords.
Bidding
Bidding means placing a bid price that you are willing to pay as an advertiser on a pay-per-click search engine. The highest bid for a given keyword achieves the top spot in the PPC search results. In Overture, the top three bids are "featured" on Overture's partners' sites, including AOL, Altavista, Infospace, and others. The minimum bid amount on Overture is 5 cents per clickthrough.
Also see Pay Per Click / PPC Definition
Black Hat SEO
Black Hat SEO is sometimes called spamdexing (the opposite of White Hat SEO). Black Hat SEO can be any optimization tactics that cause a site to rank more highly than its content would otherwise justify or any changes made specifically for search engines that don't improve the user's experience of the site. In other words, Black Hat SEO is optimizations that are against search engine guidelines. If you step too far over the mark, your site may be penalized or even removed from the index.
For example, adding product reviews to e-commerce site is encouraged, because it adds useful content to the site. However, using bait-and-switch techniques to create a doorway page that hooks people querying for information on soccer, it then leads to information about health products will be unacceptable.
The following Black Hat SEO tactics should be avoided to keep your site away from penalties:
Keyword, anchor text and domain name stuffing
Using hidden text or links
Using techniques to artificially increase the number of links to your pages, such as link farms
Excessively cross-linking sites to increase link popularity
Cloaking, delivering different pages depending on the IP address and/or agent who is requesting it
Doorway / Gateway / Jump Pages
Duplicate content taken from other sites
Auto-generated content of no value to the end user
Spamming forums or blogs
Excessive outbound links to websites that use high risk techniques or spam
Last but not least, stay close to search engine guidelines is always a good idea while optimizing your site.
Search Engine Guidelines:
Yahoo! Search Content Quality Guidelines
Google Information on Search Engine Optimizers
MSN Guidelines for successful indexing
Blacklist
lists that either search engines or vigilante users compile of search engine spammers, which may be used to ban those spammers from search engines or to boycott them.
Blog
Also known as a "weblog". An online diary with entries made on a regular if not daily basis. Some blogs are maintained by an anonymous author who uses a nickname or handle instead of his or her real name.
Body copy
the 'meaty' textual content of a web page. Body copy refers to text visible to users, doesn't include graphical content, navigation, or information hidden in the HTML source code.
Bot
Short for robot. See "spider"
Bridge page
see "doorway page"
Broad Match
Broad Match is a form of "keyword matching" and refers to the matching of a search listing or advertisement to selected keywords in any order.
This means if selected keywords are "running shoes", then ads or a search listing may be displayed if the users searches upon the following example keywords:
Any Order: "shoes running"
Synonym: "running sneakers"
Plural, Singular: "running shoe"
Broad match terms are less targeted than exact or phrase matches.
Bulk submission services
an ASP that submits many URLs to the search engines on your behalf. For example: SubmitWolf. Search engines don't like these. (see "automated submitting")
Button
A clickable graphic that takes the user to another page or executes a program, such as a software demo or a video player.
Cache
copies of web pages stored locally on an Internet user's hard drive or within a search engine's database. A cache is the reason why web pages load so quickly when a user hits the Back button in their web browser, since the page is not being redownloaded off of the Internet. Google is unusual among search engines in that it allows Internet users to view the cached version of web pages in its index. Simply click on the word "Cache" next to the search result of interest and you will be taken to a copy of the page as Googlebot discovered and indexed it.This feature of Google makes it easy to spot cloaking...
Call To Action
A call to action is copy used in advertising to encourage a person to complete an action as defined by the advertiser.
Call to action words are "doing words" such as "Click here", "Buy Now", "Enter Now" or "Click to download".
Cgi-bin
a "virtual" directory contained in URLs indicates a CGI (Common Gateway Interface) script is in use. A sure tip-off to the spider that your page is dynamic.
Click-down Ad or Click-within Ad
An ad that allows the user to stay on the same web page, while viewing requested advertising content. Click-downs display another file on the user's screen, normally below or above the initial ad.
Click-withins allow the user to drill down for more information within the ad.
Clickthrough
The action of clicking an ad element and causing a redirect to another web page.
Clickthrough rate
the rate at which people click on a link such as a search engine listing or a banner ad. Studies show that clickthrough rates are six times higher for search engine listings than banner ads.
Cloaking
serving different content to search engine spiders than to human visitors. Cloaking is basically a "bait and switch" tactic, where the web server feeds visiting spiders content that is keyword-rich, thus fooling the search engine into placing that page higher in the search results. Yet when the visitor clicks on the link they are given different content, which may be totally unrelated. Search engines frown upon this practice and some will penalize or ban sites that they catch doing it.
Cold Fusion
a web scripting language with limited capabilities, mostly centered around database access. ColdFusion program files are saved on the web server with a .CFM file extension.
Content Integration
Advertising woven into editorial content or placed in a special context on the page, typically appearing on portals and large destination sites. Also known as web advertorial or sponsored content.
Conversion
the act of converting a web site visitor into a customer or at least taking that visitor a step closer to customer acquisition (such as convincing them to sign up for your e-mail newsletter)
Conversion rate
the rate at which visitors get converted to customers or are moved a step closer to customer acquisition.
Cookie
information placed on a visitor's computer by a web server. While the web site is being accessed, data in the visitor's cookie file can be stored or retrieved. Mostly cookies are used as unique identifiers (i.e. user IDs or session IDs) to isolate a visitor's movements from others' during that visit and subsequent visits. Other data that may get stored in a cookie include an order number, email address, referring advertiser, etc.
Cost Per Action (CPA)
the cost incurred or price paid for a specific action, such as signing up for an email newsletter, entering a contest, registering on the site, completing a survey, downloading trial software, printing a coupon, etc.
Cost Per Click (CPC)
the cost incurred or price paid for a clickthrough to your landing page.
Cost Per Lead (CPL)
Pricing based on the number of new leads generated.
For example, people who click from an ad and then complete an inquiry form is considered to be a lead. The advertiser would pay based on the number leads received.
Cost Per Order (CPO)
Pricing based on the number of orders received as a result of your ad placement. Also known as cost-per-transaction.
Cost Per Sale (CPS)
Pricing based on the number of sales transactions your ad generates. Since users may visit your site several times before making a purchase, you can use cookies to track their visits from your landing page to the actual online sale. Also known as cost-per-acquisition or pay-per-sale.
Cost Per Thousand (CPM)
the cost incurred or price paid for a thousand impressions
Counter
a simple program which tracks the total number of webpage impressions.
Crawler
see "spider"
CSS
Cascading Style Sheet - used to control the design of website
CTR - Click Through Rate
Click Through Rate is a measure of the number of clicks received from the number of ad impressions delivered.
The formula to calculate CTR is:
'number of clicks' / 'number of ad impressions' x 100
Custom error page
You can customize the content and the look-and-feel of the default page that is displayed on your web server when a 404 File Not Found error occurs. A good 404 error page has a friendly message explaining that the page they requested doesn't exist at the location, a site map to encourage the user to continue exploring the site, a search box so the user can conduct a search, and a look-and-feel that matches the rest of the site, including navigation of course. Creating a custom 404 error page not only helps keep visitors in your site, it is also an important part of the search engine optimization process. Inevitably pages on your site will get moved and removed over time. When a search engine spider returns to your site to reindex those now non-existent pages, they will have a set of links to explore in the form of the site map on the custom 404 page. You can test for whether a site has a custom 404 error page by trying to access a web page with a nonsense filename after the domain name in the web site address. For example: www.yourcompany.com/blah
Database-driven
As in "database-driven web site." Means that the website is connected to a database and web page content is based in part on information extracted from those databases.
Database-generated
As in "database-generated web page." Means that a web page is created dynamically 'on-the-fly' from a database, in contrast with a static HTML page.
Daughter Window
An ad that runs in a separate window associated with a concurrently displayed banner. In normal practice, the content and banner are rendered first and the daughter window appears a moment later.
Deep submitting
submitting URLs of pages deep in your site to the search engines. For example, if a webmaster of 200-page website submits each of those 200 pages. This tactic is frowned upon by some search engines because it unnecessarily clogs up their submission database when the search engine spider could find those pages on its own by exploring links starting at the home page.
Directory
Human editors group websites into categories and provide site descriptions or edit descriptions that are submitted to them. With a directory, picking the right category and composing a description rich in key phrases will ensure maximum visibility. Contrast this with a search engine, which is unedited and concerned primarily with the HTML of a site's constituent pages.
Doorway page
Also known as a "bridge page" or a "gateway page". A doorway page is a web page full of keyword-rich copy that doesn't deliver any useful information on it other than a link into the site, and whose sole purpose is to be fed to the search engines.
Dynamic
generated 'on-the-fly' from a database. Also see "database-driven."
Dynamic Rotation
Delivery of ads on a rotating, random basis. Dynamic rotation allows ads to be served on different pages of the site and exposes users to a variety of ads.
Error page
A web page stating an error message such as "File Not Found"
Exact Match
Exact Match is a form of keyword matching where the search query must be exactly the same as the advertisement keyword.
This means that the term "running shoes" will only match ads or search listings that contain the exact words "running shoes".
Exclusive Advertising
A contract that allows advertisers to purchase all inventory on a given page or for chosen keywords.
Expandable Banner
A banner ad that can expand to as large as 468 x 240 pixels after a user clicks on it or after a user moves the cursor over the banner.
Findability
How easily found your site is using search engines.
Flash
a technology developed by MacroMedia Corp. that allows a web designer to embed interactive multimedia into web pages. Often used for Flash intros, games, and animating navigation. If you visit a web page and see letters and numbers flying around with a fun
Flash intro
an animated 'short' created using Flash that Internet users are made to sit through upon entry to a home page. Flash intros annoy users. They also typically take the place of text content on a home page, and since search engines can't 'read' content embedded in Flash, the rankings of a home page that's just a Flash intro will suffer.
Floating Ads
An ad that appears within the main browser window on top of the page's normal content, appearing to "float" over the top of the page.
Flux
Shuffling of search engine positions in between major search engine updates
Forums
A virtual community. Also known as discussion forums. Used by search engine optimizers and webmasters for information exchange. Users can post messages in different forums, either to the group at large or to certain users. However, all postings can be seen by anyone else who has access to that forum, so save sensitive materials for private email. Forums are also threaded, which means a reply to a particular posting becomes part of the "thread" of that posting that can be followed to provide a cohesive progression through a particular topic.
Frames
when separate web pages are combined into one, each potentially with its own scrollbar. You know you're on a framed website when part of the page scrolls while the rest of the page stays in place. Frames frustrate people because much of the time when the person tries to bookmark a specific page, it doesn't actually work but instead bookmarks the "frameset" page which is typically the home page. Search engines don't like frames. A framed web site is at a severe disadvantage compared to non-framed sites in terms of search engine marketing. Most search engines support frames, but only, as Google says in its FAQ section, "to the extent that [we] can." Searchers clicking through to a framed page from search results sometimes end up on an orphaned page. You can use <noframes> in HTML to make the page indexed normally by the crawler.
Frameset
A web page that is made up of frames. A useful analogy: if the individual frames that make up the frameset are the 'children,' then the frameset is the 'parent.'
Frequency
The number of times an ad is delivered to the same browser in a single sessions or time period.
Fresh
The term that Google uses to refer to frequently changing home pages. When Googlebot ascertains that a given home page is changing frequently, Googlebot will revisit and reindex this page daily.
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