A

Address – This is a number that uniquely identifies a site on the internet. It is used to access the site and through links.

Adwords – This is Google’s program for its cost per lick ad campaign. The position of an ad in paid search results in based on two factors – the ads click through rate and the advertiser’s bid. In addition to this Google also considered the relevance o and quality of the site landing page. If all these factors put together go well, the site comes up on top of the search results.

Agent Name – Indicates the spider that is currently visiting a web page. Spiders are used by search engine to capture information from web sites and then to catalog them. Sited that have been indexed are termed as being spidered.

Algorithm – It denotes a set of rules used by search engines to rank results for user queries. The search engine index contains information which is used by the search engine to arrive at rankings. Every search engine has it’s own unique algorithm which is kept as a closely guarded secret and never let out because of risks such as competitors and spammers.

Alt Text – It is a short form for Alternative text. This is text displayed when a user hovers over an image on a site. In case of images which serve as links the Alt Text for such image links work similarly to anchor texts and are given the same level of importance as anchor texts.

Altavista – This is a search engine, initiated in 1995 by Digital Equipment Corporation. In the early days of the internet it was very popular with people. In 2003, Overture overtook AltaVista and then went on to become a part of Yahoo!.

Anchor Text – In a text based link, anchor text is the set of words that the users click to take the link. These words are made up based on the nature of the site or page to which it links. The anchor text put into a site must be very relevant to user searches and pertaining to the content put in the site to which it is linking.

Absolute Link - This refers to a link which includes the complete URL. This means it includes the domain name, folder name, subdirectory name and file name details for the link and is considered to be comprehensive or total link information.

Accessibility – The process of making a site available for disabled people, mostly blind people so that they too can make use of them for their information requirements. In essence a search engine is blind as it is unable to sense flash and graphics, so if a site were to have more of text in it, it is considered to be more accessible by the search engines and hence it has better search rankings than those with too many graphics and flash.

AdSense - Adsense of Google Adsense is a program that enables quick and easy display of Google ads in site content and thereby providing a means for site owners to earn revenue through such ads. The ads are based on what visitors are interested in when they reach a particular site and this induces them to click the ad for more details on what is being offered.

AJAX - This is the short form for Asynchronous JavaScript And XML. AJAX serves as a powerful tool for designers to make their web applications more interactive. However, it’s functioning is not sensed up-front as it works behind the scenes. Through AJAX the issue of page reloading for data requests and receive responses can be avoided.

AllTheWeb – This refer to all the web pages. Search engine crawlers or robots searches all the pages of the World Wide Web or the internet and indexing the site that they come across capturing relevant information and storing it in the database.

Alt Attribute – This is the Alternative Text description for images that are seen in a website. The primary use of Alt Attribute is to enable disabled people to gain information through the internet and to cater to their information requirements.

Alt Tags – These are tags associated with Alt text information and their intention is to enable people who are disabled to get information put up in a site. For example, a blind user web browsers is fitted with means to read the Alt Text aloud and the Alt Tags aloud for their understanding.

API - Abbreviation for Application Program Interface. This is basically a set of tools, protocols and routines that enables developers to build software applications. It is also the basis for determining which service and application will invoke.

ASP - This is the short form for Active Server Pages. ASP is a programming language developed by Microsoft. It enables web designers to develop dynamic web site. Pages in ASP are written using VB script.

Automated Submitting – The process of submitting web pages to the internet, automatically using software specifically created for such tasks. Examples of software that offer this functionality is WebPosition Gold and Microsoft b-Central’s Submit-It service. Some search engine object to this form of page submissions.

B

Blind Traffic – Traffic that does not come out of legitimate search engine optimization techniques or enrolment into search engine programs. Such traffic is generated using spam, misleading advertisements and from segments for which the product or service offered is not really of any importance or relevance.

Back links – These are links that take a visitor to a site or a page upon clicking. It is also referred to as inbound links. The more number of back links a site has the more traffic it can receive and it’s importance rises in search result since it has information because of which many site want to link to it.

Bait and Switch – This is a bad practice used to improve search engine rankings and is considered as a spam technique. The search engine is provided with a optimized page that will be quickly indexed by spider, while the users actually see some other page. Another tactic here is to replace the optimized page with another one for user as soon as it’ get indexed y the spider. Search engines pose penalties on such sites.

Banned - Term used to refer to sites or pages removed from the search engine’s index because they violate guidelines set by the search engine or because they indulge in spamming or unethical internet activities. Such sites are not put up with any genuine interest in serving community members.

Bid Management Tool – This is a program which enables people into pay-per-click bids to manage their bid in Yahoo Search Marketing and Google AdWords. Some effective bid management tools are PPC Bid Max, PPC Pro, Atlas Search and Bid rank.

Bidding – This is the process of making a bid on top keywords and the highest bid or amount that a bidder is willing to pay for a keyword, wins the keyword. That keyword when placed in the site which won the bid will turn up on top of PPC search results.

Black Hat SEO – This is a term used to denote a set of search engine optimization techniques, considered unethical and that which should not be used as part of the search engine optimization process. Practices like this include cloaking, doorway pages, and invisible text. It is a bit of a controversial term with people arguing that black hat SEO is nothing more than content creation, while search engines penalize it as it is contrary to their guidelines. Google puts out the Google Death Penalty to it.

Blacklist – This is a list of spammers compiled by search engine or vigilantes so that they can be banned o t boycotted to prevent them form continuing their spamming activities. The list is basically a database and id’s in the list cannot send or receive message in as they will be blocked or banned by search engines.

Blog – This is basically a website, in which entries are based in a chronological order as seen in personal diaries. Personal blogs are more like diaries published on the internet. Blogs pertaining to specific commercial interests or topics can help to generate site traffic. Blog visitors can leave their comments.

Body copy – This refers to the content put up in a web site. This content is meant to provide information to users and induce them to act further by taking up what is being offered or suggested in the site. With proper SEO techniques in place body content will help the site to turn up on top of search results. It includes only text matter and does not include graphics, navigation tools or hidden HTML elements.

Bot - This is the short term for robot, which is the software is used by search engine to gather information from across the internet. Search engines use robots to get details needed for indexing web pages.

Bridge Page – This is a page that only has keywords rich content, which is not very useful for site visitors. It has a kink to a site and is only meant for search engine indexes. The search engine is expected to pick up on the page and list the site on top of search results. However, this is not a practice encouraged by search engines. Bridge Page is also known a door way page.

C

Click Through – Clicks on a site links which enable a visitor to get to or reach that site for details they require. It applies to clicks on search engine results, clicks on web pages, clicks on banner ads and clicks on links in e-mail messages. More click throughs indicate more traffic.

Click Tracking – Track of clicks made by visitors coming in and going out of a site through scripts. It gives details about site traffic and if a site link is being used by visitors as a back link to another site.

Cloaking – This is where Keywords and Meta Tags are used to direct search engine to sites or pages, not seen by actual site visitors. So, visitors see a different page and the search engine sees another. This is a Black Hat SEO technique and is deemed risky for use as those who take it up will be served the Google Death Penalty.

Clustering – When web site in a search engines are represented using just one or two links, it is termed as clustering.

Comment Tag – This is a HTML tag and it used to provide design details on the web page. Though it is considered to be useful in giving technical information, it can also be used as a sort of black hat technique to generate traffic, by stuffing keywords here. Now, it is not seen as a relevant way of increasing site traffic.

Counter – This is software used to track the number of page impressions or hits a site or a page receives. It indicates how much of traffic a site has received and if the ads placed in the site are effective as a result of being introduced into the site. This program is written using PHP or Java Script.

Crawl – This s the process of visiting all site of the world wide web and is performed by crawlers or robots used by search engine specifically for gathering information from sites located on the internet. As a crawler crawls through sites, it indexes it and this indexed information is used in displaying results to searcher queries in search listings.

Cross Linking – Here site A put a link to site B and vie versa and the reason fro doing this is to provide information to visitors on what more they can read up. However, it is also used as a means of promoting link popularity wherein site links to each other so that their ranking in search results increases and they have higher position in search listings. The sites can be owned by the same person or they may be related sites.

Cache - Copies of a web page that is stored in a search engine database or in a user’s PC. The purpose behind having cache is to help pages to load quickly making their access by users faster. This happens because the entire page does not have to be loaded from the internet, but is loaded from the PC hard disk drive or from the search engine database.

Clickthrough Rate - This is a percentage used to determine site traffic. Calculation is done by dividing the number of site visitors with the number of potential visitors. The short form of this term is CTR. High CTR indicates thar the site is popular with people on the internet.

Cold Fusion - This is a web scripting language that is based on the Hyper Text Markup Language format. The programs created using this software reside in the web server and are identified by their CFM file extension. It is used to create dynamic web pages.

Conversion - Refers to casual visitors getting turned into buyers, when seeing site contents and feel induced to buy as the product put up in the sit as it satisfies their requirements. It is the traffic required to achieve the goals for which the site has been set up. An Ecommerce site set up to sell particular products must see required conversion to make necessary sales.

Conversion rate - This is the rate of conversion happening for a site. Higher rate indicate site popularity and more customers for the site’s business. It is an indication that the site has accomplished what it has set out to achieve.

Cookie – These are details on a visitor accessed site which are stored in a visitor’s PC. Such details can be retrieved by the visitor to access the site again. They serve to uniquely identify a visitor from others visiting a site and also tracks their subsequent visits to the site as well.

Cost Per Action (CPA) – The cost incurred per action undertaking in marketing a site. There are many examples for this such as the cost of signing up for an email newsletter or registering at a site or voting in a site, downloading software and so on. The higher the cost per actions, the higher the revenue for the site that is offering such actions to the user.

Cost Per Click (CPC) - This is the cost incurred b pr click made by uses to reach a or access a particular site. Advertisers have to pay these costs when someone clicks on their ad to reach their site. Such ads can be placed on other site or in search engine listings and so the payment goes to them

Cost Per Thousand (CPM) – This is accost calculation based on per thousand clicks received by for an advertisement. It is the standard unit of measurement in click based advertising and an advertiser pays up this primary cost for outing up their ad.

Crawler – This is a search engine component, which browsers through all he pages n the internet and collects relevant information from them and indexes them. It is also referred to as spider or robot.

CSS – This is the short form of Cascading Style Sheet. CSS enables web designers to add styles to HTML and XML applications. Such styles include fonts, spacing and aural cues. The advantage in using CSS is that it replaces the web page’s design elements and this helps to reduce the file size for loading a page.

Custom error page - A 404 File Not Found error can happen but instead of this page appearing to a visitor, a custom error page or a error page deigned by a site owner can be put in place instead of this. Such a page can have a friendly message that explains to the visitor that the page they requested in unavailable in the required location. It can offer a site map to encourage user to continue further in exploring the site

Cgi-bin – This is a virtual directory put into a site’s URL. When search engine spider comes across the site to index, they get to know that the site is dynamic. It indicates to the spider that a Common Gateway Interface script is being used in the site.

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