If you are not familiar with search engine optimization, use this SEO glossary to help you with unfamiliar online marketing terms.
Affiliate Marketing – Affiliate marketing is a process of revenue sharing that allows merchants to duplicate sales efforts by enlisting other web sites as a type of outside sales force. Successful affiliate marketing programs result in the merchant attracting additional buyers, and the affiliate earning the equivalent of a referral fee, based on click-through referrals to the merchant site.
Algorithm – A set of rules that a search engine uses to rank listings in response to a query. Search engines guard their algorithms closely, as they are the unique formulas used to determine relevancy.
ALT Text – Also known as alternative text or alt attribute. An HTML tag (ALT tag) used to provide images with a text description in the event images are turned off in a web browser. The images text description is usually visible while “hovering” over the image. This tag is also important for the web access of the visually impaired
Anchor Text – Descriptive, clickable text in a hyperlink.
Arbitrage – A practice through which web publishers – second tier search engines, directories and vertical search engines – engage in the buying and reselling of web traffic. Typically, arbitrage occurs when such publishers pool client budgets to engage in PPC campaigns on Tier I search engines (Google, Yahoo!, MSN). If the publishers pay $0.10 per click for traffic, they typically resell those visitors to clients who bid $0.20 or more for the same keywords. Successful arbitrage requires that the arbitrageur must pay less per click than what the traffic sells for. The variation called Affiliate Arbitrage involves a web site owner or blogger bidding on keywords from programs such as Yahoo! Search Marketing or Google AdWords, who then links the ads, either to their own web site, or directly to a merchant site displaying ads (from programs such as the Yahoo! Publisher Network or Google AdSense).
Backlinks – All the links pointing back at a particular web page on the owner’s website. Also called inbound links.
CPC – Cost Per Click, advertising where you only pay when your ad is clicked.
Cascading Style Sheets or CSS – An addition to your HTML, a web site’s “cascading style sheet” contains information on paragraph layout, font sizes, colors, etc. A cascading style sheet has many uses as far as search engine optimization and web site design are concerned.
Click Through Rate – The percentage of those clicking on a link out of the total number who see the link. For example, imagine 10 people do a web search. In response, they see links to a variety of web pages. Three of the 10 people all choose one particular link. That link then has a 30 percent click-through rate. Also called CTR. Source: Webmaster World Forums
Competitive Analysis – As used in SEO, CA is the assessment and analysis of strengths and weaknesses of competing web sites, including identifying traffic patterns, major traffic sources, and keyword selection.
Conversion Rate – Conversion rates are measurements that determine how many of your prospects perform the prescribed or desired action step. If your prescribed response is for a visitor to sign up for a newsletter, and you had 100 visitors and 1 newsletter signup, then your conversion rate would be 1%. Typically, micro-conversions (for instance, reading different pages on your site) lead to your main conversion step (making a purchase, or signing up for a service).
Crawler – Automated programs in search engines that gather web site listings by automatically crawling the web. A search engine’s crawler (also called a spider or robot) “reads” page text contents and web page coding, and also follows links to other hyperlinked pages on the web pages it crawls. A crawler makes copies of the web pages found and stores these in the search engine’s index, or database.
Deep Linking – Linking that guides, directs and links a click-through searcher (or a search engine crawler) to a very specific and relevant product or category web page from search terms and PPC ads.
Description Tag – Refers to the information contained in the description META tag. This tag is meant to hold the brief description of the web page it is included on. The information contained in this tag is generally the description displayed immediately after the main link on many search engine result pages.
Domain Name – Refers to the web address you type into the address bar in a browser to get to a website. It is also referred to as the URL. (seodoesmatter.com)
Doorway Page – A web page specifically created in order to obtain rankings within the natural listings of a search engine. These pages generally are filled with keywords and are meant to funnel surfers into the main web site. This practice is generally considered an outdated spam tactic. This term is not to be confused with a “landing page.”
Hyperlink – A method of connecting or moving from one webpage to another webpage. Typically done with keyword(s), graphics, or the web URL address. (http://www.seodoesmatter.com)
Internal Linking – A link pointing to another page within your own web site.
IP Address – Acronym for Internet Protocol. This is the numeric address of a website.
Keyword / Keyword Phrase – A specific word or combination of words that a searcher might type into a search field. Includes generic, category keywords; industry-specific terms; product brands; common misspellings and expanded variations (called Keyword Stemming), or multiple words (called Long Tail for their lower CTRs but sometimes better conversion rates). All might be entered as a search query. For example, someone looking to buy coffee mugs might use the keyword phrase “ceramic coffee mugs.” Also, keywords – which trigger ad network and contextual network ad serves – are the auction components on which PPC advertisers bid for all Ad Groups/Orders and campaigns.
Keyword Density – The number of times a keyword or keyword phrase is used in the body of a page. This is a percentage value determined by the number of words on the page, as opposed to the number of times the specific keyword appears within it. In general, the higher the number of times a keyword appears in a page, the higher its density.
Keyword Stemming – To return to the root or stem of a word and build additional words by adding a prefix or suffix, or using pluralization. The word can expand in either direction and even add words, increasing the number of variable options.
Keyword Stuffing – Generally refers to the act of adding an inordinate number of keyword terms into the HTML or tags of a web page.
Keyword Tag – Refers to the META keywords tag within a web page. This tag is meant to hold approximately 8 – 10 keywords or keyword phrases, separated by commas. These phrases should be either misspellings of the main page topic, or terms that directly reflect the content on the page on which they appear. Keyword tags are sometimes used for internal search results as well as viewed by search engines.
Landing Page / Destination Page – The web page at which a searcher arrives after clicking on an ad. When creating a PPC ad, the advertiser displays a URL (and specifies the exact page URL in the code) on which the searcher will land after clicking on an ad in the SERP. Landing pages are also known as “where the deal is closed,” as it is landing page actions that determine an advertiser’s conversion rate success.
Lead– Consumer’s information (contact information such as name and email address) collected that is interested in your business/product/service; a potential customer.
Link Farming – The attempt to substantially and artificially increase link popularity.
Link Popularity – Link popularity generally refers to the total number of links pointing to any particular URL. There are typically two types of link popularity: Internal and External. Internal link popularity typically refers to the number of links or pages within a web site that link to a specific URL. External link popularity refers to the number of inbound links from external web sites that are pointing to a specific URL. If you have more “links” than your competitors, you are typically known to have link cardinality or link superiority.
Long Tail – Keyword phrases with at least three, sometimes four or five, words in them. These long tail keywords are usually highly specific and draw lower traffic than shorter, more competitive keyword phrases, which is why they are also cheaper. Oftentimes, long tail keywords, in aggregate, have good conversion ratios for the low number of click-throughs they generate.
Niche – A defined group of people interested in a similar issue or topic; A distinct segment of a market which can be narrowed or broadened.
Organic Search Listings – Listings that search engines do not sell (unlike paid listings). Instead, sites appear solely because a search engine has deemed it editorially important for them to be included, regardless of payment. Paid Inclusion Content is also often considered “organic” even though it is paid for. This is because paid inclusion content usually appears intermixed with unpaid organic results.
PageRank (PR) – PR is the Google technology developed at Stanford University for placing importance on pages and web sites. At one point, PageRank (PR) was a major factor in rankings. Today it is one of hundreds of factors in the algorithm that determines a page’s rankings.
RSS – Acronym for Rich Site Summary or Real Simple Syndication, a family of web feed formats that leverages XML for distributing and sharing headlines and information from other web content (also known as syndication).
Reciprocal Link – Two different sites that link out to each other. Also referred to as Cross Linking.
Robots.txt – A text file present in the root directory of a website which is used to direct the activity of search engine crawlers. This file is typically used to tell a crawler which portions of the site should be crawled and which should not be crawled.
SERP – Acronym for S earch Engine Results Page. The page delivered to a searcher that displays the results of a search query entered into the search field. Displays both paid ad (sponsored) and organic listings in varying positions or rank.
Sitemap – Refers to HTML sitemap and XML sitemap
XML sitemap is specially formatted files that have links to your pages. The XML sitemap can be submitted directly to search engines.
HTML sitemap is a webpage created with links of your own web pages for users looking for direction to specific pages. They can be categorized to fit the need of the website.
Subdomain – Refers to a folder within a domain used for distinct products or topics. (maps.google.com)
Title Tag – An HTML tag appearing in the <head> tag of a web page that contains the page title. The page title should be determined by the relevant contents of that specific web page. The contents of a title tag for a web page is generally displayed in a search engine result as a bold blue underlined hyperlink.
URL – Acronym for: Uniform Resource Locator. It’s the global web address. It can also be called the domain name.
Verticals – A vertical is a specific business group or category, such as insurance, automotive or travel. Vertical search offers targeted search options and PPC opportunities to a specific business category.
Viral Marketing – Also called viral advertising, viral marketing refers to marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networks to produce increases in brand awareness. The awareness increases are the result of self-replicating viral processes, analogous to the spread of pathological and computer viruses. It can often be word-of-mouth delivered and enhanced online; it can also harness the network effect of the internet and can be very useful in reaching a large number of people rapidly. Source: Wikipedia.
Here is an updated list:
Here’s a complete SEO glossary covering important terms, concepts, and acronyms used in the world of Search Engine Optimization:
A
- ALT Text (Alternative Text): A short description of an image, used for accessibility and to help search engines understand what the image is about.
- Algorithm: A set of rules that search engines use to rank websites in their search results based on relevance and quality.
- Anchor Text: The clickable text in a hyperlink. It’s important for SEO because it gives context about the link’s destination.
- Authority: A measure of how credible and trusted a website or webpage is in a particular niche or industry, often reflected by the quality and quantity of backlinks.
B
- Backlink (Inbound Link): A link from one website to another. Backlinks from authoritative sites can help improve a site’s search engine rankings.
- Black Hat SEO: SEO practices that violate search engine guidelines, such as keyword stuffing, cloaking, and using private link networks. These can result in penalties from search engines.
- Bounce Rate: The percentage of visitors who leave a website after viewing only one page. A high bounce rate may indicate that your content or user experience needs improvement.
- Breadcrumbs: A navigational aid that shows the user’s location on a website and helps with both user experience and SEO.
C
- Canonical URL: A tag used to indicate the preferred version of a webpage when there are multiple versions of the same content. This helps avoid duplicate content issues.
- Click-Through Rate (CTR): The percentage of users who click on a link after seeing it in search results. A higher CTR typically indicates that your content is relevant to the search query.
- Content Management System (CMS): A platform (like WordPress, Joomla, or Drupal) that allows users to create and manage digital content, including blog posts, web pages, and multimedia.
- Crawling: The process by which search engines systematically browse the web to collect information about websites for indexing.
- Conversion Rate: The percentage of visitors who take a desired action, such as making a purchase or signing up for a newsletter.
- Cloaking: A black hat SEO technique where content presented to the search engine crawlers differs from what is shown to users, often used to deceive search engines.
D
- Domain Authority (DA): A score (on a scale of 1 to 100) developed by Moz that predicts how well a website will rank on search engine result pages (SERPs).
- Duplicate Content: Content that appears in more than one place on the internet, which can lead to SEO penalties because it confuses search engines about which version is the original.
- Deep Linking: The practice of linking to a specific, inner page of a website rather than the homepage.
- Disavow: The process of telling Google to ignore certain backlinks to your website, usually because they are low-quality or spammy, using the Disavow Tool.
E
- E-A-T (Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness): A key quality measure used by Google to evaluate the credibility of websites, particularly in the health, financial, and legal sectors.
- External Link: A hyperlink that points to a webpage outside of your domain.
- Evergreen Content: Content that remains relevant over time, continuing to attract traffic long after it is published.
- Engagement Metrics: Data that shows how users interact with your content, such as time on page, pages per session, and bounce rate.
F
- Featured Snippet: A summary of an answer to a user’s query that appears at the top of Google search results, often referred to as “Position Zero.”
- Freshness: A ranking factor that prioritizes recently published or updated content in search results, particularly for time-sensitive searches.
- Footer Links: Links located in the footer of a webpage, often used for site-wide links like privacy policies or contact information.
G
- Google My Business (GMB): A free tool from Google that allows businesses to manage their online presence, including maps listings and local search results.
- Google Search Console: A free tool that provides insights into how a website performs on Google search, including indexing status, search queries, and potential issues.
- Guest Blogging: Writing content for another website’s blog to gain backlinks and reach a broader audience.
H
- Heading Tags (H1, H2, H3, etc.): HTML tags used to define the headings and subheadings of a webpage. The H1 tag is typically reserved for the main title of the page.
- HTML (Hypertext Markup Language): The code used to structure content on the web. SEO professionals use HTML to optimize content for search engines.
- Hidden Text: Text that is invisible to users but still visible to search engines, often used to manipulate rankings. It’s a black hat SEO technique.
I
- Indexing: The process by which search engines organize and store content they have crawled so that it can be retrieved when relevant search queries are made.
- Internal Link: A hyperlink that points to another page within the same website.
- Image Alt Text: A description of an image used in the HTML code to describe what the image is about, improving accessibility and SEO.
- Impressions: The number of times your site or a page from your site appears in search engine results, even if the user doesn’t click on it.
J
- JavaScript: A programming language commonly used to create interactive effects on websites. Search engines sometimes have difficulty crawling JavaScript content.
K
- Keyword: A word or phrase that users type into search engines when looking for information. SEO revolves around optimizing content for relevant keywords to rank better in search results.
- Keyword Density: The percentage of times a keyword appears on a webpage compared to the total word count.
- Keyword Stuffing: An outdated SEO tactic where keywords are excessively repeated to manipulate rankings. It’s considered a black hat practice.
- Keyword Research: The process of discovering and analyzing search terms that people enter into search engines with the goal of optimizing content for those terms.
L
- Link Building: The process of acquiring backlinks from other websites to your own, a key part of off-page SEO.
- Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI): A method used by search engines to identify the relationships between words and concepts within content to determine relevance.
- Landing Page: A specific web page where visitors land after clicking on a link, typically designed to convert visitors into leads or customers.
- Local SEO: The process of optimizing a website to rank well in local search results, often for queries that include location-based keywords (e.g., “dog trainer near me”).
- Long-Tail Keywords: Longer, more specific keyword phrases with lower search volume but often higher conversion rates. For example, “best dog training classes in Columbia SC.”
M
- Meta Description: A brief description of a webpage that appears under the title in search engine results. While not a direct ranking factor, it can influence click-through rates.
- Mobile-First Indexing: Google’s practice of primarily using the mobile version of a website’s content for ranking and indexing.
- Meta Tags: HTML tags that provide metadata about a webpage, including the title, description, and keywords.
- MozRank: A proprietary ranking score from Moz that estimates how well a website will perform in search engines based on its link profile.
N
- NAP (Name, Address, Phone Number): Information crucial for local SEO, particularly for businesses seeking to rank in local search and map results.
- NoFollow Link: A type of link that tells search engines not to pass authority (link juice) from one page to another, often used in comments or sponsored posts.
O
- Organic Search: Results that appear in search engines naturally, based on relevance, and are not influenced by paid advertisements.
- On-Page SEO: The practice of optimizing individual web pages to rank higher in search engines. It includes keyword optimization, meta tags, content, and internal linking.
P
- PageRank: Google’s original algorithm that determines the importance and authority of a webpage based on the number and quality of backlinks.
- PPC (Pay-Per-Click): A type of online advertising where advertisers pay a fee each time their ad is clicked, such as Google Ads. PPC does not directly affect organic SEO but can complement it.
- Pillar Page: A comprehensive piece of content that covers a broad topic in-depth and is supported by related blog posts, known as topic clusters.
Q
- Query: The words or phrases users type into search engines to find information. Optimizing for user queries is the essence of SEO.
- Quality Score: A metric used by Google Ads that influences ad rank and cost-per-click (CPC). It’s based on the relevance and quality of the ad, keywords, and landing page.
R
- Robots.txt: A file used to communicate with search engine crawlers, specifying which pages should or should not be crawled.
- Rich Snippet: Enhanced search results that include extra information, such as reviews, prices, or images, designed to make the listing more appealing and informative.
- RankBrain: A component of Google’s algorithm that uses machine learning to better understand the meaning behind search queries.
S
- Schema Markup: Code that helps search engines better understand the content on your website. It’s used to create rich snippets, such as star ratings or event details.