Algorithm
An algorithm is a finite set of instructions for accomplishing a task; the success of an algorithmic process requires input data to produce a certain end state. With search engines, your Query, or Search Term, is recognized as input data and this sets the algorithm in motion to give you a list of indexed web pages (the end state). Since Search Engine algorithms are proprietary, search results may differ from one Search Engine to another depending on how relevancy rankings are calculated.
^go back to topAlgorithmic Results
Algorithmic processing by Search Engines produces Algorithmic Results. These results are ranked listings based on what search engines have deemed to be relevant according to a particular Search Term, or Query. Algorithmic Results are also known as Organic Listings. These are in contrast to Paid Listings whose rankings are additionally based on competition generated by advertising revenue paid to the search engine rather than solely on relevancy.
^go back to topAlt Tag/Alt Text/Alt Attribute
There are tags, elements and attributes in HTML. The Alt Tag is actually an attribute of HTML, not a tag. An attribute specifies a property for a HTML element which consists of a start tag, content and an end tag. The Alt Attribute is primarily used for images and appears as HTML text while an image is loading or when a cursor is positioned over an image. This text is useful in Search Engine Optimization because it can include keywords that a search engine looks for in response to a query.
^go back to topAnalytics
Analytics is used in Search Engine Marketing, and involves statistical analysis and data mining and collection to analyze a website’s performance and to determine the success of an Internet marketing campaign.
^go back to topAnchor Text
Anchor Text is the visible, clickable text in a Hyperlink. This text appears between the HTML anchor start tag and end tag, and it typically contains information about the content of the link’s destination. This is why Anchor Text containing important keywords has a significant impact on rankings when Search Engine Optimization is performed.
^go back to topBacklinks
Backlinks are links to your site that are listed on other websites; users are directed to your site when they click on them. As part of Search Engine Optimization, backlinks are important because they can significantly improve a site’s search rankings, especially if they have Anchor Text with keywords relevant to the site and are located on sites with established rankings.
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When a website is banned (or delisted or blacklisted), it is removed from a search engine’s index of website addresses, or URLs. The algorithms of search engines are recalibrated to avoid banned sites.
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Banner Ad
A banner ad is a form of online advertising which directs users to an advertiser’s website or designated Landing Page when clicked on. Banner ads are the most common form of online advertising. They are typically rectangular in shape in varying sizes, but most measure 468 pixels wide by 60 pixels high.
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Black Hat SEO
Black Hat SEO is a term that refers to optimization techniques that are considered unethical or deceptive. These include Spamming and Cloaking as well as violating search engine rules in any way.
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Blacklisted
When a website is blacklisted (or banned or delisted), it is removed from a search engine’s index of website addresses, or URLs. The algorithms of search engines are recalibrated to avoid blacklisted sites.
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Broken Link
A broken link (also known as a dead link) is a hyperlink that no longer points to an active destination or Landing Page. Search engines recognize and categorize broken links, therefore keeping all of your site’s links active is an important part of ongoing optimization.
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Click Fraud
Click Fraud is the illegal manipulation of Cost-Per-Click (CPC) or Pay-Per-Click (PPC). A typical instance of Click Fraud involves the webmaster of a site earning money per click by paying individuals to click on the advertising links that site publishes. As a result, a faulty CPC or PPC report is generated, and companies then pay for the supposed site traffic from customers who never intended buy anything. Some companies have filed class action lawsuits against ad publishers such as Google and Yahoo! alleging that they have failed to aggressively crack down on such fraud.
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Click-Through
Click-through is the single instance or act of a user clicking on an advertising link or site listing to move to a Landing Page. Search Engine Optimization looks to achieve a higher Click-Through Rate (CTR) for sites.
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Click-Through Rate (CTR)
Click-through rate is the ratio or percentage of users who click on an advertising link or search engine site listing out of the total number of users who visit but do not click-through, e.g. four click-throughs out of ten views is a 40% CTR.
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Cloaking
Cloaking is the presence of alternative pages to a search engine Spider which results in association of different content for a URL than what a human browser would see. Cloaking is usually employed to boost a site’s search engine position or to trick users into visiting it or another site. Cloaking is generally considered to be Black Hat SEO and the offending URL could very well be Blacklisted by search engines. In spare cases, cloaking is sometimes used to deliver specific content based on a browser’s IP address and/or user-agent HTTP header. If such cloaking is necessary, it is best to inform the search engine beforehand as it could be construed as black hat cloaking.
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Contextual Link Inventory (CLI)
This is an inventory of contextual links search engines and advertising networks use for determining matches between a site’s content and keyword-relevant text-link advertising. CLI is a compilation of website pages with content that the ad-server recognizes as a relevant keyword match. Ad networks further refine CLI relevancy by monitoring the click-through rates of displayed ads.
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Conversion
Conversion refers to any significant action a user engages in while a visitor to a site. Such actions include making a purchase, requesting information, and/or registering for an account.
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Conversion Analytics
Conversion analytics is a kind of Analytics specifically having to do with conversion-related information from organic and paid search engine activity. Data drawn upon for analysis include the keywords converted users utilized in online searches, the type of conversion that resulted, landing page paths, the search engine used, and so on and so forth.
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Conversion Rate
Conversion rate is the rate at which visitors become converted users with a particular site. This percentage is calculated from the number of site visitors who perform a significant action, such as the purchase of merchandise or a service, register to open an account or request information, out of the number of total visitors on any given day. If three users buy products and one user requests a catalogue out of a total of ten visitors on that day, a site’s conversion rate for that day is 40%.
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Cost-Per-Acquisition (CPA)
Cost-per-acquisition (CPA) is measured by dividing total click-related marketing costs by the number of Conversions for a site. This return on investment model understands return in terms of Total acquisition costs ÷ number of conversions = CPA. Synonymous used with Cost-Per-Action.
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Cost-Per-Action (CPA)
Cost-per-action is most meaningful in an advertising revenue system. Advertisers are charged a conversion instance-based fee every time a user buys a product, opens an account or requests a free trial. Sometimes synonymously used with Cost-Per-Acquisition despite resulting confusion with its use in a return on investment model.
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Cost-Per-Click (CPC)
Cost-per-click (a.k.a. pay-per-click or pay-for-performance) is used by search engines and ad networks to charge advertising companies for each click-through on their ads. This click-through rate-based payment structure is seen by some advertisers to be more cost-effective as opposed to the Cost-Per-Thousand payment structure. Despite its benefits, it is at times exploited resulting in Click Fraud.
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Cost-Per-Thousand (CPM)
Cost-per-thousand is an advertising revenue system also known as cost-per-impression, or cost-per-mille. Cost-per-thousand is used by search engines and ad networks to determine a fee structure for advertising companies who agree to pay an amount for every 1,000 users who view their ads. This is not based on click-throughs or conversion rate. CPM is usually the fee measure for Banner Ad sales, while Cost-Per-Click is called upon for text link advertising.
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Crawler
A crawler (a.k.a. Spider or Robot) is the vehicle by which a search engine does its work. A crawler is a program which “crawls” the Web, collecting data, following links, making copies of new and updated sites, and indexing URLs. This makes it possible for search engines to return faster and more up-to-date listings.
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Delisted
A.k.a. banned or blacklisted. A site that has been delisted is a URL that has been removed from a search engine’s Index for various reasons, but the most common reason being Black Hat SEO. Delisted sites are tagged by search engines and are subsequently disregarded by their crawlers.
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Description Tag
A description tag (a.k.a. meta description tag) is a short bit of text written in HTML, and it provides search engines with a description of a page’s content for indexing purposes. The description tag is not a visible part of the website itself, nor is it displayed in the search engine’s listing for that site. Search engines are now putting less emphasis on description tags over actual page/site content.
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Directory
The most popular directories include Yahoo!, The Open Directory Project and LookSmart.
A directory is an Index of websites selected by people instead of by a search engine Crawler. A directory’s servers provide relevant lists of registered sites in response to user queries. Directory Registration is thus an important method for building inbound links and improving SEO rankings. However, the decision to include a site is determined by human directory editors rather than via an Algorithm; its rank and its category placement are also subject to this kind of scrutiny. Directories either accept free submissions or require payment for listing.
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Doorway Page
A doorway page (a.k.a. a gateway page or jump page) is a page with minimal content and an associated URL that’s created to rank highly for a specific keyword. This kind of page ultimately redirects visitors to a homepage or designated Landing Page. A number of search engines frown on doorway pages as a simple form of Cloaking or Spam. Despite this, doorway pages are often legitimate landing pages designed to measure the success of a promotional campaign, and they commonly appear in Paid Listings.
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Dynamic Content
Dynamic content is web content that is generated or changed based on user activity or database information, hence it is “dynamic.” As opposed to web pages that remain the same for all visitors in every context, this content is known as “static content.” Many ecommerce sites create dynamic content based on purchase history and other factors. Search engines have a difficult time indexing dynamic content if the page includes a session ID number, and will typically ignore URLs that contain the variable “?”. Search engines will punish sites that use deceptive or invasive means to create dynamic content.
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Flash Optimization
Flash Optimization is the process of reworking the Flash movie and surrounding HTML code to be more “crawlable” for Search Engines. Flash is a vector graphics-based animation program developed by Macromedia. Most corporate sites feature Flash movies/animation, but because search engine Crawlers were designed to index HTML text, sites that favor Flash over text are difficult or even impossible for crawlers to read.
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Gateway Page
A gateway page (also known as doorway page or jump page) is a URL with minimal content. It is designed to rank highly for a specific keyword and it redirects visitors to a homepage or other specific Landing Page. Some search engines do not look kindly on gateway pages and see it as a softer form of Cloaking or Spam. Yet gateway pages are commonly allowed in Paid Listings because as legitimate landing pages they are seen as a key measure of success for promotional campaigns.
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Geographical Targeting
Geographical targeting is the localized focusing of Search Engine Marketing on states, counties, cities and neighborhoods important to increasing a company’s business. A basic aspect of geographical targeting involves the adding of the names of relevant cities or streets to a site’s keyword list (e.g. Hyde Street Chicago apartments). Increasing site presence through geo-targeting also involves inclusion of sites on Local Search engines.
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Geographic Segmentation
Geographic segmentation uses Analytics to determine and categorize where the traffic of a website is physically originating.
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Google AdSense
Google AdSense is a program operated by Google that provides advertisements with relevant text, images and video to enrolled website owners. Registrants pay for Google AdSense ads on a Pay-Per-Click, Cost-Per-Thousand or Cost-Per-Action basis. This revenue is shared with Google AdSense host sites, typically on a Pay-Per-Click basis (which sometimes leads to Click Fraud). Google has search Algorithms and Contextual Link Inventory to determine and display the most appropriate ads depending on site content, Query relevancy, ad “quality scores,” in addition to other factors.
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Google AdWords
Google AdWords is the program that determines the advertising rates and keywords used in the Google AdSense program. Advertisers bid on the keywords that are relevant to their businesses. High bidding sites then appear as sponsored links on Google Search Engine Results Pages (SERPS) and Google AdSense host sites.
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Graphical Search Inventory (GSI)
Graphical Search Inventory is the equivalent of Contextual Link Inventory but along visual lines. GSI is not text based and it is advertising such as Banner Ads, pop-up ads, browser toolbars, animation, sound, video and other media that is synchronized to relevant Keyword inquiries.
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Gray Hat SEO
Gray hat SEO refers to Search Engine Optimization methods that fall in between Black Hat SEO and White Hat SEO. Gray hat SEO can be legitimate under some circumstances, but is illegitimate under others. These techniques can include Doorway Pages, Gateway Pages, Cloaking and duplicate content.
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Hidden Text
Hidden text is a form of Black Hat SEO in which pages are filled with a large amount of text that is the same color as the background. Keywords are then invisible to the human eye but able to be discerned by a search engine Crawler. Other hidden text techniques are Multiple Title Tags or HTML comments. Hidden text is easily picked out by search engines and will result in Blacklisting or a reduction in listing Rank.
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Hit
Hit is a relatively misleading measure of traffic to a website because one hit is recorded for each file request in a web server’s access log. For example, if a user visits a page with four images, one hit will be recorded for each graphic image file plus another for the page’s HTML file. A more accurate measure of traffic volume is the number of pages/HTML files accessed.
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HTML
HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language, and is an authoring language used to create web pages and websites. It is a set of codes or HTML tags that direct a web browser to structure a web page’s information and features accordingly.
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Hyperlink
A hyperlink (also link or HTML link) is a clickable image or piece of text that opens another web page or sends the browser to a different portion of the current page. Successful Search Engine Optimization Strategy for a large part relies on Inbound Links with keyword-relevant Link Text.
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Index
An index is a Search Engine’s database, and it contains all of the information that a Crawler has identified (in particular copies of World Wide Web pages). When a Query is submitted, a search engine uses this database to compile a ranked list of the most relevant pages. The index of a Directory is also comprised of titles and summaries of registered sites, but it is categorized by the directory’s editors.
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Inbound Links
Inbound links (also back link, backward link, or backlinks) are links included on other websites which direct users to your site. Inbound links can significantly improve your site’s search engine positioning, especially if it contains Anchor Text keywords relevant to your site and are located on sites with high Page Rank.
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Impression
An impression (a.k.a. page view) is a displayed instance of an online advertisement. Impression statistics are what search engines and ad networks use to determine Cost-Per-Thousand (CPM) charges.
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Internet Marketing
Basically, Internet marketing involves using the Internet to advertise and sell goods & services to consumers. At an advanced level, Internet marketing is Search Engine Optimization (SEO). SEO is the use of targeted keywords, crawler-friendly site architecture, Search Engine Submissions and a well-developed link network to improve a site’s Position, Page Rank and Click-Through Rate.
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Internet Marketing Consultant
Internet marketing consultants (also SEO professionals or SEO specialists) use their expertise of Search Engine Optimization Strategy to advise and subsequently improve their clients’ site Position and Page Rank.
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Internet Promotion
Internet promotion (also search engine promotion, website marketing or website promotion) refers to all methods employed by a company or individual to promote a website and increase its Position and Page Rank.
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Keyword
Keywords (also known as search terms or query terms) are the words or phrases entered into a search engine’s Query box. The subsequent Search Engine Results Page (SERP) ranks indexed sites according to relevancy to the submitted keywords. One of the best SEO Strategies recommended to companies is to optimize their site pages with content that contains targeted keywords that are highly relevant to their products or industry.
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Keyword Marketing
Keyword marketing is the use of keyword-rich content and keyword-specific Link Text to establish a site’s relevancy to those terms. This increases Rank for related web queries. Keyword marketing is an essential component of Search Engine Optimization and can also be accomplished through ad programs such as Google AdSense.
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Keyword Submission
Keyword submission is part of the Pay-Per-Click keyword campaigns available through advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Yahoo! Sponsored Search and Microsoft AdCenter. This all-inclusive term refers to keyword research/selection, bid cost assessment and budgeting.
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Landing Page
A landing page is the webpage which a visitor “lands” on after clicking on a search engine listing, email link, Banner Ad, Cost-Per-Click ad or other. Well-designed landing pages that are relevant to a user’s keyword query will improve Conversion Rates and play a critical role in Search Engine Marketing.
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Link
Also hyperlink or HTML link; a link is an image or portion of text that opens another web page or jumps the browser to a different portion of the current page when a user clicks on it. Inbound Links with keyword-relevant Link Text are an important part of Search Engine Optimization Strategy.
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Link Baiting
Link baiting is when users link to your page from another website. Users are usually enticed to link to your site because you have included highly informative articles or news stories, useful resources and sometimes controversial or sensationalistic content. Link baiting is a White Hat SEO technique used to help a site improve its Link Popularity and Page Rank. Some sites use link baiting as the centerpiece of a Website Marketing campaign.
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Link Exchange
A link exchange is a reciprocal link exchange between two sites. A site agrees to link to another site if the second site agrees to link to it. Reciprocal links usually lead to the home page of the associate site.
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Link Farm
A link farm is a webpage (or group of webpages) that exists only to increase the number of Backlinks in a site’s link network. A link farm is meant to increase a site’s Page Rank or popularity which then improves its search engine Position. However, link farms are considered a form of Spam and sites that rely on them are penalized by search engines.
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Link Popularity
Link popularity is the measure of how popular a webpage is by the number of Backlinks it has. Link popularity is not only based on quantity. Page Rank is achieved when Backlinks are located on reputable, relevant sites rather than so-called Link Farms. Most search engines use link popularity as a criterion to generate their Algorithmic Results.
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Link Text
A.k.a. anchor text; link text is the visible, clickable text between the HTML anchor and tags. Clicking on link text activates a Hyperlink to another website. Link text is very important in SEO because search engines factor in hyperlink keyword to Landing Page relevancy in their algorithmic calculations.
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Listings
Listings are the results which are a compilation of individual sites that appear indexed and in ranked order when a user submits a search engine Query.
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Local Search
Local search is the submission of a search engine Query with specific geographical keywords (cities, streets, etc.) to focus listings results to find business services in a particular zip code. This also applies to Yellow Pages-type Search Engines such as Google Maps, Yahoo! Local and AskCity. Search Engine Placement Services use local SEO to help traditional “brick and mortar businesses” connect with customers in their community.
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Marketing Analytics
Marketing analytics takes marketing-related information from organic and paid search engine traffic (such as Unique Visitors, keyword-generated sales, Cost-Per-Click advertising, Click Fraud, Search Engine Marketing, etc.) to generate an Analytics picture of the popularity and Rank of your site.
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Meta Description Tag
A meta description tag (a.k.a. description tag) is a short HTML paragraph that provides search engines with a description of a page’s content for search engine Index purposes. The meta description tag is not displayed on the website itself, and may or may not be displayed in the search engine’s listing for that site. Search engines are now giving less weight to meta description tags and opting for the presence of actual content on the page itself.
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Meta Keywords Tag
A meta keywords tag is a list of keywords that are relevant to a webpage. Search engine Rank for a page can be boosted because of this list through proper indexing. Nowadays, search engines are placing less weight on meta keywords tags and put more emphasis on actual page content.
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Meta Robots Tag
A meta robots tag (named for a search engine Crawler or Robot) is used when a page author wants to prevent web pages from being added to a search engine’s Index. Alternate ways to achieve the results of a meta robots tag are Robots.txt files and password protection.
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Meta Search Engine
A meta search engine generates its listings by passing user queries through a number of other search engines, and then it produces a summary of the results. A meta search engine does not maintain its own Index. Listings are displayed by meta search engines either in aggregate or categorized by search engine source. An example of a meta search engine is Dogpile.com.
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Meta Tags
Meta tags are HTML tags which are placed in a webpage. They contain information for Crawlers and web browsers. Types of meta tag information include page descriptions (Description Tag), page-relevant keywords (Meta Keywords Tag), whether a page can be indexed (Meta Robots Tag), copyright, page refresh dates and redirection instructions.
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Natural Listings (or Natural Optimization)
Natural listings (a.k.a. organic listings) are webpage listing results that are generated by a search engine purely as a result of application of the algorithm (this is as opposed to Paid Listings). Natural listings can contain Paid Listings, but only if they fulfill the same requirements as natural listings. The best way to improve a site’s natural listing Position is through Natural Search Engine Optimization.
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Natural Search Engine Optimization
Natural search engine optimization (a.k.a. natural optimization, organic search engine optimization or white hat SEO) employs keyword-focused copy and tags as well as crawler-friendly site architecture, Search Engine Submissions and a quality Backlinks network to improve a site’s Position, Page Rank and Click-Through Rate. Research shows that about 80% of web users use Natural Listings, therefore natural SEO offers a much greater chance of long-term business success over that of Paid Listings or Pay-Per-Click ad campaigns.
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Optimization Services
Optimization services (a.k.a. Internet promotion, site optimization, or search engine placement service) are the methods a SEO Company uses to boost a site’s Position and Page Rank in search engine results. Click-Through Rate and Conversion Rate are also targeted in a SEO Company’s efforts.
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Organic Listings (or Organic Optimization)
Organic listings (a.k.a. natural listings) are Search Engine Results Page listings that result only from application of search engine algorithms. These listings can contain Paid Listings, but only if they fulfill the same requirements as organic listings. The best way to improve a site’s organic listing Position is through Natural Search Engine Optimization.
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Outbound Links
All links from a particular webpage that direct to other pages. These include pages with the same domain. Too many outbound links can damage a site’s Search Engine Positioning because a Spider crawling the site may perceive it as a Link Farm.
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Page Rank (or PR)
Page Rank is an algorithm developed by Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin. This link analysis algorithm assigns a webpage a number from 1 to 10 as a measure of its importance (one for the lowest and ten for the highest in import). This corresponds to the likelihood that a user will arrive at that page by randomly clicking Links. Page Rank is altogether separate from Rank.
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Paid Inclusion
Paid inclusion is an advertising program in which a page is guaranteed inclusion in the Index of a search engine in exchange for a fee. Unlike Paid Placement, the rank of paid inclusion pages is determined solely by the search engine Algorithm. Depending on Search Engine policy, sites included through paid inclusion are sometimes (and sometimes not) labeled as advertisements.
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Paid Listings
Paid listings are sites included on a Results Page because money was paid to the search engine for inclusion and/or position. The term Paid Listings also refers to the practices of Paid Inclusion and Paid Placement.
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Paid Placement
Paid placement is when advertisers are guaranteed spots for their sites on a Results Page when particular Keywords are searched. The ranking of paid placement listings is determined by competitive bidding. Unlike Paid Inclusion listings, paid placement listings are usually displayed separately from Natural Listings and are labeled as advertisements or sponsored links. Google and Yahoo! Search Marketing (formerly Overture) are two of the largest paid placement search networks.
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Pay-Per-Click (PPC)
Pay-Per-Click (a.k.a. cost-per-click or pay-for-performance) is an advertising revenue system employed by search engines and ad networks. Advertising companies agree to pay a certain amount for each click of their ads. This payment structure is based on Click-Through Rate and is considered by some advertisers to be more cost effective than the Cost-Per-Thousand payment structure, but it is more open to Click Fraud.
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Position
Position (a.k.a. rank) is the place a website occupies relative to the highest ranking listing on an Algorithmic Results page when a Keyword query is submitted. The first page generated displays Listings in the first ten positions, the second page eleven through twenty, and so on. Businesses trying to get their site into a top ten position will often contract with a Professional Search Engine Optimization company. Consumer studies have shown that most search engine users make site selections from those on the first page in the top ten positions.
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Position Reporting
Position reporting is the daily monitoring of search engine Position changes for indexed URLs. This usually results from the optimization of specific keywords by a Search Engine Optimization Company. Position reporting is also used to generate a Search Engine Ranking Report.
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Professional Search Engine Optimization
Professional search engine optimization is when a SEO company modifies a website in order to increase its search engine Position and Page Rank; this also is aimed at improving its Click-Through Rate and Conversion Rate.
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Query
A search engine query is a user’s request for information (in the form of webpage listings) from a search engine’s Index. These queries return results that are most relevant to a Keyword or set of Search Terms.
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Rank
Rank (a.k.a. position) is the place a website occupies relative to the first listing on an Algorithmic Results page when a Keyword query is submitted. The first page displays Listings in the one through ten positions, the second page eleven through twenty, etc. Businesses trying to get their site a top-ten rank will often contract services from a Professional Search Engine Optimization company. Consumer studies have shown that most search engine users click only on sites that occupy a top-ten rank.
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Reciprocal Link Exchange
A reciprocal link exchange is a link for a link arrangement or link exchange between two sites. Reciprocal links usually direct users to the home page of the associate site.
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Registration
Registration (a.k.a. search engine registration or search engine submission) is the submission of a URL to a Directory or Search Engine for inclusion in its Index. Registration is usually free but in some cases does require payment. Registration is a basic but important part of Search Engine Optimization.
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Results Page
The results page (a.k.a. search engine results page) is the collection of ranked Listings displayed in response to the submission of a Query to a search engine.
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Robot
A robot (a.k.a. Crawler or Spider) is a search engine program that “crawls” the Web collecting data, following links, making copies of new and updated sites, and storing URLs in the search engine’s Index. This program allows search engines to respond more quickly with the most up-to-date listings.
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Robots.txt
Robots.txt (a.k.a. robots exclusion protocol) is a text file stored in a site’s root directory that tells a search engine Crawler the site pages and sub-folders which should not be included in a search engine’s Index. While these instructions are provided and directed specifically at a Crawler, there is no guarantee that it will comply with this request. Robots.txt is an alternative to a Meta Robots Tag or password protection.
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SEO Professional
SEO professionals (a.k.a. Internet marketing consultant or SEO specialist) use their knowledge of Search Engine Optimization Strategy to improve their clients’ Position and Page Rank.
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SEO Services
SEO services include all of the tools employed by a Professional Search Engine Optimization company (these encompass Analytics and Keyword Marketing as well).
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SEO Specialist
SEO specialists (a.k.a. Internet marketing consultant or SEO professional) use their knowledge of SEO Strategy to improve their clients’ Position and Page Rank.
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SEO Strategies
SEO strategies are the techniques used in SEO to boost a site’s Position and Page Rank in listings results; these are supposed to also increase its Click-Through Rate. A few SEO strategies are keyword research, content writing, optimized HTML code, and improved Geographical Targeting.
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Search Engine
A search engine is a website that enables users to submit queries to an Index of stored web pages. These web pages are gathered and compiled by a Robot or Crawler on the basis of information relevant to keywords or Search Terms. The Rank of information and websites on the resultant Search Engine Results Pages is determined by relevancy. Levels of relevancy are established by the search engine’s Algorithm and/or payment made to the search engine by indexed sites. Sites ranked solely by relevancy are known as Natural Listings or Organic Listings in contrast to Paid Listings.
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Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
Search engine marketing refers to all of the techniques used to market a website via search engines. Some techniques include Pay-Per-Click advertising and Natural Search Engine Optimization.
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Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO)
The Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO) is a non-profit professional association founded to increase awareness of the benefits of SEM and to provide educational resources to members and consumers. It has been doing this since 2003.
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Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Search engine optimization is the application of techniques to a website for the purpose of improving its natural Rank on Search Engine Results Pages. This is done through a combination of SEO strategies such as directory and search engine Submission, website optimization, content writing and improved Link quality. Please see our SEO services for details.
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Search Engine Optimization Company (SEO Company)
A search engine optimization company uses SEO Strategies to improve a website’s Search Engine Placement.
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Search Engine Optimization Consultants
Search engine optimization consultants (a.k.a. SEO professionals or SEO specialists) analyze a website’s Position and Keyword strength and offer solutions for improvement.
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Search Engine Optimization Software Systems
Search engine optimization software systems enable marketers to generate site data and automatically customize Submission schedules. Use of automated submissions should generally be avoided in favor of tailoring submissions to cater to the rules of each search engine.
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Search Engine Optimization Strategy
Search engine optimization strategy is an optimization plan an SEO company specifically tailors and uses for the promotion of an individual client’s website.
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Search Engine Placement
Search engine placement refers to the tactics used by Site Optimization firms to improve their clients’ Rank. Search engine placement is a term sometimes used to mean the Position of a website on a Results Page.
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Search Engine Placement Services
Search engine placement services (a.k.a. Internet promotion, optimization services or site optimization) are all of the methods a Search Engine Optimization Company uses to improve a site’s Position and Page Rank; these services are also intended to increase its Click-Through Rate and Conversion Rate.
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Search Engine Positioning
Search engine positioning is a term called into use in two different ways. In one context, it describes the ordering process of indexed websites being ranked by a search engine Algorithm in response to a Query. In the other context, it is used in Search Engine Optimization to refer to the achievement of a higher search engine Position.
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Search Engine Promotion
Search engine promotion (a.k.a. Internet promotion, website marketing or website promotion) refers to all of the methods employed by a company or individual to promote a website and increase its Position and Page Rank.
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Search Engine Ranking Report
A search engine ranking report is a periodic report (either monthly, weekly or daily) of the Position of a company’s website Listing corresponding to their top Keywords. Position Reporting allows site owners to monitor Rank and it reflects the success of an SEO strategy or Cost-Per-Click advertising campaign.
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Search Engine Registration
Search engine registration (a.k.a. search engine submission or web submission) is the submission of a URL to a Directory or Search Engine for inclusion in its Index. Registration is usually free but in some cases can require payment. Search engine registration is a basic but important part of Search Engine Optimization.
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Search Engine Results Page (SERPs)
The search engine results page (a.k.a. a results page) is the collection of ranked Listings displayed in response to a search engine Query.
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Search Engine Submission
Search engine submission (a.k.a. search engine registration or web submission) is the submission of a site’s URL to a Directory or Search Engine for inclusion in its Index. Registration is usually free but in some instances can also require payment. Search engine submission is a basic but important part of Search Engine Optimization.
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Search Terms
Search terms (a.k.a. keywords or query terms) are the word(s) or phrase(s) a user submits to a search engine via their Query box. A Search Engine Results Page (SERP) ranks indexed sites according to how relevant the Search Engine deems them to the search terms that were queried. Optimization of relevant pages (with keywords incorporated into existing or new content) is one of the most important SEO Strategies site owners can employ to boost their Rank.
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Shopping Search
Search engines with a shopping feature, such as Google Product Search (formerly known as Froogle) or Yahoo! Shopping, allow users to comparison shop by providing lists of sellers and prices in response to a particular product Query. Some shopping search sites require Paid Inclusion or offer Paid Placement.
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Site Optimization
Site optimization (a.k.a. Internet promotion, optimization services or search engine placement service) refers to all of the methods a Search Engine Optimization Company uses to improve a site’s Position and Page Rank; these methods are intended to also increase Click-Through Rate and Conversion Rate.
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Spam
Spam refers to any and all Search Engine Marketing techniques that violate search engine guidelines. It also refers to those techniques that try and gain increased Rank for a site using content that is irrelevant, deceptive or of little value to users. Types of spam include Hidden Text, content that contains nonsensical Keyword repetition, deceptive Cloaking or numerous Doorway Pages that redirect users to the same Landing Page. If a search engine detects spamming, the offending site will be Blacklisted or lose Position. Spam is a Black Hat SEO technique.
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Spider
A spider (a.k.a. Crawler or Robot) is a search engine program that “crawls” the Web, collecting data, following links, making copies of new and updated sites, and storing URLs in the search engine’s Index. This allows search engines to return more up-to-date listings faster.
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Submission
Submission (a.k.a. search engine registration or search engine submission) is the request to a Directory or Search Engine for inclusion of an URL in its Index. Submission is usually free but can also require payment. Submission is a basic but important part of Search Engine Optimization.
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Title Tags
A title tag is the HTML element with a sentence of text describing the contents of its associated webpage. Title tags are very important components of Search Engine Optimization because they are frequently used as the text links that lead to sites from a search engine’s Results Page. The best title tags contain keywords that will help a site be indexed properly to catch the eye of human search engine users.
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Three-Way Link Exchange
A three-way link exchange is a Reciprocal Link Exchange between three domains. Unlike a two-way link exchange, not all three sites link to each other. Three-way link exchanges are used by owners of multiple websites to increase the Link Popularity and Page Rank of new or smaller sites. It works like this: Page A links to Page B and Page B links to Page C and Page C links to Page A. Page B does not post a reciprocal link to Page A and Page C does not post a reciprocal link to Page B.
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Unique Visitor
Unique visitor is a web traffic measuring term used to refer to the instance of at least one hit from a unique IP address per webpage for a site. Visits are usually charted and reported during a specified period of time (typically anywhere from twenty-four hours to a month). Subsequent hits by the same IP address are not considered unique visitor during that report period. Unique visitor count can be an effective way of measuring the success of an SEO strategy.
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Web Analytics
Web analytics uses web traffic records to study the behavior of website visitors. Data such as Unique Visitors, Hits, page views, and the connection between Landing Pages and Conversion Rates are used to improve a website or marketing campaign.
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Website Marketing
Website marketing (a.k.a. Internet marketing) is using the Internet to advertise and communicate in order to sell goods and services. On an advanced level, website marketing is known as Search Engine Optimization (SEO). This involves the use of targeted keywords, crawler-friendly site architecture, Search Engine Submissions and a well-developed link network to improve a site’s Position, Page Rank and Click-Through Rate.
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Website Optimization
Website optimization (a.k.a. search engine optimization) is the accommodation of changes made to a website in order to improve its natural Rank on Search Engine Results Pages. This is usually accomplished through a combination of optimization strategies such as directory and search engine Submission, Keyword Marketing and improved Link quality.
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Website Promotion
Website promotion has to do with the marketing aspects of Search Engine Optimization. These include Keyword Submission, Paid Inclusion, and other techniques to increase a site’s exposure.
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Website Promotion Services
Website promotion services (a.k.a. search engine marketing) is an inclusive term for any techniques used to market a website via search engines, including Pay-Per-Click advertising and Natural Search Engine Optimization.
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Website Submission
Website submission (a.k.a. search engine registration or search engine submission) is the submission of a URL to a Directory or Search Engine. Index registration is usually free but can also require payment. Website submission is a basic but important part of Search Engine Optimization.
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White Hat SEO
White hat SEO (a.k.a. natural search engine optimization or organic search engine optimization) is the legitimate use of keyword-rich copy and tags, Crawler-friendly site architecture, Search Engine Submissions and a high quality Backlinks network to improve a site’s Position, Page Rank and Click-Through Rate. White hat SEO is the opposite of Black Hat SEO as it does not involve the use of Cloaking, Spam or any other similar techniques.
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XML
XML stands for Extensible Markup Language, a simple and flexible text-based programming language used along with HTML. XML is most commonly employed in data exchange protocols and in the creation of customized tags.
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XML Feed
An XML feed is basically Paid Inclusion or Search Engine Submission where an XML document is used to provide a search engine with information about a number of web pages. An XML feed is most often employed with multimedia sites or database sites because it better accommodates a variety of relevant search queries.
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