Glossary
301 REDIRECT
Webmasters way of telling web browsers and search engines that a page or site has been permanently moved to a different location.
302 REDIRECT
HTTP response status code 302 Found is the most common way of performing a redirection. 302 redirects should be used for temporary redirections.
ABOVE THE FOLD
With a reference to newspapers, “above the fold” is used in Internet marketing to describe the top part of the page visible to the user without scrolling down.
ACCOUNT DAILY SPENDING LIMIT
The maximum amount you choose to spend each day.
AD CLICKS
The total number of times web users click on an ad banner.
AD GROUPS
Refers to group of ads and related keywords within a campaign. Advertisements can be displayed to prospective customers searching for or viewing content that is related to your ads and/or keywords in an ad group.
AD GROUP BID
Default bid set by an Internet marketer to apply to keywords in an ad group. You can override the ad group for any specific keyword within the ad group by setting a custom keyword bid.
AD SCHEDULING
The practice of scheduling the day in different segments. Each segment is applied a different advertising rule based on the advertising objective, competitors, and budget.
ADVANCED MATCH TYPE
Option found within Yahoo! Sponsored Search that specifies how the search terms are matched to the given ads. These ads are displayed for a broader range of searches that are relevant to your specified keywords, descriptions, titles and/or web content. All ads are set to this by default.
AD VIEWS (IMPRESSIONS)
Number of times a text ad or banner ad is downloaded and presumably seen by a user. Ad views are similar to net impressions in traditional media.
ADVERTISING NETWORK
Broker or aggregator of advertising inventory for multiple websites.
AFFILIATE
Marketing partner with a pay-for-results agreement that promotes your product or service.
ALGORITHM
Process a search engine applies to webpages to accurately produce search query results based on a search term. These algorithms are changed regularly to help improve the quality of the search results.
ALTA VISTA
One of the first search engines. Alta Vista was originally owned by Digital and is now owned by Yahoo.
ANCHOR
Word, phrase or image that is highlighted underlined or “clickable” which enables users to link to another site.
ANCHOR TEXT
The visible clickable text for a hyperlink. Example: Online Performance Marketing. If used correctly the text will give visitors and search engines an idea of what the linking page is about. Many times the anchor will be misused as “click here.”
ANALYTICS
Google Analytics is a tool used to measure the number of visits to a website, the unique visitors, the referring website, content they interacted with, how long they spent on a website/page and other key information.
AOL (AMERICA ON-LINE)
Web based platform that is great for novice users. Uses the search engine Google as part of its search results.
APACHE
A free, open-source web server software system that is very common on Linux, Unix and other similar operating systems or platforms.
API (APPLICATION PROGRAMMING INTERFACE)
Enables software applications to communicate with each other. An API allows a given program to interact with another piece of software.
ASCII
American Standard Code for Information Interface
APPLET
Applet is an application that has been written in Java that allows for the viewing of simple animation on webpages.
ARPA (ADVANCED RESEARCH PROJECT AGENCY)
The group that created ARPAnet, which is the precursor to the Internet. ARPA consisted of the U.S. Department of Defense agency and many leading universities.
ASK JEEVES
Ask Jeeves is a Meta search engine that allows queries that flow naturally in English. Allows users to ask a question as they search.
ASP
ASP has two meanings: Microsoft Active Server Pages (name.asp), or Application Service Provider.
ASPX
Microsoft Active Server Page Framework
AUDITOR
An auditor is a third-party company that tracks and verifies ad-banner requests and verifies a website’s ad reporting system.
AVATAR
An avatar is a digital representation of a user in a virtual reality environment or site.
AVERAGE PAGE DEPTH
The average number of pages on a particular website a user views during a single visit or session.
AVERAGE TIME ON SITE
The average of all time all visitors spend on the site.
B2B (BUSINESS TO BUSINESS)
Represents a market focus where a business is marketing and selling its products or services to another business opposed to consumers.
B2C
Represents a market focus where a business is marketing and selling its products or services to consumers opposed to another business.
BACKLINKS
Links from other websites that point to a particular page within your website. Search engines use backlinks to judge the credibility, authority and relevancy of a particular page. Therefore, link building is a vital element of Search Engine Optimization.
BANDWIDTH
The amount of information (text, sound, video and images) that can be sent through a connection.
BANNED
A term given to sites that have been removed from a search engine’s index.
BANNER
Picture advertisements placed on websites. Banner advertisements are normally a staple of Internet marketing branding campaigns. The term “banner ad” specifically refers to the 468×60 pixel size picture advertisement. These ads can be static, animated or interactive. There are many picture ads with different sizes and shapes that are referred to as buttons, inlines, leaderboards, skyscrapers and many other terms.
BELOW THE FOLD
With reference to newspapers, below the fold in Internet terms means the part of the user’s screen that is hidden unless the user scrolls down on the page.
BETA
Term was initially associated with computer and software development and is now used to identify a “beta site.” A beta site is a test site that is not the finalized version, but it is close enough to be made available to the public to work the bugs out.
BID
The maximum amount you are willing to pay for a click.
BID ADJUSTMENTS
Can be a percentage or fixed monetary amount by which to increase a bid for cases where traffic appears to be consistent within your targeting preferences.
BID LIMIT
When you have campaign mode turned on, the bid limit is used to define the maximum price you are willing to pay for a click.
BLACK HAT SEO
SEO practitioners who use unethical methods to gain rankings.
BLOG
A frequent, chronological publication of an individual’s personal thoughts or links.
BMP
Bitmap (filename.bmp)
BOOKMARK
Link stored in a web browser for ease of future reference.
BOT
The term “bot” is short for robot and is often used to refer to a search engine spider/crawler.
BOUNCE RATE
Defined as the number of visitors who “bounce,” or leave a site without visiting another page. The bounce rates are expressed in percentages. Bounce rates can help measure the performance of websites, advertising campaigns and landing pages.
BRANDING
The process of getting target prospects to know your brand. Branding value is extremely difficult to measure.
BROWSER
Software application used to browse the Internet. There are many browsers available, but the two most popular are Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox.
BROWSER CACHING
Browsers “cache,” or store, recently used pages locally on a user’s disc. If a site is revisited the browser can now display pages from the user’s disc instead of having to request them from the server, which saves load time.
BYTES
Unit of information that is transferred over a network. Every element on the Web (Web page, image, video) is composed of a varying number of bytes.
CACHE
Storage area of frequently accessed information. Retrieval of this information from the cache is much quicker than from the originating source. Some types of cache include: secondary cache, cache memory and RAM cache.
CAMPAIGN
An online campaign defines the daily budget, geographic targeting and location of where the specified ads are displayed.
CAMPAIGN OPTIMIZATION
A feature that automatically manages campaigns for you to help you get the full potential out of what you are spending. This management is based on a set of guidelines you provide.
CANONICAL TAG
Code that is utilized by search engine spiders/crawlers to inform search engines as to which URL is the original version of your webpage.
CTR (CLICK-THROUGH RATE)
The percentage of times a user “clicked” on a text or banner advertisement. CTR is just one of the measures Internet marketers use to measure the effectiveness of an advertising campaign.
CLOAKING
A technique abused by spammers where a website serves a different page to search engine crawlers/spiders than what a human visitor sees. The page served to the search engine spider is normally guilty of keyword stuffing and both are violations of the Terms of Service of most search engines and could lead to the practicing websites being banned.
CODE
Anything written in a language and format intended for computers to interpret.
CONTENT NETWORK
In Google the content network is known as “Google Display Network.” Each major search engine offers a content network within its paid search interface.
CONTEXTUAL ADVERTISING
Process where advertisements are targeted to a webpage based on the page’s content, keywords or category.
COMPETING PAGES
Defined as the number of pages found for a particular competing keyword.
COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
An assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of current and potential competitors.
CONVERSION
When one of your visitors makes a purchase on the merchant’s site. This term is used to suggest the visitor was “converted” to a buyer.
CONVERSION RATE
Percentage of visits to your site that lead to a conversion (sale).
COOKIE
A file that is placed on your computer while browsing the Internet that records information such as where you have been on the World Wide Web. These files are stored within the browser and allow sites to remember that browser in future requests. These files can only be read by a server in the domain that stored it. You can find your cookie settings within your browser preferences to allow or disallow the acceptance of cookies.
CONTENT (A/B) TESTING
The process of testing the relative effectiveness of multiple versions of the same advertisement in getting visitors to click through. The varying content can be uniquely identified by using a utm_content variable in the URL tag.
COST PER IMPRESSION (CPI)
Technique for measuring the worth and cost of a specific online marketing campaign that is applied to banners, text links and email. This formula measures the cost per thousand impressions.
CPA (COST PER ACQUISITION)
An advertiser pays a flat fee or percentage of sale for each conversion, regardless of the conversion or click-through rates (CTR)
CPC (COST PER CLICK)
In the cost-per-click model the advertiser pays a flat fee for each click of a text or banner ad. When the tracking is done correctly and pages load to completion there is a one-to-one correlation between clicks and visitors.
CPL
Cost Per Lead
CPM
Cost per thousand impressions. The advertiser pays a flat fee for 1000 impressions (each time their ad is displayed on a page).
CRAWL
Automated, computerized algorithm hosted by search engines that browses and indexes websites on the Internet by following links.
CRAWLER
Also know as spiders, crawlers are automated programs used by search engines to fill their databases that follow links to visit, and index, websites.
CRM
Customer Relationship Management
CSS (CASCADING STYLE SHEET)
Increases load speeds and lowers file sizes by providing a way to move style elements off individual webpages and sites. There are also other benefits of using CSS for visitors, search engines and the designers.
CTR (CLICK THROUGH RATED)
The click through rate is expressed as a percentage. It is the fraction of users who clicked on a keyword advertisement out of the advertisements total impressions, or the number of times that particular ad was displayed.
CUSTOMER ACQUISITION COST
The cost associated with acquiring a new customer.
CYBERSPACE
The environment in which communication occurs over computer networks.
DESCRIPTION TAGS
HTML tags that provide a brief description of your site that search engines can use and understand. The description tag is presented in search query results below the title tag.
DIRECTORIES
Web based search engine where listings are gathered through human efforts rather than spiders/crawlers. websites are often reviewed and placed in relevant categories.
DHTML (DYNAMIC HTML)
Umbrella term used to describe the collection of technologies that allow webmasters to create interactive and animated websites. The technologies include: static markup language (e.g. HTML), a client-side script language (e.g. JavaScript) and a presentation definition language (e.g. CSS).
DOORWAY PAGE
A webpage designed to lure in Internet traffic from search engines. From a doorway page traffic will be directed to another website.
DOMAIN NAME
The location of an entity on the Internet.
DOWNLOAD
Transferring a file from another computer, or server, to your own via modem or other connection.
EMAIL (ELECTRONIC MAIL)
Message sent to another Internet user across the Internet.
Social networking site launched February 2004 that is operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc.
FAQ (FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS)
A list of the most common questions asked on a particular subject with answers already available. Used by websites to avoid repeatedly answering the same question.
FAVICON
Contraction of the words Favorite Icon. A Favicon is a customized icon that is displayed to the left of the website URL in the browser address bar.
FIREWALL
Some form of technological barrier specifically designed to prevent the unauthorized or unwanted transmission of data between computer networks or hosts.
FLASH
Multimedia technology developed my Macromedia, now owned by Adobe, to allow interactivity to fit in a relatively small file size.
FOOTER
One or more lines of text that appear at the bottom of every page of a document or website.
FORUM
A forum is an online community where visitors may read and post, or comment on, topics of common interest.
FRAMES
Structure in web development that allows for the dividing of a webpage into two or more independent parts.
FREEWARE
Software that is free of charge.
FREQUENCY
The number of times an ad is delivered to the same user within a single session time period.
FREQUENCY CAP
Restriction on the number of times a specific visitor is shown a particular advertisement.
FTP (FILE TRANSFER PROTOCOL)
Designed to allow the quick and easy transfer of files to computers connected by networks. These can be computers connected by private networks or the Internet.
GEO TARGETING
The ability to reach prospective clients by their physical location. All major search engines now allow Internet marketers to target geographically within their PPC interface. The location is based off of the searcher’s IP address.
GIF (GRAPHIC INTERCHANGE FORMAT)
An image file format. The GIF format is suitable for simple files while the JPEG format is preferred for storing photographs.
GOOGLEBOT
Software program written by Google, which is often referred to as a “spider” or “crawler.” This software is designed to continuously index or “spider” new Internet content to keep Google’s search engine database current.
GOOGLE ADSENSE
Text and image ads that are directly targeted to page content. Webmasters with the ad placement earn a percentage of the PPC paid by the advertiser.
GOOGLE ADWORDS
Google’s PPC advertising program.
GOOGLE INSIGHTS
Service by Google that is similar to Google Trends. Google Insights provides insights into the terms, or keywords, people have been entering into Google’s search engine. Gives users the ability to see a visual representation of regional interest on a country’s map. Often used to help with keyword research.
GOOGLE WEBMASTER TOOLS
A free service offered by Google for webmasters. GWT allows users to check indexing status and optimize visibility of their websites.
HACKER
A person, normally programmer, who uses computers to gain unauthorized access to information on the Internet.
HIT
Single access request made to a server.
HOME PAGE
Your primary HTML page. Your home page is the first page anyone would see in your website. Home page is also referred to as “landing page.”
HOST
A host is a computer with a web server that can serve the pages for one or more websites. When a company provides this service it is known as hosting.
HTML (HYPERTEXT MARKUP LANGUAGE)
The basics for all web encoding.
HTTP (HYPERTEXT TRANSFER PROTOCOL)
HTTP is the networking protocol that is the foundation of data communication for the World Wide Web.
HTTPS (HYPERTEXT TRANSFER PROTOCOL SECURE)
HTTPS is similar to HTTP, but with many security features enabled to protect sensitive data.
HYPERLINK
Text that is often blue and underlined. Hyperlinks, also “links” for short, allow you to navigate to other pages on the Web with a click of your mouse.
HYPERTEXT
Text displayed on an electronic device with references to other text that the reader can immediately access through a mouse click or keypress sequence.
INDEX
Term used to describe the databases that hold all the webpages crawled, or spidered, by search engines for each website. Internet marketing index can also be used as verb: “search engines index the Internet.”
IIS (INTERNET INFORMATION SERVICES)
Formerly “Internet Information Server.” IIS is a web server application created by Microsoft for use with Windows. It is the second most used web server to Apache HTTP Server.
IMPRESSION (AD OR PAGE IMPRESSION)
An ad impression is a single display of a particular ad on a webpage. Search engine advertising fees can be based on the number of impressions or the number of clicks an ad receives (PPC).
INBOUND LINK
A link from a site outside of your own that is directed toward your site. Also known as a “backlink.”
INTERNET
Interconnected system of varying networks that connects computers and servers around the world via the TCP/IP protocol.
INTRANET
A local or restricted communications network created using World Wide Web software.
INVENTORY
The number of ad positions available to advertisers on a website.
INVISIBLE WEB
These are webpages that search engines are not able to index.
IP ADDRESS
A unique number consisting of four parts separated by dots. Every machine connected to the Internet has a unique IP address. Here’s an example IP address: 165.135.225.2
ISP (INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDER)
Company that provides users with access to the Internet. This is done using copper, wireless or fiber connections.
JAVA
Programming language specifically designed for use in the distributed environment of the Internet. The Java programming language can be used to create complete applications that may run on a single computer or it can be distributed among servers and clients in a network.
JPEG (JOINT PHOTOGRAPHIC EXPERTS GROUP)
Commonly used method of lossy compression for digital photography. The degree of compression can be adjusted to balance file size and image quality. (filename.jpg)
JS (JAVASCRIPT)
Should not be confused with Java. JavaScript is an Object Oriented Programming language that was developed by NetScape. The primary use of JS is to improve user experiences on websites that offer enhanced functionality.
KEYWORD
Word or phrase that a person may search for in a search engine. Your keywords should be the search terms your targeted prospects are likely to search for.
KEYWORD MATCHING
In the Google AdWords interface there are four different options for keyword matching that specify a different way for a keyword to interact with users’ search queries.
This is Google’s default option. With broad match your ad will appear in all queries that contain any word from your keyword in any order and possibly with other terms. Your ad can also show for plural and singular forms as well as synonyms of your keyword phrase.
Feature which lets you create keywords that are more targeted than broad match while still having a greater reach than phrase match and exact match.
If you place your keyword in quotation marks your ad will only appear in queries for that complete phrase. Your ad may appear in queries with other terms leading or following your complete phrase.
If you place your keyword in brackets your ad will only appear when a user searches for that EXACT phrase. This option is more targeted, but you will have fewer impressions.
Words you choose as negative keywords will eliminate any phrase containing the specified negative keyword even if your broad or phrase match keyword is in the query. Negative keywords are especially useful if you are using a lot of broad match keywords.
KEYWORD BIDDING
The process used by Internet marketers to determine the ranking of paid keywords results in the major search engines.
KEYWORD RESEARCH
The process of discovering relevant keywords and phrases to be the focus of your SEO and PPC campaigns.
KEYWORD MARKETING
The process of distributing or promoting a product or service online.
KEYWORD STUFFING
The process of writing content that uses excessive amounts of select keywords. Content that is stuffed with keywords tends to read mechanically and usually does not convert well.
KEI (KEYWORD EFFECTIVENESS INDEX)
Compares the number of searches for a particular keyword with the number of search results, or competitors, to accurately decipher which keywords should be the most effective for your campaign.
LAG
Commonly used to describe a slow Internet connection or application on the computer. When an application or website fails to respond in a timely fashion to inputs.
LAN (LOCAL AREA NETWORK)
A localized computer network that is limited to a certain area.
LANDING PAGE
Usually used in conjunction with a PPC campaign; landing pages are call-to-action pages that prompt the user to engage a given site.
LINK
The “clickable” area of a text or image that allows for navigation on the Internet.
LINK BAIT
The process of getting users and webmasters to link to your site.
LINK BUILDING
The process of building high quality link data that search engines will evaluate to gauge whether your website is relevant, trustworthy and authoritative.
LINK FARM
A website, or group of websites, that exercises little to no editorial control when linking to other sites. In many instances link farms link out to sites with irrelevant content.
LINK POPULARITY
A measure of the quality and quantity of your site’s backlinks.
MAXIMUM CPM BIDPRINT
This is the maximum amount you are willing to pay for each 1000 impressions your ad receives.
META TAGS
Meta tags offer a way for you to highlight important keywords related to your site in a way that is visible to search engines, but not always the user.
META SEARCH ENGINE
Search engine that relies solely on Meta data found in websites’ Meta tags to determine relevancy.
MPEG
File format that is used to compress and transmit video clips or movies over the Internet.
MY SPACE
A social networking website that allows users to interact with their network of friends, music, photos, celebrities blogs and more.
ONLINE
You are online right now. Online is where you and the rest of the world head to get information and entertainment as well as communicate and buy products and services.
ORGANIC SEARCH RESULTS
The listings that appear based on the search engines’ algorithm of its database of all indexed websites. Not to be confused with the sponsored ads.
PAGE
Websites are made with a collection of pages. Each page is a document formatted in HTML that can contain text, images or media objects. The home page will typically be a visitor’s first point of entry and should contain the site index.
PAGE VIEWS
The amount of times a user requests a specific page. This can include HTML pages, script-generated pages and plain-text pages. The only exclusions are image, style sheet and JavaScript files.
PAGES PER VISIT
The total number of page views divided by the total number of visits during the same time frame.
PR (PAGE RANK)
Google’s unique system for trying to predict the value of a page. Each page on the web is assigned a number from 1 – 10 (ten being the best). These numbers are assigned to pages based on an algorithm.
PDF (PORTABLE DOCUMENT FORMAT)
The Adobe PDF is a translation format, which for the majority is used to distribute files across a network, or a website. These files are created in another application and then are converted to have the .pdf extension so they can be viewed by anyone with the free Adobe Acrobat Reader software available on any platform.
PERCENT NEW VISITS
The percentage of visits by people who have never visited your site before.
PERMALINK
A URL that points to a specific post in a forum or a specific blog post in a blog.
PFI (PAY FOR INCLUSION)
PFI is a Paid method for ensuring that your URL’s are included in the search engine index. No specific ranking is guaranteed.
PLUG-IN
A program application that is normally easily installed as part of a Web browser. Once a plug-in application is installed the browser recognizes it and its function is then integrated into the HTML file being presented.
PNG (PORTABLE NETWORK GRAPHICS)
Common file type for many images found online.
PODCAST
An audio or visual file that is syndicated via a RSS feed. This file can be downloaded and played on any compatible device.
PORTAL
Term used to describe a website that is used for the purpose of being a “point of entry” to the web.
PPC (PAY-PER-CLICK)
A type of campaign where advertisers pay for each time a web user clicks on their text or banner ad.
PPC MANAGEMENT
The detailed process of managing PPC accounts, keywords, ad groups and campaigns.
PROTOCOL
Set of rules that dictate how information is to be transmitted between computer systems.
QUERY
The word or phrase, “search string,” that a searcher enters into a search engine.
QUALITY SCORE
Score assigned to websites by search engines to measure the quality of the website. This score is calculated by measuring an ad’s clickthrough rate, analyzing relevancy of a landing page and many other factors the search engines use to determine the quality and relevancy of a website’s content. websites with higher quality scores are rewarded with top placements and lower bid requirements.
RANK
Rank is an ad’s, or listing’s, standing in comparison to other ads or listings. Given the graphical CTR rank can provide advertisers with information on an ad’s performance across multiple sites.
REACH
The number of unique visitors to visit a particular website over the course of the designated reporting period. This number is expressed as a percent of the universe for that particular demographic category.
REAL-TIME BIDDING
Process where online publishers auction off their ad inventory at an individual impression level and in real time. RTB has led to a rise in ad exchanges.
REFERRER
The source from which a website visitor came from, or was referred from.
REGISTRATION
Process where site visitors input information about themselves. Registration is used to enhance the targeting of ads. Some sites have voluntary registration while others have mandatory registration. Sometimes there is a fee associated with registering, which allows visitors to content unavailable to others.
REMARKETING
Remarketing is Google’s term for retargeting. Users’ browsers receive a cookie once they go to a given site so advertisements for that site can be displayed to these same users as they surf the web.
REPUTATION MANAGEMENT
The process of ensuring your brand related keywords display results, which are positive and reinforce your brand. In many cases hate sites can rank highly for brand related queries.
RETARGETING
Retargeting helps companies advertise to the 98% of people who visit a website but leave without converting. These advertisements are served to the prospect through various ad networks as they surf the Internet.
RFP (REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL)
Document used to send out to multiple companies in order to get a list of services to be delivered and at what cost for the agreed services.
ROBOT
Normally used to refer to the search engine’s spider/crawler.
ROBOTS.TXT
A file used to dictate exactly what is to be indexed by search engines of a particular website.
ROI (RETURN ON INVESTMENT)
Term used to evaluate Internet marketing and traditional forms of advertising. To calculate ROI subtract the cost of investment from the gain of investment and then divide the result by the cost of investment. ROI is expressed as a percent.
RSS (REAL SIMPLE SYNDICATION)
Method of syndicating information to a feed reader or other software. RSS allows people to subscribe to, and follow a channel they are interested in.
SEARCH ADVERTISING
When an advertiser pays to get their ad displayed whenever a user performs a certain search query. Most search advertisements are sold through the PPC model.
SEARCH ENGINE
Website that acts as a Web based information retrieval program. Each search engine has its own, or shared, algorithm which defines how the results are displayed.
SEM (SEARCH ENGINE MARKETING)
Can be used to refer to a person or company that does search engine marketing: paid search, search engine optimization or a combination of the two.
SERVER
Computer used to host files and serve them to the WWW.
SESSION
A series of hits by a single user. If there is a period of time with no activity, usually 30 minutes, if activity by that same user resumes it will be considered a new session.
SEO (SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION)
Search engine optimization is the process of improving the visibility of a website or a webpage in search engines via the organic results (based on the search engines’ algorithm).
SEO SERVICES
Services that are designed to get your website a top ranking in the organic results of search engines for any given term or keyword.
SERP (SEARCH ENGINE RESULTS PAGES)
The list of results for a particular search query within a search engine.
SHAREWARE
Software programs that are easily obtainable and can normally be downloaded online. Shareware is normally free, but this is not always the case.
SOCIAL BOOKMARKING
Term that describes a web membership service in which people can not only save their own bookmarks on a website, but social bookmarking also give them the ability to share their bookmarks with others.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Media that encourage and support interaction between users. While any medium may have social aspects (links to share by email), the term social media typically refers to the media with a primary function of enabling users to share information.
SPAM
Initially used to describe unsolicited emails, now Spam is used by search engines to describe sites that try to fool their ranking algorithms by using methods that the search engines disapprove of.
SPIDER
Can be referred to as a noun or a verb. Spiders are software applications that the search engines use to index webpages. They crawl, or “spider,” the web by following links from one page to another.
SPLASH PAGE
Webpages that act as a doorway into a site that contain a highly tailored message for new visitors. Splash pages differ from typical home pages because there will usually be an “enter” button in place of the complete navigation.
STANDARD MATCH TYPE
Option within sponsored search, or paid search, that specifies how the search terms are paired with advertisements
STATIC ROTATION
Advertisements that are set to rotate base on the entry of users into a page. The advertisements will remain on the screen and will not rotate regardless of how long the user spends on the page.
SUBMISSION
Is a reference to the content submitted or suggested to a search engine or directory. Many directories and search engines supply users with forms to complete to suggest or pay for content to be included. This content should be optimized for relevant keyword phrases to increase the chances of being found for searches of these terms.
Taxonomy
A website’s taxonomy is the organization of information. Web developers must harness the basic principles of taxonomy to desing an organized, logical and efficient website infrastructure.
T & C
Terms and Conditions
TAGS
Keywords or phrases meant for organizing content.
TARGETED MARKETING
Process of identifying and distinguishing the different groups that make up a market. Businesses can then develop appropriate products and marketing mixes for each target market involved.
TCP (TRANSMISSION/TRANSFER CONTROL PROTOCOL)
Works with the IP to ensure that packets travel safely through the Internet. The TCP/IP is the method through which most Internet activity takes place.
THROUGHPUT
Amount of data transmitted for any given request between Internet connectors.
TITLE
The title element is used to describe the contents of a document or webpage. The title element is a very important aspect to a webpage’s SEO.
TRACKING DOMAIN
Domain created with the sole purposes of measuring traffic to a particular website.
TRAFFIC
Number of visitors to any given site. Normally traffic is measured over a time period.
A social networking and microblogging service which enables users to send and read others’ messages called Tweets.
TXT
Text File (filename.txt)
UNIQUE USERS
Total number of different users, or computers, which have visited a website. Tracking technology can be used to find this number as well as user registration.
UNIQUE VISITORS
An individual visitor to your site.
UPLOAD
To send a file from one computer, or server, to another via a modem or other connection method.
URL
The unique address of any web document.
VIRAL MARKETING
Viral marketing is a self-propagating marketing technique. Common viral marketing techniques include email, blogging and word-of-mouth marketing.
VIRUS
Programs that can be downloaded to your computer from the Internet. Some viruses are harmless and just gather information, while others are programmed to destroy your system, trash your files and disable software on your computer. There are many anti-virus programs available that will only take a few extra minutes a day to ensure the safety of your computer.
VISITS
Sequence of requests made by one user at one particular site. If that visitor does not request any new information for a period of time, or exceeds the “time-out” period, then the user’s next request will be considered a new visit. Thirty minutes is normally the period that needs to elapse for a “time out.”
W3/W3C (WORLD WIDE WEB CONSORTIUM)
A standards body that dedicates its efforts to ensuring that there is interoperability between all the varied system and network types that comprise the World Wide Web. W3C is often used by several web server software systems, including Microsoft IIS.
WEBPAGE
An HTML document on the web. A webpage is usually in a group of many webpages, which makeup a website.
WEBMASTER
Individual assigned to administer a website. A webmaster works on all aspects of a website including the structure, design, HTML pages, link checking and sometimes a webmaster is in charge of monitoring and responding to emails generated by the site.
WEBSITE
The Virtual location for an organization’s presence on the Internet. A website is generally made up of several webpages and a home page designated by a URL.
WIDGET
Widgets are personalized and organized content or applications that have been selected by the user. A widget presents the user with live updates on a webpage, website or desktop.
WIKIPEDIA
Free online collaborative encyclopedia powered by the Wiki software.
WIKI
Software that allows information to be published using collaborative editing. Wiki is the software powering Wikipedia.
YAHOO SLURP
The name for Yahoo’s web crawler.
YOUTUBE
A video-sharing website created by three former PayPal employees in February of 2005 on which users can upload, share, and view videos.
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