Search Engine Optimization may no longer be a new word, but the concept is evolving even as you read this page. Everyday there are numerous new SEO terms coming in and old terms being revised and re-revised. At QuikContent Services we have attempted to collate a glossary that describes important terms in Search Engine Optimization for potential clients as reference. 

Explanations below have been composed using my knowledge, experience and of course, numerous sources, as well as original writing. These explanations of terms serve more to describe the term to readers than to technically define it. I welcome any corrections, suggestions or enhancements in this glossary and would love to hear from you about it.

Algorithm: A set of rules that a search engine uses to rank the listings contained within its index, in response to a particular query. To protect itself from competitors and those who wish to spam the search engine, most do not reveal exactly how its own algorithm works. 

Backlinks: All the links pointing to a particular web page. Also called inbound links.

Banned or Delisted: When pages are removed from a search engine's index specifically because they were found to be spamming or violating some of the guidelines. 

Click through Rate or CTR: The percentage of people clicking on a link out of the total number that view the link. For example, 10 people enter a query and consequently they see links to a variety of web pages. Five of the 10 people choose one particular link. That link then has a 50 percent clickthrough rate or CTR.

Cloaking: The act of getting a search engine to record content for a URL that is different than what a searcher will ultimately see. It can be done in many technical ways. If you offer cloaking services, you should be able to demonstrate explicit approval from a search engine about what you intend to do. If not, then you may suffer from the risks inherent to unapproved cloaking.

Conversion Rate: Often expressed as a percentage, the ratio of how many people visit a site to how many actually take an action such as a sale or request to receive more information.  If a web site has 50 visitors and 10 of them convert, then the site has a 20 percent conversion rate. 

Cost Per Click or CPC: A system where an advertiser pays an agreed amount for each click generated on a link leading to their web site. 

Cost Per thousand or CPM: A system where an advertiser pays an agreed amount for the number of times their ad is seen by a consumer, regardless of the consumer's action. Heavily used with online banner ad sales, since ad views are often sold in blocks of 1,000. The M in CPM is Latin for thousand.

Crawler: Component of search engine that gather listings by automatically crawling the web. A search engine's crawler (also called a spider or robot), follows links to web pages. It makes copies of the web pages found and stores these in the search engine's index.

Directories: A type of search engine where listings are gathered through human efforts, rather than by automated crawlers. Here, web sites are often reviewed, summarized in about 25 words and placed in a particular category.

Doorway or Gateway Page: A web page created in hopes of ranking well for a term in a search engine's non-paid listings but on that itself does not deliver much information to the viewers. Generally visitors see some enticement on the doorway page leading them to other pages, like Click Here To Enter, or they may be automatically propelled quickly past the doorway page. If the website uses cloaking, visitors may never see the doorway page at all. Several search engines have guidelines against doorway pages, though they are more commonly allowed in through paid inclusion programs. Also referred to as bridge pages and jump pages.

Index: The collection of information a search engine has that searchers can query against. With crawler-based search engines, the index is typically copies of all the web pages they have found from crawling the web. With human-powered directories, the index contains the summaries of all web sites that have been categorized.

Keywords or Search Terms: The words (or word) a searcher enters into a search engine's search box. Also used to refer to the terms a search engine marketer hopes a particular page will be found for. Also called query terms or query.

Landing Page: The specific web page that a visitor finally reaches after clicking on a search engine listing.

Link Popularity: A raw count of how popular a page is based on the number of backlinks it has. It does not factor in link context or link quality, which are also important elements in how search engines make use of links to impact rankings.

Link Text: The text element contained within a link. For example, QuikContent Services is a link that contains the link text QuikContent Services.

Listings: The information that appears on a search engine's results page in response to a search.

Meta Search Engine: A search engine that gets listings from two or more other search engines, rather than through its own efforts.

Meta Tags: Information placed in a web page to be passed on to search engine crawlers, browser software and some other applications.

Meta Description Tag: Allows page authors to say how they would like their pages described when listed by search engines. Not all search engines use the tag.

Meta Keywords Tag: Allows page authors to add text to a page to help with the search engine ranking process. Not all search engines use the tag.

Meta Robots Tag: Allows page authors to keep their web pages from being indexed by search engines, especially helpful for those who cannot create robots.txt files.

Organic Listings: Listings that 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, because the content usually appears intermixed with unpaid organic results.

Outbound Links: Links on a particular web page leading to other web pages, whether they are within the same web site or other web sites.

Paid Inclusion: Advertising program where pages are guaranteed to be included in a search engine's index in exchange for payment, though generally, no guarantee of high rankings is given. For example, Looksmart is a directory that lists pages and sites, not based on position but based on relevance. Marketers pay to be included in the directory, on a CPC basis or per-URL fee basis, with no guarantee of placement.

Pay Per Click or PPC: Stands for pay-per-click and means the same as cost-per-click.

Paid Listings: Listings that search engines sell to advertisers, usually through paid placement or paid inclusion programs.

Pay-for-Performance: Term popularized by search engines as a synonym for pay-per-click, stressing to advertisers that they are only paying for ads that perform in terms of traffic, as opposed to CPM-based ads, which cost money, even if they don't generate a click.

Paid Placement: Advertising program where listings are guaranteed to appear in response to particular search terms, with higher ranking typically obtained by paying more than other advertisers. Paid placement listings can be purchased from a portal or a search network. Overture and Google are the largest networks, but MSN and other portals sometimes sell paid placement listings directly too. 

Rank or position: The measure of how well a particular web page or web site is listed in a search engine results. A rank indicates where exactly a web page is listed -- be it on the first page of results, the second page or perhaps the 200th page.

Reciprocal Link: A link exchange between two sites. 

Results Page: After a user enters a search query, the page that is displayed, is the results page. Sometimes it may be called SERPs, for "search engine results page." 

Robots.txt: A file used to keep web pages from being indexed by search engines. 

ROI: Stands for Return On Investment and refers to the percentage of profit or revenue generated from a specific activity. For example, one might measure the ROI of a paid listing campaign by adding up the total amount spent on the campaign (say $200) versus the amount generated from it in revenue (say $1,000). The ROI would then be 500 percent. 

Search Engine: Any service generally designed to allow users to search the web or a specialized database of information. When a search term is entered, listings that are closest to it are displayed by the search engine.

Search Engine Marketing or SEM: The act of marketing a web site via search engines, whether this be improving rankings, purchasing paid listings or a combination of these and other search engine-related activities.

Search Engine Optimization or SEO: The act of altering a web site so that it does well in the organic, crawler-based listings of search engines.

Spam: Any search engine marketing method that a search engine regards as detrimental to its efforts to deliver relevant, quality search results. Though there are some written guidelines about what is considered Spam by search engines, but actually any activity that a particular search engine deems harmful may be considered Spam, whether or not there are published guidelines against it. Example, creation of nonsensical doorway pages designed to please search engine algorithms rather than human visitors or heavy repetition of search terms on a page.

Submission: The act of submitting a URL for inclusion into a search engine's index. Unless done through paid inclusion, submission generally does not guarantee listing. In addition, submission does not help with rank improvement on crawler-based search engines unless search engine optimization efforts have been taken. Submission can be done manually or automated.

XML Feeds: A form of paid inclusion where a search engine is fed information about pages via XML, rather than gathering that information through crawling actual pages. Marketers can pay to have their pages included in a spider based search index either annually per URL or on a CPC basis based on an XML document representing each page on the client site. New media types are being introduced into paid inclusion, including graphics, video, audio, and rich media.

Reference: www.SearchEngineDictionary.com

Feel free to email me with any comments or suggestions that you may have.
Gary, Editor, QuikContent Services.

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