| Algorithm | A series of rules that allows a search engine to catagorise and rank each
website contained within its index. No search
engine allows the general public to know exactly how their algorithms work in
order to protect itself from competitors, and malicious spammers. |
| Backlinks | Any link that points to a particular website can be a "backlink". Can
also be called inbound links. |
| Banned | It is possible for websites and webpages to be forcibly removed from a search
engine's indexing system if the search engine has determined them to be
violating the terms of use, or the result of spammers. |
| Clickthrough
Rate | A ratio (described most commonly per cent (%)) of numbers of clicks
compared to number of views. For example if 100 people do a search that
involves the same pages coming up as results, if 43 people click the same link,
then that website has a clickthrough rate/ratio or 43% or 43 clicks out of
every 100 views. |
| Cloaking | This is the act of disguising the information of a website or webpage so that
it appears different to what is actually available on that particular
website/page within the search engine listings. Achievable in many ways, many
search engines have strict rules and conditions with regards to unauthorised
cloaking. Violating those rules can result in being Banned (see above), or
penalised in another manner. Anyone offering cloaking services should be able to
provide explicit proof of approval from a search engine to do so. |
| Contextual
Link Inventory | Typically not directly involved with Search Engines, but often
offered as advertising schemes from the same source. A contextual link
inventory is a database of links that are associated with keywords, websites
(not search engines) place a contextual banner or other advertising device on
the webpage, and dependent on the page content adverts that match that content
(via the keywords stored) are displayed. This results in advertising being
aimed at a specific audience. The keyword-content matching method is refined by
utilising the clickthrough rate to improve the matching system. |
| Conversion
rate | A ratio (again commonly expressed as a percentage) between number of page
views and number of conversions, a conversion is an action that can involve
anything from a request for further information, or a sale or quote. |
| Cost per
Click | This describes a system in which the advertiser/client pays a previously
agreed fee for every click someone makes on a link leading to the advertisers
website. |
| CPM | A
system where an advertiser will pay a previously agreed fee for every 1000
views regardless of the response. This isnt strictly a web based only term and
can be found used in more traditional means of advertising (radio/print/tv).
the M in the CPM acronym comes from latin and stands for "thousand".
Advertising blocks are typically sold in lots of 1000. |
| Crawler | The backbone of a search engine, this is a script that is run on the search
engine's servers that crawls the internet following links to web pages and
archiving them within the search engine's index. Also known as a Spider or
Robot. |
| Delisting | This is the act of removing a page or site from a search engines index. |
| Adventive
Directories | As opposed to using a crawler this involves a process in which
humans create the search engine's page index. Websites are reviewed, summarised
and catagorised as part of this process, in some cases providing more relevant
information than an automated search engine may provide. |
| Doorway
Page | A webpage with the sole aim of ranking highly for a term in the search
engine's listing. Often not content rich, its function is to tempt visitors
further into a particular website, or automatically forwarding them to another
site. When used in combination with cloaking visitors may never see the doorway
page, and may infact find themselves on a completely different website than
they intended to visit. Many search engines also have conditions and rules that
govern the use of doorway pages. Typically these restrictions are lifted a
little when paid listing schemes are used. |
| Index | The collection of information that a search engine uses to search by. Added to
via crawlers or in an adventive directory via human efforts. Can contain
summaries of the pages as well as opposed to just an address. |
| Landing
Page | The page that a visitor ends up on after selecting a search engine link.
Creative landing pages can result in improved conversion rates. |
| Popularity | A simple count of how many backlinks link to a particular page. |
| Link
Text | The text that makes up a link. |
| Listings | The results that appear after a user has made a query using the search engine. |
| Meta
Search Engine | A search engine that utilises the results from 2 or more other
search engines as opposed to storing its own index of websites. |
| Meta
Tags | Supplementary information placed on a webpage that isnt intended for the
page visitors to see, but is used to pass information to search engine
crawlers, browser software and other applications. |
| Meta
Description Tag | Allows web designers to place a summary of the page contents
to be displayed when listed by a search engine. However not all search engines
support this tag, and instead summarise it in another method. |
| Meta
Keywords Tag | Allows web designers to add keywords to a page in order to aid
the catagorising and ranking of the site within a search engine's listings. |
| Meta
Robots Tag | Allows web designers to specify whether or not they would like
their pages indexed by a search engine. Another option would be to use a
robots.txt file. |
| Organic
Listings | These are listings that search engines havent sold rights to. Instead
these sites appear because a search engine has decided that its important for
them to be included. Paid content is often also considered organic as its
typically intermixed within the non-paid results. |
| Outbound
Links | Links on a webpage that lead to other webpages, no distinction is made
between internal and external links. |
| Paid Inclusion | A method of ensuring that pages will be included in a search
engine's index. Although this does not normally affect page ranking. |
| Paid
Listings | Listings that search engines sell to advertisers. Similar to paid
inclusion and paid placement. |
| Pay for
Performance | A popular synonym for pay per click, stresses that advertisers are
only paying for the adverts that deliver the results, versus CPM advertising,
where adverts are paid for regardless of performance. |
| Paid
Placement | Selling rights to appear in results listings in response to
particular search terms. Appearance in the listings will be guaranteed, and
typically with a ranking higher than the non-paid listings. Ranking can also be
determined on the fees paid to the search engine, E.G. Higher paying
advertisers have higher ranking listings as opposed to the lesser paying
advertisers. |
| Rank | How
well a webpage or website is listed in the search engine's results. Determines
where in the results it comes, i.e. 1st place or 100th place. Also known as
position. |
| Reciprocal
Link | An exchange of links between two sites. |
| Results
Page | After a query is run, the search engine displays the results on a webpage
to allow the user to view the results. Otherwise called a SERP (Search Engine
Result Page). |
| Robots.txt | A file used to stop webpages from being indexed by search engine
crawlers/spiders/robots. |
| ROI | Is
an Acronym for "Return on Investment" and is a ratio of profit or
revenue generated from a specific activity. I.E. the amount of revenue
generated from sales against the cost of advertising. |
| Search
Engine | A service designed to allow users to search a database of information,
be it web related or of a more specialised nature. |
| Search
Engine Marketing | The act of marketing a business or website via search
engines. Facilitated in many ways from improving rank in organic listings, or
instead opting for paid listings, and paid placement schemes. |
| Search
Engine Optimisation | The art of altering a website so that it improves its
ranking within organic crawler based listings of search engines. |
| Search
Terms | The word(s) a searcher will enter into a search engine query. Also used
to describe the terms or keywords that an advertiser hopes a particular page
will be found for. |
| Shopping
Search | Search engines that allow shoppers to look for products and compare
prices over many stores. |
| Spam | A
term used to describe any search engine marketing method that is deemed to be a
hinderance to a search engines aims of delivering relevant and quality results.
|
| Submission | The act of submitting a URL for inclusion into an index of a search engine.
Unless done through paid inclusion methods, submission does not guarantee a
listing. Submission can be done manually, or automated where a software program
or online service provider processes the necessary forms and details behind the
scenes. |
| XML
Feeds | A form of paid inclusion where information about the website is given to
search engines via XML, as opposed to relying on crawlers to gather the
information from the webpages. |
