SEO Glossary, Search Engine Optimization Glossary

Adwords - An advertising system to advertise on Google and other sites by using cpc or ppc basis. (Cost per Click, or Pay Per Click)

Agent Name - The name of the spider or browser as defined by its owner.

Algorithm - A formula that is used to rank web sites.

Altavista - One of the first large scale search engines.

Back link - A link from one web site to another.

Bridge Page - Like a "Doorway Page", a specifically designed entry point to a web site.

Click-Through - A click on a link that leads to another web site.

Click-Tracking - The use of scripts in order to track inbound and outbound links.

Cloaking - Delivering different content to specific crawlers or spiders. This is used to trick spiders into seeing optimized content.

Comment Tag - A tag in HTML that is invisible unless viewed through the source code

Counter - A script that counts hits or visits to a page.

CPA - Cost Per Action. Where you pay for a specified action such as a purchase.

CPL - Cost Per Lead. Where you pay for a lead.

CPM - Cost Per Thousand. Where you pay for every thousand impressions.

Crawler - A program that digs through websites and gathers information for its owner.

Cross Linking - Multiple sites linking to each other.

CSS - Cascading Style Sheets. These are used to easily manipulate and manage the design of web pages/web sites.

CTR - Click Through Rate. This is the ratio of impressions shown to the number of clicks.

Dead Link - A link that produces a page not found error also known as a 404 error.

Directory - A web site that lists other sites in different categories.

Domain - The name for a web site, like www.spiderseo.net.

Dynamic Page - A page that generates contents on the fly as the user requests the page.

Error Log File - A server log file that records errors encountered.

Google Everflux - This denotes the continuous changes in the Google search results pages.

FFA - Free For All. This is a links page with nothing more than links added by its visitors.

Freshbot - Google crawlers that add pages to the Google index faster than others.

Google - A major search engine. Google is currently the largest and most used search engine.

Google Bot - The crawlers that index pages into Google

Gulliver - The name of a web crawler for Northern Light.

Header Tag - An HTML tag which is used for page headers.

Hidden Text - Text which is invisible to the human eye because it uses the same color as the background.

Hit - An instance of a graphic or file being loaded on a web page.

HTML - Hyper Text Markup Language. This is used to write and format web pages.

HTML Link - A link from one page to another.

Inbound Link - A link from another web site to your web site.

Inktomi - A database of search results used to power multiple search engines.

IP Address - A unique number used to identify a computer or system.

IP Spoofing - An illegal process of faking IP addresses.

Java Script - An embedded client side scripting language.

Keyword - A single word used to help identify the purpose of a web site.

Keyword Density -The percentage density of a given keyword or phrase.

Keyword Stuffing - Stuffing a page with numerous keywords with the sole purpose of confusing search engines.

Link Farm - A series of web sites linking to each other in order to increase rankings.

Meta Search - Searching multiple databases and combining results.

Meta Tags - A tag used for behind the scenes purposes such as providing content for non human visitors.

Northern Light - An older search engine once very popular.

Open Directory Project - A large directory of web sites run by volunteers. The database is used by many web sites across the internet.

Optimization - Fine tuning a web site or web page to attain higher position in all or specific search engine results.

Outbound Link - Linking from your web site to another web site.

Page View - The number of times a page was loaded.

PopUp - The opening of a new window above the previous window.

PFI - Pay For Inclusion. This is where a site must pay to be listed at all.

Pop Under - A pop up that loads under a page so that it is only viewable once the current page is closed.

PR - Googles Page Rank. The higher the rank the better the position your web site will have in their results.

Query - A search phrase submitted to search engines.

Rate Card - A sheet with pricing information.

Reciprocal Link - Where two sites exchange links.

Referrer - The page where user came from.

Refresh Tag - A tag which defines when and to where a page will refresh.

Robot - The name given to a spider or crawler. It is anything that is not a human visitor.

Robots.txt - A file created to direct the search engines spiders into certain directions off the web site. This is also used to keep parts from being spidered.

Scooter - The search crawler of Altavista.

Search Engine - A site which searches the web for sites that are relevant to the search query.

SERP - A search engine results page.

Slurp - The Inktomi search crawler.

Spider - A program that visits and downloads specific information from a web page.

Submission - Submitting a web site to a search engine or directory.

Traffic - The visitors and page viewers on a web site.

URL - Uniform Resource Locator. The address at which a specific resource can be found.