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Algorithm
A set of rules that a
search engine uses to rank the listings
contained within its index, in response to a
particular query. No search engine reveals
exactly how its own algorithm works, to
protect itself from competitors and those
who wish to spam the search engine. Source:
Did-It.com
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Algorithmic Results; see
Organic Listings.
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Backlinks
All the links pointing
at a particular web page. Also called
inbound links. Source: Webmaster World
Forums
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Banned
When pages are removed
from a search engine's index specifically
because the search engine has deemed them to
be spamming or violating some type of
guidelines.
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Clickthrough Rate
The percentage of those
clicking on a link out of the total number
who see the link. For example, imagine 10
people do a web search. In response, they
see links to a variety of web pages. Three
of the 10 people all choose one particular
link. That link then has a 30 percent
clickthrough rate. Also called CTR. Source:
Webmaster World Forums
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Cloaking
In terms of search
engine marketing, this is 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. Several search engines have
explicit rules against unapproved cloaking.
Those violating these guidelines might find
their pages penalized or banned from a
search engine's index. As for approved
cloaking, this generally only happens with
search engines offering paid inclusion
program. Anyone offering cloaking services
should be able to demonstrate explicit
approval from a search engine about what
they intend to do. If not, then they should
then have explained the risks inherent of
unapproved cloaking.
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Contextual Link Inventory
To supplement their
business models, certain text-link
advertising networks have expanded their
network distribution to include “contextual
inventory”. Most vendors of "search engine
traffic" have expanded the definition of
Search Engine Marketing to include this
contextual inventory. Contextual or content
inventory is generated when listings are
displayed on pages of Web sites (usually not
search engines), where the written content
on the page indicates to the ad-server that
the page is a good match to specific
keywords and phrases. Often this matching
method is validated by measuring the number
of times a viewer clicks on the displayed
ad.
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Conversion Rate
The relationship
between visitors to a web site and actions
consider to be a "conversion," such as a
sale or request to receive more information.
Often expressed as a percentage. If a web
site has 50 visitors and 10 of them convert,
then the site has a 20 percent conversion
rate. Source: Webmaster World Forums
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Cost Per Click
System where an
advertiser pays an agreed amount for each
click someone makes on a link leading to
their web site. Also known as CPC. Source:
Webmaster World Forums
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CPC; see
Cost Per Click.
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CPM
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
subsequent action. Heavily used in print,
broadcasting and direct marketing, as well
as with online banner ad sales. CPM stands
for "cost per thousand," since ad views are
often sold in blocks of 1,000. The M in CPM
is Latin for thousand. Source: Webmaster
World Forums and Did-It.com
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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.
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CTR; see
Clickthrough Rate.
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Delisting
When pages are removed
from a search engines index. This may happen
because they have been banned or for other
reasons, such as an accidental glitch on the
search engine's part. Source: Adventive
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Directories
A type of search engine
where listings are gathered through human
efforts, rather than by automated crawling
of the web. In directories, web sites are
often reviewed, summarized in about 25 words
and placed in a particular category.
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Doorway Page
A web page created
expressly in hopes of ranking well for a
term in a search engine's non-paid listings
and which itself does not deliver much
information to those viewing it. Instead,
visitors will often see only some enticement
on the doorway page leading them to other
pages (i.e., "Click Here To Enter), or they
may be automatically propelled quickly past
the doorway page. With cloaking, they 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, gateway
pages and jump pages, among other names.
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Gateway Page; see also
Doorway Page.
Graphical Search
Inventory. Banners, and other types of
advertising units which can be synchronized
to search keywords. Includes pop-ups,
browser toolbars and rich media.
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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.
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Inbound Link; See
Backlinks.
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Keywords;
See Search Terms.
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Landing Page
The specific web page
that a visitor ultimately reaches after
clicking a search engine listing. Marketers
attempt to improve conversion rates by
testing various landing page creative, which
encompasses the entire user experience
including navigation, layout and copy.
Source: Did-It.com
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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.
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Link Text
The text that is
contained within a link. For example, search
engine is a link that contains the link text
"search engine."
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Listings
The information that
appears on a search engine's results page in
response to a search.
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Meta Search Engine
A search engine that
gets listings from two or more other search
engines, rather than through its own
efforts.
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Meta Tags
Information placed in a
web page not intended for users to see but
instead which typically passes information
to search engine crawlers, browser software
and some other applications.
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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.
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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.
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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. The
Robots Exclusion page provides official
details.
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Organic Listings
Listings that search
engines do not sell (unlike paid listings).
Instead, sites 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. This is because
that content usually appears intermixed with
unpaid organic results.
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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.
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Paid Inclusion
Advertising program
where pages are guaranteed to be included in
a search engine's index in exchange for
payment, though no guarantee of ranking well
is typically 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 specific
placement. Also see XML Feeds. Source:
Did-It.com
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PPC
Stands for
pay-per-click and means the same as
cost-per-click. See Cost Per Click.
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Paid Listings
Listings that search
engines sell to advertisers, usually through
paid placement or paid inclusion programs.
In contrast, organic listings are not sold.
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Pay-for-Performance
Term popularized by
some search engines as a synonym for
pay-per-click, stressing to advertisers that
they are only paying for ads that "perform"
in terms of delivering traffic, as opposed
to CPM-based ads, where ads cost money, even
if they don't generate a click.
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Pay-Per-Click; see
Cost Per Click.
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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. Search networks are often
set up in an auction environment where
keywords and phrases are associated with a
cost-per-click (CPC) fee. Overture and
Google are the largest networks, but MSN and
other portals sometimes sell paid placement
listings directly as well. Portal
sponsorships are also a type of paid
placement.
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Position;
See Rank.
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Query;
See Search Terms.
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Rank
How well a particular
web page or web site is listed in a search
engine results. For example, a web page
about apples may be listed in response to a
query for "apples." However, "rank"
indicates where exactly it was listed -- be
it on the first page of results, the second
page or perhaps the 200th page.
Alternatively, it might also be said to be
ranked first among all results, or 12th, or
111th. Overall, saying a page is "listed"
only means that it can be found within a
search engine in response to a query, not
that it necessarily ranks well for that
query. Also called position.
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Reciprocal Link
A link exchange between
two sites. Source: Webmaster World Forums
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Registration; See
Submission.
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Results Page
After a user enters a
search query, the page that is displayed, is
call the results page. Sometimes it may be
called SERPs, for "search engine results
page." Source: Webmaster World Forums
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Robot;
see Crawler.
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Robots.txt
A file used to keep web
pages from being indexed by search engines.
The Robots Exclusion page provides official
details.
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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. Source: Did-It.com
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Search Engine
Any service generally
designed to allow users to search the web or
a specialized database of information. Web
search engines generally have paid listings
and organic listings. Organic listings
typically come from crawling the web, though
often human-powered directory listings are
also optionally offered. Source: Webmaster
World Forums
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Search Engine Marketing
The act of marketing a
web site via search engines, whether this be
improving rank in organic listings,
purchasing paid listings or a combination of
these and other search engine-related
activities.
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Search Engine Optimization
The act of altering a
web site so that it does well in the
organic, crawler-based listings of search
engines. In the past, has also been used as
a term for any type of search engine
marketing activity, though now the term
search engine marketing itself has taken
over for this. Also called SEO.
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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
keywords, query terms or query.
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SEM
Acroymn for search
engine marketing and may also be used to
refer to a person or company that does
search engine marketing (i.e.., "They're an
SEM firm).
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SEMPO
Search Engine Marketing
Professional Organization, a non-profit,
formed to increase the awareness of and
educate people on the value of search engine
marketing.
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SEO
Acronym for search
engine optimization and often also used to
refer to a person or company that does
search engine optimization (i.e., "They do
SEO").
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SERPS;
see Results Page.
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Shopping Search
Shopping search engines
allow shoppers to look for products and
prices in a search environment. Premium
placement can be purchased on some shopping
search indices.
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Spam
Any search engine
marketing method that a search engine deems
to be detrimental to its efforts to deliver
relevant, quality search results. Some
search engines have written guidelines about
what they consider to be spamming, but
ultimately any activity a particular search
engine deems harmful may be considered spam,
whether or not there are published
guidelines against it. Example of spam
include the creation of nonsensical doorway
pages designed to please search engine
algorithms rather than human visitors or
heavy repetition of search terms on a page
(i.e. the search terms are used tens or
hundreds or times in a row). These are only
two of many examples. Determining what is
spam is complicated by the fact that
different search engines have different
standards. A particular search engine may
even have different standards of what's
allowed, depending on whether content is
gathered through organic methods versus paid
inclusion. Also referred to as spamdexing.
Source: Webmaster World Forums
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Spider;
See Crawler.
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Submission
The act to 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 (i.e., you
fill out an online form and submit) or
automated, where a software program or
online service may process the forms behind
the scenes.
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Query;
See Search Terms.
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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.
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For more
definitions see:
Definitions above draw on
multiple sources, as well as original writing.
Content used with permission is copyrighted, and
remains property of its respective owners:
Webmaster World Forums, Did-It.com, Adventive,
SearchEngineWatch.com.
Reported by
Sempo.org
Edited by Danny Sullivan
Editor,
Search Engine Watch
[Publisher's Note: The very purpose of SEMPO
is to promote a diverse group of Search Engine
Marketing Professionals, few of whom will agree
on all topics and all techniques. Even
definitions of words can inspire a debate!
However, we have endeavored here to assemble a
glossary that objectively defines important
terms for the Press and for potential Clients to
reference. Many thanks to Danny Sullivan, Kevin
Lee, Ikonya Nginyo, and all the other volunteers
who contributed.] |
