seo glossary

This glossary of search engine optimization (SEO) and other search engine marketing (SEM) terms. Also included with the definitions are the impacts to performance and visitors to your site (and those pesky acronyms too).

This list will be continually updated, so come back often to see updates

Please contact me if there are terms that are not included in this list that you would like to see the impact to your web site’s organic performance.

Cheers!
pittfall

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A

Absolute Link – (see also Link and Relative Link) Type of link provided in the HTML source code that would identify the full location of a particular file. Example: http://www.seopittfall.com/seo-glossary vs. /seo-glossary

Affiliate – An entity that is providing visitors or producing conversions for another website. Example: I am an affiliate of DIYthemes.com, if someone clicks through my affiliate link and purchases their theme for WordPress, I will be paid a pre-determined amount.

AJAX – This is a type of programing that allows information to be passed to and from a server without having to reload the entirety of a given page. Example: Google currently uses AJAX programing to change search results as you type without hitting enter or clicking on a search button, this is also known as Google Instant.

Algorithm – Simply stated, it is a stepped calculation or function. Search engines utilize algorithms to determine search results by converting qualitative data (keywords) into quantitative data (numbers) and compares this against the pages it has in it’s index to determine which results to show in results.

Analytics – This is a monitoring tool to measure the activity on a website. This is typically done via tracking pixel, cookie or URL parameters. Proper set up of analytics give website owners the ability to measure traffic and conversions as well as insight into the source of a visit.

ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) – This is the code that should be utilized to show special characters within HTML code.

ASP – Active Server Pages – Programming language.

Authority – A measurement of value and ranking factor that is typically expressed
by the number and quality of websites and webpages linking to a webpage.

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B

Backlink – Please see Link

Beta –

Blackhat SEO – usually used in reference to online marketers leveraging tactics that will artificially inflate organic rankings.

Blog – Please see Weblog

Blogroll – reference to links from a blog to other blogs, typically published in the side bar of a blog and regularly site-wide.

Bookmark – Please see Social Bookmark

Bot – Please see Spider

Branding –

Breadcrumb – type of navigation link elements added to a page that identifies the path to a particular page. Typically, breadcrumb links are clickable to the user to bring them to a previous page in the navigation path.

Broken Link – an HTML link that fails to properly load because the page has been moved or incorrectly coded.

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C

Cache – (also see Index (noun))

Canonical URL -

Canonicalization –

Cascading Style Sheet – (CSS)

Citation – (also see Link)

Click Through Rate -

Cloaking -

Content Management System – (CMS)

Co-Citation -

Content –

Content Optimization –

Conversion –

Conversion Funnel -

Conversion Rate –

Cookies –

Copywriting – (also see Content Optimization)

Cost Per Acquisition – (CPA)

Cost Per Click -(CPC)

Cost Per Lead -(CPL)

Cost Per 1K Impressions -(CPM)

Crawl –

Crawl Frequency -

Crawlable –

Crawler – Please see spider

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D

Dayparting –

Dead Link – Please see Broken Link

Deep Link –

Deep Link Ratio –

Demand -

Destination Page – Please see Landing Page

Directory – (see also Online Directories and URL)

Domain Name Server – (DNS)

Domain –

Domaining –

Doorway Pages – (see also Entry Page)

Duplicate Content –

Dynamic Content -

Dynamic Insertion –

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E

Editorial Link –

Entry Page –

External Link –

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F

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G

Grayhat SEO –

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H

Header –

Heading –

Hosting

HTML –

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I

IFrame –

Inbound Link – (see also Link)

Inbound Link Profile –

Index (noun) –

Index (verb) – Please see Crawl

Infographic – An information graphic or infographic is a source of data visualization and has become a popular new way of sharing information or research. It is a simplified way to present a complex idea or information through a visual representation. Simply speaking, it is a visual analogy.

Inlink – Please see Link

Internet -

Internet Browser –

IP Address -

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J

JavaScript –

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K

Key Performance Indicator – (KPI)

Keyword – (also know as keyword phrase)

Keyword Density –

Keyword Research –

Keyword Stuffing –

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L

Landing Page -

Lead Generation –

Link –

Link Bait –

Link Building – Please see Link Development

Link Development –

Link Exchange –

Listing –

Local Search –

Long Tail –

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M

META – (see also META Description, META Keywords)

META Description –

META Keywords –

META Refresh –

META Robots –

META Search –

Metric –

Microformat –

Microsite –

Multivariate Testing –

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N

Natural Search – Please see Organic Search

Navigation -

Negative Keyword –

No Follow –

No Index – (see also Robots.txt)

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O

Online Directory –

Open Directory Project – (also known as DMOZ)

Optimize -

Online Reputation Management – (ORM)

Organic Search

Organic Search Results

Outbound Link – Please see External Link

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P

PageRank -

Page Rank -

Page Title –

Page View –

Paid Search Results

Pay For Performance – (PFP)

Pay Per Action – (PPA)

Pay Per Click – (PPC)

Personalization –

Position – Please see Proximity –

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Q

Quality Score -

Query –

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R

Rank -

Real Simple Syndication – (RSS)

Reciprocal Link –

Redirect -

Referrer –

Registrar –

Reinclusion –

Relative Link – (see also Link and Absolute Link)

Relevance -

Return on Ad Spend – (ROAS)

Return on Investment – (ROI)

Rich Media –

Rich Snippet –

Robots.txt –

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S

Saturation –

Scrape –

Search Engine –

Search Engine Marketing – (SEM)

Search Engine Optimization – (SEO)

Search Engine Results Page – (SERP)

Search Results – (see also organic search results, paid search results)

Search Term – Please see Keyword

Server Response Codes – (also see codes 200, 301, 302, 404, 500) HTTP (numerical) status codes provided to user agents when a file is requested, including web site pages, images and other assets that identifies what is happening. The common types of codes identify request completed, redirected to a new location or error. Server response codes do not impact users by does influence search engine crawlers visiting a web page.

Session –

Session ID –

Share of Voice – (SOV)

Sitemap – (see also XML Sitemap)

Site Wide Link –

Sitelinks –

Social Media Optimization – (SMO)

Social Bookmark -

Social Media –

Spam –

Spider –

Splash Page –

Static Content –

Stickiness –

Stop Character –

Stop Word –

Submission –

Supplemental Index –

Supplemental Results –

Syndication –

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T

Tail Term – Please see Long Tail

Target Audience –

Targeting –

Taxonomy –

Text Link -

Title Tag – Please see Page Title

Top Level Domain – (TLD)

Tracking URL –

Traffic – Please see Visitor

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U

Unique Visitor –

Universal Search Results -

Uniform Resource Locator – (URL)

URL Rewrite –

Usability –

User Agents –

User Centered Design – (UCD)

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V

Viral Marketing –

Visibility –

Visit –

Visitor -

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W

Weblog –

Web Browser – Please see Internet Browser

Web Crawler – Please see Spider

Web Directory – Please see Online Directories

Web Site –

Web Site Design –

Whitehat SEO –

Wiki –

World Wide Web Consortium – (W3C)

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X

XML –

XML Sitemap – (see also HTML Sitemap)

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Y

Yahoo! Directory –

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Z

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Numbers

200 – (also see server response codes)
301 – (also see server response codes)
302 – (also see server response codes)
404 – (also see server response codes)
500 – (also see server response codes)

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Quick Links
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