Glossary ABC
Above the fold - This term comes from newspaper lingo and reflects “above the horizontal fold” placement of a media story or advertisement. People searching for information are more likely to click on results that are “above the fold,” or on the first page of search results.
Absolute links - Defines a specific location of the website or page including the protocol to use to get the document, the server to get it from, the directory it is located in, and the name of the document itself. For example: <a href=”http://www.aosoft.net/webdesign.html”></a>. The URL and file name can be found from anywhere on the Web, not just from a single website. See “relative links” for a comparison between these two types of links.
Affiliate program - An advertising program offering a monetary incentive for webmasters to build revenue for the advertiser’s website. This eliminates the necessity for the advertiser to find websites with related content to list their banners, and increases the response rate by giving the “affiliate” websites a percentage of the advertiser’s sales that the “affiliate” generates to the website.
Algorithm - A formula used by the search engines to help determine the relevancy of Web pages. Search engines use more than 100 variables to determine the algorithms for ranking Web pages.
Alt text - Stands for Alternative text. The “Alt text” was created to describes pictures and other images on a Web page for people who disable their graphics option, or who have text-only browsers and are unable to see graphics.
Anchor text - Refers to the text that composes a link to another Web page or resource. Placing keywords in anchor text might help search engine ranking.
Ask.com - A search engine formerly known as Ask Jeeves.com; currently the fourth most popular search engine after Google, Yahoo! and MSN.
ASP - An acronym for Active Server Pages. These are HTML pages that contain embedded scripts. IIS (Internet Information Server) and third party providers offer server software that interprets Active Server code and perform functions such as database access, page personalization, or interactive functions.
Backlink - Links from another site to your own. Most search engines use the quality and quantity of backlinks to help determine search engine ranking. See also “inbound link.”
Bad neighborhoods - A website or a group of websites that are currently being penalized by a search engine for using unapproved SEO practices, such as keyword stuffing, hidden text, etc.
Blog or Weblog - A journal (or newsletter) that is frequently updated and intended for general public consumption, written either from a personal or corporate point of view.
Bookmark - A function that lets a searcher save a page he or she wants to visit again. Also known as “favorites,” a bookmark saves a URL on your computer so your Web browser can access it later, allowing the user to easily return to a particular site or entry.
Bot - Short for robot, a program designed to search the Internet looking for information. A common use of bots is the variously named spiders, worms, and crawlers that support search engines by following links from site to site and within a site to dig out information to be indexed by the search engine.
Cache - A short-term, often temporary memory area where frequently accessed data can be stored for rapid access.
Cold Fusion - A scripting language for Web developers and programmers who do advanced development and/or database interfacing. Created by Allaire, this is a popular and sophisticated set of products for building websites and serving pages to users.
Conversion - The act of turning an inquiry to your website into an action. For example, a visitor clicks on your site seeking information and actually follows through with a response and/or a purchase. Often expressed as a “conversion rate” or ratio of number of visitors to completed specific action.
Cookies - Text files that hold information on the times and dates you have visited websites. Other information can also be saved, including online purchases, validation for members-only websites, and more.
CPA (cost per action) - Refers to the cost to the advertiser each time a user visits his site and takes some type of action (leaving an email address, requesting additional information, subscribing to a newsletter, or ordering a product).
CPC (cost per click) - Also known as pay per click. This term refers to the cost an advertiser pays each time a user clicks on his or her companys ad on a website (usually a search engine). Advertisers pay a nominal fee for this service, which usually places them higher in the search engine rankings and should increase traffic to their site because of that prominence.
CPM (cost per thousand) - CPM is used by Internet marketers to price ad banners. Sites that sell advertising will guarantee an advertiser a certain number of impressions (number of times an ad banner is downloaded and presumably seen by visitors), then set a rate based on that guarantee times the CPM rate. A website that has a CPM rate of $25 ($25 for every 1,000 visitors) and guarantees advertisers 600,000 impressions will charge $15,000 ($25 x 600) for those advertisers’ ad banners.
Crawler - Also known as a “spider,” this is a software program designed by the search engines to read and index a website or page. Entire sites or specific pages can be selectively visited and indexed. Crawlers apparently gained the name because they crawl through a site a page at a time, following the links to other pages on the site until all pages have been read.
CSS (cascading style sheets) - Cascading style sheets allow developers to control the style and layout of multiple Web pages all at once. When a Web designer wants to make a change in the site, he or she can simply change the style, and that element is updated automatically wherever it appears within the site.
CTR (click through rate) -The CTR is expressed as a percentage of the number of people who scan a search results page and then select a site to visit. For example, if the SERP has 200 searches (impressions) and 10 people click on a site, the CTR is 2%.
