Friday, November 20, 2009

SEO Dictionary (Part 3)

Link Exchange
A link exchange is a quid pro quo arrangement or reciprocal link exchange between two sites. Reciprocal links usually lead to the home page of the associate site.

Link Farm
A link farm is a webpage or group of WebPages that exist solely to increase the number of Backlinks in a site’s link network. A link farm is meant to increase a site’s PageRank or popularity and thus improve its search engine Position. However, link farms are considered a form of Spam and sites that rely on them are penalized by search engines.

Link Popularity
Link popularity is the measure of how popular a webpage is by the number of Backlinks it has. However, link popularity is not solely a matter of quantity. Page Rank is achieved when Backlinks are located on reputable, relevant sites rather than so-called Link Farms. Most search engines use link popularity as a factor in their Algorithmic Results.

Link Text
Also known as anchor text, link text is the visible, clickable text between the HTML anchor and tags. Clicking on link text activates a Hyperlink to another web site. Link text is very important in Search Engine Optimization because search engine algorithms consider the hyperlink keywords as relevant to the Landing Page.

Listings
Listings are the indexed sites that appear in ranked order on a Search Engine Results Page in response to a user Query.

Local Search
Local search refers to both the addition of geographical keywords (cities, streets, etc.) to Search Terms and the use of Yellow Pages-type Search Engines such as Google Maps, Yahoo! Local and AskCity to find business services in a particular zip code. Search Engine Placement Services use local SEO to help traditional “brick and mortar businesses” connect with customers in their community.

Marketing Analytics
Marketing analytics is a branch of Analytics concerned specifically with marketing-related information from organic and paid search engine traffic, such as Unique Visitors, keyword-generated sales, Cost-Per-Click advertising, Click Fraud, Search Engine Marketing, etc.

Meta Description Tag
Also known as a description Tag, a meta description tag is a short HTML paragraph that provides search engines with a description of a page’s content for search engine Index purposes. The meta description tag is not displayed on the website itself, and may or may not be displayed in the search engine’s listing for that site. Search engines are now giving less importance to meta description tags in lieu of actual page content.

Meta Keywords Tag
A meta keywords tag provides search engines with a list of keywords that are relevant to a webpage. This can improve search engine Rank for a page by ensuring it’s properly indexed. However, search engines are now giving less importance to meta keywords tags in lieu of actual page content.

Meta Robots Tag
A meta robots tag (named for a search engine Crawler or Robot) lets page authors prevent their WebPages from being added to a search engine’s Index. Alternatives to a meta robots tag are Robots.txt files and password protection.

Meta Search Engine
A meta search engine derives its listings by running user queries through multiple other search engines and then summarizing the results. A meta search engine does not maintain its own Index. Listings are displayed by meta search engines either in aggregate or categorized by search engine source. An example of a meta search engine is Dogpile.com.

Meta Tags
Meta tags are HTML tags placed in a webpage that contain information for Crawlers and web browsers. Types of meta tag information include page descriptions (Description Tag), page-relevant keywords (Meta Keywords Tag), whether a page can be indexed (Meta Robots Tag), copyright, page refresh dates and redirection instructions.

Natural Listings (or Natural Optimization)
Also known as organic listings, natural listings are webpage listings that appear on a Search Engine Results Page solely because the search engine Algorithm deems them relevant to the Query. Natural listings can contain Paid Listings, but only if they fulfill the same requirements as natural listings. The best way to improve a site’s natural listing Position is through Natural Search Engine Optimization.

Natural Search Engine Optimization
Also known as natural optimization, organic search engine optimization or white hat SEO, natural search engine optimization is the use of keyword-focused copy and tags, Crawler-friendly site architecture, Search Engine Submissions and a quality Backlinks network to improve a site’s Position, Page Rank and Click-Through Rate. Because about 80% of web users look at Natural Listings first, natural SEO offers a much greater chance of long-term business success than Paid Listings or Pay-Per-Click ad campaigns.

Optimization Services
Also known as Internet promotion, site optimization, or search engine placement service, optimization services are all of the methods a Search Engine Optimization Company uses to improve a site’s Position and Page Rank and increase its Click-Through Rate and Conversion Rate.

Organic Listings (or Organic Optimization)
Also known as natural listings, organic listings are webpage listings that appear on a Search Engine Results Page solely because the search engine Algorithm deems them relevant to the Query. Organic listings can contain Paid Listings, but only if they fulfill the same requirements as organic listings. The best way to improve a site’s organic listing Position is through Natural Search Engine Optimization.


Outbound Links
Outbound links are all links from a particular webpage that lead to other pages, including pages in the same domain. An excessive number of outbound links can damage a site’s Search Engine Positioning because a Spider may perceive it as a Link Farm.

Page Rank (or PR)
Page Rank is a link analysis algorithm developed by Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin. A number from one (lowest) to ten (highest) is assigned to a webpage as a measure of its importance, specifically the likelihood that a user will arrive at that page by randomly clicking Links. Page Rank is not the same thing as Rank.

Paid Inclusion
Paid inclusion is an advertising program offered by some search engines in which a page is guaranteed inclusion in the Index in exchange for a fee. Unlike Paid Placement, the rank of paid inclusion pages is determined solely by the search engine Algorithm. Paid inclusion sites may or may not be labeled as advertisements depending on Search Engine policy.

Paid Listings
Paid Listings, as opposed to Natural Listings or Organic Listings, are sites that appear on a Results Page because money was paid to the search engine for inclusion and/or position. Paid listings is used as an all-inclusive term for the practices of Paid Inclusion and Paid Placement.


Paid Placement
Paid placement is a program in which advertisers’ listings are guaranteed to appear on a Results Page when particular Keywords are searched. The ranking of paid placement listings is determined by competitive bidding. Unlike Paid Inclusion listings, paid placement listings are usually displayed separately from Natural Listings and are labeled as advertisements or sponsored links. Google and Yahoo! Search Marketing (formerly Overture) are two of the largest paid placement search networks.

Pay-Per-Click (PPC)
Also known as cost-per-click or pay-for-performance, pay-per-click is an advertising revenue system used by search engines and ad networks in which advertising companies pay an agreed amount for each click of their ads. This Click-Through Rate-based payment structure is considered by some advertisers to be more cost-effective than the Cost-Per-Thousand payment structure, but it has at times led to Click Fraud.

Position
Also known as rank, position is the place a website occupies relative to the first listing on an Algorithmic Results page in response to a Keyword query. The first page displays Listings in the one through ten positions, the second page eleven through twenty, etc. Businesses trying to get their site into a top ten position will often employ a Professional Search Engine Optimization company. Consumer studies have shown that most search engine users click only on sites that occupy the top ten positions.

Position Reporting
Position reporting is the monitoring of daily changes in search engine Position for indexed URLs that have been optimized for specific keywords by a Search Engine Optimization Company. Position reporting is also used to generate a Search Engine Ranking Report.

Professional Search Engine Optimization
Professional search engine optimization is the modification of a website by an SEO company in order to increase its Position and Page Rank and improve its Click-Through Rate and Conversion Rate.

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