Internet Marketing Glossary & Terms
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Algorithm - Specifications a search engine applies to its analysis of a website, its pages, and other factors to determine an appropriate ranking.
Description meta tag - A short description of a website that appears in the HEAD of the HTML code. Some search engines show this in their results. This has much less relevance in positioning than it used to however, it does let searchers know what the page is about in the search engine results.
Directories (Yahoo!, DMOZ) - Large categorized indexes using human editors to decide whether a site is worthy of addition. HTML optimization does not improve positioning.
Doorway pages (a.k.a. information pages) - Pages created with the single aim of getting high positions in search engines.
Keywords - Words and phrases that are most relevant to a site and its subject. Your keywords should not be too vague.
Keywords meta tag - A short list of keywords relevant to that page appearing in the HEAD of the HTML code. Some search engines consider this when indexing a page but this tag now has very little importance, if any. However it should still be used.
Link popularity - The volume of links to your website from other sites. Search engines analyze all incoming links from separate sites and increase your ranking accordingly.
Pay-for-inclusion (a.k.a. paid submission) - Paying for a web page or a website to be indexed in a search engine / directory. Indexes offering this option include Inktomi, AltaVista, Ask.com, Yahoo, and more.
Pay-for-placement (a.k.a. pay-per-click) - You can bid on keywords you pick. The highest bidder gets the top position. Services include Overture.com, FindWhat, Sprinks, and others.
Search Engine Optimization Copywriter - A ‘copywriter’ who is not only proficient at web copy, but also experienced in writing copy which is optimized for search engines (and will therefore help you achieve a better search engine ranking for your website).
Search engine placement (a.k.a. search engine optimization, SEO, search engine ranking, search engine positioning, etc.) - The processes used to gain higher positions for a website.
Search engines (AltaVista, Google, MSN, etc.) - Automated search facilities that send small programs, spiders, to 'crawl' through the pages of a site and index information from each page. Pages are then ranked according to the search engine's algorithm.
Spam - In the context of search engine optimization, this is pages that try to trick the search engines into ranking a site higher. The use of spam is known as 'spamming'.
Spiders - Small programs sent out by search engines to follow links on websites and harvest information found on each page. This process is known as 'spidering' or 'crawling'.
Sponsored Links- Paid advertising which displays next to the natural search results. Customers can click on the ad to visit the advertiser’s website. This is how the search engines make their money. Advertisers set their ads up to display whenever someone searches for a word which is related to their product or service. These ads look similar to the natural search results, but are normally labeled “Sponsored Links”, and normally take up a smaller portion of the window. These ads work on a Pay-Per-Click (PPC) basis (i.e. the advertiser only pays when someone clicks on their ad).
Title tag - Goes in the HEAD of the HTML code and is the title search engines will display for that page. This is the single most important tag that should appear in the <HEAD> of EVERY page.
Web Master - A person responsible for the management of a particular website.
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