Search engine optimization, or SEO, is a marketing discipline with a language all its own. Just like the industry itself, the terminology used to explain and describe the mechanics of internet marketing continue to evolve on an almost daily basis.In an effort to explain some of the more commonly used search engine optimization terms, we've put together a list of terms that we use on a regular basis to explain the tactics, mechanics, and processes involved with improving your website's visibility and traffic.
This is a broad term meaning the design/development interaction on the website, including the integration of important search engine optimization elements (.html sitemap, secondary navigation) and the functional layout of pages, graphics, and content.
Title tags are the short lines of text in the upper-most left hand corner of your browser (usually preceding "Windows Internet Explorer"). It is important that the keywords in your title tags reinforce the content on each page, and are written using SEO best practices.
Meta descriptions are behind-the-scenes keyword rich text that are only visible on search engine results pages (SERP's). Meta keywords are completely invisible, keyword-rich text which are utilized by Yahoo and Ask search engines (Google and MSN don't crawl these tags any longer).
Semantic markup is the use of code to direct and categorize important text headings within a webpage. This code acts as a roadmap, directing search engine spiders to pay extra attention to the keywords highlighted.
Alt tags are the small bits of text that appear as your mouse hovers over an image on a webpage. Search engine spiders can't crawl images, so text is added in the form of an alt tag to take advantage of the sometimes large real estate consumed by graphics.
Anchor text is keyword-rich, hyperlinked text within the body of a page leading users to other pages within the website. These are easy avenues for spiders to enter and exit pages, helping ensure your website's page crawl rate is maximized.
The workhorse of the SEO world, well-written, descriptive, keyword rich copy is one of the most important tools used to improve organic search engine results.
Having many relevant links leading to your website is one of the primary ways all search engines gauge your website's authority on a subject. For example, if you operate a hotel, having links leading from visitors bureau's, chamber of commerce's, informational travel sites and travel directories (among others) are a great way to increase relevancy and improve ranking.
This term is used in the internet marketing arena to refer to consistency in URL or domain references. For example, some websites have several different addresses for their homepage:
myhomepage.com
www.myhomepage.com
www.myhomepage.com/index.html
The homepage is the most important page on your website in terms of hierarchy, meaning that search engine ranking (Google uses the term "Pagerank") flows through this page to the other pages on your site. If you are giving users who link to your website 3 distinct address alternatives (as in the example above), the chances of diffusing your Pagerank over three pages instead of concentrating it on one page is much greater.
Short for Weblogs, blogs are great ways to introduce fresh, unique content to your website, which is one of the primary ways you can improve SEO and ultimately site traffic. Blogs can also be interactive, giving site visitors the chance to communicate with you or your company.
Social media is a catch-all term for many different methods of social marketing and interaction on the world wide web. It includes utilizing social/interactive websites to increase traffic (LinkedIn, Facebook, Biznik, Twitter, Plurk, etc). It also includes viral media and marketing, (YouTube being a good example) which is the idea of creating a marketing message unique and interesting enough that people want to participate in the marketing process by forwarding it to their social contacts.
The Open Directory (dmoz.org), is the most important stand-alone directory to be listed in, as many of the search engines add weight/relevancy to websites found in this free, volunteer-maintained directory. Yahoo's directory (dir.yahoo.com) is arguably the second most important one to participate in, although the Google directory is gaining in popularity. These directories are an open-ended attempt to classify, or categorize, a significant portion of the world's websites.
These are the number of pages (unique URL's, more specifically) on a website that a search engine has crawled and added to their index of sites. These are not always stand-alone .html pages, but often include individual items with URL address (shopping cart, .pdf documents, even images).
This is a free online tool used to evaluate a website's code against a unified .html or .xhtml standard. While a website may display and function property in a browser, unseen coding issues can cause search engine spiders to navigate away from your site prematurely. Clean, error free code is an important part of an organic SEO effort.
Search Engine Marketing is a term that refers to online paid advertising initiatives. This can include sponsored search (Google Adwords), 3rd party advertising, or banner advertising, for example.
Search Engine Optimization is the act of improving your websites organic, or “natural” presence/placement on the search engines so you it's found easier and more often by your target audience.
Pay per Click is a form of SEM called sponsored search, that allows you to bid on keywords relevant to your business so that you can gain immediate exposure in the search engines.
There are many other terms that you might come across in your online travels through the internet marketing arena, and we'll update this list as new terms become mainstream. If you need help understanding any of these terms, or determining the meaning(s) of others, please send me an email and we'll get back to you.
Web Design & Development
Search Engine Optimization
Pay-Per-Click Management
Hosting
Copywriting
Email Marketing
Social Media Marketing
info@amvmarketing.com
Phone: 425-391-6587
4227 East Madison St., 2D
Seattle, WA 98112
