Business / Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Glossary

Above the Fold: A term traditionally used to describe the top portion of a newspaper. In email newsletters or web marketing it means the area of content viewable at the top of the page and prior to scrollin . . . View Full Definition

Absolute Link: A link which shows the full URL of the page being linked to. Some links only show relative link paths instead of having the entire referenced URL within the a href tag. Due to canonicalizati . . . View Full Definition

Active Server Pages (ASP): A common programming language used before the inception of PHP written by Microsoft. ASP can be used for writing web programs and organizing data for searching databases such as retail stores

AdCenter: Microsoft's cost per click ad network similar to Google's AdWords. While it has a few advanced features (including dayparting and demographic based bidding) it is still very easy in nature c . . . View Full Definition

AdSense: Google's contextual advertising network. Publishers large and small may automatically publish relevant advertisements near their content and share the profits from those ad clicks with Googl . . . View Full Definition

AdWords: Google's advertisement and link auction network. Most of Google's ads are keyword targeted and sold on a cost per click basis in an auction which factors in ad click through rate as well as . . . View Full Definition

Affiliate: An affiliate site markets products or services that are actually sold by another website or business in exchange for fees or commissions.

Affiliate Marketing: Affiliate marketing programs allows merchants to expand their market reach and mindshare by paying independent agents on a cost per action (CPA) basis. Affiliates only get paid if visitors c . . . View Full Definition

Age: Some social networks or search systems may take site age, page age, user account age, and related historical data into account when determining how much to trust that person, website, or doc . . . View Full Definition

AJAX: Asynchronous JavaScript and XML is a technique which allows a web page to request additional data from a server without requiring a new page to load.

Alexa: Amazon.com owned search service which measures website traffic. Alexa is heavily biased toward sites that focus on marketing and webmaster communities. While not being highly accurate it is free.

Algorithm: A program used by search engines to determine what pages to suggest for a given search query.

AllTheWeb: Search engine which was created by Fast, then bought by Overture, which was bought by Yahoo. Yahoo may use AllTheWeb as a test bed for new search technologies and features.

Alt Attribute: Blind people and most major search engines are not able to easily distinguish what is in an image. Using an image alt attribute allows you to help screen readers and search engines understan . . . View Full Definition

Alt Text: A description of a graphic, which usually isn’t displayed to the end user, unless the graphic is undeliverable, or a browser is used that doesn’t display graphics. Alt text is important beca . . . View Full Definition

AltaVista: Search engine bought out by Overture prior to Overture being bought by Yahoo. AltaVista was an early powerhouse in search, but on October 25, 1999 they did a major algorithmic update which c . . . View Full Definition

Analytics: Software which allows you to track your page views, user paths, and conversion statistics based upon interpreting your log files or through including a JavaScript tracking code on your site. . . . View Full Definition

Anchor Text: The text that a user would click on to follow a link. In the case the link is an image the image alt attribute may act in the place of anchor text. Search engines assume that your page is au . . . View Full Definition

API: Application Program Interface - a series of conventions or routines used to access software functions. Most major search products have an API program.

Arbitrage: Exploiting market inefficiencies by buying and reselling a commodity for a profit. As it relates to the search market, many thin content sites laced with an Overture feed or AdSense ads buy . . . View Full Definition

Ask: Ask is a search engine owned by InterActive Corp. They were originally named Ask Jeeves, but they dumped Jeeves in early 2006. Their search engine is powered by the Teoma search technology, . . . View Full Definition

Astroturfing: Attempting to advance a commercial or political agenda while pretending to be an impartial grassroots participant in a social group. Participating in a user forum with the secret purpose of . . . View Full Definition

Authorities: Topical authorities are sites which are well trusted and well cited by experts within their topical community. A topical authority is a page which is referenced from many topical experts and . . . View Full Definition

Authority Site: A website which has many incoming links from other related expert/hub sites. Because of this simultaneous citation from trusted hubs an authority site usually has high trust, pagerank, and s . . . View Full Definition

Automated Bid Management Software: Pay per click search engines are growing increasingly complex in their offerings. To help large advertisers cope with the increasing sophistication and complexity of these offerings some sea . . . View Full Definition

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