Business / Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Glossary

Multi Dimensional Scaling: The process of taking shapshots of documents in a database to discover topical clusters through the use of latent semantic indexing. Multi dimensional scaling is more efficient than singular . . . View Full Definition

Natural Language Processing: Algorithms which attempt to understand the true intent of a search query rather than just matching results to keywords.

Natural Search Results: The search engine results which are not sponsored, or paid for in any way.

Navigation: Scheme to help website users understand where they are, where they have been, and how that relates to the rest of your website. It is best to use regular HTML navigation rather than coding y . . . View Full Definition

Netscape: Originally a company that created a popular web browser by the same name, Netscape is now a social news site similar to Digg.com.

Niche: A topic or subject which a website is focused on. Search is a broad field, but as you drill down each niche consists of many smaller niches. Generally it is easier to compete in small, new, . . . View Full Definition

Nofollow: Attribute used to prevent a link from passing link authority. Commonly used on sites with user generated content, like in blog comments. Google's Matt Cutts also pushes webmasters to use nof . . . View Full Definition

Noindex: A command found in either the HEAD section of a web page or within individual link code, which instructs robots to not index the page or the specific link. A form of link condom.

Non Reciprocal Link: if site A links to site B, but site B does not link back to site A, then the link is considered non reciprocal. Search engines tend to give more value to non-reciprocal links than to recipro . . . View Full Definition

Ontology: In philosophy it is the study of being. As it relates to search, it is the attempt to create an exhaustive and rigorous conceptual schema about a domain. An ontology is typically a hierarchi . . . View Full Definition

Open Source: Software which is distributed with its source code such that developers can modify it as they see fit. On the web open source is a great strategy for quickly building immense exposure and mindshare.

Opera: A fast standards based web browser.

Organic Link: Links that are those published only because the webmaster considers them to add value for users.

Organic Search Results: Most major search engines have results that consist of paid ads and unpaid listings. The unpaid / algorithmic listings are called the organic search results. Organic search results are organ . . . View Full Definition

Outbound Link: A link from one website pointing at another external website. Some webmasters believe in link hoarding, but linking out to useful relevant related documents is an easy way to help search eng . . . View Full Definition

Overture: The company which pioneered search marketing by selling targeted searches on a pay per click basis. Originally named GoTo, they were eventually bought out by Yahoo! and branded as Yahoo! Sea . . . View Full Definition

Overture Keyword Selector Tool: Popular keyword research tool, based largely on Yahoo! search statistics. Heavily skewed toward commercially oriented searches, also combines singular and plural versions of a keyword into a . . . View Full Definition

PageRank: A logarithmic scale based on link equity which estimates the importance of web documents. Since PageRank is widely bartered Google's relevancy algorithms had to move away from relying on Pag . . . View Full Definition

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