SEO Services India

Search Engine Promotion Definitions

Definitions of terms and abbreviations used on this site and in search engine marketing in general.

Alt tag – an html tag used to describe an image. Used by non-graphical browsers to give information on images to their readers. Use of alt tags is considered necessary for site accessibility and proper site optimization.

Banner Ads – Ads, often with graphics that are placed on different websites for a fee. The fee is usually based on the number of times the ad will be seen.

CPC – cost-per-click, how much is paid to the PPC provider each time a paid link is clicked.

CPM – cost-per-thousands of views. Usually refers to how banner ads are sold.

Directory – a categorized listing of sites often maintained by human editors. Yahoo is the most well known example of this.

Index – commonly the home page of any website, in SEM Index also refers to the internal database of information maintained by a search engine giving information on any site it has knowledge of. This database is queried when a search request is made. The process of adding a site to a search engine database is often called “indexing” and is carried out by the search engine’s “spiders”

Internet Marketing – Methods of using the Internet to promote products and services, includes site optimization, banner ads and pay-per-click.

Link Building – The process of researching and requesting links to build a site’s link popularity. This can involve exchange links with relevant sites and paying for links.

Link Popularity – A value placed on the number and quality of a site’s incoming links. The concept is that the more quality links a site has to it the higher it’s importance. This has become a factor in determining a site’s ranking on many search engines.

LiveStats – A program used to monitor web log statistics in a regularly updated manner. Other top stat programs include WebTrends and HitBox.

Meta Tag – HTML tags commonly used to provide information to a web browser or search engine. Formerly these were the focus of SEO but abuse has caused most search engines to reduce their value. Proper use of meta tags is still considered good form for SEO.

Pay-Per-Click – a method of advertising on search engines where the advertiser pays for visits based on keywords they have selected. The position of the results is usually based on how much the advertiser has bid for the keyword.

PPC – Pay-Per-Click

PPC Providers – Companies that provide PPC services, usually these companies distribute the paid listings to partner search engines and on their own search results. Major PPC providers include Overture, Google AdWords and Sprinks.

Referrer – In web logs the referrer is the source of a visit. Being able to identify where traffic is coming from is important in evaluating a search engine marketing campaign.

ROI – Return-On-Investment, In internet marketing this refers to the amount of return made on money spent on web site promotion, whether on SEO or SEM.

SEM – Search engine Marketing – Refers to using paid listings, paid inclusion and PPC to promote websites using search engines.

SEO – Search Engine Optimization – Refers to methods to increase the “natural” search engine results of a site, including content optimization, link building and code optimization.

SERP – Search Engine Result Page – The page of results that is returned on a search engine query.

Spiders – Also called “bots” and “agents” this refers to programs search engines use to gather information on the Internet for their databases. When a search is performed the results are retrieved from this database. Making a site “spider friendly” is a goal of SEO.