Search Engine Optimisation - SEO Glossary

This SEO Glossary could in theory contain 1,000 terms. We've started with the most important from a search engine optimisation viewpoint and will add more on a regular basis.

AdWords - Google's advertising system which serves text ads related to search terms.

Backlinks - Simply links pointing to any website. Backlinks to a given website can be measured using the Google Toolbar.

Blog - A frequently updated journal or diary usually, often hosted by a third party.

Click Through - or Click Thru - what happens when a user clicks on a link and enters a new page. The term refers to the noise a mouse makes when pressed.

Cross Linking - the practice of linking together several domains usually owned by the same person/company. Main purpose of which is to increase link popularity, but SEO overuse can lead to search engine penalties.

DESCRIPTION Tag - Meta information tag inserted at the top of a web page to describe the contents.

Doorway Page - Web pages, often specifically engineered to rank highly on search engines - also known as Gateway Pages. Excessive use of such pages can lead to search engine penalties.

FFA - Free For All link pages, see Link Farms.

Freshbot - A Google spider which updates the engine with recently updated pages

Gateway Page - see Doorway page

Google - The world's favourite search engine at http://www.google.com.

Googlebot - Google's main spider which scours the web for pages

Google Bomb - A recent practive which involves setting up multiple sites which link to a single website with the sole purpose of increasing Google ranking or manipulating Google's search results. Often favoured entertainment for Bloggers.

Google Dance - The name given to the period when Google updates its search engine rankings. Google's main and secondary server results will be different during this time.

Google Toolbar - software provided by Google which inserts the Google search bar and other features into a user's Internet Explorer browser.

Hit - the occurence of a single file being downloaded from a server due to a visitor viewing a webpage. A hit also includes all graphics files, style sheets, etc. So if a visitor visits a single page, this action may create multiple 'hits'. Beware of anyone claiming to have had 1000 hits in a day, since this could actually mean only 50 web pages have been viewed in reality!

KEYWORDS Tag - Single or multi-word phrases which describe what the content of a webpage is about - inserted into the Meta Tags at the top of a page.

Keyword Density - The number of times any keyword is repeated within a web page, expressed as a percentage of the total number of textual words on the page.

Link Farms - Free For All link sites which exist for the sole purpose of increasing the site rankings for their members. Not recommended unless you want your site banned - best to use traditional search engine optimisation strategies.

Link Popularity - The measurement of inbound links to a particular webpage by search engines, often to determine the relative importance of a page.

Meta Tag - The group of page definitions coded into a website - the most important from an SEO point of view being the TITLE, DESCRIPTION and KEYWORDS tags.

MSN Search - Microsoft's search engine at http://www.msn.com

Open Directory - Massive directory of websites reviewed by humans at http://www.dmoz.org. Results also appear on many search engines including the all important Google.

PageRank - The name given to Google's method of ranking pages according to a number of factors such as link popularity. The Pagerank will display as a number out of 10 in a green bar of the Google Toolbar whenever you visit a website.

Page View - The single instance of a web page being viewed by a user. Useful for measuring web site traffic popularity.

Ranking - Term used to describe the relative position of a webpage in any search engine results. The higher, the better of course.

ROBOTS Tag - Meta information tag used to tell visiting search engine robots how to behave (e.g. not to index a certain page, or not to archive a certain page)

SEO - Search Engine Optimisation (or Optimization if you're from the U.S!)

Search Engine - Web sites which allow users to query a database of other sites, e.g. Google, MSN Search.

Search Engine Optimisation - the practice of priming web pages to enhance their rankings in search engines. Now a massive industry.

Submission - the process of informing a search engine or index of the existence of your website. Not required for many search engines, since Google will most likely find your site first.

TITLE Tag - Meta information tag inserted at the top of a web page, and displayed in the browser bar.

Yahoo! - The world's leading search engine and directory before Google exploded. Still a strong second in the rankings and worthy of a visit at http://www.yahoo.com