Glossary of Search Engine Optimization Terms

Glossary of Search Engine Optimization Terms

Anchor Text: "Linked Text" Anchor text is the text that you click on to activate and follow a hyperlink to another web page or another web site.

Alt Tag: Alt tag refers to the text that is associated with an image. This originated from when web browsers were not universally available as "Graphical Browsers" so the "Alt text" was a description used to describe the image.
Now adays it is also used in the "mouseover" text popup that appears when you move your mouse over a graphical image.

Cloaking: Method by which specific content is served up to the search engine spider that is different then what the normal surfer sees.

CPC: Cost per click. This is a frequent term used in PPC terminology. It refers to the cost associated with each click.

CPA: Cost per Acquisition or also known as Cost Per Sale. This is typically an average dollar amount to the total cost in clicks it takes to convert to a sale.

Conversion Ratio: The conversion ratio is the average number of visitors who visit the site who make a purchase or perform some sort of action. (register as a customer, etc). Conversion ratios vary by the type of traffic you are getting. More "Targetted" traffic typically means higher conversion rates.

Doorway pages: Pages setup specificly for search engines. Once the visitor reaches the page, they are then redirected to another website.

Hits: This generally means ALL requests from a webserver including requests by a web browser for html pages, jpeg's, gif's and other images. Hits is a phrase often thrown around but is generally not very meaningful in quantitfying search engine traffic.

PPC: Pay Per Click.

PageRank: Formula developed by Google to determine a web pages "inbound link ranking" Often referred to as "Page Ranking" value.

PageViews: Number of times your webpage was viewed. Includes duplicate views by the same visitor.

ROI: Return on Investment. A quantitative analysis of investment in advertising and marketing budgets and the resulting return on the investment.

Search Engine Optimization: Search Engine Optimization.

SEM: Search Engine Marketing.

SERPS: Search Engine Result Pages.

SPAM: Unscrupulous or unethical means of inflating results. Usually deteriorates the quality of listings and often results in penalties or being banned from a search engine.

Unique Visitors: Total number of unique visitors to your website or web page.

URL: Refers to an http:// link such as vbmodder.com

Feel free to suggest any others.