SEO is a trade that exists solely on the internet, and even
then it is comprised almost entirely of the hot air of
so-called "expert opinion." Plenty of it blowing around
these days as search maintains position as one of the most
important marketplaces in the modern business world. Many
DIY webmasters will end up searching for blog entries,
articles, informational web sites, etc to help get them up
to speed. The problem is that in most cases certain key
terms are flung around like household names while the people
doing the flinging are way out of touch with the average web
browser. What some of us don't realize is that not everyone
knows even the basics of SEO.
This list of twelve SEO-related definitions in alphabetical
order (with notes) serves as a great companion for your
initial SEO reading. Read alone it will get you up to speed
on some key terminology that you'll need to know to
intelligently engage the ever-changing world of SEO.
•
Algorithms.
A search algorithm is, in short, the incredibly complex
mathematical formula that a search engine uses to "rank" web
sites for keywords. Based on a huge number of variables and
calculations, algorithms are among the most closely-guarded
secrets on the internet. Why? Imagine if they were leaked -
suddenly the less-than-honest would have a very specific
guideline to follow in climbing to the top of search results
in a less-than-organic way, ruining the quality of Google's
search results and their entire competitive advantage with
it.
• Bot
or Bots.
See also "crawlers"
•
Crawlers.
Googlebot, for example, is a search engine crawler.
Googlebot periodically traverses the web in record time,
indexing content, links - everything contained in page
source code - and storing it in Google's search index. Then,
when a user visits Google and enters a search phrase, the
index, filtered by the algorithm, is what the user gets.
Please note: there is some delay in this process since the
results you're getting are from the index and not the live
web.
•
Directories.
When webmasters realized just how much power inbound links
have in determining search rankings they quickly set out to
do two things: 1) get inbound links and 2) set
up web sites where other webmasters could achieve inbound
links (meaning big traffic revenues for the site). Hence the
directory farms you'll find today. Link building has been a
priority on the list of any SEO-savvy webmaster for years,
and as a result "quick fix" directories that allow
streamlined listing submissions get a ton of traffic.
However, Google and the other major search engines are on to
this tactic, and the word among SEO "experts" is that the
benefits of listing your site at directories are diminished
if not gone.
•
Frames.
Frames are a way of laying out a website with multiple
documents in one browser window. Essentially, there is one
main document which contains the frameset tag - this
document specifies the dimensions/placement of the frames
and also the documents that will "populate" those frames.
From an SEO standpoint the use of frames for your layout is
not recommended. Since frames do not use links in the same
way, and since links may point to one frame from another,
they may cause serious problems for crawlers. Additionally,
there are almost no uses for frames that can't either be
1) duplicated with other methods or 2) thrown
away without much fuss. If your site was built with frames
and you're thinking you don't want to rebuild - it might be
tough luck if you're interested in optimizing for search.
Consider it a learning experience - build yourself a CSS-based
layout.
•
Gateway Pages.
Also "doorway pages." Although there isn't a real consensus
about what these pages are, their function is always cited
as their definition. In other words, these pages are created
to "rank well in search engines" by playing to the
algorithms. Often viewed as "spammy," "gray hat" or even
"black hat." However, any page written with search in mind,
and geared towards search, can be construed to be a "gateway
page." The difference between a page well-optimized for
search and a "gateway page?" No clear lines there, but
quality of content is probably the determining factor.
•
HTML.
Okay, most of you probably know this one, but there are
probably some of you who don't. HTML stands for Hyper-Text
Mark-up Language, and it is the core building block that has
made the web the greatest modern tool for business, social,
informational, political and any other causes. Search
engines look exclusively at a web page's HTML code to
determine its relevance. Therefore, it's a good idea to pay
attention to HTML and familiarize yourself with proper
tagging techniques if you're hoping to get a good handle on
SEO.
•
Link Popularity.
Inbound links are probably the most important optimization
point for web pages. Number, quality, trust - these are all
factors that affect the value of an inbound link. Going back
to the HTML root of search, link popularity (in terms of
quantity) measures how many pages point to your site using
anchor text ( <a href="http://www.yoursite.com">link
text</a> ).
•
Link Building.
In short, the process of gaining links at other web sites
pointing in to pages on your own.
•
Link Baiting.
The process of generating high-quality content on your pages
that users will appreciate and link to voluntarily.
•
Meta Tags.
Meta tags are found at the top of a page's source code. They
are used to specify certain things that might not be found
in the page content. They also allow webmasters to put up
certain "flags" that search engine crawlers can react to.
There are many Meta tags available for use, and many of them
can help with SEO to a great extent and for a variety of
purposes. However, Meta tags are no longer used in the way
they originally were - as a place to stuff keywords to drive
your site up in rankings. Some webmasters out there are
still doing this, but they are decidedly behind the times
and unaware of the impending, or already cast-down,
penalties.
•
Robots.
See also "crawlers."
•
Search Engines.
If you don't know what a search engine is congratulations on
finally making it out from under that rock. Search engines
are essentially programs that scan an existing index of the
web based on a query of search terms, or keywords, that a
user enters. However, the word more commonly refers to
companies as a whole - Google, for example, controls a
search engine, while Googlebot is the crawler that gathers
content for its index, but most users and webmasters think
of a search engine as the whole package.
•
Search Engine Marketing.
Most often this refers to Pay-Per-Click marketing in which
an advertiser bids on chosen keywords and writes several ads
to be displayed should their bid achieve placement. These
ads are displayed in the "sponsored" section of search
engine result pages (SERPS). However, in some circles this
term is used to refer to any action taken to gain rankings
both paid and organic.
•
Search Engine Optimization.
This one is open to interpretation. It is quite often used
to encapsulate a huge amount of different tactics. On-site
optimization, off-site optimization (link building, etc) and
many other techniques all feasibly fall under the SEO
blanket. However, there is an obvious difference between
optimizing a page's code to be clean and search friendly and
writing link bait that will be popular and get linked to.
•
Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs).
The pages resulting from a search engine query run by a
user. Webmasters review these pages to determine where their
pages are ranking for certain search terms.
•
Spamming.
Basically, any unnatural effort to bring a page higher in
search results. What constitutes spam is open to some
interpretation, but the only interpretation you need to
worry about is that of the major search engines. If Google,
for example, considers a technique "spammy" you'd be wise to
cease at once.
•
Spiders.
See also "crawlers."
•
Submission.
For SEO this has traditionally meant submitting a web site
to search engines so they'll know about and crawl it. SEO
firms offered submission services as a big selling point to
bring in clients. However, for a long time now submitting
your site to search engines hasn't done jack. They're all
much smarter now - just focus on gaining quality inbound
links and your site will be indexed in no time.
This is
just a sample of the core vocabulary associated with SEO. Is
this all you need to know? Absolutely not. But in my
experience these are the words and phrases that newcomers
have the most trouble with. If these definitions help one
person have a better understanding of SEO, then I will be
satisfied.
About The Author
Mike Tekula handles SEO, SEM, usability and
standards-compliance for
NewSunGraphics, a Long Island, New York firm offering
Search Engine Optimization, Search Engine Marketing,
W3C-Compliant web design using full CSS layouts and all
things web design/development.
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