Here is a glossary of commonly used terms in the search
engine ranking world.
Alt Tag: The alternative text that the browser
displays when the surfer does not want to or cannot see the pictures present in
a web page. Using alt tags containing keywords can improve the search engine
ranking of the page for those keywords.
Bridge Page: See Doorway Page.
Cloaking: The process by which your site can display different pages
under different circumstances. Primarily used to show optimized page to the
search engines and a different page to humans. Most search engines will penalize
a site if they discover that it is using cloaking.
Comment Tag:
The text present within the tags in a web page. While most search engines
will ignore the text within the Comment Tags, some, like Excite, will index the
text present within them. Hence, using Comment Tags containing keywords can
improve the search engine ranking of the page in Excite for those keywords.
Crawler: See Spider.
Direct Hit: A system which tries to measure
the relevance of each site by noting which sites are clicked on most and how
much time users spend in each site. Hotbot uses Direct Hit in order to determine
the search engine ranking of web sites. For more information, see http://www.directhit.com
Directory: A site containing links to other sites which are
organized into various categories. Examples of directories are Yahoo, Open
Directory, LookSmart, Snap etc.
Doorway Page: A page which has been
specially created in order to get a high ranking in the search engines. Also
called gateway page, bridge page, entry page etc.
Dynamic Content:
Information in web pages which changes automatically, based on database or user
information. Search engines will index dynamic content in the same way as static
content unless the URL includes a ? mark.
Entry Page: See Doorway Page.
Frames: An HTML technique allowing web site designers to display two or
more pages in the same browser window. Most search engines do not index framed
web pages properly - they only index the text present in the NOFRAMES tag.
Unless a web page which uses frames has relevant content in the NOFRAMES tag, it
is unlikely to get a high ranking in the search engines.
Gateway Page:
See Doorway Page.
Hallway Page: A page containing links to various
doorway pages.
Heading Tags: A paragraph style that is displayed in a
large, bold typeface. Having text containing keywords in the Heading Tags can
improve the search engine ranking of a page for those keywords.
Hidden
Text: Text that is visible to the search engines but is invisible to humans.
Mainly accomplished by using text in the same color as the background color of
the page. Primarily used for the purpose of including extra keywords in the page
without distorting the aesthetics of the page. Most search engines penalize web
sites which use such hidden text.
Image Map: An image containing one or
more invisible regions which are linked to other pages. If the image map is
defined as a separate file, the search engines may not be able to index the
pages to which that image map links. The way out is to have text hyperlinks to
those pages in addition to the links from the image map. However, image maps
defined within the same web page will generally not prevent search engines from
indexing the other pages.
Inktomi: A database of sites used by many of
the larger search engines like Hotbot, MSN etc. Yahoo also uses Inktomi when no
site in its directory matches the keyword being searched for. For more
information, see http://www.inktomi.com
Javascript: A scripting language commonly used in web pages. Most
search engines are unable to index these scripts properly.
Keyword: A
word or phrase that you type in when you are searching for information in the
search engines.
Keyword Frequency: Denotes how often a keyword appears
in a page or in an area of a page. In general, higher the number of times a
keyword appears in a page, higher its ranking in the search engines. However,
repeating a keyword too often in a page can lead to that page being penalized
for spamming.
Keyword Prominence: Denotes how close to the start of an
area of a page that a keyword appears. In general, having the keyword closer to
the start of an area will lead to an improvement in the search engine ranking of
the page. However, in some cases, having the keyword in the middle or the end of
an area may lead to an improvement in the search engine ranking of the page.
Keyword Weight: Denotes the number of times a keyword appears in a page
as a percentage of all the other words in the page. In general, higher the
weight of a particular keyword in a page, higher will be the search engine
ranking of the page for that keyword. However, repeating a keyword too often in
order to increase its weight can cause the page to be penalized by the search
engines.
Link Popularity: The number of sites which link to a particular
site. Most search engines use link popularity as a factor in determining the
ranking of a web site.
Meta Description Tag: The tag present in the
header of a web page which is used to provide a short description of the
contents of the page. Some search engines will display the text present in the
Meta Description Tag when the page appears in the results of a search. Including
keywords in the Meta Description Tag can improve the search engine ranking of a
page for those keywords. However, some search engines ignore the Meta
Description Tag.
Meta Keywords Tag: The tag present in the header of a
web page which is used to provide alternative words for the words used in the
body of the page. The Meta Keywords Tag is becoming less and less important in
influencing the search engine ranking of a page.
Meta Refresh Tag: The
tag present in the header of a web page which is used to display a different
page after a few seconds. If a page displays another page too soon, most search
engines will either ignore the current page and index the second page or
penalize the current page for spamming.
Pay Per Click Search Engine: A
search engine in which the ranking of your site is determined by the amount you
are paying for each click from that search engine to your site. Examples of pay
per click search engines are GoTo, ePilot, Kanoodle etc.
Robot: In the
context of search engine ranking, implies the same thing as Spider. In a
different context, it is also used to indicate a software which visits web sites
and collects email addresses to be used for sending unsolicited bulk email.
Robots.txt: A text file present in the root directory of a site which is
used to control which pages are indexed by a robot. Only robots which comply
with the Robots Exclusion Standard will follow the instructions contained in
this file.
Search Engine: A software that searches for information and
returns sites which provide that information. Examples of search engines are
AltaVista, Google, Excite, Northern Light etc.
Search Engine Placement:
the practice of trying to ensure that a web site obtains a high rank in the
search engines. Also called search engine positioning, search engine
optimization etc.
Spamdexing: See Spamming.
Spamming: Using any
search engine ranking technique which causes a degradation in the quality of the
results produced by the search engines. Examples of spamming include excessive
repetition of a keyword in a page, optimizing a page for a keyword which is
unrelated to the contents of the site, using invisible or tiny text, etc. Most
search engines will penalize a page which uses spamming. Also called spamdexing.
In a different context, spamming is also used to mean the practice of sending
unsolicited bulk email.
Spider: A software that visits web sites and
indexes the pages present in those sites. Search engines use spiders to build up
their databases. Examples: The spider for Altavista is called Scooter, the
spider for Excite is called ArchitextSpider, the spider for Northern Light is
called Gulliver.
Stop Word: A word that often appears in pages, yet has
no significance by itself. Most search engines ignore stop words while
searching. Example of stop words are: and, the, of etc.
Title Tag: The
contents of the Title tag is generally displayed by the browser at the top of
the browser window. The search engines use the Title tag to provide a link to
the sites which match the query made by the user. Having keywords in the Title
tag of a page can significantly increase the search engine ranking of the page
for those keywords.
URL: The Uniform Resource Locator
is used to specify the address of web sites and web pages. Having keywords in
the URL can improve the search engine ranking of the page in a few of the search
engines. However, most search engines do not give any preference to a page which
has the keyword in the URL.
