A big part of understanding search engine optimization is the ability to learn the terms related to SEO and apply a working knowledge of these terms to your SEO efforts.Below is a list of several popular terms related to search engine optimization for anyone who is unfamiliar with basic SEO terminology.
- Anchor Text: The visible text displayed for a hyperlink.
- Backlink: Any link on any website that points to a page on your website. Also called an Inbound Link.
- Black Hat SEO: This refers to unethical SEO -- techniques and methods which fall outside the guidelines issued by the major search engines.
- Blog: A type of web page which is frequently updated and typically contains short articles arranged in chronological order.
- Browser: A program that allows web pages to be viewed on the Internet (e.g., Internet Explorer, Netscape, etc.).
- Click-Through Rate: The percentage applied to the total number of times an ad or link is clicked compared to the total number of times it is shown (called “impressions”).
- Cloaking: A deceptive technique by which a spider is shown a completely different web page than the one seen by humans.
- Content-Targeted Advertising: A type of advertising that displays ads and/or links targeted to the content of the pages on non-search-engine websites.
- Conversion Rate: The percentage applied to the amount of website traffic that completes a desired action (e.g., makes a purchase, signs up for a newsletter, etc.) compared to the overall website traffic.
- Cost Per Click: The amount charged to an advertiser for each click on their paid advertisement or link.
- CPM: Cost per thousand.
- CPC: Cost per click.
- CTA: Content-targeted advertising.
- External Linking: Links to specified web pages on another website or informational resource.
- Gateway Page: A page used for the sole purpose of receiving traffic and directing it to another web page based on a specific keyword or keywords. Also called a Doorway Page.
- HTML: Hypertext Markup Language, which is the most popular language used to write web pages for publication on the Internet.
- Hyperlink: A link on a web page or in a document which leads to information within that document or within another document. These links are usually represented by underlined words, highlighted words, or images.
- IBL: Inbound link.
- Internal Linking: Linking to different pages within the current website.
- Keywords: The words entered for a search engine query.
- Keyword Density: Ratio of keywords on a page as compared to the total number of words on that page.