Search Engine Optimization & Marketing Glossary -Part 3

• Heading tag -A Web page may have as many as five or six levels of HTML coded heading tags, which are displayed in various font sizes from large to small. The h1 tag, also referred to as the header tag, for example, displays a text as a level 1 heading, much like a title on the page. Heading tags may be designed in a style that suits the Web page best and serve SEO and SEM functions as well. Dot Traffic can improve heading tags on your Website.

• Hilltop- Algorithm which ranks results largely based on unaffiliated expert citations.

• HITS - Link based algorithm which ranks relevancy scores based on citations from topical authorities.

• Inbound link: An inbound link is an hyperlink to a particular Web page from an outside site, bringing traffic to that Web page. Inbound links are an important element that most search engine algorithms use to measure the popularity of a Web page.

• Invisible web: A term that refers to the vast amount of information on the web that isn't indexed by search engines. Coined in 1994 by Dr. Jill Ellsworth.

• Index:The collection of information (contained in a large database) a search engine has that searchers can query against. With crawler-based search engines, the index is typically copies of all the web pages they have found from crawling the web. With human-powered directories, the index contains the summaries of all web sites that have been categorized.

• Index file -The index file must be in a format that is identifiable by the search engine, for better and more effective visits by the search engine spider. The text information stored in the index file must be clear and accurate, but above all it must be legible to the search engine, which may be limited in the formats it can identify. Dot Traffic can help you identify what format the index file must be formatted, which will make fast retrieval possible.

• Key Performance Indicator (KPI):Defines and/or measures progress towards company goals.

• Keyword: A word or phrase entered into a search engine in an effort to get the search engine to return matching and relevant results. Many Web sites offer advertising targeted by keywords, so an ad will only show when a specific keyword is entered.

• KDA - Keyword Density Analyzer or Analysis. The ratio of keywords or keyphrases in relation to other text on a page.

• Keyword Phrase – Two or more keywords relating to a specific topic. For example, “Mind numbingly boring glossary” would be a keyword phrase to describe this document.

• Keyword Stemming – To return to the root or stem of a word and build additional words by adding a prefix or suffix, or using pluralization. The word can expand in either direction and even add words, increasing the number of variable options.

• Keyword Stuffing – Generally refers to the act of adding an inordinate number of keyword terms into the HTML or tags of a web page.

• Keyword Tag - Refers to the META keywords tag within a web page. This tag is meant to hold approximately 8 – 10 keywords or keyword phrases, separated by commas. These phrases should be either misspellings of the main page topic, or terms that directly reflect the content on the page on which they appear. Keyword tags are sometimes used for internal search results as well as viewed by search engines.

• Keyword Targeting – Displaying Pay Per Click search ads on publisher sites across the Web (see also Contextual Networks) that contain the keywords in a context advertiser’s Ad Group.

• Link popularity - A gauge of a site's popularity based on the number of inbound links. Link popularity is a factor in search engine ranking and has greater strength (in theory) where inbound links are from other quality sites.

• Link bait: Editorial content, often sensational in nature, posted on a Web page and submitted to social media sites in hopes of building inbound links from other sites. Or, as Matt Cutts of Google says, "something interesting enough to catch people's attention."

• Link Farm - A page that consists of little else but links to other sites and usually the sites listed have links back to the farm page. The goal of a link farm is to artificially boost rankings through link popularity and is consequently at risk of penalty or ban.

• Link building: The process of getting quality Web sites to link to your Web site, in order to improve search engine rankings. Link building techniques can include buying links, reciprocal linking, or entering barter arrangements.

• Listings:The information that appears on a search engine's results page in response to a search. See “Results Page.”

• Local Search:Search engine results constrained by region/location, based on the searcher's location or intent. With the addition of Web 2.0 capabilities, local search results may include business ratings, reviews, maps and driving directions. For more information, visit our Local Search blog post.

• Meta tags: Information placed in the HTML header of a Web page, providing information that is not visible to browsers, but can be used in varying degrees by search engines to index a page. Common meta tags used in search engine marketing are title, description, and keyword tags.

• Mirror - A copy of a site with some content differences to target particular keywords. Not a recommended strategy as it can trigger a penalty or ban.

• Meta Search Engine:A search engine that gets listings from two or more other search engines, rather than through its own efforts.

• Meta Description Tag:Allows page authors to say how they would like their pages described when listed by search engines. Not all search engines use the tag.

•Meta Keywords Tag:Allows page authors to add text to a page to help with the search engine ranking process. Not all search engines use the tag.

• Meta Robots Tag: Allows page authors to keep their web pages from being indexed by search engines, especially helpful for those who cannot create robots.txt files. The Robots Exclusion page provides official details.

• Meta Feeds – Ad networks that pull advertiser listings from other providers. They may or may not have their own distribution and advertiser networks.

• META Refresh redirect - A client-side redirect.

• Metrics - A system of measures that helps to quantify particular characteristics. In SEO the following are some important metrics to measure: overall traffic, search engine traffic, conversions, top traffic-driving keywords, top conversion-driving keywords, keyword rankings, etc

• Mod_rewrite - URL Rewrite processes, also known as “mod rewrites,” are employed when a webmaster decides to reorganize a current web site, either for the benefit of better user experience with a new directory structure or to clean up URLs which are difficult for search engines to index.