Algorithm: The mathematical computation used to determine
which web pages get displayed in query (search) results.
Click-through rate (CTR): The number of possible clicks
on a Web page divided by the actual number of times a link on that same
page is clicked.
Cloaking (page): Sending one version of a Web page to
a search engine that is different than what a Web user actually sees on
the site. Cloaking, although considered unethical, is used to increase
the potential ranking of a Web page. Most search engines will penalize
a site if they discover it is cloaking.
Dead link: An Internet link which does not lead to a
page or site. This usually occurs when a server is down, the page has
moved, or it no longer exists. To check the links on your page, use our
free Broken Link Checker.
Directory: A directory is a searchable subject guide
of Web sites that have been reviewed and compiled by human editors. Two
of the most known directories are Yahoo and Open Directory.
Doorway page: A page that has been created for the sole
use of attempting to get a high ranking in the search engines. Again,
this is an unethical practice that can lead to penalization by the search
engines.
Hidden text: Text that is visible to the search engine
spiders but not to site visitors. Hidden text is primarily used to add
extra keywords in the page without actually adding content to a site which
may mostly consist of images. Most search engines will penalize Web sites
which use hidden text.
HTML (HyperText Markup Language): The coding language
that all Web sites use to exist on the Internet.
Hyperlinks: Hyperlinks are used to link one or more
documents together.
Inbound link: Links that direct users to another Web
site. When a user arrives at a site from another site, that link is known
as an inbound link.
Keyword: A word used to find pages when conducting a
search. Improve your keyword strategy with our Search Term Suggestion
Tool (powered by Overture).
Keyword density: Keyword density is the ratio of a keyword
or key phrases to the total number of words on that page. Keyword density
is one of the most critical aspects of successful search engine optimization.
Keyword frequency: Keyword frequency is the number of
times keywords occur in the text on a given page. Search engines want
to see more than one repetition of a keyword in your text to make sure
it's not an isolated case.
Keyword phrase: A phrase used to find pages when conducting
a search.
Keyword prominence: The general location of a keyword
or phrase in relation to the overall text on that page. You'll want to
make sure your important keywords appear early in your Web site copy and
that they draw attention to themselves.
Keyword research: Researching the most relative and
popular keywords for a given site.
Link popularity: Search engines often use link popularity
as part of their ranking criterion. In simple terms, link popularity is
the measurement of the number of other Web sites that include a link to
your Web site on theirs. Each search engine, depending on their specific
algorithms, determines it differently. At SubmitToday, our Opti-Links
service is included in every Opti-Submit package. We create the link popularity
for you by pre-selecting quality sites and grouping them in categories
related to your product/service. Click here for more information on Opti-Links.
Meta tags: Meta tags are HTML tags that provide information
describing the content of the pages a user will be viewing. To create
your own meta tags, click here to access our free Meta Tag Generator.
Following are the most common meta tags and their uses:
Title: This is considered to be the most important HTML tag
used by many search engines as part of their ranking criteria. A Web page
with a keyword in the title tag will rank higher than if the keyword was
used in the body text alone. When a user views search results, the title
tag will usually appear as the title of your Web page. Therefore, you
will want to make sure your title really describes the main purpose of
the page so it doesn't get passed over as irrelevant to the user.
Description: The description tag is the next most important meta
tag. As with the title, your description will typically be listed in the
search engines. You will have to tread the fine line between creating
an effective description that will attract visitors yet still rank well
in the search engines based on your selected keywords.
Keywords: Due to abuse by many Web sites in the past, search
engines have reduced the importance of the keywords meta tag when ranking
a Web page for keyword relevance. Many have actually decided to not consider
the keywords tag altogether. While it has reduced in significance, it
is still an important meta tag to include in your Web pages.
Copyright: The copyright meta tag is not viewable in the search engine
results or on your Web page. This tag highlights and documents the copyright
status of a portion or all of a particular Web page. Although it won't
necessarily prevent someone from taking your copy, it will notify those
that are doing so in a legitimate manner that it infringes upon your conditions
of use. Some search engine spiders will read this tag, which may result
in higher ranking.
Robots: The robot tag is essentially a set of instructions for
search engine spiders that crawl your Web page.
Rating: The rating tag defines your preferred access level. It
can be a useful mechanism for search engine spiders to determine the level
of access appropriate for the associated Web page. However this is more
often used in restricted environments of a company Intranet rather than
the wide-scope of the Internet.
Revisit: The revisit tag is a request for the search engine spider
to return to a particular Web page for reindexing. This is appropriate
for sites that frequently refresh their content.
Mirror sites: Sites designed as duplicates of an original
site, but are hosted on a different server. Link cloaking and doorway
pages, the creation of mirror sites is a recognized spam tactic and violators
will be penalized by many of the major search engines.
Outbound link: A link that directs users to another
site. When a user arrives at a new site from your site, that link is known
as an outbound link.
Paid inclusion: Paying to be included in a search engine
or directory index. Paid inclusion does not maximize search engine rankings
but will guarantee inclusion of any pages a spider might have missed.
Paid placement: Paying for a link to be included in
a specific area on a search results page, usually at the top or right
of the general search results. Paid placement links are usually indicated
with a colored background or labeled as a "sponsored link."
Pay Per Click (PPC): A search engine that determines
ranking according to the dollar amount you pay for each click from that
search engine to your site. Examples of PPC search engines are Overture.com
and FindWhat.com. The highest ranking goes to the highest bidder.
Positioning:
The process of ordering web sites or web pages by a search engine or a
directory so that the most relevant sites appear first in the search results
for a particular query.
Query: A word, phrase or group of words used to pass
instructions to a search engine to locate relevant Web pages.
Search engine: A search engine is a database system
designed to index and categorize internet addresses, otherwise known as
URLs (for example, http://www.submittoday.com). For more information on
search engines, click here.
Search engine optimization (SEO): These are the techniques
used to improve a Web page's results in a search. For more information
on optimizing your Web page, click here.
Spam: Unethical techniques
such as cloaking, mirror sites and doorway pages to trick the search engine
spiders into giving the Web page a higher ranking. Search engines will
often penalize or remove an offending site from its index. Spamming is
also referred to as spamdexing and spoofing.
Spider: A software program used by search engines to
crawl the Web, storing URLs and indexing the keywords and text of pages.
Spiders are also referred to as crawlers or robots.
Stop word: A word that frequently appears in pages but
has no significance. Most search engine spiders ignore stop words while
searching. Example of stop words are: and, the, of, etc.
Submission:
The act of submitting a web page to a search engine or web site to a directory.
Theme Engine:
A theme engine is a search engine that indexes entire sites as one giant
page. They then use only the most relevant keywords found to determine
your sites theme. By determining a theme search engines hope to return
more accurate results.
Traffic: The actual
visitors to a Web page or Web site.
URL: The Uniform Resource Locator is used to specify
the address of Web sites and Web pages.
Usability: Usability is the degree to how efficiently
and effectively users can accomplish what they are trying to do on your
Web site. For valuable tips on usability, click here.
