SEO Basics
Search Engines are a powerful tool for promoting content and reaching your visitors online. According to Search Engine Watch, a search engine industry tips and information site, over 625 million searches are performed every day! As the internet continues to grow, the number of searches performed will grow as well.
What does this mean for the small business owner? In order to successfully compete online, you must not only have a website, but your website needs to be well designed and contain well-written content that is easily accessible by search engines and searchers alike. The information, and how you present it to your target audience online, may make or break a website. Successful Search Engine Optimization helps a site gain top positioning for relevant keyword phrases, increases quality traffic to a site, and improves customer acquisition & sales.
It’s all about Keywords
Choosing the right keywords is the foundation of SEO. Keyword competitiveness changes constantly. Knowing which keywords are worth going after and which keywords aren’t, is a great start.
Once you have your keyword list, knowing where to put those keywords is the next most important step.
What does Google Want?
Let’s face it, Google is the largest search engine out there. Getting found on Google, means that you’ll get found by your target market. So, what does Google want? Well, they want relevant, well-written content that your visitors want. Google wants to be able to find what it is that you’re offering from the get-go. So, put your keywords where Google looks for them:
- Page Title – aka: Title tag
- Meta Description Tag – well, this one is really for your intended audience – it’s your 10 second introduction
- Header tags – those lovely h1, h2 >h6 tags that separate out text
- Internal links via keyword phrases
- Backlinks – aka inbound links
Definitions/SEO Terms
Source: www.sempo.org
301 Redirect
A message that the URL has moved permanently. This is commonly used when a URL has a new location and will not be appearing again at the old URL.
302 Redirect
A “found” message. (Also referred to as a “temporary redirect.”) This form of redirection is commonly used — and in some cases abused — when a URL has been moved to a different location; but, it will be returning to the original location eventually.
404 Server Code
A “not found” message. Server cannot find the URL requested.
Algorithm
Operational programming rules that determine how a search engine indexes content and displays the results to its users.
ALT Text
Also known as alternative text or alt attribute. An HTML tag used to provide images with a text description in the event images are turned off in a web browser. The images text description is usually visible while “hovering” over the image. This tag is also important for the web access of the visually impaired.
Anchor text
This is the actual text part of a link (usually underlined). Used by search engines as an important ranking factor. Google pays particular attention to the text used in a hyperlink and associates the keywords contained in the anchor text to the page being linked to.
Back links
Links pointing to a web page. Also known as inbound links.
Ban
Also known as Delisting. Refers to a punitive action imposed by a search engine in response to being spammed. Can be an IP address of a specific URL
Baseline Metrics
Time-lagged calculations (usually averages of one sort or another) which provide a basis for making comparisons of past performance to current performance. Baselines can also be forward-looking, such establishing a goal and seeking to determine whether the trends show the likelihood of meeting that goal. They become an essential piece of a Key Performance Indicator (KPI).
Blogs
A truncated form for “web log.” A blog is a frequently updated journal that is intended for general public consumption. They usually represent the personality of the author or web site. A good source of blogging terms is at [http://www.whatis.techtarget.com] .
Body copy
The ‘meaty’ textual content of a web page. Body copy refers to text visible to users, doesn’t include graphical content, navigation, or information hidden in the HTML source code.
Cascading Style Sheets or CSS
An addition to your HTML, a web site’s “cascading style sheet” contains information on paragraph layout, font sizes, colors, etc. A cascading style sheet has many uses as far as search engine optimization and web site design are concerned.
Click Through
When a user clicks on a hypertext link and is taken to the destination of that link.
Cloaking
The process by which a web site can display different versions of a web page under different circumstances. It is primarily used to show an optimized or a content-rich page to the search engines and a different page to humans. Most major search engine representatives have publicly stated that they do not approve of this practice.
Comment
The text contained within a “comment” tag in a web page. “Comments” are used in a variety of situations, such as communication between web developers and Cascading Style Sheets (See Above).
Content Management Systems (CMS)
A CMS is often a web application and often it is used as a method of managing web sites and web content.
Conversion
The act of converting a web site visitor into a customer or at least taking that visitor a step closer to customer acquisition (such as convincing them to sign up for your e-mail newsletter).
Crawler
Also known as a bot and spider, a crawler is a program that search engines use to seek out information on the web. The act of “crawling” on a web site is referred to when the crawler begins to search through documents contained within the web site. Also see Index.
Domain
Refers to a specific web site address.
Doorway Page
A web page specifically created in order to obtain rankings within the natural listings of a search engine. These pages generally are filled with keywords and are meant to funnel surfers into the main web site. This practice is generally considered an outdated spam tactic. This term is not to be confused with a “landing page.”
Entry Page
Refers to any page within a web site that a user employs to “enter” your web site. Also see Landing Page.
Eye Tracking Studies
Studies by Google, Marketing Sherpa and Poynter Institute using Eyetools technology to track the eye movements of web page readers, in order to understand reading and click-through patterns.
Flash
“Flash technology has become a popular method for adding animation and interactivity to web pages; several software products, systems, and devices are able to create or display Flash. Flash is commonly used to create animation, advertisements, various web page components, to integrate video into web pages, and more recently, to develop rich internet applications.” Source: Wikipedia
Frames
HTML technique that allows two or more pages to display in one browser window. Many search engines had trouble indexing web sites that used frames, generally only seeing the contents of a single frame. See also “No Frames.”
Google Dance
Google Dance refers to when Google indexes are updated. This period of time often results in fluctuations in the index size and some noticeable changes in search engine result positions.
Heading tag
An HTML tag that is often used to denote a page or section heading on a web page. Search engines pay special attention to text that is marked with a heading tag, as such text is set off from the rest of the page content as being more important.
IFRAME
“IFrame (from inline frame) is an HTML element which makes it possible to embed another HTML document inside the main document. The size of the IFrame is specified in the surrounding HTML page, so that the surrounding page can already be presented in the browser while the IFrame is still being loaded. The IFrame behaves much like an inline image, and the user can scroll it out of view. On the other hand, the IFrame can contain its own scroll bar, independent of the surrounding page’s scroll bar. Source: Wikipedia
Index
A search engine’s “index” refers to the amount of documents found by a search engines crawler on the web.
Indexability
Also known as crawlability and spiderability. Indexability refers to the potential of a web site or its contents to be crawled or “indexed” by a search engine. If a site is not “indexable,” or if a site has reduced indexability, it has difficulties getting its URLs included.
Internal Links
An Internal Link is a hypertext link that points to another page within the same website. Internal links can be used as a form of navigation for people, directing them to pages within the website. Links assist with creating good information architecture within the site.
Search engines also use internal text links to crawl pages within a website. The way internal links are structured will impact the way in which search engine bots spider and subsequently index pages
JavaScript
JavaScript is a scripting language based on prototype-based programming. It is used on a web site as client-side JavaScript, and also to enable scripting access to objects in other applications.
Keyword / Keyword Phrase
A specific word or combination of words that a searcher might type into a search field. Includes generic, category keywords; industry-specific terms; product brands; common misspellings and expanded variations (called Keyword Stemming), or multiple words (called Long Tail for their lower CTRs but sometimes better conversion rates). All might be entered as a search query. For example, someone looking to buy coffee mugs might use the keyword phrase “ceramic coffee mugs.” Also, keywords – which trigger ad network and contextual network ad serves – are the auction components on which PPC advertisers bid for all Ad Groups/Orders and campaigns.
Keyword density
The number of occurrences that a given keyword appears on a web page. The more times that a given word appears on your page (within reason), the more weight that word is assigned by the search engine when that word matches a keyword search done by a search.
KPI, Key Performance Indicators
KPI are metrics used to quantify objectives that reflect the strategic performance of your online marketing campaigns. They provide business and marketing intelligence to assess a measurable objective and the direction in which that objective is headed.
Link popularity
When other web sites link to your site, your site will rank better in certain search engines. The more web pages that link to you, the better your link popularity.
Linkbait
Also known as link bait, this is something on your site that people will notice and link to. By linking to your site, other sites are saying they value the content of your site and that they think other people will be interested in it, too.
Log File
All server software stores information about web site incoming and outgoing activities. Web log files function like the “black box” that records everything during an airplane’s flight. The log file is usually in the root directory but it may also be found in a secondary folder. If you do not have permission to access these files, then you will need the help of the server administrator.
Long Tail Keyword
Phrases with at least three, sometimes four or five, words in them. These long tail keywords are usually highly specific and draw lower traffic than shorter, more competitive keyword phrases, which is why they are also cheaper. Oftentimes, long tail keywords, in aggregate, have good conversion ratios for the low number of click-throughs they generate.
Meta description
A Meta tag hidden in the HTML that describes the page’s content. Should be relatively short; around 12 to 20 words is suggested. The Meta description provides an opportunity to influence how your Web page is described in the search results, but it will not improve your search rankings. Make sure your Meta description reflects the page content or you may be accused of spamming.
Meta keywords
A Meta tag hidden in the HTML that lists keywords relevant to the page’s content. Because search engine spammers have abused this tag so much, this tag provides little to no benefit to your search rankings. Of the major search engines, only Yahoo! still pays any attention to the Meta keywords tag.
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.
NoFollow
NoFollow is an attribute webmasters can place on links that tell search engines not to count the link as a vote or not to send any trust to that site. Search engines will follow the link, yet it will not influence search results. NoFollows can be added to any link with this code: “rel=”nofollow”.”
Organic Search Listings
Listings that search engines do not sell (unlike paid listings). Instead, sites appear solely because a search engine has deemed it editorially important for them to be included, regardless of payment. Paid Inclusion Content is also often considered “organic” even though it is paid for. This is because paid inclusion content usually appears intermixed with unpaid organic results.
PageRank (PR)
PR is the Google technology developed at Stanford University for placing importance on pages and web sites. At one point, PageRank (PR) was a major factor in rankings. Today it is one of hundreds of factors in the algorithm that determines a page’s rankings.
Query
The keyword or keyword phrase a searcher enters into a search field, which initiates a search and results in a SERP with organic and paid listings.
Rank
How well positioned a particular web page or web site appears in search engine results. For example, if you rank at position #1, you’re the first listed paid or sponsored ad. If you’re in position #18, it is likely that your ad appears on the second or third page of search results, after 17 competitor paid ads and organic listings. Rank and position affect your click-through rates and, ultimately, conversion rates for your landing pages.
Referrer
A web page, containing a link to your web page, which delivered a visitor to your web page. For example, on a Google search for “britney spears”, a web page from the Google’s search result contained a link to a page on your site and the user clicked on that link – that visitor would be called a “referrer” and the website the referrer came from would be called a “referring website”.
Robots.txt
Text file placed in a websites root directory and linked in the html code. Allows for SEO’s to control the actions of search engine spiders on the site or even deny them access.
SEO
Acronym for “Search Engine Optimization.” This is the process of editing a web site’s content and code in order to improve visibility within one or more search engines. When this term is used to describe an individual, it stands for “Search Engine Optimizer” or one who performs SEO.
SERP
Acronym for Search Engine Results Page, the page delivered to a searcher that displays the results of a search query entered into the search field. Displays both paid ad (sponsored) and organic listings in varying positions or rank.
Spider
Also known as a bot, robot, or crawler. Spiders are programs used by a search engine to explore the World Wide Web in an automated manner and download the HTML content (not including graphics) from web sites, strip out whatever it considers superfluous and redundant out of the HTML, and store the rest in a database (i.e. its index).
Sponsored Listing
A term used as a title or column head on SERPs to identify paid advertisers and distinguish between paid and organic listings. Alternate names are Paid Listings or Paid Sponsors. Separating paid listings from organic results enables searchers to make their own purchase and site trust decisions and, in fact, resulted from an FTC complaint filed by Commercial Alert in 2001 alleging that the confusion caused in consumers who saw mixed paid and unpaid results constituted fraud in advertising.
Submission
The act of submitting a web site to search engines and search directories. For some search engines, this is performed simply by typing in the absolute home page URL of the web site you wish to submit. Other engines and directories request that descriptions of the web site be submitted for approval.
Title tag
The text displayed in the blue bar at the very top of the browser window, above “Back,” “Forward,” “Refresh,” “Print,” etc. Although inconspicuous to the user, the title tag is the most important bit of text on a web page as far as the search engines are concerned. Search engines not only assign the words in the title tag more weight, they also typically display the title tag in the search results, making the title tag an important potential call-to-action as well. Thus, the wording of each page’s title tag should be thought through carefully.
Tier I Search Engines
The top three, search engines that serve the vast majority of searcher queries. Also referred to as Major Engines, Top Tier Engines or GYM, for Google, Yahoo! and Bing.
Traffic
Refers to the number of visitors a website receives. It can be determined by examination of web logs.
Unique Visitor
Identifies an actual web surfer (as opposed to a crawler) and is tracked by a unique identifiable quality (typically IP address). If a visitor comes to a web site and clicks on 100 links, it is still only counted as one unique visit.
Usability
This term refers to how “user friendly” a web site and its functions are. A site with good usability is a site that makes it easy for visitors to find the information they are looking for or to perform the action they desire. Bad usability is anything that causes confusion or problems for the user. For example, large Flash animations served to a visitor with a dial up connection causes poor usability. Easy, intuitive navigation and clear, informative text enhance usability.
Verticals
A vertical is a specific business group or category, such as insurance, automotive or travel. Vertical search offers targeted search options and PPC opportunities to a specific business category.
Wiki
Software that allows people to contribute knowledge on a particular topic. A wiki is another web publishing platform that makes use of technologies similar to blogs and also allows for collaboration with multiple people.
Wikipedia
“Wikipedia is a multilingual, web-based, free content encyclopedia project. Wikipedia is written collaboratively by volunteers; its articles can be edited by anyone with access to the web site.” Source: Wikipedia
Word Count
The total number of words contained within a web document.