SEO Terms and Definitions
If you are not familiar with the industry, trying to wrap your head around all the different search engine terms and definitions can be confusing, and difficult to remember them all. Web Design and Company has put together this list, to help you understand what the SEO (Search Engine Optimization) terms and definitions are, and what they mean.
Search Engine Optimization
Definition of Backlinking: Links that are followed back to your site. Links can also have a "no follow" tag assigned, in which the search engine does not pass any value through the link to your webpage.
Definition of Conversion Rate Optimization: Optimization of the content of graphics on a website, to engage visitors, and make them take the desired action.
Definition of Duplicate Content: Content that is the same across multiple pages, or has exact match content on multiple URL's.
Definition of LBL or Local Business Listing: An LBL is defined as a local business listing. These listings are created in Google, or Bing, and show what you business does, and where you are. These show up as the short, abbreviated result that come up either at the top or the page with an image of a map, or towards the middle of the first page results, with a short description and an address. Generally, these will display (if optimized properly) when a user types in location info with their search such as; "SEO company St Louis", or anything that has a local area in the search query in relation to the keyword or phrase.
Definition of Off-Page SEO: Off-page SEO refers to the content that is not visible, or not easily spotted by the user. The areas that would be affected by this would be your website's meta data, page titles, page descriptions, rich snippet data, alt or title text, and others.
Definition of On-Page SEO: The optimization of "on-page" or "visible to the reader" content. An anlysis of this would include looking at the keyword density of the copy, seeing how the page is laid out according to content being above the fold.
Definition of PPC or Pay Per Click: Using paid ads to generate extra revenue through website leads. PPC is a great way to supplement organic traffic, and get immediate top listings in Google or Bing. These are generally displayed as the website links and description that have a slightly muted background color in the top results, with small text that reads "why these ads?" nearby. Every time a user clicks the link, a cost is deducted from the advertisers account. These are fairly flexible, and daily, and monthly amounts can be set.
Definition of Search Marketing: Marketing of content or media, to be indexed in search engine result pages.
Definition of SEF: Abbreviation for "Search Engine Friendly." This is generally used as an industry term, when used to describe is something is ready to be submitted to a search engine for acceptance and review. Search engine friendly can also mean content or media that is easier for a search engine bot to crawl.
Definition of SEO (Search Engine Optimization): The process of improving the visibility of a website or a web page in a search engine's "natural" or un-paid (organic or algorithmic) search results.
Definition of SEO Tool: Tools that allow users to grade, research, or analyze different functions related to SEO. For example, keyword research tools are very popular with SEO companies, as they allow them to see large groups of related keywords and phrases.
Internet Marketing
Definition of Citation Sites: Sites that allow you to create a profile for your company brand, and a link back to your website. Examples include Kudzu, Thumbtack, Yellowbook.
Definition of Internet Marketing: Internet marketing, also known as web marketing, online marketing, or e-marketing, is referred to as the marketing (general promotion) of products or services over the internet. This can be used to promote a certain service, product, or your entire company. This can include content marketing, social media marketing, email marketing and more.
Definition of PageRank: PageRank is a link analysis algorithm used by Google to help determine the relative importance of a website. Every website is given a Google PageRank score between 0 and 10 on an exponential scale.
Definition of Reputation Management: Management of a company's online reputation, through online profiles, reviews, and business mentions.
Definition of Rich Snippets: Content that is marked up with specific code, that allows a search engine to quickly read what the data is about. This can include menus, reviews, local businesses, organizations, and more. Learm more about rich snippet markup at schema.org.
Definition of Directory Submission: Process of submitting a website URL to be indexed in a directory of related links, usually defined by categories.
Web Design and Graphics
Definition of Website Design: The skill of creating presentations of content, usually hypertext or hypermedia, that are delivered to an end-user through the world wide web, using a web browser or other web-enabled software. Having the proper design in front of your users may be the difference of receiving a lead or purchase, or having the user leave your website all together.
Definition of Responsive Web Design: Form of web design that focuses on the design being able to scale to multiple devices, while not losing any functionality. Platforms generally focused on are mobile phones, desktops, and tablet computers.
Definition of Vector Graphics: Graphics that allow the size and scale to be mathmatically scaled, without losing quality. Most commonly created using Adobe Illustrator.
Social Media Marketing
Definition of Social Media Marketing: Marketing of promotional information, content, and conversion-focused graphics using social media platforms.
Definition of Social Signals: "Signals" that are given from active social profiles to search engines. For example, Google can see how often posts are updated across multiple social platforms, and what the subject matter of the posts are.
Pay per Click (PPC)
Definition of Ad Rank: A value that's used to determine your ad position, where ads are shown on a page. Ad Rank is calculated using your bid amount and Quality Score. Learn more about Ad rank here.