| By Sumantra Roy
Here is a glossary of commonly used terms in the world
of search engine ranking.
Alt Tag: The alternative text that the
browser displays when the surfer does not want to or cannot
see the pictures present in a web page. Using alt tags
containing keywords can improve the search engine ranking
of the page for those keywords.
Bridge Page: See Doorway Page.
Click Popularity: A measure of the relevance
of sites obtained by noting which sites are clicked on
most and how much time users spend in each site.
Cloaking: The process by which your
site can display different pages under different circumstances.
It is primarily used to show an optimized page to the
search engines and a different page to humans. Most search
engines will penalize a site if they discover that it
is using cloaking.
Comment Tag: The text present within
the tags in a web page. Most search engines will ignore
the text within the Comment Tags.
Crawler: See Spider.
Directory: A site containing links to
other sites which are organized into various categories.
Examples of directories are Yahoo! & Open Directory.
Doorway Page: A page which has been
specially created in order to get a high ranking in the
search engines. Also called gateway page, bridge page,
entry page etc.
Dynamic Content: Information in web
pages which changes automatically, based on database or
user information. Search engines will index dynamic content
in the same way as static content unless the URL includes
a ? mark. However, if the URL does include a ? mark, many
search engines will ignore the URL.
Entry Page: See Doorway Page.
Frames: An HTML technique allowing web
site designers to display two or more pages in the same
browser window. Many search engines do not index framed
web pages properly - they only index the text present
in the NOFRAMES tag. Unless a web page which uses frames
contains relevant content in the NOFRAMES tag, it is unlikely
to get a high ranking in those search engines.
Gateway Page: See Doorway Page.
Hallway Page: A page containing links
to various doorway pages.
Heading Tags: A paragraph style that
is displayed in a large, bold typeface. Having text containing
keywords in the Heading Tags can improve the search engine
ranking of a page for those keywords.
Hidden Text: Text that is visible to
the search engines but is invisible to humans. It is mainly
accomplished by using text in the same color as the background
color of the page. It is primarily used for the purpose
of including extra keywords in the page without distorting
the aesthetics of the page. Most search engines penalize
web sites which use such hidden text.
Image Map: An image containing one or
more invisible regions which are linked to other pages.
If the image map is defined as a separate file, the search
engines may not be able to index the pages to which that
image map links. The way out is to have text hyperlinks
to those pages in addition to the links from the image
map. However, image maps defined within the same web page
will generally not prevent search engines from indexing
the other pages.
Inktomi: A database of sites used by
many of the larger search engines like HotBot, MSN etc.
JavaScript: A scripting language commonly
used in web pages. Most search engines are unable to index
these scripts properly.
Keyword: A word or phrase that you type
in when you are searching for information in the search
engines.
Keyword Frequency: Denotes how often
a keyword appears in a page or in an area of a page. In
general, higher the number of times a keyword appears
in a page, higher its search engine ranking. However,
repeating a keyword too often in a page can lead to that
page being penalized for spamming.
Keyword Prominence: Denotes how close
to the start of an area of a page that a keyword appears.
In general, having the keyword closer to the start of
an area will lead to an improvement in the search engine
ranking of a page.
Keyword Weight: Denotes the number of
times a keyword appears in a page as a percentage of all
the other words in the page. In general, higher the weight
of a particular keyword in a page, higher will be the
search engine ranking of the page for that keyword. However,
repeating a keyword too often in order to increase its
weight can cause the page to be penalized by the search
engines.
Link Popularity: The number of sites
which link to a particular site. Many search engines use
link popularity as a factor in determining the search
engine ranking of a web site.
Meta Description Tag: The tag present
in the header of a web page which is used to provide a
short description of the contents of the page. Some search
engines will display the text present in the Meta Description
Tag when the page appears in the results of a search.
Including keywords in the Meta Description Tag can improve
the search engine ranking of a page for those keywords.
However, some search engines ignore the Meta Description
Tag.
Meta Keywords Tag: The tag present in
the header of a web page which is used to provide alternative
words for the words used in the body of the page. The
Meta Keywords Tag is becoming less and less important
in influencing the search engine ranking of a page. Some
search engines ignore the Meta Keywords tag.
Meta Refresh Tag: The tag present in
the header of a web page which is used to display a different
page after a few seconds. If a page displays another page
too soon, most search engines will either ignore the current
page and index the second page or penalize the current
page for spamming.
Pay Per Click Search Engine: A search
engine in which the ranking of your site is determined
by the amount you are paying for each click from that
search engine to your site. Examples of pay per click
search engines are Overture, HootingOwl etc.
Robot: In the context of search engine
ranking, it implies the same thing as Spider. In a different
context, it is also used to indicate a software which
visits web sites and collects email addresses to be used
for sending unsolicited bulk email.
Robots.txt: A text file present in the
root directory of a site which is used to control which
pages are indexed by a robot. Only robots which comply
with the Robots Exclusion Standard will follow the instructions
contained in this file.
Search Engine: A software that searches
for information and returns sites which provide that information.
Examples of search engines are AltaVista, Google, Hotbot
etc.
Search Engine Placement: The practice
of trying to ensure that a web site obtains a high rank
in the search engines. Also called search engine positioning,
search engine optimization etc.
Spamdexing: See Spamming.
Spamming: Using any search engine ranking
technique which causes a degradation in the quality of
the results produced by the search engines. Examples of
spamming include excessive repetition of a keyword in
a page, optimizing a page for a keyword which is unrelated
to the contents of the site, using invisible text, etc.
Most search engines will penalize a page which uses spamming.
Also called spamdexing. In a different context, spamming
is also used to mean the practice of sending unsolicited
bulk email.
Spider: A software that visits web sites
and indexes the pages present in those sites. Search engines
use spiders to build up their databases. Example: The
spider for AltaVista is called Scooter.
Stop Word: A word that often appears
in pages, yet has no significance by itself. Most search
engines ignore stop words while searching. Example of
stop words are: and, the, of etc.
Title Tag: The contents of the Title
tag is generally displayed by the browser at the top of
the browser window. The search engines use the Title tag
to provide a link to the sites which match the query made
by the user. Having keywords in the Title tag of a page
can significantly increase the search engine ranking of
the page for those keywords.
Article by Sumantra Roy. Sumantra is one of the most
respected search engine positioning specialists on the
Internet. To have Sumantra's company place your site at
the top of the search engines, visit
his site.
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