resources

The process of activating a page element, such as moving from one page to the next, by clicking the mouse on a hyperlink.

Purposely clicking ads in order to drive up an advertiser's fees.

The process of clicking through a link to a web page.

Refers to the browser type of a visitor accessing a web site.

Recorded invalid requests made by a visitor's browser, such as a '404 Page Not Found Error'.

Cloaking is the practice of serving different content to the search engine spiders than what is displayed to human users. Cloaking is deceptive, directing users to pages completely unrelated to their searches. The intent of cloaking is to obtain good rankings by the content of the cloaked page, not the true content of the website. The search engines view cloaking as deceptive, and will punish sites that use such methods by removing those sites from their indexes.

Content is the substance of a site, and is one of the most important factors search engines look at for indexing. The true content of a site is the 'body' text but other elements do contribute to content such as images and their corresponding Alt attributes.

When a client completes an important transaction on a web site, such as a purchase, or fills out a registration form, it is recorded as a conversion.

The number of visits that result in conversions.

A file containing information about a visitor recorded during the visitor's first visit to the web site. This information is stored on the visitor's hard drive. When the visitor returns to that site, the cookie is displayed to the web site's server, so that the visitor is recognized. Cookies can be used to tailor specific information based on behavioral patters of a visitor.

Abbreviated term for "cost per click." CPC is a pay-for-placement service that allows lets you place a bid amount to specific search engines in order to be found within their indexes. The higher the bid amount, the higher your site will be ranked. Every time a user clicks from the search results to your site, you pay the set bid amount, or cost-per-click.

The action a spider takes when visiting and indexing web pages.

A computer database is a structured collection of records or data that is stored in a computer system. A database relies upon software to organize the storage of the data and to enable a person or program to extract desired information. The term "database" refers to the collection of related records, and the software is referred to as the database management system (DMS).

A link to a page that no longer exists. The end result is a 404 error page report. Dead links can hamper your site's ranking within the search engines and should be amended or removed.

The percentage that a keyword or key phrase is used relative to the rest of the text on a web page. Keyword density is an important factor for Search Engine Optimization, both too high and too low.

Part of the meta elements, the description meta element is important defining your pages content and thus is directly related to your rankings within the search engines.

A edited searchable database that lists web sites catalogued under various topics. Having your site listed in the popular directories is important, since it increases your chances of being found on the Internet by people who use them. Moreover, the search engines spider the directories and add the listings found there to their own databases.

The Open Directory Project (DMOZ) is the largest human controlled directory on the Internet and has close ties to Google.

Refers to repeated blocks of content within a website or on the Internet. Duplicate content should be avoided as it can cause penalties or index removal among the major search engines and indices.

Used to describe the nature of content within a web site. Dynamic content, usually supplied by a database, changes when the data in the database is altered.