A
absolute link
A link which shows the full URL of the page being linked at. Some links only show relative link paths instead of having the entire reference URL within the “a href “tag. Due to canonicalization and hijacking related issues it is typically preferred to use absolute links over relative links.
A/B Testing
Process of releasing two different versions (A and B) of a keyword, advertisement, website, web/landing page, banner design or variable and measuring which version performs the best.
above the fold
With reference to the top part of a newspaper, this a term is used in Internet marketing to describes that section of a Web page that is visible without scrolling. The fold varies depending on the resolution settings on a visitor’s monitor.
ad blocking
The blocking of Web advertisements, typically the image in graphical Web advertisements. Supporters of ad blocking claim that download times improve considerably by eliminating slow-loading banners and buttons. This one factor can cause more delays than the actual download and rendering of all other page elements combined. Opponents claim that ad blocking amounts to nothing more than theft, as ad-free surfers use valuable resources without indirectly “paying” in the form of viewing ads.
ad clicks
Number of times users click on an ad banner
ad groups
A group of ads within a Campaign.
ad scheduling
In internet marketing, Ad Scheduling is the practice of scheduling the day into several parts, during each of which a different t advertising rule is applied based on advertising objective, budget, and competitors.
ad space
The space on a Web page available for advertisements. One of the challenges of Web design is to use ad space in a way that delivers for advertisers without alienating visitors.
ad views (impressions)
Number of times an ad banner is downloaded and presumably seen by visitors. If the same ad appears on multiple pages simultaneously, this statistic may understate the number of ad impressions, due to browser caching. Corresponds to net impressions in traditional media. There is currently no way of knowing if an ad was actually loaded. Most servers record an ad as served even if it was not.
AdCenter
Microsoft’s cost per click ad network. While it has a few cool features (including day parting and demographic based bidding) it is still quite nascent in nature compared to Google AdWords. Due to Microsoft’s limited marketshare and program newness many terms are vastly underpriced and present a great arbitrage opportunity.
address
A unique identifier for a computer or site online, usually a URL for a web site or marked with an @ for an email address. Literally, it is how your computer finds a location on the information highway.
administrivia
Refers to a website’s administrative details such as legal, copyright, privacy and licensing information.
adsense
Google’s contextual advertising network. Publishers large and small may automatically publish relevant advertisements near their content and share the profits from those ad clicks with Google. AdSense offers a highly scalable automated ad revenue stream which will help some publishers establish a baseline for the value of their ad inventory. In many cases AdSense will be underpriced, but that is the trade off for automating ad sales.
advanced match type
An option within Yahoo Sponsored Search that specifies how search terms are matched to ads.
advertising network
Advertising networks represent many Web sites in selling advertising, allowing advertising buyers to reach broad audiences relatively easily through run-of-category and run-of-network buys. They provide a way for media buyers to coordinate ad campaigns across dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of sites in an efficient manner.
advertorial
coined from “advertisement” and “editorial”, advertorial is an opinion editorial used to promote a product, organization or service.
adware
A hidden program that comes with the downloaded software and is used to transmit user information to advertisers on the Internet.
adwords
Google’s advertisement and link auction network. Most of Google’s ads are keyword targeted and sold on a cost per click basis in an auction which factors in ad clickthru rate as well as max bid. Google is continually expanding its ad network to eventually include video ads, demographic targeting, affiliate ads, radio ads, and traditional print ads.
affiliate
A marketing partner carries out marketing and sales for someone else’s product or services under a pay-for-results agreement. The affiliate gives wider distribution to the affiliate merchant’s products in return for payment based on performance. Affiliates have traditionally been smaller sites run by individual marketers and small businesses, but some large companies have integrated affiliate programs into their marketing mix.
affiliate directory
A categorized listing of affiliate programs. Affiliate directories are often the starting point for finding and comparing various merchant’s programs. Many of the directories provide simple text listings, but a few offer more advanced search capabilities.
affiliate fraud
Fradulent activity by affiliates can occur in both automated and non- automated ways. Automated scripts try to mimic the activity of legitimate visitors while non-automated activities may involve coordinated efforts by people to generate excess clicks or registrations.
affiliate marketing
Revenue sharing between online advertisers and merchants on the one hand (merchant), and online publishers/salespeople (affiliate) on the other. Compensation to affiliates is based on performance measures, typically sales, clicks, registrations, or a hybrid model. Paying only for performance shifts much of the advertising risk from the merchants to the affiliates, although merchants still assume some risk of fraud from partner sites. Affiliate marketing has contributed to the rise of many leading online companies, e.g. Amazon.com which has hundreds of thousands of affiliates.
Affiliate marketing is considered the easiest way for a novice to start generating a passive income. However, without some quality training, it can be a long haul to serious profits.
affiliate merchant
The advertiser in an affiliate marketing relationship who is responsible for implementing a sales tracking system, providing a selection of linking methods, attracting affiliates, monitoring results, increasing results, and paying affiliates. These functions are often outsourced and run by third parties, e.g. Commission Factory or Clickbank.
affiliate network
A value-added intermediary providing services, including aggregation, for affiliate merchants and affiliates e.g. Commission Junction, and the super sleek Commission Factory for Australian physical products. They provide services to affiliate merchants that can can include providing tracking technology, reporting tools, payment processing, and access to a large base of affiliates. Services for affiliates can include reporting tools, providing one-click application to merchants, and payment processing.
affiliate software
Software that provides tracking and reporting of commission-triggering actions from affiliate links, including sales, registrations or clicks. Affiliate merchants who run 100% in-house affiliate programs should have affiliate software to handle transaction tracking and reporting.
Affiliate merchants who use affiliate networks don’t have to directly manage the affiliate software, although their software should be integrated with that of the affiliate network.
In the past I’ve used Nanacast to manage my affiliate program and document delivery, but I’ve heard really good things about JVZoo, and will probably look at this less expensive option in the future for my information products
age
How old a web page or website is. Some social networks or search systems may take site age, page age, user account age, and related historical data into account when determining how much to trust that person, website, or document. Some specialty search engines, like blog search engines, may also boost the relevancy of new documents
aggregation
A service which brings together in one location information or resources on a specific topic on behalf of a business or consumer.
AJAX
Asynchronous JavaScript and XML is a technique which allows a web page to request additional data from a server without requiring a new page to load.
Alexa
Founded in April 1996, Alexa Internet grew out of a vision of Web navigation that is intelligent and constantly improving with the participation of its users. Along the way Alexa has developed an installed based of millions of toolbars, one of the largest Web crawls and an infrastructure to process and serve massive amounts of data.
algorithm
A set of rules that a search engine uses to rank the listings contained within its index, in response to a particular query. No search engine reveals exactly how its own algorithm works, to protect itself from competitors and those who wish to spam the search engine.
all-channel
Refers to all of a company’s sales channels which may include distributors, retailers, telemarketers, direct sales, email and the Web.
AlltheWeb
Originally created by Fast, this search engine was purchased by Overture and later by Yahoo! who may use this platform to test new search technologies and features.
alt text
Alt text is the HTML attribute that provides alternative text when non- textual elements, typically images, cannot be displayed. If properly used, ALT text can be very useful in providing further detail for an image or the destination of a hyperlinked image.
always-on
Refers to an Internet connection such as satellite or DSL which provides immediate and continuous access to the Internet; also used to refer to people such as “always-on generation”.
amazon.com
The largest Internet retailing website without a storefront counterpart, Amazon.com is rich in consumer generated media. It also owns a number of other popular websites, including IMDB and Alexa.
analytics
Software which allows you to track your page views, user paths, and conversion statistics based upon interpreting your log files or through including a JavaScript tracking code on your site. Ad networks are a game of margins. Marketers who track user action will have a distinct advantage over those who do not.
anchor
A word, phrase or graphic image, in hypertext, it is the object that is highlighted, underlined or “clickable” which links to another site.
anchor text
Anchor text refers to the visible clickable text for a hyperlink. For example to link from the term ‘JamesTeaches’, you would need to use:
< a href=”http://www.kerryfinchwriting.com/” >KerryFinchWriting< /a > .
The text usually gives visitors or search engines important information on what the page being linked to is about.
Android
software platform and operating system for mobile devices, based on the Linux operating system, developed by Google and later the Open Handset Alliance; this platform allows software developers to write managed code in a Java-like language which utilizes Google-developed Java libraries
animated GIF
A graphic in the GIF89a file format that creates the effect of animation by rotating through a series of static images.
AOL
Stands for America Online. AOL is a popular web portal which merged with Time Warner.
Apache
a free, open-source web server software system that is pervasive on UNIX, Linux, and similar operating system types
API
Abbreviation for Application Program Interface. A series of conventions or routines used to access software functions. Most major search products have an API program.
app
A software application.
applet
An application program written in Java which allows viewing of simple animation on web pages.
arbitrage
Exploiting market inefficiencies by buying and reselling a commodity for a profit. As it relates to the search market, many thin content sites laced with an Overture feed or AdSense ads buy traffic from the major search engines and hope to send some percent of that traffic clicking out on a higher priced ad. Shopping search engines generally draw most of their traffic through arbitrage.
article
A piece of written content that has a variety of purposes in the online business world. A general niche article is usually around 400-500 words in length, while a pillar or authority article might be up to 1500 words. Any longer would become a short report or white paper.
An article should not be confused with a website page, e.g. an About or Services page, which command a higher price which reflects the research required and message delivery.
When properly constructed, and with Google’s content guidelines in mind, articles are ideal for building out websites with unique and relevant content, and for publishing to social media sites to build authority.
For more information about having quality articles written for your online business, contact me!
article directory
A site that hosts and distributes well written articles on various topics to a large network of blogs and websites with related content. These distribution sites allow the authors to include a personal link at the end of their articles, increasing their chances of getting inbound links, the value of which depends on how well the directory is managed as far as quality is concerned. Many article directories suffered a credibility blow in the Google updates of 2011 and 2012.
article marketing
A technique where keyword-containing articles with useful information are published to establish authority in a niche.
article network
Article networks, popular up until around 2011 were used to publish, and often spin, articles articles before publishing them to websites that were connected. In Google’s crackdown on linking activities such as this, many article and link networks collapsed overnight. Use with extreme caution.
artifact
Documentation containing guidelines, requirements, design and test plans of a software application.
astroturfing
Formal public relations campaigns in politics and advertising which appear as spontaneous, grassroots behaviour, hence the reference to the artificial grass Astro Turf. Astroturfing techniques usually involve a few people posing as mass numbers of activists advocating a specific cause. In business, astroturfing is a type of stealth marketing, which can include the manipulation of viral marketing.
asynchronous learning
Self-paced course taken through the Internet or CD-ROM.
attention economy
A buzzword used to refer to a market where consumers agree to receive services in exchange for their attention. Examples are personalized search, personalized news, alerts and recommendations.
automated purchasing system
A network solution that links a company’s website to vendors whose products or service offerings and prices are pre-approved.
autoresponder
A computer program that automatically sends a response when it receives information such as an email message or subscription request. It is used for a variety of Internet marketing activities including delivery of information products and customized responses to emails.
ASCII
American Standard Code for Information Interchange
Ask
Search engine owned by InterActive Corp. which was originally called Ask Jeeves until the name Jeeves was dropped in 2006. This search engine is powered by Teoma.
ASP
Microsoft Active Server Pages. Also know as Application Service Provider.
attachment
A file sent with an email document.
auditor
third-party company that tracks, counts and verifies ad-banner requests or verifies a Web site’s ad reporting system
authority
The ability for a page or domain to rank well in search engines using factors such as site age, link equity, traffic trends, and relevant, unique original quality content. Search engines as a general rule rank websites according to their relevance and authority on a given keyword, subject or query.
authority site
A website with many incoming links from related expert sites and which enjoys high trust, page rank and search results placement. E.g. Wikipedia.
automated bid management software
Computer program used by Pay per click search engines and developed to help control ad expenditures using advanced options that focus on conversion, ROI, and earnings elasticity in addition to analyzing cost per click.
avatar
A online digital graphical representation of a person.
average page depth
The average number of pages on a site that visitors view during a single session.
average response value
The average revenue value of each click, calculated as total revenue divided by total clicks.
Aweber
(see autoresponder)
B
B2B
Business that sells products or provides services to other businesses.
B2C
Business that sells products or provides services to end-user consumers.
B2E
Business to Employee
backbone
A high-speed line or series of connections that forms a large pathway within a network. The term is relative to the size of network it is serving. A Backbone in a small network would probably be much smaller than many non-Backbone lines in a large network.
backbone provider
A network service provider or a company that provides Internet access to ISPs.
backlinks
Backlinks are incoming links to a webpage. Backlinks are important for search engine optimization (SEO) because some search engines give more credit to websites that have a good number of quality backlinks. Sites with better QUALITY backlink counts usually rank better in SERPs. Links generated from link farms or poor quality
back-sourcing
When a company brings a previously outsourced job back “in-house” often due to poor quality of the outsourced work or for cost effectiveness.
backup
making copies of data so that these additional copies or backups may be used to restore the original after a data loss event
bad request
A request that could not be understood by a server usually due to malformed syntax.
bait and switch
Marketing strategy where a website has the appearance of an informational site, is developed as an authority in a topic, before using it to sell related products or services.
bandwidth
How much information (text, images, video, sound) can be sent through a connection. Usually measured in bits-per-second. A full page of text is about 16,000 bits. A fast modem can move approximately 15,000 bits in one second. Full-motion full-screen video requires about 10,000,000 bits-per-second, depending on compression.
banned site
Also referred to as blacklisted or delisted, a banned site is a URL that has been removed from a search engine’s index, usually for engaging in Black Hat SEO. Once banned, a site’s contents will be ignored by search engines.
banner ad
A graphical web advertising unit, typically measuring 468 pixels wide and 60 pixels tall (i.e. 468×60). Banner ads are one of the dominant forms of advertising online. Due to the widespread acceptance of the standard 468×60 banner ad size, buyers can easily secure placements at most sites, and publishers can accept ads from most advertisers.
banner blindness
Banner blindness occurs when web visitors ignore banner ads, even when they contain information visitors are actively seeking.
banner exchange
This is a network where participating sites display banner ads in exchange for credits which are converted into ads to be displayed on other sites (at a rate agreed upon). Members of large banner exchanges have the potential for their ads to be shown on thousands of other sites. Also banner exchange networks can rotate ads among many different sites, with the benefit of laser-like targeting.
baron company
A high-tech company located in a rural area; derived from the medieval “Baron” who is regarded for possessing enormous power in a specific field.
barter
The definition of ‘bartering’ is to exchange goods or services directly without the use of money. Advertising bartering comes in many forms with many small sites use banner exchanges as a way to increase their reach. Often Ezines will swap sponsorships in an effort to boost subscriptions.
BBS (Bulletin Board System)
Software that enables users to log into email, usenet and chat groups via modem.
beacon
A persistent or super cookie which stores highly detailed information such as keystrokes and mouse movements.
behavioral targeting
Ad targeting based on past recent experience and/or implied intent. For example, if I recently searched for mortgages then am later reading a book review the page may still show me mortgage ads.
Best of the Web
A commercial web directory founded in 1994 providing websites categorized topically and regionally. BOTW allows site owners to submit their websites for an expedited review, and commercial sites are required to pay for the review.
beta
This term has migrated from computer and software development, and it is usually used as “beta site.” It means test site or test version. Beta is not the final version of a product or web site, but it’s close enough to show in public and work the bugs out.
bias
A prejudice based on experiences or a particular worldview; online, Search engines aim to be relevant to users, but they also need to be profitable. Since search engines sell commercial ads some of the largest search engines may bias their organic search results toward informational (ie: non-commercial) websites. Some search engines are also biased toward information which has been published online for a great deal of time and is heavily cited
bid
The maximum amount that you are willing to pay for a click.
bid adjustments
a percentage or a fixed monetary amount by which to increase a bid for cases where traffic appears to be consistent with your selected targeting preferences.
bid limit
When campaign optimization is turned on, the bid limit defines the maximum amount that you are willing to pay for a click
Bing
Formerly Live Search, Windows Live Search, MSN Search, Bing is the current web search engine from Microsoft.
bit.ly
A free URL shortening service which allows users to share shortened URLs and then track the resulting usage online.
black hat SEO
Search engines set up guidelines that help them extract billions of dollars of ad revenue from the work of publishers and the attention of searchers. Within that highly profitable framework search engines consider certain marketing techniques deceptive in nature, and label them as black hat SEO.
blacklist
a list or register of entities who, for various reasons, are being denied a particular privilege, service, mobility, access or recognition.
block level analysis
A method used to break a page down into multiple points on the web graph by breaking its pages down into smaller blocks
blog
Formally described as a frequent, chronological publication of personal thoughts and Web links, a blog is often a mixture of what is happening in a person’s life and what is happening on the Web – a kind of hybrid diary/guide site, although there are as many unique types of blogs as there are people. Many marketers are using blogs to ‘recommend’ products through text links, and ‘blot networks’ link together to increase traffic to members’ websites for better ranking with the search engines.
blog comment spam
Either manually or automatically (via a software program) adding low value or no value comments to other sites.
blogger
A free blog platform owned by Google which allows users to easily publish sites on a subdomain off of Blogspot.com, or to FTP content to a domain.
blogger
Person who maintains a blog
blogosphere
Collective community of all blogs and bloggers on the Internet.
blogroll
Link list on a blog, usually linking to other blogs owned by the same company or friends of that blogger.
BMP
Bitmap (file.bmp)
bold
A way to make words appear in a bolder font. Words that appear in a bolder font are more likely to be read by humans that are scanning a page.
bookmarks
Most browsers come with the ability to bookmark your favorite pages. Many web based services have also been created to allow you to bookmark and share your favorite resources. The popularity of a document (as measured in terms of link equity, number of bookmarks, or usage data) is a signal for the quality of the information. Some search engines may eventually use bookmarks to help aid their search relevance.
Social bookmarking sites are often called tagging sites. Del.icio.us is the most popular social bookmarking site. Yahoo! MyWeb also allows you to tag results. Google allows you to share feeds and / or tag pages. They also have a program called Google Notebook which allows you to write mini guides of related links and information.
boolean search
A search allowing the inclusion or exclusion of documents containing certain words through the use of operators such as AND, NOT and OR. Search engines like Google and Yahoo make standard use of the AND variable.
bot
Abbreviation for robot (also called a spider). It refers to software programs that scan the web. Bots vary in purpose from indexing web pages for search engines to harvesting e-mail addresses for spammers.
bounced message
An email message that’s returned to the sender, usually due to an error in the address.
bounce rate
This shows a percentage of entrances on any given page that resulted in an exit from the page without entering any other page on the site.
brand
A design, symbol, name, term, or any other feature that identifies one seller’s good or service as distinct from those of other sellers.
branded keywords
Keywords or keyword phrases associated with a brand. Typically branded keywords occur late in the buying cycle, and are some of the highest value and highest converting keywords.
branding
A school of advertising that says, “If the consumer has heard of us, we’ve done our job.” Fortunately for agencies, brand value is extremely difficult to measure, so branding campaigns can be easily defended with grandiose predictions of future glory.
brand stacking
Multiple listings (pages or posts) from one domain stacked under a main heading, all shown by Google as the result on just one search query for your brand/company name. (see image)
breadcrumb navigation
A technique used to help search engines and website users understand the relationship between pages and website hierarchy for better site navigability. The breadcrumb usually appears at the top of a webpage, underneath the header.
bridge
An entry into a site other than the homepage. It may be a legitimate landing page which is used to measure the results of a specific promotion or campaign.
broken link
A link that is not functioning or which fails to lead site visitors to the desired location. A broken link may occur when the linked site goes offline, contains temporary content, changes location or URL.
browser
An application used to view information from the Internet. Browsers provide a user-friendly interface for navigating through and accessing the vast amount of information on the Internet.
browser caching
To speed surfing, browsers store recently used pages on a user’s disk. If a site is revisited, browsers display pages from the disk instead of requesting them from the server. As a result, servers under-count the number of times a page is viewed.
browsing
A term that refers to exploring an online area, usually on the World Wide Web.
BTF
Below the Fold
buttons
Objects that, when clicked once, cause something to happen.
buying cycle
Before making any purchase of goods/services or ideas, customers typically go through a buying cycle, firstly showing interest, conducting research and then making a purchase decision. The time it takes to complete the buying cycle could vary from time to time depending on the complexity of the item being purchased or the price involved.
buzz marketing
Using social media and topical subjects, often controversial, to create a ‘buzz’ about a product or service. Buzz marketers usually have a talent for response-eliciting headlines.
buzzword
A trendy word or phrase that is used more to impress than explain, a buzzword may be a newly-coined word or an old word used in a new way. They are part of the fashion of a living language, more about style than substance.
bytes
A byte is a unit of information transferred over a network (or stored on a hard drive or in memory). Every web page, image, or other type of file is composed of some number of bytes. Large files, such as video clips, may be composed of millions of bytes (“megabytes”).
C
caching
Caching is the storage of web files for later use in a way more easily and quickly accessed by the user. It can happen at the user’s ISP and the user’s local machine, with the objective to make efficient use of resources and speed the delivery of content to the end user.
call to action
A text link, button, image or some type of web link that induces a website visitor to visit a landing page and become a lead. E.g. “Subscribe now” or “Download Free Report.”
campaign
Defines the daily budget, language, geographic targeting, and location of where the ads are displayed.
campaign optimization
A feature that automatically manages campaigns for you to help maximize the effectiveness of your spending, based on guidelines you provide
canonical issues
Duplicate content resulting from the treatment of, for example http://www.site.com, site.com and http://site.com as different sites. Although often created in error, search engines consider canonical issues as duplicate content and may penalize them by removal in search rankings.
canonical tag
Code used by search engine crawlers/spiders to tell search engines what URL is the original version of your webpage
canonical URL
A canonical version of a URL is the single most authoritative version indexed by major search engines where there exists multiple URL versions of the same content. Search engines typically use Page Rank or a similar measure to determine which version of a URL is the canonical URL.
cascading style sheets
A data format that is used to separate style from structure on Web pages, cascading style sheets (CSS) address many of the problems of old-style HTML. With cascading style sheets, designers are able to use tags to ‘reference’ a style rather than ‘describe’ it at each instance. Then, when a style needs to be changed, only the referenced declarations need to be changed, not all of the instances where it is used.
catch all listing
A listing used by pay per click search engines to monetize long tail terms that are not yet targeted by marketers.
ccTLD
ccTLD’s are “Country-code” TLD‘s showing what country a site is focused on or based in
CD-ROM
Compact Disk-Read Only Memory, a storage medium popular in modern computers. One CD-ROM can hold 600 MB of data
CFM
Cold Fusion Markup (file.cfm)
CGI
Common Gateway Interface. An interface-creation scripting program that allows Web pages to be made on the fly based on information from buttons, checkboxes, text input, etc.
CGI Script
A CGI script is a program written in one of several popular languages such as Perl, PHP, Python, etc., that can take input from a web page, do something with the data, and produce a customized result (among many other possible uses). CGI scripts are widely used to add dynamic behavior to websites and to process forms.
CGI-BIN
Common Gateway Interface – Binary (/cgi-bin)
chat
A real-time, online discussion between two or more people.
chat room
An area online where you can chat with other members in real-time.
click
The opportunity for a visitor to be transferred to a location by clicking on an ad, as recorded by the server.
click-fraud
An illegal practice of manipulating Cost-Per-Click (CPC) or Pay-Per-Click (PPC) revenue sharing agreements typically by paying individuals a small fee to click on advertising links.
clickstream
a record of what an Internet user clicks on while browsing the Web or using another software application
click through
The process of clicking through an online advertisement to the advertiser’s destination. Click-through is often the most immediate response to an advertisement, but it is not the only interaction. Accurate counting of click-throughs involves excluding “robot clicks” and duplicate clicks. This takes on added importance when click- throughs are used as the measurement on which payment is based.
click through rate (CTR)
The percentage of those clicking on a link out of the total number who see the link. For example, imagine 10 people do a web search. In response, they see links to a variety of web pages. Three of the 10 people all choose one particular link. That link then has a 30 percent click through rate. Also called CTR.
clicktivism
The use of social media and other online methods to promote a cause.
client
A program, computer, or process which makes information requests to another computer, process, or program
cloaking
Cloaking describes the technique of serving a different page to a search engine spider than what a human visitor sees. This technique is abused by spammers for keyword stuffing. Cloaking is a violation of the Terms Of Service of most search engines and could be grounds for banning.
cloud computing
On-demand self-service Internet infrastructure where you pay-as-you-go and use only what you need, all managed by a browser, application or API. Cloud computing is broken up into multiple segments including: Cloud Infrastructure, Cloud Platforms and Cloud Applications
cloud backup
Cloud backup, also known as online backup, is a strategy for backing up data that involves sending a copy of the data over a proprietary or public network to an off-site server. The server is usually hosted by a third-party service provider, who charges the backup customer a fee based on capacity, bandwidth or number of users.
clustering
In search engine results pages, clustering is limiting each represented website to one or two listings. This is done to make the search results appear neat and organized, as well as to ensure diversity amongst the top ranked search results.
co-citation
In topical authority based search algorithms links which appear near one another on a page may be deemed to be related to one another. In algorithms like latent semantic indexing words which appear near one another often are frequently deemed to be related
code
Anything written in a language intended for computers to interpret.
code swapping (bait and switch)
Changing the content after high search rankings are achieved.
coffice
coffee shop habitually used by customers attracted to the free space, electricity, Wi-Fi facility
comments
Many blogs and other content management systems allow readers to leave user feedback.
comment spam
blog comments posted for the purpose of obtaining inbound links to another site.
comments tag
Some web developers also place comments in the source code of their work to help make it easy for people to understand the code.
compacted information
Information which is generally and widely associated with a product. For example, most published books have an ISBN.
compression
The shrinkage of computer files to save on storage space and reduce transfer times.
concept search
A search which attempts to conceptually match results with the query, not necessarily with those words, rather their concept.
conceptual links
Links that search engines attempt to understand beyond just the words in them. Some search engines are attempting to find out the concept links versus just matching the words of the text to that specific word set.
consultant (online marketing consultant)
An online marketing consultant puts the vision, services, products and messages of his or her clients in front of potential customers. The Internet gives businesses an opportunity to deliver products and services to millions of viewers every day 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
An online marketing consultant will develop a plan to put the client’s business in front of viewers in a way to encourage sales.
content
text, images, sounds, videos and animations an Internet user can find on a website.
content curation
Content curation is the practice of researching, gathering, and presenting digital content that pertains to specific subject matter. In 2012 it became a bit of a “buzz word” in the content world, but content curation has become a marketing staple for many businesses with a successful online presence.
Unlike content marketing, content curation does not include generating content, but instead gathering content from a variety of sources, and delivering it in an organized fashion. For instance, a content curator is not necessarily responsible for creating new content, but instead, for finding relevant content about a specific category and funneling this information to readers in a mash-up style. This glossary is a good example of content curation!
content management system (CMS)
A content management system (CMS) is a computer program that allows publishing, editing and modifying content as well as maintenance from a central interface. Such systems of content management provide procedures to manage workflow in a collaborative environment. These procedures can be manual steps or an automated cascade.
CMS platforms allow users to centralize data editing, publishing and modification on a single back-end interface. CMS platforms are often used as blog software, though ‘blog’ software like WordPress is now so sophisticated that stunning websites are now being upon it.
content marketing
Content marketing is an umbrella term encompassing all marketing formats that involve the creation and sharing of content in order to attract, acquire and engage clearly defined and understood current and potential consumer bases with the objective of driving profitable customer action. Content Marketing’s basic premise is to “provide some valuable information or entertainment – “content” – that stops short of a direct sales pitch or call to action, but which seeks to positively influence a customer in some way.”[1] This information can be presented in a variety of media, including text, video, Q&A’s, photos, etc.
content match
A pay-per-click campaign tactic that helps your ads display on sites throughout the Yahoo! distribution network
content network
A group of Web sites that agree to show ads on their site, served by an ad network, in exchange for a share of the revenue generated by those ads.
content (A/B) testing
Testing the relative effectiveness of multiple versions of the same advertisement, or other content, in referring visitors to a site. Multiple versions of content can be uniquely identified by using a utm_content variable in the URL tag.
content writing
The art of creating written material that is tailored not only to fall in line with the current interpretation of search engine algorithms, but also to provide relevant and worthwhile information. Content writing (my core business!) comprises website pages, articles, blog posts, online press releases, ebooks, reports and white papers.
content-rich doorway
A landing or doorway page created to include graphics, navigation, and linked to via a site map so that it looks like a normal part of a website. The copy is written to rank for a single keyword expression.
contextual advertising
Advertising that is targeted to a Web page based on the page’s content, keywords, or category. Ads in most content networks are targeted contextually.
contextual link-inventory (CLI)
The search engines and online advertising networks use their contextual link inventory in order to match keyword-relevant text-link advertising with site content. CLI is generated based on listings of site pages with content that the ad-server deems a relevant keyword match. Ad networks further refine CLI relevancy by monitoring the Click-Through Rate of the displayed ads.
conversion
The desired action that a site visitor performs while visiting a website – such as making a purchase, providing contact information or signing up for an account.
conversion rate
The percentage of visitors who take a desired action.The desired action can take many forms, varying from site to site. Examples include sales of products, membership registrations, newsletter subscriptions, software downloads, or just about any activity beyond simple page browsing.
conversion form
An online form which is used to collect information from site visitors, as part of the process of converting site traffic into leads or contacts.
cookie
Small data file written to a user’s local machine to track them. Cookies are used to help websites customize your user experience and help affiliate program managers track conversions.
copyright
The legal rights to publish and reproduce a particular piece of work.
copywriting
Copywriting can be a somewhat confusing term. Back in traditional offline marketing/PR world, a copywriter was the person who created sales copy to entice the reader to perform a desired action. For example, to purchase something, to sign up for your newsletter, or click through to a certain area of your site.
In the online world however, a copy writer might either (a) write sales copy, much like as described above, or (b) write non-sales copy for other online purposes. These might include website pages (a company’s About or Services pages for instance), or material for a news or blog section on a site. If this is the type of copy you want – contact me, Kerry Finch!
cost-per-click (CPC)
The cost paid per click-through.The terms pay-per-click (PPC) and cost- per-click (CPC) are sometimes used interchangeably, sometimes as distinct terms. When used as distinct terms, PPC indicates payment based on click-throughs, while CPC indicates measurement of cost on a per-click basis for contracts not based on click-throughs.
coverage
The percentage of a population group covered by the Internet.
CPA
Cost Per Action. An online advertising payment model where payment is dependent upon an action that a user performs. The action could be making a purchase, signing up for a newsletter, or asking for a follow-up call. An advertiser pays a set fee to the publisher based on the number of visitors who take action. Many affiliate programs use the CPA model. With CPA, the publisher is taking most of the advertising risk, as their commissions are dependent on good conversion rates from the advertiser’s creative presentations and Web site.
CPC campaign
A website marketing campaign based on a cost-per-click price where you only pay for the visitors that click on your listings. Hitwise Search Marketing provides guaranteed traffic at competitive cost per click prices. Due to our relationships with search engines combined with our optimisation techniques, the price of marketing your website is lowered drastically.
CPL
Cost Per Lead
CPM
Cost per thousand impressions. The CPM model refers to advertising bought on the basis of impression or display of the advertisement. The amount paid per impression is calculated by dividing the CPM by 1000 (M is the Roman numeral for 1,000). For example, a $10 CPM / 1000 impressions = $.01 per impression
CPS
Cost Per Sale
CPT
Cost Per Transaction; advertising revenue system which charges advertisers a fee every time a user buys a product, opens an account, or requests a free trial.
CPTM
Cost per targeted thousand impressions; an advertising revenue system used by search engines and ad networks in which advertising companies pay an agreed amount for every 1,000 users who see their ads, regardless of whether a click-through or conversion is achieved.
CTA
Abbreviation for Content Targeted Advertising. It refers to the placement of relevant PPC ads on content pages for non-search engine websites
crawl
An automated, computerized algorithm hosted by search engines that browses the web. The programs create a copy of each webpage for future indexing by the search engines
crawl depth
How deeply a website is crawled and indexed.
crawl frequency
How frequently a website is crawled.
crawl page
A document consisting of links to other pages, provided for the sole purpose of giving crawlers (robots) links to follow.
crawlability
Refers to the ability of a search engine to crawl through the entire text content of a website, easily navigating every web page without encountering an unexpected dead-end or chained redirects.
crawler
A program used by a search engine to “crawl” links on the Internet to find and index content. Also called a robot or spider. Can be used to identify and differentiate between types of crawlers indexing your site.
creative
The technology used to create or develop an ad unit. The most common creative technology for banners is GIF or JPEG images. Other creative technologies include Java, – HTML, or streaming audio or video. These are commonly referred to as rich media banners.
CRM
Customer Relationship Management
crowdfunding
Crowd funding or crowdfunding (alternately crowd financing, equity crowdfunding, or hyper funding) describes the collective effort of individuals who network and pool their money, usually via the Internet, to support efforts initiated by other people or organizations. Crowd funding is used in support of a wide variety of activities, including disaster relief, citizen journalism, support of artists by fans, political campaigns, startup company funding, movie or free software development, inventions development and scientific research.
The best known crowdfunding sites are Indiegogo.com and kickstarter.com.
crowdsourcing
Taking a task traditionally performed by an employee or contractor, and outsourcing it to an undefined, generally large group of people or community in the form of an open call.
CSS
Cascading Style Sheet (file.css); a method for adding styles to web documents.
CTA
Abbreviation for Content Targeted Ad(vertising). It refers to the placement of relevant PPC ads on content pages for non-search engine websites.
CTR
Click Through Rate; the percentage of users who click on an advertising link or search engine site listing out of the total number of people who see it, i.e. four click-throughs out of ten views is a 40% CTR.
customer acquisition cost
The cost associated with acquiring a new customer.Customer acquisition cost is calculated by dividing total acquisition expenses by total new customers. Acquisition costs vary across industries and mediums.
customer relationship management (CRM)
Software solutions that help enterprise businesses manage customer relationships in an organized way
cyberspace
Coined by author William Gibson in his 1984 novel “Neuromancer,” cyberspace is now used to describe all of the information available through computer networks.
cybersquatting
Registering domains related to other trademarks or brands in an attempt to cash in on the value created by said trademark or brand.