H
hacker
Originally used to describe a computer enthusiast who pushed a system to its highest performance through clever programming.
hacktivism
Using computer hacking skills for political activism
hallway
A page created primarily to link to doorway pages.
hashtag
A tag used on Twitter, as a way to annotate a message. A word or phrase becomes a hashtag when it is preceded by a “#”. Hashtags are often used to indicate that a tweet (or a Twitter message), is related to an event or conference.
HB (HotBot)
A popular search portal that is part of the Terra Lycos Network, but operates as a separate search engine in its own right
headings
The heading element briefly describes the subject of the section it introduces
heading tags
The heading element (H1 to H6, in the order of importance) briefly describes the subject of the section it introduces, and is generally used to denote places of importance on any given web page, similar to chapter headings of a book.
headline
The title of an article or story
heat mapping
Online visualization tools which enable you to see which areas of your site are “hot” or “not”, essential data which you can use to improve site usability. Image shows a heatmap from an excel document.
helper application
This term refers to software programs that run along with browser programs enabling them to perform additional functions. Good examples are Shockwave for downloading and viewing moving images and Real Audio for hearing sounds and music online.
hidden text
SEO technique used to show search engine spiders text that human visitors do not see.
hijacking
Making a search engine believe that another website exists at your URL. Typically done using techniques such as a 302 redirect or meta refresh.
hilltop
Algorithm which ranks results largely based on unaffiliated expert citations
history list
Most browsers have a pull-down menu which displays the sites you’ve recently visited so you can return to site instantly or view your latest surfing session. The same mechanism makes it possible for servers to track where you were before visiting a particular site — better viewing habit information than television networks ever dreamed of providing.
hit
Request of a file from a Web server. The term “hit” is often misused, sometimes describing unique visitors, visits, page views, or all of these. A hit is simply a request for a file from a Web server. A request for a Web page counts as a hit, but so does a request for a graphic on a Web page.
home page
The page designated as the main point of entry of a Web site (or main page) or the starting point when a browser first connects to the Internet. Typically, it welcomes you and introduces the purpose of the site, or the organization sponsoring it, and then provides links to the lower-level pages of the site. In business terms, it’s the grabber. If your home page downloads too slowly, or it’s unclear or uninteresting, you will probably lose a customer.
home directory
The directory in which a site’s main index page is located usually named /public_html/, or /www/ or /web/.
.htaccess
Apache directory-level configuration file which can be used to password protect or redirect files.
host
An Internet host used to be a single machine connected to the Internet (which meant it had a unique IP address). As a host, it made available to other machines on the network certain services. However, virtual hosting has now meant that one physical host can now be actually many virtual hosts.
Hosting is a service whereby one computer configured as an Internet server offers a part of, or its whole resources, for use in exchange for a certain rental fee. Thanks to this service, one or more users can use information, services or content located on this server using another computer called client. The client uses the Internet to connect with the server and displays the desired content to the user.
hotlists
These can be pull-down or pop-up menus on browsers that contain new or popular sites. Major browser and search engine home pages also contain updated hotlists, and there are entire sites devoted to hotlists.
htaccess
Apache directory-level configuration file which can be used to password protect or redirect files
HTML
HyperText Markup Language is a coding language used to make hypertext documents for use on the Web. HTML resembles old- fashioned typesetting code, where a block of text is surrounded by codes that indicate how it should appear. HTML allows text to be “linked” to another file on the Internet.
If you have an older site in HTML that you want to convert to WordPress, my colleague, Leanne King (WPQueen!) has an inexpensive product to help you do it fast, and easy:
HTML banner
This is a banner ad using HTML elements, often including interactive forms instead of (or in addition to) standard graphical elements. HTML banners are often used for search boxes, encouraging a level of interaction before a visitor even reaches the destination site. This often results in higher response rates, and it might draw response from visitors who do not normally click on graphical banners.
HTML email
Email that is formatted using Hypertext Markup Language, as opposed to plain text email is called HTML email. It brings graphics to the email inbox, rather than just plain text. With email in boxes receiving an increasing amount of material, HTML email provides senders with a way to stand out from the crowd. Privacy and security concerns mention risks with using HTML email, such as the ability to embed cookies and scripts in messages.
HTTP
Hyper-Text Transfer Protocol, the format of the World Wide Web. When a browser sees “HTTP” at the beginning of an address, it knows that it is viewing a WWW page.
HTTPS
Hyper-Text Transfer Protocol Secure.
HubPages
HubPages is a vibrant publishing community with easy-to-use publishing tools. Internet marketers publish to this site for the SEO benefits of having links from such a high ranking site. Hubbers (HubPages authors) earn money by publishing their Hubs (content-rich Internet pages) on a variety topics and earn recognition among fellow Hubbers through the community-wide HubScore ranking system.
hubs
A document that links out to many other documents devoted to a single topic.
hybrid model
A combination of two or more online marketing payment models. A hybrid campaign might be a mix of impression-based (CPM) and performance-based (CPC or CPA), or a mix of two performance-based models. Hybrid deals are sometimes seen as a way to further split the risk between publishers and advertisers.
hyperlink
This is the clickable link in text or graphics on a web page that takes you to another place on the same page, another page or a whole other site. It is the single most powerful and important function of online communications. Hyperlinks are revolutionizing the way the world gets its information.
hypertext
Any text that that can be chosen by a reader and which causes another document to be retrieved and displayed.
I
ICANN
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers is a global non- profit corporation formed to oversee a select range of Internet technical management functions currently managed by the U.S. Government, or by its contractors and volunteers
iFad
Apple’s latest and greatest gadgets
iFrame
An HTML structure that allows another HTML document to be inserted into an HMTL page. Appearing as a window frame of a specified size, the iframe is typically used to insert an ad or small amount of text in the middle of a page. Affiliate marketers often use iFrame code to ‘frame’ a merchant’s website within their website url.
IIS
Internet Information Services
IM
Instant Messaging
image maps
Clickable regions on images that make links more visually appealing and Web sites more interesting. Image maps enable spiders to “read” this material
impression
A single instance of an online advertisement being displayed.There is no standard way to count impressions and all of the differences can amount to discrepancies – yet people make purchases based on impression every day.
inbound link
An inbound link is an hyperlink to a particular Web page from an outside site, bringing traffic to that Web page. Inbound links important because many search engine algorithms use the quality and quantity of inbound links to measure the popularity of a Web page.
incentivized traffic
Visitors who have received some form of compensation for visiting a site.Incentivized visitors typically do only what is necessary to gain the incentive and nothing more. Incentives may come in the form of cash, points, or other means.
indented lists
Search results at Google that appear in two tiers: a regular search result on the top, followed by a second result that’s indented inward. Also referred to as ‘double listings’.
index
The database of a search engine or directory.
infopreneur
Someone who starts up a business in information technology or online communications.
information architecture
Designing, categorizing, organizing, and structuring content in a useful and meaningful way.
information retrieval
The field of science based on sorting or searching through large data sets to find relevant information.
instant messaging (IM)
A form of real-time direct text-based communication between 2 or more people online. Advanced IM applications allow clients to engage in live voice or video calls.
interactive agency
Interactive agencies those offering a mix of Web design/development, Internet advertising/marketing, or E-Business/E-Commerce consulting, rose to prominence before the traditional advertising agencies fully embraced the Internet. Because they offered a wide range of services, some of them grew very rapidly, but change with market conditions.
interactivity
The ability of your website viewers to interact with you online: book a reservation, make an appointment, or email you. If your web site isn’t interactive, it’s dead
internal link
Link from one page on a site to another page on the same site.
internet
Often confused with the World Wide Web, the term Internet actually refers to the combined collection of academic, commercial, and government networks connected over international telecommunication backbones and routed using IP addressing.
The term though is now used to mean a computer network consisting of a worldwide network of computer networks that use the TCP/IP network protocols to facilitate data transmission and exchange.
Internet Explorer
Microsoft’s web browser.
internet domain name
The unique name that identifies an Internet entity, mine main business one is “kerryfinchwriting.com”.
Internet marketing education
Training through courses, seminars, workshops, conferences and private mentoring for Internet marketing newbies, intermediate and advanced professionals.
interstitial
Means “something in between” and is a page that is inserted in the normal flow of content between a user and a site. An Interstitial Ad is an “intrusive” ad unit that is spontaneously delivered without specifically being requested by a user. Blocking the site behind it, Interstitial Ads are designed to grab consumers’ attention for the few nanoseconds it takes them to close the window. Interstitial’s can be full pages or small daughter windows. Also referred to as “pop-ups.”
intranet
Intranets are private networks, usually maintained by corporations for internal communications, which use Internet — usually web — protocols, software and servers. They are relatively cheap, fast, and reliable networking and information warehouse systems that link offices around the world. They make it is easy for corporate users to communicate with one another, and to access the information resources of the Internet.
inventory
The number of ads available for sale on a Web site. Ad inventory is determined by the number of ads on a page, the number of pages containing ad space and the number of page requests.
invisible web
The invisible Web is the portion of the Web not accessible through Web search engines.”Invisible” Web pages are often dynamic pages within database-driven sites, and their URLs can often be identified by symbols such as the question mark (?).
iPad
The iPad is a line of tablet computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc., which runs on Apple’s iOS operating system. The first iPad was released on April 3, 2010; the most recent iPad models, the fourth-generation iPad and iPad Mini, were released on November 2, 2012. The user interface is built around the device’s multi-touch screen, including a virtual keyboard. The iPad has built-in Wi-Fi and, on some models, cellular connectivity.
IP address
Internet Protocol address. Every system connected to the Internet has a unique IP address, which consists of a number in the format A.B.C.D where each of the four sections is a decimal number from 0 to 255. Most people use Domain Names instead and the resolution between Domain Names and IP addresses is handled by the network and the Domain Name Servers. With virtual hosting, a single machine can act like multiple machines (with multiple domain names and IP addresses).
IP Delivery
To deliver content based on the IP address of the computer requesting the URL. Sometimes used to tailor content to different user groups.
IP Lookup
A process of resolving an IP address and determining the related website(s) or ISP or for determining the IP address of a domain name.
iPod
The iPod is a line of portable media players designed and marketed by Apple Inc. The first line was released on November 10, 2001, its most recent redesigns announced on September 12, 2012. There are four current versions of the iPod: the ultra-compact iPod Shuffle, the compact iPod Nano, the touchscreen iPod Touch, and the hard drive-based iPod Classic.
IRC (Internet Relay Chat)
A facility that allows people — from many different places in the world at one time — to chat in real time. The chats, or forums, are typed remarks, and they can be either public or private. This, understandably, is a wildly popular consumer area of the Internet. A sort of “ham radio” for the ’90s, it offers intimacy combined with autonomy. Many celebrities are also talking to the public at pre-announced times, so IRC has commercial publicity uses, too. Business meetings can be conducted in the same way.
ISDN (Integrated Digital Services Network)
ISDN lines are high-speed dial-up connections to the Internet. That’s good. What’s bad is that their cost and availability is determined by local telephone companies, which means in some places they are available, in other places not; and sometimes they’re cheap, and at other times wildly expensive. It is a lot of commotion for a connection roughly four times faster — 128,000 bits per second — than a normal phone line. (The joke among communications experts is that ISDN stands for “It Still Does Nothing.”) Fiber optic lines are thousands of times faster — that’s the future.
ISP (Internet Service Provider)
A business that provides access to the Internet. Its services are available to either individuals or companies, and include a dial-in interface with the Internet, software supply and often web site and intranet design. There are currently over 3,000 ISPs in the U.S. alone. It’s a growth business, and as a result pricing is highly competitive, so shop around.
J
Java
Java is an object oriented programming language created by Sun Microsystems that supports enhanced features such as animation, or real-time updating of information. If you are using a web browser that supports Java, an applet (Java program) embedded in the Web page will automatically run.
JQuery
A lightweight cross-browser JavaScript library that emphasizes interaction between JavaScript and HTML. JQuery’s syntax is designed to make it easier to navigate a document, select DOM elements, create animations, handle events, and develop AJAX applications.
jump page
An entry into a site other than the homepage which may be a legitimate landing page, used to measure the results of a specific promotion or campaign.
JPEG/JPG (Joint Photographic Experts Group)
JPEG (pronounced “jay peg”) is a graphics format newer than GIF which displays photographs and graphic images with millions of colors, it also compresses well and is easy to download. Unfortunately, not many browsers currently support it, so don’t use it for your logo.
JS
Java Script; a client-side scripting language that can be embedded into HTML [link:] documents to add dynamic features.
JSP
Java Server Pages (file.jsp)
K
Kbps
Kilobytes per second, a term used to describe the transmission speed of modems and other transmission devices.
Kilobyte
One thousand bytes of data.
KEI
Keyword Effectiveness Index; a mathematical representation of the popularity of a keyword compared to its popularity measured as the number of pages in a search engines index.
keyword
A word — or often phrase — used to focus an online search. A keyword is a database index entry that identifies a specific record or document. Keyword searching is the most common form of text search on the web. Most search engines do their text query and retrieval using keywords.
Unless the author of the web document specifies the keywords for her document (this is possible by using meta tags), it’s up to the search engine to determine them. Essentially, this means that search engines pull out and index words that are believed to be significant. Words that are mentioned towards the top of a document and words that are repeated several times throughout the document are more likely to be deemed important. Keyword research is vital to the success of any online business.
keyword audit
independent third-party verification of your keyword use, strategy, bidding, and return on investment.
keyword bidding
Keyword bidding is the process or method used by search engines marketers to determine the ranking of paid keywords results in Google, MSN, Yahoo, and other search engines that require pay per click advertising to determine your ranking and positioning in their
search results and in content results on networked partners’ sites.
keyword density
This term refers to keywords as a percentage of indexable text words. To illustrate, if a keyword is used 5 times in page with 100 indexable text words, the page has a keyword density of 5%. The keyword density should be high enough that the keyword is recognized by search engines as a main topic of a page and not an incidental word. On the flip side, keyword density should not be too high, as some search engines may penalize a page for keyword stuffing. The key is to get the right balance.
keyword funnel
The relationship between various related keywords that searchers search for. Some searches are particularly well aligned with others due to spelling errors, poor search relevancy, and automated or manual query refinement.
keyword marketing
Keyword marketing is essentially getting your message in front of people who are searching using particular keywords and phrases. For advertisers, keyword marketing involves purchasing ad units on the search results page when a search is made for particular keywords and phrases. For search engine optimization (SEO) professionals, keyword marketing involves achieving top placement in the actual search listings themselves.
keyword matching
Broad Match – This is the default option. If your ad group contained the keyword tennis shoes, your ad would be eligible to appear when a user’s search query contained tennis and shoes, in any order, and possibly along with other terms. Your ads could also show for singular/plural forms, synonyms, and other relevant variations. For example, you ad might show on tennis shoe or tennis sneakers. Run a Search Query Performance Report to see what keyword variations trigger your ad.
Phrase Match – If you enter your keyword in quotation marks, as in “tennis shoes,” your ad would be eligible to appear when a user searches on the phrase tennis shoes, in this order, and possibly with other terms before or after the phrase. For example, your ad could appear for the query red tennis shoes but not for shoes for tennis, tennis shoe, or tennis sneakers. Phrase match is more targeted than broad match, but more flexible than exact match.
Exact Match – If you surround your keywords in brackets – such as [tennis shoes] – your ad would be eligible to appear when a user searches for the specific phrase tennis shoes, in this order, and without any other terms in the query. For example, your ad wouldn’t show for the query red tennis shoes or tennis shoe. Exact match is the most targeted option. Although you won’t receive as many impressions with exact match, you’ll likely enjoy the most targeted clicks – users searching for your exact keyword typically want precisely what your business has to offer.
Negative Keyword – If your keyword is suede shoes and you add the negative keyword “-red”, your ad will not appear when a user searches on red suede shoes. Negative keywords are especially useful if your account contains lots of broad-matched keywords. It’s a good idea to add any irrelevant keyword variations you see in a Search Query Performance Report or the Keyword Tool as a negative keyword. Remember, no matter which matching options you use, it’s important to only use keywords that accurately describe your product or service.
keyword proximity
How close keywords are to each other on web pages.
keyword research
This is the search for keywords related to your Web site, and the determination of which ones yield the highest return on investment (ROI). Keyword research involves identifying the keywords, analyzing their ROI potential, and measuring the competition for that keyword. There are many free keyword tools available to help in this research.
keyword spamming
techniques such as repeating unrelated phrases, to manipulate the relevancy or prominence of resources indexed by a search engine
keyword stuffing
Writing copy that uses excessive amounts of the core keyword.
keywords tag
A keywords tag is used to provide additional information about a page (metadata). However these days the META tags are often used to reinforce content that is already on a page and a growing trend towards off-the-page criteria has diminished the importance of the META keywords tag.
killer app
A term that migrated from software development to online. It is nothing more than tech-talk for the eternal search for next big idea.
L
lag
The amount of time between making an online request or command and receiving a response. Until lag time becomes no time at all the Internet will not be consumer-friendly, and its profit potential will remain limited.
landing page
The web page which is displayed when a visitor clicks a search engine listing, hyperlink, email link, banner ad, PPC ad or any other ad/link.
landing page quality scores
A measure used by Google to help filter noisy ads out of their AdWords program.
Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI)
An algebraic model of document retrieval based on a singular value decomposition of the vectoral space of index terms.
LAN (Local Area Network)
A computer network — which for some reason is pronounced “land” – limited to a certain area, usually a single floor or building. The web is a network, but not a LAN.
lead
A website visitor who is transformed into a known contact after providing his or her contact information in exchange for valuable content.
lead generation
The process of attracting new leads ordinarily through the exchange of valuable information for contact information from website visitors.
lead-to-customer rate
The percentage calculated by dividing the total number of customers for a given marketing channel by the total number of leads generated for a particular period of time
lightbox
a JavaScript application that displays images using modal dialogs on web pages
Like
An action performed by a Facebook user indicating approval of a message, status, photo, video or similar content.
link
An electronic connection between two Web sites (also called “hot link”).
link bait
Link bait is a form of spam in the form of editorial content posted on a blog or Web page and submitted to social media sites in hopes of building inbound links from other sites.
link building
The process of getting quality Web sites to link to your Web site, in order to improve search engine rankings. Link building techniques can reciprocal linking, entering barter arrangements, and may include buying links.
link bursts
A rapid increase in the quantity of links pointing at a website.
link checker
This is a tool used to check for broken hyperlinks. Link checking is an important part of site management – maintenance necessary to keep a site up-to-date. A broken link does not correctly point to the intended destination page. The most common scenario involves a hyperlink “breaking” when the destination page is deleted or moved to another location.
link churn
The rate at which a site loses links.
link condom
A method for preventing the passage of link love to another page, the endorsement of a bad site by way of an outgoing link, or link spam
link equity
A measure of how strong a site is based on its inbound link popularity and the authority of the sites providing those links.
link exchange
Reciprocal linking scheme often facilitated by a site devoted to directory pages. Link exchanges tend to generate links to low quality sites, adding very little or no value to the linked page.
link farm
Website or group of websites which exercises little to no editorial control when linking to other sites. FFA pages, for example, are link farms.
link love
An outgoing link which passes trust to another page.
link hoarding
A method of trying to keep all your link popularity by not linking out to other sites, or linking out using JavaScript or through cheesy redirects.
link partner
Two sites which link to each other
link popularity
Link popularity is a measure of the quantity and quality of sites that link to your site and is a good example of how the search engines are looking at off-the-page-criteria to determine quality content. A inbound link from a major directory carries more weight than an inbound link from an obscure personal home page.
link spam
Unsolicited links such as URL’s posted on blog comments
link text
Link text is the text contained in a hyperlink. In the example <a href=”http://www.kerryfinchwriting.com>Kerry Finch Writing</a>, “Kerry Finch Writing” is included in the link text, and these three words will appear as …… Kerry Finch Writing
A business-oriented social networking site, mainly used by professionals.
See my LinkedIn profile
linkrot
This takes place when Web pages previously accessible at a particular URL are no longer reachable at that URL due to movement or deletion of the pages. Linkrot describes links that used to work, but do not work any longer.
listserver
A program that automatically sends email to a list of subscribers. It is the mechanism that is used to keep newsgroups informed.
load
Usually used with up-load or down-load, it means to transfer files or software — to “load” — from one computer or server to another computer or server. In other words, it’s the movement of information online.
local business listings
Each of the major search engines offer local business listings that appear next to maps at the top of the page on many locally targeted searches. Business may either submit new requests or claim existing local business listings if the search engines have already added the company to the results. Having a Web site is not required for having a local business listing.
local search
The addition of geographical keywords (cities, streets, etc.) to search terms.
local search optimization
The process of increasing the amount of visitors to a website by ranking high for specific locality-based keyword phrases in search engines, plus the addition of geographical keywords in the search phrase (cities, streets, zip codes).
log/log file
A log file records the activity on a Web server and delivers information such as when files are requested, which files are requested, by whom were they requested, and where they were referred from.
login
The identification or name used to access — log into — a computer, network or site.
long tail keywords
Phrase describing how for any category of product being sold there is much more aggregate demand for the non-hits than there is for the hits.How does the long tail applies to keywords? Long tail keywords are more precise and specific, thus have a higher value.
lurker
A person who logs on to usergroups or other networks to read messages but who never joins in the conversation