Internet Marketing Terminology A to G

Use this list of marketing and Web site development terms as a reference to help you to better understand the world of Internet marketing, search engine marketing and Web development.

Terminology A to G Terminology H to Q Terminology R to Z

above the fold: A newspaper term referring to the news displayed on the top half of the page. Most users utilize a screen resolution of 800 x 600 on their PCs. Web pages should be tested in this resolution and others, making sure that the most important information is visible without having to scroll down to see it. This is the area referred to as "above the fold".

AdSense: Google's contextual ad advertising program. These ads are triggered by the content on a page and are not necessarily based on the use of a search phrase. The AdSense program allows the display of Google AdWords ads on a site. Whenever a user clicks on an ad, the site owner gets a percentage of the click rate.

AdWords: Google's pay-per-click advertising program. AdWords ads are displayed on the right of Google search pages and on the pages of numerous affiliated sites and other search engines.

algorithm: The rules that a search engine applies to a Web page to rank it relative to all the other pages in its database. Search engine algorithms are proprietary and tend to change often and without any notice.

ASP: Active Server Pages. Microsoft's original dynamic Web page technology. ASP was updated to ASP.NET in 2002, but the original version of ASP, now called classic ASP, remains a popular choice. It is identified by an extension of ".asp" on the Web page file names.

ASP.NET: Pronounced A-S-P-dot-net. The current version of Microsoft's Active Server Pages dynamic Web page technology. It is identified by an extension of ".aspx" on the Web page file names.

B2B: Refers to a business-to-business relationship.

B2C: Refers to a business-to-consumer relationship.

backlink: A link from another Web site to your site. Also known as an inbound link.

banned site: When an algorithm determines that a site is using unethical or spam techniques designed to fool a search engine, the site and all of its pages may be removed from the search engine's index. Thus it may be banned either temporarily or permanently.

banner advertising: Any form of Web page advertising that places an advertisement image, or banner, on a Web page. There are free banner ad exchange Web sites, but most are presented on a pay-per-click or pay-per-impression basis, where an advertiser pays a Web site owner every time a user click on their ad, or the ad is displayed.

black list: One of the numerous lists of the IP addresses of known e-mail spammers. Black lists are used to block unwanted e-mails in many corporate e-mail systems. Sometimes a new Web site is assigned a "dirty" IP address formerly used by an e-mail spammer, and the site is penalized by search engines that use blacklists as part of their algorithm.

broken link: When a hyperlink contains an incorrect Web page address or an address for a Web page that no longer exists. This will generate an Error 404 "Page Not Found" error. Also known as a dead link, lost link or missing link.

cascading style sheets (CSS): A method for defining scripted "style sheets" which determine how different page elements, such as text, links and other design elements, appear on a Web page. CSS strives to separate layout from design. The term cascading is derived from the fact that multiple style sheets can be applied to the same Web page. There are several methods for applying a style to a page, each with an order of precedence, which creates a cascading effect as one method has priority over another.

click-through rate (CTR): The percentage of users who click on a link or ad after it is displayed on a Web page. If an ad is displayed 100 times, and 5 users click on the link, the ad has a CTR of 5%.

client-side language: A programming language that executes (runs) on the user's computer, typically through their browser. JavaScript is the most common client-side language used in Web pages.

cloaking: A technique that substitutes a Web page a user would normally see with one designed specifically for a search engine. There are some legitimate uses for cloaking, most often it is used to spam a search engine by feeding it keywords and content that don't actually appear on the page a user sees.

contextual ad: A pay-per-click advertisement that appears on Web sites based upon related content found on the Web page. Google and Overture currently are two leading companies with contextual ad programs.

copywriter: A marketing professional whose services are used to write the content portion of a Web page.

cost per click (CPC): A marketing program where an advertiser pays a fee every time a user click on their ad or link.

crawler: A search engine algorithm. Also know as a robot, spider or Web bot.

dead link: Same as a broken link or lost link.

directory With respect to SEO, a directory is a type of search engine where rankings are determined by humans that view and rate a site based upon human impressions, and not by automated algorithms. Yahoo! and the Open Directory project are examples of such services.

DMOZ: The domain name for the Open Directory project (ODP) is http://www.dmoz.org.

domain name server (DNS): Domain name servers are used to resolve domain names into IP addresses with a process known as "name resolution". When a user enters a domain name in a browser address window, the domain name is looked up on a DNS server and it is translated into an IP address, which is used to locate the appropriate server. Every server's IP address is unique, but several Web sites can share a common IP address if they are located on the same server. Furthermore, a server may have many IP addresses assigned to it. Contrary to popular belief, the Internet runs on IP addresses and not domain names. Domain names are merely used for the convenience of users because a domain name is easier to remember than cryptic IP addresses.

doorway page: A method where a Web developer creates a special, customized page that is used solely to fool a search engine algorithm into giving a Web page a higher ranking than it would normally receive. This technique was commonly used a few years ago, but today is viewed as spam and is heavily penalized if detected. Also known as gateway pages, directory pages, entry pages, zebra pages or side doors.

dynamic Web page: A technology that utilizes a server-side language to generate customized Web pages on a server based upon a user's request. Frequently, information needs to be extracted from a database, added to customized HTML code, and then sent to the user. Search engines use dynamic Web pages to generate their results. Examples of popular dynamic Web page technologies include ASP, JSP, and PHP.

Flash: Macromedia's animation creation technology. Commonly used today for banner advertising and splash pages. Flash is not considered to be search engine friendly, although some search engines are beginning to recognize it.

frames: An HTML Web page design method that enables the Web developer to divide the browser display area into two or more sections (frames). The contents of each frame is actually a separate Web page. The frame sections are defined in an additional Web page that controls the structure. Frames sections are most easily identified by scrollable regions within a Web page. Frames are not considered to be search engine friendly and can be detrimental to obtaining high rankings in search engines.

gateway page: Same as a doorway page.

Google Dance: Something that used to be an almost monthly occurrence where Google re-ranked its database of site listings, sometimes based upon new criteria that resulted in a large churning of site rankings. Google has changes their tactics and this no longer occurs on a regular basis.

Terminology A to G Terminology H to Q Terminology R to Z

AdSense, Adwords, Dreamweaver, FrontPage, Google, and GoLive, Microsoft and Overture are registered trademarks of Google, Google, Macromedia, Microsoft, Google, Adobe, Microsoft and Overture respectively.