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Search Engine Articles
Glossary of Search Engine Ranking Terms
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. For more information, see http://www.inktomi.com
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.
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Article by Sumantra Roy. Sumantra is one of the most respected and recognized
search engine positioning specialists on the Internet. For more articles on
search engine placement, subscribe to his 1st Search Ranking Newsletter by
sending a blank email to mailto:1stSearchRanking.999.99@optinpro.com or by going
to http://www.1stSearchRanking.net
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