SEO Information Glossary
Frequently Used Search Engine Optimization Terminology
AB - C D - E F G - H I - J K L - M N - O P Q - R S - T U - V W X Y Z
C
Cache – copies of web pages stored locally on an Internet user's hard drive or within a search engine's database. A cache is the reason why web pages load so quickly when a user hits the Back button in their web browser, since the page is not being redownloaded off of the Internet. Google is unusual among search engines in that it allows Internet users to view the cached version of web pages in its index. Simply click on the word "Cache" next to the search result of interest and you will be taken to a copy of the page as Googlebot discovered and indexed it.This feature of Google makes it easy to spot cloaking...
CGI Bin – a "virtual" directory contained in URLs indicates a CGI (Common Gateway Interface) script is in use. A sure tip-off to the spider that your page is dynamic
Click through – When search engines and directories provide users with a list of sites, the user will click on a listing (or link) and connect with the desired web page. This is referred to as a click through. Using great titles and accurate descriptions will urge the user to click on your link or listing.
Clickthrough Rate – the rate at which people click on a link such as a search engine listing or a banner ad. Studies show that clickthrough rates are six times higher for search engine listings than banner ads.
Click Tracking – Using scripts to track clicks into and out from a website. Also can be used to shield a link from being picked up as a back link to another site.
Cloaking – serving different content to search engine spiders than to human visitors. Cloaking is basically a "bait and switch" tactic, where the web server feeds visiting spiders content that is keyword-rich, thus fooling the search engine into placing that page higher in the search results. Yet when the visitor clicks on the link they are given different content, which may be totally unrelated. Search engines frown upon this practice and some will penalize or ban sites that they catch doing it.
Clustering – Search engines and directories list only one page from each web site in their results page. This allows a greater number of websites to occupy the top listing positions and provides the searcher with a greater number of relevant sites.
Comment – The HTML tags are used to provide content rich text to those search engines that will recognize it, yet is not visible to the web browser. It may be used for additional keywords or to hide JavaScript code from non-compliant browsers.
Comment Tag – An HTML tag that is invisible to end-users, but can be picked up by search engines.
Content Rich – Text that is relevant to the web page topic, to the targeted keywords and to the title and description is often referred to as content rich text.
Conversion – the act of converting a web site visitor into a customer or at least taking that visitor a step closer to customer acquisition (such as convincing them to sign up for your e-mail newsletter)
Conversion Rate – the rate at which visitors get converted to customers or are moved a step closer to customer acquisition.
Cookie – information placed on a visitor's computer by a web server. While the web site is being accessed, data in the visitor's cookie file can be stored or retrieved. Mostly cookies are used as unique identifiers (i.e. user IDs or session IDs) to isolate a visitor's movements from others' during that visit and subsequent visits. Other data that may get stored in a cookie include an order number, email address, referring advertiser, etc.
Counter – Program that tracks the number of impressions to a webpage.
CGI – Common Gateway Interface is a standard interface between a program and any web server software running on the same machine.
CPA – the cost incurred or price paid for a specific action, such as signing up for an email newsletter, entering a contest, registering on the site, completing a survey, downloading trial software, printing a coupon, etc.
CPC – the cost incurred or price paid for a clickthrough to your landing page
CPM – Cost per Mil (1000). Amount paid for every 1000 views of an advertisement.
Crawl – The process by which a search engine “Spider” indexes web pages into its database. See “Spider” for more information.
Crawler – See Spider.
Cross Linking – Describes when multiple sites link to each other.
CSS – Acronym for Cascading Style Sheet. Used to easily design and manipulate a webpage.
Custom Error Page – Most Web server software allows the replacement of the default generic error page with a customized error page. A customized page should have a friendly message explaining the error and be able to provide optional links for the user.
D
Database-Driven – A "database-driven web site." Meaning the website is attached to a database and the web page content is partially based on information from those databases.
Database-Generated – A "database-generated web page." Meaning that a web page is created dynamically from a database, as opposed to a static HTML page.
De-listing – When pages are removed from a search engine’s index it is called de-listing.
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Dead Link – When a web page has been moved or no longer exits, or if the server is down and an Internet link cannot find the desired page, it is referred to as a dead link. Whether they are removed automatically by the search engines or as result of being reported as a dead link, their removal helps to degrease indexing burdens and keep the indexes clean and accurate.
Description – A clear, accurate description of a site is crucial. Some search engines use the content of the Description Meta Tag, while others use the first few lines of the body text. Directories will use the text provided with your site’s registration and display this with the page’s Title and URL in listing results. Descriptions must be relevant to the content of your site and clearly reveal to the user what your site is about.
Directory – Directories are searchable indexes that are organized by subject, by category and by sub-categories and are hierarchical in nature (LookSmart and Yahoo are examples). Directories will not list your URL unless you register it with them through submission and generally they accept only one listing per company (usually your home or main page).
DMOZ – Please see Open Directory Project.
Domain – A domain is another name for an internet address. Domains follow a hierarchy where top-level domains (which usually end with .com, .edu, .gov, .org, .ca, etc.) have web sites or lower-level domains below them that are sub-divided into different usable areas. In general, websites which have their own domain name like http://www.domain.com, will often achieve better ranking position than a sub-directory website such as http:/www.domain.com/uniquenames/.
Doorway Page – An optimized webpage submitted to search engines in order to rank high for very specific keywords with the intention of redirecting traffic to another site. Considered spam by many search engines.
Dynamic Content – Describes a webpage that automatically changes its content depending on database information or user settings. A scripting language usually used to bring about such a result. Some search engines are now capable of indexing such pages, but dynamic variables may cause problems. See “Spider Trap”.
Dynamic Page – See “Dynamic Content”.
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