SEO and PR
SEO Terms Defined Part 2
Written by Charles Mburugu for Gaebler Ventures
Part 2 of 2-Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has become an essential tool for every online business. However, for many business owners, marketing managers, and even webmasters, it is still a mystery. This is partly because it's a new and rapidly evolving field, and also due to the fact that SEO terminologies are not easily understood by the average person. What are the common terms used in SEO and what do they mean?
This glossary seeks to explain specialist SEO terms in ordinary English.
Keyword density
A measure of how frequently your keyword appears in relation to the page's total word count. If your web page has 400 words and your keyword appears 20 times, its density is 5%.
Keyword phrase
A phrase which your clients search for, and which you use often on your site so as to be relevant for those searches.
Link
An image or word on a web page which, when clicked on, takes the reader to another page. There are usually visual cues to show the reader that the image or word is a link.
Link path
Using text links to join a series of pages. Search engine 'robots' and 'spiders' use text links to move from page to page as they collect information about it, so it is wise to allow them to crawl your entire site using text links.
Link partner
A webmaster who agrees to place a link to your site on their site. Very often, link partners are engaged in reciprocal linking.
Link popularity
Refers to the amount of links to your website. Link popularity is a key factor in high search engine ranking. Webmasters use several methods to increase their link popularity such as link exchange, article PR, link directories and link buying.
Meta tag
A short note in the header of your web page's HTML which describes an aspect of that page. Search engines read meta tags to assess the relevance of a website to a particular search.
Robots.txt file
A file used to notify the search engine robot which pages on a website should not be indexed. This file is found within your website's root directory on the server.
Sandbox
Some SEO experts are convinced that Google 'sandboxes' new sites. Whenever a new website is identified, its ranking is withheld for some time while Google determines if the site is a credible, genuine and long-term site. This is done to discourage building of SPAM websites.
SEO
Search Engine Optimization. A strategy of making your site important and relevant so it can rank high in search results for a specific word.
Search engine
An online tool which enables you to search for sites which contain a specific phrase or word. The most common search engines are Yahoo, Google and MSN.
SPAM
Generally refers to unrequested and unwanted email sent in bulk to personal email addresses. It also refers to websites which rank high in search results but don't have useful content. These sites are created to cash in on the high ranking by selling links to other sites and selling advertising space. When such sites are detected by search engines, they are penalized.
Charles Mburugu writes for us from his home in Nairobi. He has a graduate degree in Business Management from Kenya Institute of Management. He is interested in writing about branding, CSR and intellectual property.
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