SEO and SEM Terms

Conventional SEO / SEM TERMS

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1) Search Engine Marketing (SEM) � Pay Per Click Marketing
2) Search Engine Optimization (SEO) � Designing a site in a fashion to rank high
3) Algorithm � Formula used by the Search Engines to rank sites.
4) Keyword � What people type in the search box.
5) Domain Name - How most people find your site.
6) Domain Registration � Where people buy domain names
7) Webhosting � The place to 'put' your website
8) ICANN � Authority that controls the Domain name registration process.
9) Google Sitemaps � an XML / RSS feed to Google.
10) Statistics � Tracking Visitors and how they came in and left your site
11) Blog � Easy to update web pages
12) RSS / XML � Really Simple Syndication
13) Directory � Listing of sites that is human edited.
14) Google � Search Engine / Portal
15) Yahoo � Search Engine / Portal
16) MSN � Search Engine / Portal
17) Tier 2 Search Engines � Smaller Search Engines
18) DMOZ � Open Directory Project
19) Yahoo Directory � Directory Run by Yahoo
20) Link / Backlink Popularity � How many sites and what kinds of sites are linking to you.
21) Anchor Text � What is the 'keyword' they are linking to you with.
22) Title Tag � Part of the website that shows up in Search Engines as the 'anchor text' to your site.
23) Text Link � A non complicated link that does not use images.
24) Image Link � A non readable search engine link
25) Flash � A programming language not fully readable by the search engines
26) Redirects � A method of moving visitors from one URL to another
27) URL - uniform resource locater or Internet Address
28) IP � Internet Protocol (normally a number)
29) Keyword Density � How many times a keyword is on a webpage
30) H Tags � Used to define the start of a topic on a page.
31)CSS � Cascade Style Sheets (used to create look and feel of websites)
32) Code 301 � Permanent Redirect
33) Code 302 � Temporary Redirect (Can get your site delisted)
34) Code 404 � Page not found
35) SearchGuild.Com � SEO forum
36) ROI � Return on Investment (Not really an SEO term, but very necessary to say the least.)
37) Pages Indexed � How many pages the search engines see of a website
38) Spider � Search Engine Robot that goes out and checks websites to find new content.
39) Robots.txt � File that tells the Robots where they are not allowed to go.
40) SERP(S) � Search Engine Results Pages
41) Pagerank � Patented Method (of many) on how Google ranks Websites.
42) Trustrank � Patented Method (of many) on how Google ranks Websites.
43) URL variables - '?','&' and '%' and other non standard outputs in the URL.
44) Adsense � Google Ad program for webmasters
45) Adwords � Google bid program for webmasters
46) Overture (Yahoo Search Marketing) Yahoo bid program for webmasters
47)Yahoo Publisher � Yahoo Ad program for webmasters
48)Static Page � Page output is just normal html
48)Dynamic Page � Generally the website is Database Driven
49)Database � a method of storing data into tables
50)MySQL � Opensource Database
51)MSSQL � Microsoft Standard Database
52) Trackback � Method used to notify another blog that you wrote in your blog about them
53) Ping (Blogging) � Method used to notify Blog Search Engines that you updated your site.
54) Submission � Outdated process of getting indexed, rarely produces rankings.
55) Alt Tag � Image Tag description.
56) local search � Search Engine search for local businesses.
57) Google Guidelines � Google's very incomplete guidelines on how to build a website to rank.
58) Blog Search � Google new RSS search engine.
59) Video Search � Searches Video Content.
60) Google / Yahoo / MSN news � News Search Engine.
61) PHP, ASP, Cold Fusion � Web Languages (Server Side)
62) HTML, Javascript � Web Language (Client Side)

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Controversial Terms:

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1)Google Bomb � Using massive text links to increase rankings
2)Sandbox Theory � Auto penalizing of new sites in Google
3)Google Bowling - Using Massive text links to penalize competitors.
4)Banned � Not showing up in the index
5)Penalty - Google, Yahoo or MSN inspired punishment in the Rankings.
6)Scrapers � Sites that steal content from others simply to get higher in search engines.
7)Spamdexing � Filling the SERPS with garbage results.
8)Google Dance � Differing Data Centers reporting differing SERPS.
9)BlackHat � Using unapproved methods of gaining higher SERPS.
10)Whitehat � Using approved methods of gaining higher SERPS
11)Link Farm � A page that has no purpose other than to link out.
12)Cloaking � Serving differing content to the Search Engines than to normal visitors.
13)Comment Spam � posting in someone's blog for the purpose of attracting traffic to your site (via search engines)
14) Reciprocal links � linking 2 sites together, both ways.
15) Code Swapping � changing content when good rankings are made.
16) nofollow tag � tag added to tell search engines not to follow link.
17) Doorway pages � Pages designed only to rank in the search engines with no real content.
18) White on White text � very old method of 'cloaking'.
19) keyword stuffed alt tags � very old and crude method of ranking higher.
20) Click Fraud � Clicking on competitors ads just to drive up their PPC costs.

Top 10 SEO Mistakes

1Targetting the wrong keywords

This is a mistake many people make and what is worse – even experienced SEO experts make it. People choose keywords that in their mind are descriptive of their website but the average users just may not search them. For instance, if you have a relationship site, you might discover that “relationship guide” does not work for you, even though it has the “relationship” keyword, while “dating advice” works like a charm. Choosing the right keywords can make or break your SEO campaign. Even if you are very resourceful, you can't think on your own of all the great keywords but a good keyword suggestion tool, for instance, the Website Keyword Suggestion tool will help you find keywords that are good for your site.

2Ignoring the Title tag

Leaving the