Back to Basics: SEO Glossary

If you are reading articles on this site, it stands to reason that you either already know a few things about SEO, or you want to learn. SEO is a major part of search engine marketing, but there are so many abbreviations, buzz words and acronyms that the best of us can get tongue tied.

One of the most frustrating things about learning something new, and trying to retain that information, is getting the lingo right. Experts will throw bits of jargon into their speeches and texts, leaving the student nervously flicking to the glossary to see what they are talking about. We have compiled a few of the top terms that SEO and SEM providers use to describe their services, market and strategies.

• SEM– Search Engine Marketing is a way to promote websites by increasing their visibility in search engine results.
• SEO – Search Engine Optimisation is the act of optimising your website so that search engines direct quality natural traffic to your site, using the different keywords that consumers use to find you.

• SERP – A Search Engine Results Page is a list of web pages that a search engine, such as Google or Yahoo, displays after the user has entered a keyword or phrase. (see image)
• Paid Search – Online paid advertising that drives traffic to your website, based on performance, such as Google Adwords.
• PPC – Pay Per Click is a performance based method of paid search where the advertiser pays only for the amount of ads clicked.
• Social Media – Websites and forums dedicated to keeping in contact with friends or followers such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter or MySpace.
• Backlinks – A link to your website from another site or page, also called inbound links. High quality links (those placed on reputable sites and forums) will help distinguish your site as credible.
• Anchor Text – The visible, clickable text in a hyperlink. If the words include your keywords then it will assist in the ranking for those keywords in search engines.
• Keyword Stuffing – This is when you add keywords to your web page superfluously in an effort to optimise for search engines, but you forget about the ‘human’ visitors. Repeating keywords nonsensically will actually hurt your SEO efforts. E.g. Billy’s Letterbox sale is the best Letterbox sale in town, so come and visit Billy’s Letterbox sale.

These are but a few of the hundreds (if not thousands) of terms used in Search Engine Optimisation, to learn them all would be quite a mission, and as the technology changes, so does the glossary. Keeping abreast of new developments is all part of applying SEO, so if you are after more information, you may want to attend one of White Chalk Road’s SEO or Internet Marketing half day courses.