Learn search engine marketing-ese.

To those outside the SEM industry, we sometimes sound like we’re speaking a different language. Become fluent with our helpful glossary of fundamental search marketing terms.

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301 redirect – permanently moved file; method used for seamlessly redirecting pages or websites to a new location without notifying user that they are being pointed to this new site.

A-E

AdCenter – Microsoft’s search marketing program.

AdExcellence – Microsoft’s training and certification program for adCenter.

AdSense – see contextual marketing.

AdWords – Google’s search marketing program.

Algorithm – closely-guarded set of rules used by the search engines to analyze a site, its pages and other factors to determine appropriate ranking for specific terms and phrases; algorithms are frequently updated and tweaked, which causes organic ranking to vary on a day-to-day basis.

AltaVista – first major search engine before Google took the reins; AltaVista was bought out by Overture, which was then bought out by Yahoo!; two events lead to their fall from grace: 1. a major change to the algorithm in late 1999 that dumped many websites and 2. brand mismanagement.

Alternate text – a.k.a., alt text, alt tag, alt attribute; HTML element that attaches a text description to an image on a web page; helps visually-impaired individuals access websites.

Anchor text – a.k.a., link text; the word(s) used on one webpage to link to another webpage; search engines use anchor text to determine a page’s relevance and, thus, take it into account when ranking for that word or phrase.

Application programming interface (API) – determines the conventions a programmer much use to take advantage of software; most major search engines have an API program.

Average time on site – average amount of time a user spends on a website.

Backlinks – a.k.a., inbound links; links from all over the web pointing at a specific webpage.

Banner ad – online advertisement used in media buying; banner ads are images of various sizes—leaderboard (728 x 90), skyscraper (120 x 600), button (120 x 90), etc.—that display on a webpage; once clicked on, these banner ads direct the user to the advertiser’s landing page.

Bid management software – program that helps search marketers control ad spend and optimize bidding parameters; software is often integrated with search engine APIs and analytics programs; Media Agent is an example of bid management software.

Black hat – SEO practices considered to be unethical and deceptive by the search engines; black hat tactics are typically very successful, but only for a short time period; if caught doing black hat, your website can be penalized in ranking or potentially blacklisted from the SERPs entirely; white hat is the ethical SEO practice based on long-term strategies that we at Location3 Media use.

Blog – portmanteau of “web log”; online journal that is frequently updated by one person or a group of like-minded individuals; blog entries or “posts” run in reverse chronological order with most recent entry at top.

Cascading style sheets (CSS) – an HTML add-on that provides advanced control over webpage layout by allowing designers to create their own styles and implement site-wide changes through one file only.

Click fraud protection – process of analyzing PPC data to detect clicks that are artificially generated with the sole purpose of creating debiting clicks, then following up with search engines to request refund if clicks are indeed determined to be fraudulent.

Click through rate (CTR) – method for measuring the success of a search campaign; CTR is obtained by dividing the number of users who clicked on an ad by the number of times the ad was delivered (see impressions).

Competitor analysis – an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of current and potential competitors; this analysis provides both an offensive and defensive strategic context through which to identify opportunities and threats.

Content management system (CMS) – collaborative application for managing a website, whereby users can add and update content with ease; content management systems are most commonly used for blogs, however, a commercial website can also be developed with a CMS.

Contextual Marketing – a.k.a., placement targeting; Google Content Network (previously known as AdSense) automatically targets your ads to the most relevant sites and page placements based on a given page’s content and your chosen keywords; your ads are eligible to show on popular news sites, blogs, entertainment pages, industry publications and social networks sites where they are matched with user interests.

Conversion – completed goal/desired action that you want a user to take on your site; a conversion can be a purchase, subscription to newsletter, request for more info, registration to site content, etc.

Conversion rate – ratio of visitors who move from casual content views or website visits into desired actions based on subtle or direct requests from marketers.

Cookie – information used to track conversions and perform click fraud protection; cookies are small data files stored on a user’s local computer by web browsers.

Cost per acquisition (CPA) – a.k.a., cost per action, pay per action; performance-based pricing model whereby advertiser only pays for specific actions (e.g., purchase, submission of form, request for more info, etc.).

Cost per click (CPC) – amount of money an advertiser pays for a single click on their advertisement that brings one visitor to their website; pricing is determined by advertisers bidding on terms at a keyword level.

Cost per conversion – describes the cost of acquiring a customer or lead; calculated by dividing the total cost of an ad campaign by the number of conversions.

Cost per thousand (CPM) – price for each thousand ad impressions; used mostly for banner ads and other online media.

Cost per visitor – function of the total sum of marketing costs; average cost per visitor is defined as: total acquisition marketing costs / visitors = average cost per visitor.

Crawler – a.k.a., spider, bot; automated programs in search engines that navigate the web through links, seeking out which pages to include in their indexes.

Day and time parting – paid search tactic that allows advertisers to turn campaigns on and off and change bid parameters based on the time of day or day of week.

Demo-targeting – paid search tactic whereby ads are only delivered to specific demographics chosen by advertiser; Microsoft adCenter and Yahoo! Search are only programs to allow demo-targeting at this time; demo-targeting is not a particularly effective tactic as it requires the user to be logged in and have entered accurate, up-to-date personal information.

Designated market area (DMA) – region where the population receives the same types of media offerings (i.e., television, newspapers, internet); coincides with metropolitan areas; DMAs are defined by Nielsen Media Research.

Digg – social news network where users vote on content, thereby pushing it higher in ranking and giving it more exposure.

Directory submissions – link building strategy for SEO programs; websites are submitted to specific directories that are relevant to their business, gaining credible and reliable links.

Display URL – the web address shown in paid search ad copy; should be relevant to specific campaign and can be a simplified version of the actual URL, which is often much longer.

Domain – specific website address; sometimes used in the general sense to refer to a specific website.

Duplicate content – online content that is the exact same as, or very similar to, content found on another page; in an attempt to simplify search results, the engines strive to only index one version of content; if there are multiple versions, only one page (typically the most credible) will be indexed.

expertSEM – expertSEM is the official blog of Location3 Media, where you can find industry news, practical advice and frank observations regarding several online marketing topics.

External link – link that points to another domain, not to a page within your website.

F – J

Feeds – automated systems that provide update notifications of content; typically used for blogs whereby users subscribe to the feed; also refers to shopping feeds for PPC campaigns.

Franchise marketing – marketing programs for multi-unit businesses, which include local map listings and geo-targeted PPC management.

Geo-modified keywords – keywords that contain a location-specific term; for example, “pizza Denver” or “florist in Santa Barbara.”

Geo-targeting – paid search tactic that allows you to specify in which geographic regions your ads display, creating localized and more personal results; geo-targeting is based on IP addresses and/or geo-modified keywords.

Google Website Optimizer (GWO) – advanced tool that allows advertisers to improve conversion rates by determining the best layout, design and content for their websites.

Google AdWords Professional (GAP) – official certification provided by Google, recognizing individuals and companies that have a strong grasp on how to utilize the AdWords system and all its components; GAPs must retake the certification exam every two years to stay current.

Google Analytics (GA) – advanced technology that allows you to track almost any activity on a website revealing referring URLs, user behavior, page strengths and weaknesses, unique page views and numerous other KPIs.

Google Trends – program that allows one to see how often a particular topic has been searched over time, how frequently it has appeared in news stories and from which regions people searched it the most.

Google Webmaster Tools – online program that provides detailed reports about your page’s visibility, links, traffic and more.

Hispanic search marketing – similar to traditional SEM campaigns, but in Spanish; some other differences include distribution, international characters (i.e., accents and tildes), ad copy length, dialect and geo-targeting.

Home page – a.k.a., home, index page, splash page; main page of your website, which typically serves as the hub for all site navigation and helps with your branding platform.

HTML – primary language used to create webpages.

Impressions – single views or displays of an ad on a search engine or webpage; as a success metric, accounts for the total number of times your ad was served by the search engine/webpage for the entire campaign.

Internal linking – link on one page of your website that points to another page on your same site.

Internet protocol (IP) address – each and every computer with an internet connection has an IP address; IP addresses are beneficial for interactive marketers when geo-targeting campaigns.

Internet yellow pages (IYP) – a.k.a., online yellow pages; online versions of traditional printed business directories produced by telephone companies; more and more, this type of yellow page query is being referred to as a local search, which is a growing area where marketing dollars are being invested due to the targeted and focused customer base it develops.

K – O

Key performance indicator (KPI) – measurements or metrics used to help define and evaluate success of marketing efforts.

Keyword – a.k.a., search query, search term; word or phrase entered by user into the search box in an effort to locate products, services or information online.

Landing Page – a.k.a., destination page; page that a searcher reaches after clicking on an ad; should be directly related to the ad and keyword, must plainly show any offers stated in the ad and should have a clear path to conversion.

Landing page optimization – see post-click optimization.

Link development – a.k.a., link building; major portion of all successful SEO programs; link development is the time-consuming process of building links to your website so that the search engines view your site as credible, popular and trustworthy, thus awarding it higher ranking.

Link farm – website that allows everyone and anyone to list their sites to obtain links; seen as a black hat tactic used to artificially boost link popularity and one that the engines typically catch and penalize.

Link popularity – a.k.a., link juice; measure of the quantity and quality of inbound links; quality is always prized above quantity—a handful of links from credible, popular sites is much more beneficial than a thousand links from inconsequential sites.

Local map listings – a.k.a., online business profiles, map listings; like traditional yellow page listings on steroids!; local map listings contain all general business info (e.g., hours, address, phone number) plus a whole slew of informative and interesting items including photos, videos, coupons, customer reviews, interactive maps and more; every business with a physical location has one, even if they don’t know it and have never verified the accuracy of the information.

Local search marketing – geographically-focused search marketing; there are two main types: 1. local map listings (see above) and 2.geo-targeted paid search (see geo-targeting).

Log files – server files that store information about your website’s traffic and what keywords were used to find your site; data provided by log files is not as robust as that provided by web analytics.

Long-tail keywords – keyword phrases with two, three or more words; typically, long-term keywords cost less for PPC, have less competition and, because the terms are so specific, have higher quality traffic.

Media Agent – software and data services company that provides leading-edge, cloud-based software platforms for managing the entire life cycle of a successful interactive marketing campaign; we use Media Agent for all of our paid search campaigns.

Meta description – a.k.a., meta tag, snippet, SEO ad copy; brief sentence or two that describes the content of a page; shows up on the SERP in the organic listings; each page of your site should have a unique and relevant meta description that grabs the searcher’s attention and inspires them to click on your listing before others.

MOM approach – three-tiered social media management tactic that involves monitoring, outreach and measurement.

Negative-match keywords – a.k.a., excluded keywords (on MSN); terms or phrases that you do not want your paid search ads to display on to avoid irrelevant clicks and wasted ad spend.

Nofollow – attribute placed on a link that prevents it from passing link juice; search engines still follow the link but it does not influence search results; often used in blog comments and other sites with user-generated content.

Online reputation management – social media effort used for branding and market research; involves “listening” to what is being said on social networks, reaching out and engaging with users and taking action when you find negative content.

Open source – software that is designed, developed and distributed with freely accessible source code, allowing developers to modify code to improve and tweak applications as they see fit.

P – T

PageRank (PR) – Google’s measure of page importance based on link equity; once a major factor in rankings, PR is now one of many factors that determine a page’s rank.

Paid inclusion – process of paying a search engine or directory to ensure inclusion in their index; typically, based on a flat fee for a specific time period.

Pay per click management (PPC) – a.k.a., paid search, PPC management, pay per click, paid search marketing; marketing practice that involves keyword list creation, bid management, ad copy composition and landing page selection; advertisers bid on certain keywords so that their ads will display on the search engines for that search query; advertisers are only charged when a searcher clicks on their ad.

Performance-based search marketing – paid search pricing model in which advertiser only pays when they receive an actual sale, lead or other desired action; typically based on a CPA or revenue-share model.

Post-click optimization – a.k.a., landing page optimization, landing page testing, multivariate landing page testing, website optimization; process of evaluating landing page design, analyzing user behavior and then testing various elements—layout, copy, images—to determine the most user-friendly and conversion-producing design.

Profit Through Performance™ – our company philosophy; refers to our focus on providing quantifiable and profitable results for each and every one of our clients, and highlights how we perform our efforts to the best of our abilities, ensuring that your campaigns perform to the best of their abilities.

Quality score – calculated each time a keyword matches a search query (i.e., every time your keyword has the potential to trigger an ad) and helps Google ensure that only the most relevant ads appear to users; essentially, the higher your quality score, the lower your CPC and the better your ad position.

Referrer – source from which a visitor came to your website.

Return on advertising spend (ROAS) – represents the dollars earned per dollars spent on corresponding advertising; to calculate ROAS, divide revenue derived from the ad source by the cost of that ad source; values less than one indicate that less revenue is generated than is spent on the advertising.

Return on investment (ROI) – represents the amount of money you make on your ads compared to the amount of money you spent on advertising; higher ROIs signify more successful campaigns.

Revenue share – a.k.a., revshare; pricing model whereby advertiser pays a percentage of sales revenue, rather than paying a percentage of ad spend, which is the typical paid search pricing model; eliminates much of the risk placed on advertiser.

Robots.txt file – a text file that tells the search engines which pages of your site to crawl.

Search engine marketing (SEM) – form of online marketing that promotes websites via the search engines results pages (SERPs); the three main SEM types are PPC, SEO and local map listings.

Search engine optimization (SEO) – strategies and tactics undertaken to improve webpages so they gain a higher ranking in the search engines.

Search engine results page (SERP) – actual results returned to the user based on their search query; the page that users see after typing their search query into an search engine.

Search triple threat – when a business ranks prominently in the three types of search listings—paid, organic and maps—we refer to that as the “search triple threat” or “search trifecta”; means you own a good portion of SERP real estate, thereby increasing visibility, credibility and likelihood for clicks throughs.

Short message service (SMS) – brief text messages transmitted over mobile phones; SMS is an effective mobile marketing tactic, which allows you to connect with customers, generate leads and increase sales.

Sitelinks – set of links under some organic search results (Google only) that direct to other pages within the website; essentially, sitelinks are shortcuts for users, allowing them to quickly find info without digging through an entire site.

Sitemap – essentially, a map to your entire site, which provides directions for search engines and users alike to easily crawl and navigate your site.

Social media management – process of monitoring and engaging in social media networks to understand and connect with your customers, manage your brand reputation, promote your business, products and/or services and increase sales.

Social media marketing – process of connecting with your customers and leveraging their extensive social media networks to inspire brand recognition and rollout products or promotions.

Sponsored listings – a.k.a., sponsored links, paid listings/links, PPC ads; refers to ads found on the top and right side of SERPs.

SWOT analysis – stands for “strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats”; initial research we perform on all SEO campaigns; helps us to set campaign goals and create a comprehensive strategy.

Trademark management – process of monitoring, managing and protecting brand terms within paid search landscape.

Twitter –micro-blogging service that allows users to send and read 140-character updates; important element of every successful social media campaign; great way to engage with customers, drive traffic and increase awareness of your business. Follow us at http://www.twitter.com/location3.

U – Z

Uniform resource locator (URL) – address of any page or document on the internet.

Usability – the ease in which visitors to your site can perform desired actions; fluid navigation, clear paths to conversion and logical layout are markers of good usability.

Viral marketing – refers to the marketing techniques that use social networks to increase brand awareness, promote products/services and increase sales/leads; similar to “word-of-mouth” marketing, it is dispersed through self-replicating viral processes.

Vlog – portmanteau of “video log”; form of blogging that uses videos as the medium.

Web analytics – a.k.a., analytics, click stream metrics; advanced technology systems that allow one to track almost any activity on a website, revealing referring URLs, user behavior, page strengths and weaknesses, potential click fraud and numerous other KPIs.

Website Optimizer Authorized Consultant (WOAC) – designation awarded by Google for showing proficiency in Google Website Optimizer; at the time of our authorization, Location3 was one of only 13 companies worldwide to be named a WOAC.

White Hat – SEO practices considered to be ethical and appropriate by the search engines; white hat tactics require continuous effort and, typically, do not result in an immediate jump in ranking; however, white hat results in long-term and solid success.

Wiki – collaborative software that allows for contributions and editing by numerous users.

Don’t see your word on there or have questions about anything in this glossary? Feel free to contact us.