Algorithm
In the context of search engines, it is the mathematical programming system used to determine which web pages are relevant to a particular query and are therefore displayed in the search results. Early search engines used only a few factors in their algorithm to determine relevancy, and these factors were easy to manipulate by website owners to achieve top search engine positions. Modern engines employ much more complex algorithms, taking into account hundreds of different factors to determine a web page’s rank, for example incoming links, domain name, HTML Title tags, keyword density, etc.
Click Through
The process of clicking on a link in a search engine results page to visit one of the listed websites, This is an important link in the process of receiving visitors to a site via search engines. Good rankings may be useless if visitors do not click on the link which leads to the indexed site. They key is to provide a good descriptive title and an accurate and interesting description.
Conversion Rate
The relationship between visitors and sales or action. If one person from one hundred makes a purchase or signs up to a site, it has a conversion rate of one to one hundred, or 1%.
CPA
Cost per acquisition.
CPC
Cost per click.
CTR
Click through rate.
Deep Linking
Linking to content buried deep within a website. They are referred to as ‘deep’ because they are often two or more directories deep within a website.
Keyword
A keyword is a word or phrase that is typed into a search engine query form. It mainly refers to popular words which relate to the subject or content of any one website.
PPC
Pay Per Click.
Results Page / Search Engine Results Page (SERP)
A page at a search engine that displays the results of a search query. After the user types in a search query, the page that is displayed is called the results page. The order of results on the results page is called the rankings and is determined by the search engine algorithm.
ROI
Return on investment.
Search Engine
A server or a collection of servers dedicated to indexing internet web pages, storing the results and returning lists of pages which match particular queries. The indexes are normally generated using spiders. Note that DMOZ is a directory (all listings reviewed manually) rather than a search engine. The term Search Engine is also often used to describe both directories and search engines.
Search Listing
The text / creative that appears when you perform a search on a search engine.
SEO
Search Engine Optimisation
Search Terms
The words that are typed into a search engine search box. Also called Search Words, Keywords and Queries.
SERP
Acronym for ‘Search Engine Results Page’. This is the page that is generated by a search engine in response to a search query.
URL
Universal Resource Locator.
