Custom Error Page | SEO Glossary: C

You can customize the content and the look-and-feel of the default page that is displayed on your web server when a 404 File Not Found error occurs. A good 404 error page has a friendly message explaining that the page they requested doesn't exist at the location, a site map to encourage the user to continue exploring the site, a search box so the user can conduct a search, and a look-and-feel that matches the rest of the site, including navigation of course. Creating a custom 404 error page not only helps keep visitors in your site, it is also an important part of the search engine optimization process. Inevitably pages on your site will get moved and removed over time. When a search engine spider returns to your site to reindex those now non-existent pages, they will have a set of links to explore in the form of the site map on the custom 404 page. You can test for whether a site has a custom 404 error page by trying to access a web page with a nonsense filename after the domain name in the web site address. For example: www.yourcompany.com/blah

Counter | SEO Glossary: C

A simple program which tracks the total number of webpage impressions.

Cost Per Thousand (CPM) | SEO Glossary: C

The cost incurred or price paid for a thousand impressions.

Cookie | SEO Glossary: C

Information placed on a visitor's computer by a web server. While the web site is being accessed, data in the visitor's cookie file can be stored or retrieved. Mostly cookies are used as unique identifiers (i.e. user IDs or session IDs) to isolate a visitor's movements from others' during that visit and subsequent visits. Other data that may get stored in a cookie include an order number, email address, referring advertiser, etc.

Conversion Rate | SEO Glossary: C

The rate at which visitors get converted to customers or are moved a step closer to customer acquisition

Cold Fusion | SEO Glossary: C

A web scripting language with limited capabilities, mostly centered around database access. ColdFusion program files are saved on the web server with a .CFM file extension.

Body copy | SEO Glossary: B

The 'meaty' textual content of a web page. Body copy refers to text visible to users, doesn't include graphical content, navigation, or information hidden in the HTML source code.

Blacklist | SEO Glossary: B

Lists that either search engines or vigilante users compile of search engine spammers, which may be used to ban those spammers from search engines or to boycott them.

Black Hat SEO | SEO Glossary: B

Black Hat SEO is sometimes called spamdexing (the opposite of White Hat SEO). Black Hat SEO can be any optimization tactics that cause a site to rank more highly than its content would otherwise justify or any changes made specifically for search engines that don�t improve the user�s experience of the site. In other words, Black Hat SEO is optimizations that are against search engine guidelines. If you step too far over the mark, your site may be penalized or even removed from the index.

For example, adding product reviews to e-commerce site is encouraged, because it adds useful content to the site. However, using bait-and-switch techniques to create a doorway page that hooks people querying for information on soccer, it then leads to information about health products will be unacceptable.

The following Black Hat SEO tactics should be avoided to keep your site away from penalties:
� Keyword, anchor text and domain name stuffing.
� Using hidden text or links
� Using techniques to artificially increase the number of links to your pages, such as link farms
� Excessively cross-linking sites to increase link popularity
� Cloaking, delivering different pages depending on the IP address and/or agent who is requesting it
� Doorway / Gateway / Jump Pages
� Duplicate content taken from other sites
� Auto-generated content of no value to the end user
� Spamming forums or blogs
� Excessive outbound links to websites that use high risk techniques or spam

Bidding | SEO Glossary: B

Bidding means placing a bid price that you are willing to pay as an advertiser on a pay-per-click search engine. The highest bid for a given keyword achieves the top spot in the PPC search results. In Overture, the top three bids are "featured" on Overture's partners' sites, including AOL, Altavista, Infospace, and others. The minimum bid amount on Overture is 5 cents per click through.

Pay-per-click (PPC):- a pay-for-performance pricing model where advertising (such as banners or paid search engine listings) is priced based on number of click troughs rather than impressions or other criteria. Overture is an example of a search engine which charges advertisers on a pay-per-click basis.

Beyond The Banner | SEO Glossary: B

Any advertisement that is not a banner, such as an interstitial or a pop-up ad.

Beacon | SEO Glossary: B

A line of code placed in an ad or on a web page that helps track the visitor's actions, such as registrations or purchases. A web beacon is often invisible because it's only 1 x 1 pixel in size and has no color. Also known as web bug, 1 by 1 GIF, invisible GIF or tracker GIF. 

Banned | SEO Glossary: B

When a search engine blocks your site from appearing in its search results.

Bait and Switch | SEO Glossary: B

Bait and switch is considered as a spam technique when used in SEO. It provides one page for a search engine or directory and a different page for other user agents at the same URL. Sometimes it creates an optimized page and submits to search engines or directory, but replaces with the regular page as soon as the optimized page has been indexed.

Back links | SEO Glossary: B

Back links are inbound links pointing to a web page.


Inbound links (IBL):- Links that point to your site from sites other than your own. Inbound links are an important asset that will improve your site's PageRank (PR).

Automated Submitting | SEO Glossary A

Automated Submitting is using automated software such as WebPosition Gold or an Application Service Provider (ASP) such as Microsoft b-central's Submit-It service to submit your web pages to the search engines.

This tactic is frowned upon by the search engines. Indeed, some search engines such as AltaVista have completely automated submissions by requiring the user to re-key in a one-time use submission code that is displayed on the submission page as a graphic.

ASP | SEO Glossary A

An acronym for Active Server Pages, a Microsoft-invented, proprietary programming language for building dynamic web sites. ASP is also an acronym for Application Service Provider, a hosted service available via the Internet.

API || SEO Glossary A

Abbreviation for Application Program Interface. An API is a set of routines, protocols and tools for building software applications; it determines how a service is invoked through the application.

Animated Ad | SEO Glossary A

An ad with movement, often an interactive Java applet or Shockwave or GIF89a file

Anchor text | SEO Glossary A

Anchor text is the actual text part of a link (usually underlined). Used by search engines as an important ranking factor. Google pays particular attention to the text used in a hyperlink and associates the keywords contained in the anchor text to the page being linked to. Also see "Google bombing.