Search engine optimization terminology(From IBM DW)

IBM developerWorks Supplied a series of SEO articles, Here is the terminology from the of that series.

SEO terminology

Here's the terminology you'll need to get started with this series.

Directory

A directory is a human-compiled search. Most directories rely on submissions instead of spiders.

Keywords, keyterms, and keyphrases

Keywords, keyterms, and keyphrases are the words you want your Web site to rank well for in the search engine results pages, also called SERPs. Depending on your audience, yours can be one word, a combination of words, or an entire phrase. To reduce word-bloat, I'll use the term keywords to encompass all three types.

Link farm

In SEO, a link farm is a page full of links that have very little to do with each other and exist just as links without any real context. People who practice black hat SEO use link farms to increase the number of links to a page in hopes of fooling Google™ into thinking the page is more link-worthy than it actually is.

Organic listings

Organic listings are the free listings in the SERPs. SEO for organic listings usually involves improving the actual content of your Web site, often at the page or infrastructure level.

PageRank

PageRank is a measurement that the Google-obsessed use to test their rankings in Google. SEO and search engine marketing (SEM) professionals also use the term to describe your ranking in the SERPs and the ranking algorithm points given to your site by Google. No matter how you define it, PageRank is an important part of your SEO success.

Paid listing

Like the name says, paid listings are paid for in search engines. Depending on the search engine, a paid listing can mean paying for inclusion in the index, pay per click (PPC), a sponsored link, or other ways of making your site show up in the SERPs for targeted keywords and phrases.

Ranking

A ranking is where your page is listed in the SERPs for your targeted keywords. The goal of SEO is high rankings for the keywords that your Web pages target.

Ranking algorithm

A ranking algorithm is the set of rules that a search engine uses to evaluate and rank the listings in its index. The ranking algorithm is what determines which results are relevant to a specific query.

Search engine marketing (SEM)

SEM is used interchangeably with SEO, but SEM often refers more to marketing your Web site to the search engines through paid placement and ads, as well as using SEO techniques.

Search engine optimization (SEO)

SEO is creating Web pages that are picked up by the search engines through optimizing your content for search engine attractiveness and visibility. SEO is mostly used to increase the rankings of your organic listings. I'll use the term SEO to describe the techniques I recommend, although many of these techniques also fall under the umbrella of SEM.

Search engine results page (SERP)

SERPs are the listings, or results, displayed for a particular search. SERP is sometimes defined as search engine results placement. For the purposes of this series, I'll refer to it as a page rather than a placement. In the world of SEO, a good showing in the SERPs is what it's all about.

Spamming

Spamming is a method of SEO that attempts to trick a spider and scam loopholes in the ranking algorithm to influence rankings for targeted keywords. Spamming can take many forms, but the most simple definition for spam is any technique a Web site uses to misrepresent itself and influence ranking. The two methods of SEO are based on whether you want to spam or not.

• Black hat SEO: Spamming the search engines. Black hat SEO is lying, cheating, and stealing your way to the top of the SERPs.
• White hat SEO: Optimizing your site so it serves the user, as well as attracts spiders. In white hat SEO, anything that leads to a good user experience is considered also good for SEO.

Spider

A spider crawls through the Web looking for listings to add to a search engine index. It is sometimes referred to as a Webcrawler, robot, or bot. When optimizing your page for organic listings, you are catering to the spider.