SEO Glossary

This glossary describes the terms a consumer is likely to hear whilst delving in to the world of web optimisation.

Analytics
Software which allows you to track customer usage of your web site, based on interpretation of log files or by including a JavaScript tracking script on each page of your web site.
CPC
Cost per click. Many search adverts and contextually targeted ads are sold in a continuous auction where the advertiser is charged a certain price per click.
CTR
Click-through-rate - the percentage of visitors who click on an advertisement they viewed, which is a way to measure how relevant a traffic source or keyword is. Search ads typically have a higher click-through rate than traditional banner ads due to being highly relevant to the associated search.
Internet promotion
Marketing on the internet using email, the web, and other internet based techniques.
Keyword
A word or phrase which best describes the product or service of a website.
Link building
The process of building high quality incoming links that will encourage search engines to trust your website - believing it to be authoritative, relevant, and trustworthy.
Meta Keywords
The meta keywords tag is an HTML tag which can be used to tell explicitly tell a search engine what the page's keywords are.
Natural listings
The non-paid list on search engine results pages, as oppose to the paid or sponsored listings (e.g. Google's Adwords). See organic search results.
Optimisation
The process of applying strategy and tactics to web content in order to improve search ranking. Optimisation is the UK spelling of optimization. Optimize is used almost as much as optimise in Britain, which makes writing a website about search engine optimisation problematical. Color/colour and skeptical/sceptical are similar examples. If you see a 'z' in optimisation on this web site it's there for a reason and not because we can't spell (honest!).
Optimization
See optimisation.
Organic Search Results
The unpaid / algorithmic search engine reuslts. Organic search results are organised by estimated relevancy, which is calculated from link information, page content, usage data, and trust-related data. Reportedly 80% of clicks are on the organic search results rather than the ads.
PageRank
A scale based on link 'equity' which estimates the importance of web pages. Google currently places more emphasis on trusted links via algorithms such as TrustRank.
PPC
Pay Per Click is a pricing model which most search adverts are sold through. PPC ads only charge advertisers if a visitor clicks on an advert.
Search engine submission
The act of submitting a web site to a search engine.
Search engine placement
The position in search engine results for a specific search.
Search engine position
See search engine placement.
Search engine ranking
A measure of popularity in a search engine.
SEM
Search engine marketing
The locating, researching, submitting, and positioning of a web site with search engines for the most effective customer exposure.
SEO
Search engine optimization is the art of publishing textual information in ways that encourage search engines to understand that the web content is relevant to specific search queries. SEO consists largely of keyword analysis, copywriting, information architecture, and link building.
SERP
Search Engine Results Page. The page on which the search engines show the results for a search query.
Search Marketing
Marketing a website in search engines. Typically via SEO, pay-per-click advertising, and paid inclusion.
Spider
Search engine 'crawlers' which search or 'spider' the web for pages to index.
TrustRank
Search relevancy algorithm which places additional weighting on links from trusted websites that are often controlled by major corporations, educational institutions, or governmental institutions.
Web marketing
see SEO.
Web site promotion
see SEO.

Regions and areas we service

We have SEO customers in the UK (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) and SEO customers serving the UK from across Europe. For those customers that want to meet face-to-face we are based near the M11 motorway close to Stansted Airport in the UK. If you want to travel by rail then we are on the main railway line between London Liverpool Street and Cambridge. We use the virtual office facilities available at St Johns Innovation Centre, Cambridge. This is convenient for the East of England including: London, East Anglia, Herts, Essex and Cambridge. It's also convenient for flights in and out of Stansted. On the other hand most of our SEO company business is purely online which helps the environment and saves us all time. It keeps things cheaper, if not cheap... affordable SEO.

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