| Term |
Definition |
| Alt text |
The ‘alt’ attribute for the IMG HTML tag. It is used in HTML to attribute a text field to an image on a web page, normally with a descriptive function, telling a search engine or user what an image is about and displaying the text in instances where the image is unable to load. Also called Alt Tag. |
| Anchor text |
The visible, clickable text in a link. |
| App store optimisation (ASO) |
The process of optimising mobile and web applications for the specific web stores in which they are distributed. |
| Backlink |
All the links on other pages that will take the user to a specific web page. Each link to that specific page is known as an inbound/backlink. The number of backlinks influences your ranking, so the more backlinks the better – get linking! |
| Canonical |
The canonical version is the definitive version. In SEO, it refers to a definitive URL. |
| Domain name |
The easy-to-read name used to identify an IP address of a server that distinguishes it from other systems on the World Wide Web: our domain name is quirk.biz. |
| Flash |
A technology used to show video and animation on a website. It can be bandwidth heavy and unfriendly to search engine spiders. |
| Heading tags |
Heading tags (H1, H2, H3, etc.) are standard elements used to define headings and subheadings on a web page. The number indicates the importance, so H1 tags are viewed by the spiders as being more important than H3 tags. Using target key phrases in your H tags is
essential for effective SEO. |
| Home page |
The first page of any website. The home page gives users a glimpse into what your site is about – very much like the index in a book, or a magazine. |
| Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) |
Certain HTML tags are used to structure the information and features within a web page. |
| Hyperlink |
A link in an electronic document that allows you, once you click on it, to follow the link to the relevant web page. |
| Internet Protocol (IP) address |
The Internet Protocol (IP) address is an exclusive number that is used to represent every single computer in a network. |
| Keyword frequency |
The number of times a keyword or key phrase appears on a website. |
| Key phrase |
Two or more words that are combined to form a search query - often referred to as keywords. It is usually better to optimise for a phrase rather than a single word. |
| Keyword rankings |
Where the keywords or phrases targeted by SEO rank in the search engine results – if your targeted terms do not appear on the first three pages, start worrying. |
| Landing page |
The page a user reaches when clicking on a paid or organic search engine listing. The pages that have the most success are those that match up as closely as possible with the user’s search query. |
| Link |
A URL embedded on a web page. If you click on the link you will be taken to that page. |
| Link bait |
A technique for creating content that is specifically designed to attract links from other web pages. |
| Meta tags |
Tags that tell search engine spiders what exactly a web page is about. It’s important that your meta tags are optimised for the targeted key phrases. Meta tags are made up of meta titles, descriptions and keywords. |
| PageRank |
Google’s secret algorithm for ranking web pages in search engine results pages. |
| Referrer |
When a user clicks on a link from one site to another, the site the user has left is the referrer. Most browsers log the referrer’s URL in referrer strings. This information is vital in determining which queries are being used to find specific sites. |
| Robots.txt |
A file written and stored in the root directory of a website that restricts the search engine spiders from indexing certain pages of the website. |
| Search engine spiders |
Programs that travel the web, following links and building up the indexes of search engines. |
| Universal Resource Locator (URL) |
A web address that is unique to every page on the Internet. |
| Usability |
A measure of how easy it is for a user to complete a desired task. Sites with excellent usability fare far better than those that are difficult to use. |
| XML sitemap |
A guide that search engines use to help them index a website, which indicates how many pages there are, how often they are updated and how important they are. |
