The following is a running list of vocabulary terms that are commonly associated with the world of Internet marketing. We will dive into several key aspects of online advertising, including: search engine optimization, link building, website design & optimization, local listing optimization, social media and more. Let us know what you would like to see added to the list by leaving a comment below.
Search Engine Optimization, SEO – is the process of choosing targeted keyword phrases related to a site, and optimizing the site with those keywords to help ensure that the site places well when those keyword phrases are searched for on the Internet.
Search Engine Marketing, SEM – is a form of Internet marketing that seeks to promote websites by increasing their visibility in search engine results pages (SERPS) through the use of, paid placement, contextual advertising, and paid inclusion. “PAID” is the keyword with regards to SEM.
SERPS, search engine results pages – the results of an Internet search, laid out in page format.
Social Media Marketing, SMM – is an online marketing strategy that involves utilizing social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to promote a product, service or promotion. This is an especially helpful technique used in establishing a brand name.
Link Building – the process of linking to other websites or different pages/sections of one particular website. Link building is divided into two types: internal and external.
Internal Links – keywords that link to relevant pages within the same website.
External Links – keywords that link to other websites. A website benefits in terms of search engine ranking when other websites link to it.
Quality Score – a score given to an ad based on a variety of factors to measure how relevant your keyword is to your ad text and to a user’s search query. A keyword’s Quality Score updates frequently and is closely related to its performance. In general, a high Quality Score means that your keyword will trigger ads in a higher position and at a lower cost-per-click (CPC).
Click Through Rate, CTR – is a measure of the number of users who viewed an ad in relation to those that actually clicked on the ad. It is obtained by dividing the “number of users who clicked on an ad” on a web page by the “number of times the ad was delivered” (impressions). For example, if a banner ad was delivered 100 times (impressions delivered) and 1 person clicked on it (clicks recorded), then the resulting CTR would be 1 percent.
Bounce Rate – is the percentage of single-page visits (i.e. visits in which the person left your site after viewing only the home page)
Page Rank – is one of the methods Google uses to determine a page’s relevance or importance in regards to search engine rankings.
Website Optimization – the process of formatting a website and its content to allow greater access for search engines. This is a crucial aspect of any online marketing campaign and must be done in order to improve search engine ranking.
Pay-Per-Click – (not paper click) is an Internet advertising model (a form of Search Engine Marketing) used to direct traffic to websites, where advertisers pay the hosting service when the ad is clicked. With search engines, advertisers typically bid on keyword phrases relevant to their target market. The Google AdWords program is a popular example of pay-per-click advertising.
Cost-Per-Click – is the sum paid by an advertiser to search engines and other Pay-Per-Click hosts (Google, Facebook, online classifieds sites, etc.) for a single click on their advertisement, which directs one visitor to the advertiser’s website.
Organic Search Results – are listings on search engine results pages that appear because of their relevance to the search terms, as opposed to their being paid advertisements. In contrast, non-organic search results may include Pay-Per-Click advertising. Generally located directly below the Map listings in a Google search.
HTML, Hyper Text Markup Language – is the publishing language of the World Wide Web. HTML elements are the basic building-blocks of webpages. HTML is written in the form of HTML elements consisting of tags, enclosed in angle brackets (like), within the web page content. A web browser (Firefox, Internet Explorer, Chrome) can read HTML documents and compose them into visual or audible web pages.
By Garrett Kite, Owner at Kite Media