Web Glossary
We understand that keeping track of all the new terms and acronyms on the Internet can be challenging. It seems like there are new terms and abbreviations popping up every day. As if that wasn’t bad enough, we’ve even made up a few of our own.
We’ve put together a list of some of the more common Internet related terms that you may hear regarding the Web and Internet marketing below.
API (Application Programming Interface) – An interface for letting a program communicate with another program. In Internet terms, an interface allows web browsers or web servers communicate with other programs
Authentication – The method used to verify the identity of a user, program or computer on the Internet
B2B – Business to Business
B2C – Business to Consumer
Bandwidth – The speed, or amount of data, sent and received through an Internet connection
Blog (Web Log) – A certain type of interactive website on which a person or group of users post opinions, information, responses and comments on a regular basis
Cache – A feature of web browsers or server which stores copies of web pages on a computer’s hard disk
Cloud Computing – The delivery of services related to computing and storage to a community of Web based users
Computer Virus – A software program or code developed to harm a computer by displaying messages, deleting files, or destroying a computer’s operating system
Cookie (HTTP cookie, web cookie, or browser cookie) – a small piece of data from a website which is stored in a user’s browser while a user is browsing a website. When the user goes to the same website in the future, the data stored in the cookie can be retrieved by the website to notify the website of the user’s previous activity
CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) – A style sheet language used for describing look and format of a document written in a markup language
Content (copy) – The text or words on a web page
Database – Data stored on a computer in a way that a software program can retrieve and manipulate it
DHTML (Dynamic HTML) – HTML content that changes dynamically
Domain Name – A website address
Download – The Transfer of a file from a Web server to a Web client
Encryption – Converting data to a form that can only be read by someone that can un-encrypt it. The purpose of encryption is to prevent its unauthorized use
Firewall – Security Software that restricts unauthorized access to a network
FTP (File Transfer Protocol) – A common method of sending files between computers or networks
GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) – A common image formats used on the Web
Gig (Gigabyte) – 1024 megabytes, commonly rounded down to one billion bytes
Hits – The number of times a web page has been viewed or downloaded
Home Page – The front page or main page of your website
HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) – The computer language of the Web that is used to define the content, layout and the formatting of web documents and web pages
HTML Editor – A software program for editing HTML pages
HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol) – An distribution protocol for collaborative and hypermedia information systems
IP (Internet Protocol) Address – A unique number that identifies every computer on the Internet
Java – A programming language developed by SUN Microsystems used to program web servers and web applets
JPEG or JPG – A common Internet image format
Link (hyperlink) – A connection to another web page or website, activated through the click of a mouse
Link building – Actively cultivating reciprocal links to and from a website
Link Farm – A group of websites that all (hyper)link to every other site in the group
Meta Tags – Terms that are inserted into the HTML code of a web page to describe its contents
MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) – Internet standard for defining document types
MP3 – An Internet audio compression file format
MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) – A set of standards for audio and video compression and transmission on the Web
MPG – The file extension for MPEG files
Multimedia – A presentation on the Web combining text, pictures, video, and / or sound
PDF (Portable Document Format) – A file format developed by Adobe, often used to make text documents un-editable
Plug-In – A program built in or added to a Web browser giving it the capability to handle a special types of data like movie files or animations
Search Engine – A computer program designed to search for, catalog and index information on the World Wide Web
SPAM – Unauthorized Commercial Email (UCE) – Sending multiple unauthorized email messages to a email list
Spyware – Software hidden in a computer which collects information about how it is used
SSL (Secure Socket Layer) – Encryption software used to secure and protect data transmissions and website communication
Social Media – A form of Internet based communications technologies used for interactive dialogue among organizations, communities and individuals
Social Media Marketing – The process of gaining website traffic or attention from social media sites
SEO Terminology & SEO Concepts
Algorithm – A program that search engines use to determine what pages to display on a Search Engine Results Pages (SERP) for a particular search query
Analytics – The collection, measurement, analysis and reporting of Internet data for the purpose of understanding and optimizing Websites web pages and email campaigns
Bounce Rate – The percentage of website visitors who view only one page of a website before leaving
Click – The act of clicking a mouse on a hyperlink on a webpage which takes the visitor to another website, web page or another part of the same web page
Click Through Rate (CTR) -The ratio of clicks on your URL’s or ads to impressions
PPC (Pay Per Click) – Bid based Search engine advertising where the advertiser is charged on a per-click (through) basis
SEM (Search Engine Marketing) – A form of Internet Marketing involving the promotion of websites by increasing their visibility in search engine results pages (SERP) through optimization and paid advertising
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) – The process of improving a website for better visibility in a search engine’s natural rank (non-paid) search results
Search Engine Results Pages (SERP) – the listing of web pages returned by a search engine in response to a keyword query through optimization and paid advertising
Crawling – Search engines discovering your website.
Indexing – Search engines organize your website.
Ranking – Describing where your URL is listed in the search results. URLs are ranked by relevance to the search query.
UX (User Expereince) – How users move through and interact with the website.
Meta Descriptions – Meta data describing what is on the page. Typically, Google will show this description underneath the URL in search results.
Title Tag – Metadata describing the title of the landing page. Typically, Google will show this title underneath the URL in search results.
Crawlability – How crawlable your website is. Is there anything causing bots not to crawl your site?
Backlinks – Links from other websites that direct users to your site. Backlinks have always been a pillar of SEO rankings.
Internal Links – Links on your site that direct users to other pages on your site. These are important for user experience and helping Google understand internal topical relevance.
Impressions – Users that see your ad or URL (but do not necessarily click on it).
Bounce Rate – The percentage of people who came to your site and left without doing anything else.
H1 Headings – This is the first and largest heading tag on your page. It typically indicates the title and is a set style across the site.
Cost Per Click (CPC) – The cost of the click on the specific keyword.
Search Traffic – Users coming to your site from search engines.
Organic Traffic – Traffic that is earned placement in search results without payment.
Paid Traffic – Traffic received from advertisements that you pay for.
Search Engine Results Page (SERP) – This is the page that is shown after completing a search.
Keyword Research – The act of searching for new possible keywords you could rank for by using seed keywords, a keyword gap report (comparing keywords you rank for with competitors), or other methods.
Informational Query – A search that is specifically looking for information or an answer to a question.
Navigation Query – A search that is looking to get somewhere specific. Example: “Cazbah contact page”.
Transactional Query – A search that is specifically for when a user wants to take action to buy something or fill out a contact form.
Commercial Query – A search that is comparing two things. Example: Comparing your product/service to a competitor.
Keyword Gap Report – A report comparing your keyword rankings to your competitors’ keyword rankings.
Keyword Stuffing – The idea of spamming specific keywords to increase traffic to your website. This is not a recommended SEO strategy and may actually hurt the traffic.
Anchor Text – The text that links you to pages (is usually highlighted or underlined).
Link Redirects – Sending a link to a new location. Example: A website designer redirects your old homepage to your new homepage so that when users who previously visited your site will be sent to the new link without any action on their part.
Alt Text – Metadata that describes the images on webpages. Important for bots to and text to speech readers for accessibility.
Conversions – Someone completing an action on your website. This could be a purchase, filling out a contact form, playing a video, etc.
Conversion Rate – The ratio of traffic to conversions.
Keyword Difficulty– A numerical score of 1-100 to see how difficult it would be to outrank competitors. Most tools use this scale with their own algorithm and 1 is typically the easiest and 100 is the most difficult.
Keyword – Ideas, topics, or any other word that represents your content/business Ideas, topics, or any other word that represents your content/business.
Key Performance Indicator (KPI) – Specific set of goals for the website.
Seed Keywords – Primary words that can be used to research similar keywords.
Duplicate Content – Content that is identical on two or more domains or content that is the same on two or more pages of a singular domain.
Source Channel – The place of where your traffic comes from. Example: Organic search result, a Facebook/linkedin referral, etc.
Google My Business Page – A free profile on Google that lists important information about your business like hours, website, directions, etc.
Authority – The idea that your website has trustworthy information for users.
EEAT – Experience, Expertise, authority, and trustworthiness.
KPIs/how we measure the site’s performance
SEMRush – SEMRush is used for organic research. We can use this to check your site’s health and fix things that are making the site less crawlable to Google. We can also use Semrush to find keywords for your site and run reports to see what keywords you are currently using.
Google Search Console – Google Search Console is another Google product we use to compare keyword research. It also gives us data on clicks vs impressions, the CTR, and your average position on Google. GSC can also give insights into indexing issues and help us solve those issues.
Page speed insights – Page speed insights is used to check and ensure the site doesn’t have speed issues. The site will also give information on how to fix any speed issues that arise.
Google Analytics – A free tool from Google that we use to measure traffic, users on the site, tracking conversions, and anything else that you would like us to collect data on.
Google Ads – Google Ads is an advertising platform in Google that will allow you to place advertisements at the top of search results. The ads are considered paid traffic and depending on your bidding model you will be billed per click, keyword, etc.
Our Best Practices at Cazbah and What We will Help you Accomplish.
The goal at Cazbah is to increase traffic to your site and increase conversions on your site. There are so many different tactics or strategies to accomplish this. Your IMC will meet with you monthly to discuss what your strategy should be and share the best practices for your specific business.
Typically, your IMC will conduct keyword research at the beginning of your strategy. This could involve auditing your current keywords, getting data on keyword gaps from competitors, or using seed keywords to find other long-tail keywords. There’s always room for keyword optimization so this will be a continuous process for your website.
Your IMC will also do a site audit to find any technical SEO issues. These issues range from small quick fixes like adding meta descriptions or alt text to adjusting the site structure. Your IMC may request your input on some technical issues such as adding more content or deciding the structure of the webpage.
What are NOT effective SEO Tactics?
While there are plenty of effective SEO tactics that experts like us use, there are some that are not effective. In general, Google and other search engines want you to write and organize your content so it is helpful and easy to read for humans and not robots. Previously, it was a common practice to write content that was so “optimized” with keywords and links that it doesn’t make any sense to those trying to read the content. In 2022, Google and other search engines are pushing as much as possible to only show content that will give good information to users searching for it. The goal of the search query is to answer the question for the user. Google or other search engines will push the best answers to the top of the list.
In general, if the idea you have has any possibility of being misleading to users (i.e. hiding keywords or using unrelated keywords, keyword spamming/stuffing, sneaky redirects to completely different content) the bots will probably figure it out and hide your URL from search results. Cazbah does not use these tactics and will always write real content and use tried & true SEO techniques.
Other Marketing Tactics to Complement SEO
Cazbah can help with other internet marketing strategies to help improve traffic/conversions on your website. Our content MVP clients receive one piece of content a month which can range from blog posts to email marketing.
Blog posts – Blogs posts are a great way to improve keyword rankings for your site and increase your authority on different topics.
Email marketing – Cazbah uses Mailchimp to send out email campaigns for clients. We can write the content for Content MVP clients and assist with adding your email list to the account.
Optimizing or rewriting blogs – You may think that as soon as a blog is posted, it is a “set it and forget it”. You can always optimize blogs and increase them over the years to better fit your website. For example, your business name changed and you added a new product line but the blog was a great topic…this is a great opportunity to rewrite and include more keywords, links, and call-to-action buttons.
Paid vs. Organic
There has always been a debate on using Paid or Organic traffic. At Cazbah, we can help you do both. Organic optimization is something your IMC will be working on improving. We have tools that will help guide you and your IMC to create a solid strategy. We can also assist with Google Ads if you would like to explore that strategy. Organic optimization will take a longer time to get results but it is technically at no direct cost to you and is taken care of by your IMC. It also tends to last longer than just using paid advertisements. Paid ads will get results much more quickly but will need continuous upkeep or those results will disappear.
How Long Should your Content be?
There is no definite answer on exactly how long your content should be. The idea is to write something that feels natural and answers the query of the user. Sometimes a question can be answered in a short paragraph and sometimes it takes an entire blog post.