SEO Glossary

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OBL
Acronym for Outbound Link.

Obfuscation
In programming nomenclature, the act of deliberately misrepresenting code or data. Obfuscated program code is made difficult to read or understand purposefully. In the context of search engine optimization, obfuscation refers to the methods of deliberately fooling search engines by writing tags and metadata in confusing ways.

Off-page criteria
Ranking criteria that takes into consideration all off-page elements, that is, data that is not visible on the rendered webpage, such as metadata, tags, and the number and quality of incoming and outgoing links.

Off-page elements
Components of a webpage that are not visible when the page is rendered.

One-way link
A link that is not reciprocated, that is, a link from website A to website B, without a returning link from website B to A.

On-page criteria
Ranking criteria that takes into consideration all on-page elements, that is, data that is visible on the rendered page, such as actual textual content, anchor text, and keywords.

On-page elements
Components of a webpage that are visible when the page is rendered.

OOP
Acronym for Over Optimization Penalty, Object-Oriented Programming.

Open Directory Project
The Open Directory Project (ODP) is a site directory run by volunteer editors. This is one of the great internet success stories of 1999. The ODP is used by Lycos, Hotbot, AOL-Netfind, Netscape Netcenter, and the home base www.dmoz.org itself. Currently there are around 700,000 hand picked and selected sites in the directory. The first edition of the ODP was known as NewHoo (a play on Yahoo). Netscape provided server space for the NewHoo directory and it was collectively renamed The ODP.

Open Source
Open source can refer to the movement that advocates software whose source code is freely available and is visible to anybody. Open source software is software whose source code is open and not secret. According to the GNU GPL, the license under which the majority of open source software is released, people can make derivative works of open source software or even charge for open source software as long as the source code is always made readily available.

Open Text
A formerly large directory of businesses directory that is all but defunct now. Located at http://www.opentext.com.

Opt in
To participate in an online activity. This term is often used in the context of sites offering to send free updates or offers via email to those who opt in, that is, choose to receive such email.

Opt out
To not participate in an online activity. This term is often used in the context of sites offering to send free updates or offers via email to whose who opt in. Users may opt out, that is, choose not to receive such email.

Optimization
In general computing, optimization refers to the streamlining of a design, program, etc., for the purpose of making it more efficient and improving performance. In the context of search engine optimization, the term optimization refers to the use of techniques to improve a website's search engine rankings. An entire industry has been built on search engine optimization.

Organic listing
An organic listing for a website is the favorable ranking given by search engines given as a natural result of the site being truly relevant and important. In general, organic listings are not paid for; they appear automatically if a search engine decides that a site is important.

OS
Acronym for Operating System.

Outbound link
A link that points out from a website, from that website's point of view.

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