SEO Glossary
Sandbox
A sandbox is a development area, commonly a small network or a test machine, where developers can test websites and website operations in an isolated manner. Sandboxes are very useful testing tools, especially in the context of designing complex websites such as online storefronts and merchant sites. In a sandbox environment, dummy operations are simulated as they should appear in the final release of a site. But, because these are dummy operations, no actual transactions take place and no actual money is involved.
Scooter
Codename for the Altavista web spider. The name is in reference to the world famous Altavista Raceway that holds motorcycle races every year.
Scumware
Scumware is a generic term for all software downloaded from the web that is malicious. Such programs include keyloggers, spyware, and adware. All types of scumware generally work in a similar way: they download themselves to users' PCs without their knowledge or consent, as a result of users' visiting a website. They are typically difficult to remove and conceal their presence in a user's system. Scumware also track and monitor a user's online activities and search the user's PC for private data, which they send to some online site. Scumware such as adware also regularly cause popup windows with ads to appear when a PC is running, disrupting work in the process. Scumware is also similar to computer viruses in that they may or may not cause actual damage to a user's data and programs. The Windows operating system is particularly vulnerable to all types of scumware.
SE
Acronym for Search Engine.
SEA
Standard filename extension for Self Extracting Archives, a Macintosh file format. May also refer to the actual archive file format.
Search engine
A website that is designed to search websites for a given search query. Search engines typically employ distributed sites and databases for their indexes. Search engines may offer services aside from search, such as advertising and web mail. Other search engines, such as Yahoo, integrate a portal and an instant messenger feature with its search engine, among other features.
Search engine copywriting
The process of writing web content that is friendly to search engines.
Search engine marketing
The process and business of marketing a website via search engines, through the use of PPC ads, sponsored links, contextual ads, and other types of advertising.
Search engine optimization
Search engine optimization is the practice of carefully crafting web content so that they can be assigned high rankings by search engines. High rankings generally mean better visibility in search results, and better visibility means a greater chance of attracting visitors and leads. Search engine optimization can also refer to the industry that is dedicated to this practice, which can be an involved process in many situations.
Search engine spam
Search engine spam refers to content on web pages that is deliberately placed to trick search engines into assigning higher rankings. Search engine spam usually involves redundant keywords on pages, or the use of misleading keywords that could fool users. Keyword stuffing is a form of search engine spam. Some pornographic sites mislead users by using common keywords that are not associated with pornography, such as Disney or Teletubbies. Search engines, if they are successfully tricked, can lead users searching for Disney-related content to those porn sites. Fortunately for users, search engines actively reject and penalize attempts at spamming, and their search algorithms are constantly updated to handle new methods of spamming as they appear.
Search engine submission
The process of submitting a website's URL to a search engine for inclusion. If a website is included after a submission, it would be included in all future searches.
Search string
Another name for a query. See query.
Search MSN
The Microsoft search engines.
Search term
Another name for keyword. See keyword, above.
Search terms
A phrase made up of search terms or keywords. See keyword, above.
SEM
Acronym for Search Engine Marketing.
SEMPO
Acronym for Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization.
SEO
Acronym for search engine optimization, refers to a person or company that does search engine optimization.
SEP
Acronym for Search Engine Placement, Search Engine Positioning, or Search Engine Promotion.
SERP
Acronym for Search Engine Results Page.
Server
In the client-server model, the server is the entity that provides a service to clients who request it. In common web nomenclature, servers can be the PCs that host websites, search engines, FTP sites, etc.
SES
Acronym for Search Engine Strategies, a conference of SEO professionals.
Session ID
A unique identification for a user visiting a site. Session Ids are usually strings consisting of gibberish-like combinations of letters and numbers that are meaningful only to the site that assigned them. Session Ids identify users as they browse through a site. These are used by sites such as online merchants to remember a visitor's purchases or the contents of a visitor's shopping cart, for example. Session Ids are temporary in nature and expire after a set length of time, or after a user has logged off the website that gave the ID.
Session
The duration of a user's visit to a website. A session begins when the user first enters the site, and ends after the user logs off or leaves the site. By analyzing session records, website owners can determine visitors' online habits and behavior and customize their site accordingly to improve visitors' experiences with their sites.
SEU
Acronym for Search Engine Usability.
SGML
Acronym for Standard Generalized Markup Language.
Shockwave
Shockwave is a group of proprietary technologies developed by Macromedia that can integrate interesting multimedia features with normal webpages. These multimedia features can take the form of audio, video, and animation, as well as a custom look and feel that goes beyond what ordinary HTML offers.
Site placement
Synonymous to ranking. See ranking, above.
Shopping cart
A type of program that represents a virtual shopping cart, similar to a real shopping cart. Shopping carts are an important component of e-commerce sites such as online shops or merchant storefronts. Similar to its real, metal and plastic namesake, a shopping cart is used to remember items while a customer is shopping on a site. The customer can add and remove items from the shopping cart or change item quantities at any time. Online shopping carts can also display the running total of all items in the cart, making it easier to keep an eye on the total amount.
Sidewinder
The Infoseek web spider.
Skyscraper
A type of advertisement that is tall and wide, with a dimension of 160 by 600 pixels.
Slurp
The Inktomi web spider.
SMTP
Acronym for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol.
Snap!
A medium-sized web site directory that uses Inktomi for non-directory matches.
Sniffer script
a small program or script that detects which web browser software an Internet user is using and then serves up the particular browser-specific cascading style sheet to match. Sniffer scripts are also used to detect whether a user has the Macromedia Flash plug-in installed, and if so, a Flash version of the page is displayed.
SOAP
Acronym for Simple Object Access Protocol.
Spam
In the context of email marketing, spam refers to any unsolicited, unwanted email messages of a commercial nature. In the context of search engine optimization, spam refers to redundant keywords and keyword gibberish used to manipulate search engine rankings.
SPAM
Acronym for Sites Positioned Above Me.
Spamdexing
The practice of deliberately submitting webpages and websites that are laden with spam. The aim of spamdexing is to overload a search engine with trash pages.
Spamming
A more general term that involves sending unwanted commercial email messages to random email addresses.
A term used to refer to the sending of unsolicited junk email. The term has been extended to also refer to using redundant keywords in webpage content in order to manipulate search engine rankings. See spamdexing, above.
SPF
Acronym for Sender Policy Framework.
Spider
A type of robot. The term spider specifically refers to robots that “crawl” websites and webpages in a manner that is very similar to that of a real live spider as it crawls on its web. Spiders can be small, consumer-level programs that are used to download and archive entire websites, and they can be big distributed applications that power search engines.
Spidering
The process of crawling the web, attributed to spider software. See spider above.
Splash page
A special webpage that is the first page a user sees when visiting certain websites. Such pages often contain little more than a company logo or some introductory text, and a “click here to enter” type of link that leads to the main page of the site.
Spoofing
The process of faking something, such as data or identification. In the context of network security, spoofing is the act of assuming the identity of a person or host other than one's own, usually with malicious intents.
SQL
Acronym for Structured Query Language. SQL is an industry-standard language of databases. It is used to specify queries to a database, which are formal instructions to perform tasks such as sorting, updating a database entry, or returning a set of entries that satisfy a given criteria. All database management systems strive to be SQL-compliant, and this is a very important consideration to make when choosing a database system.
SSI
Acronym for Server Side Includes.
An acronym for Server Side Includes. These are HTML Comment commands placed in an HTML file, to cause a webserver to execute some action when the page is viewed by a user. These include calling external programs such as CGI programs, displaying date or the last modified date on the file. Apache is the most widely used web server and has a wide range of SSI commands available.
SSL
Acronym for Secure Socket Layer. SSL is a protocol that is used to encrypt data that travels over an IP network such as the Internet. This encryption is very secure and reliable and is difficult to crack. SSL is often used for online shops or other sites that involve private and sensitive user data.
Static
Non-changing; the opposite of dynamic. In the context of the web, static web pages are pages that are created by hand and do not contain any dynamic content, such as data from a database.
Static IP address
An IP address that is fixed for a given network host.
Stealth
A term referring to concealment or hiding of data, or of a user's online presence or activities. In the context of network security, stealth techniques are often used when performing malicious acts on servers or hosts. This reduces or eliminates any probability of detection by administrators or other users, allowing the wrongdoer to carry out an attack on a host or server.
Stemming
Refers to finding words that are derived from a given root keyword. For example, stem words of “search” include “searching,” “searches,” and “searching.” In the context of search engine optimization, web authors and SEO professionals need to consider all possible stem words of a given set of keywords, because it is likely for users to use a variation or stem of a keyword.
Stop character
A stop character is a special character in a URL string that indicates to search engines that the webpage owning the URL is a dynamic page. Search engines do not usually index dynamic pages, so the presence of the character effectively stops a search engine's spidering.
Stop word
A common word that search engines ignore in search queries, such as “the,” “of,” “www,” and “an.”
Streaming media
Audio or video content that is played while it is being downloaded. This eliminates the need to download entire video and audio clips before they can be played back.
Subdomain
A part of a domain name that is below the top-level domain name. For example, the URL “www.fender.com” is broken down into the top-level domain “com,” and the sub-domain “fender.” The “www” refers to the specific server name.
Submission
The act of submitting a URL to a search engine for inclusion. May be automated or manual; see automated submission, manual submission.
Submission service
Also called a bulk submission service. See bulk submission service.
Supplement pages
Supplement pages are pages which are Indexed in Google but do not exist at this time. But during searching for a particular thing they are shown in the search result pages. These pages provide additional information about the particular search.
SVG
Acronym for Scalable Vector Graphics. Also, the standard filename extension for Scalable Vector Graphics files.
SWF
Standard filename extension for Shockwave Flash files.
Sysop
Acronym for System Operator.
|
read more
Webmaster World Updates