above the fold
The section of a web page that is visible on the monitor without scrolling.
autoresponder
An email message automatically generated and sent in response to a specific action. For example, in response to an online purchase, the auto responder might send: "Your order has been received. Thank you for you custom."
blog
Short for Web log. A publication of personal ideas, links, and increasingly, news.
blogger
Someone who either writes a blog (the writer) or produces a blog (the company that sponsors/oversees it).
broken link
A link where there is an error in the destination URL resulting in an error message instead of taking the clicker to the desired web page.
content
The material that you post on your website, including writing, pictures, graphics, maps, tables, articles, links, etc.
dead link
Also see broken link. A dead link is the result of linking to a web page that ceases to exist, or has been renamed. The link appears live on your site, but clicking on it results in an error message.
double opt-in
The process of requesting an electronic newsletter by supplying an email address, and then confirming their subscription often by replying to an automatically generated message sent to the supplied email address. Double opt-in is more secure than single opt-in as a means of avoiding accusations of spamming. See also single opt-in.
ezine
| An electronically delivered magazine or newsletter. Often emailed to subscribers, ezines can be free or for a fee, and are often promotional or advertising-driven. They usually have a very targeted subscriber base. |
ezine directory
A listing of electronic magazines, usually email newsletters.
forum
An online community where visitors may read and post about topics of common interest.
hyperlink
| See link. Text or graphics that link two locations together, transporting the user from one place to another on either the same page or another when clicked. |
image alt tag
| Found in the HTML source code of a web page, this is an optional phrase that describes an image. It is useful so that people who have customized their web browsers not to display pictures will still be able to understand all the information contained on the web page. It has the added benefit of "sneaking" extra keywords onto your site which can improve your search engine rankings. |
inbound link
| A link to your website from a website outside of yours. |
keyword density
An attempt to measure the keywords on a page as a percentage of all the text on the page. This is one criterion often used by search engines to determine the rank of a web page in its results. The higher the keyword density the better, within reason. Search engines will penalize web pages they believe have artificially high keyword densities. Excessive keyword repetition on a web page is another form of spamming.
keyword phrase
Several words used together to form a concept. For example: "rubber boots" or "downtown Vancouver restaurants."
keyword research
Strategies to determine which keywords to focus on. This includes testing with search engines, reverse search engines, and examining the meta tags included in high ranking competitors' websites.
keyword spam
An attempt to artificially skew a website's search engine ranking by unnecessarily and often covertly including excessive repetition of keywords or phrases on a website (for example, repeating a keyword dozens of times on the white background of a web page in a white font. The visitor will not notice it, but the search engine spider will). This practice is discouraged, and search engines will often delist a site if they become aware that it is happening.
keyword tag
Found in the HTML source code of a web page, keyword tags are less important than other tags. They do not appear on your web page, and because of past abuses by website owners (overusing meta tags as a source of keywords), search engines now often ignore keyword tags when determining search engine result rankings.
link
| See hyperlink. Text or graphics that link two locations together, transporting the user from one place to another on either the same page or another when clicked. |
link rot
See dead link.
meta tag generator
A tool that will suggest meta tags based on page information.
opt-in newsletter
See also single opt-in and double opt-in. An electronic newsletter that has been specifically requested by the recipient (distinct from spam).
outbound link
A link from your website to a website outside of yours.
poll
A way to ask visitors their opinion on a question, and present the results either in real numbers or as a percentage.
search engine copywriting
Designing your web page content to be both appealing to your visitors and attractive to search engines.
single opt-in
The process of requesting an electronic newsletter by supplying an email address. See also double opt-in.
spam
Email spam is an attempt to send unsolicited advertising or other content to addresses collected from mailing lists or through other sources. The practice is discouraged, and in some cases illegal. See also keyword spam.
spider
Relevancy search engines regularly send programs called "spiders" to "crawl the web" and gather information about both new and existing websites. They examine information including meta tags, links, and actual web copy that will be used to determine how to rank your web pages in their search results.
URL (Universal Resource Locator)
Universal Resource Locator. The web address of a page or site, the URL contains information including the protocol (ex. HTTP, FTP), the domain name (or IP address), and additional path information (folder/file). For example: http://www.citymax.com
weblog
See blog.
web page
Each individual part of a website is called a page. It is a collection of text and images programmed in HTML and designed to be viewed by a Web browser. Each page will share the domain name (initial part of the URL) of the website, but contain extra segments after the domain name which differentiate it from the rest.
website
A collection of pages located at a particular address on the Internet that can be viewed by a browser.
