Ch. 8- Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

link

URL embedded on a web page

on-page optimization

achieved by making changes to the HTML code/content/structure of website, making it more accessible to search engines and by extension, easier for users to find

backlink

all links from pages on external domains pointing to pages on your own domain. the more the better. (also called inbound)

canonical

definitive URL. domain name.

robots.txt

file written/stored in the root directory of a website that restricts the search engine spiders from indexing certain pages of the website

home page

first page of any website. gives glimpse of what your site is about (like a book index or magazine table of contents)

off-page optimization

generally focused on building links to the website and covers activities like social media and digital PR

XML sitemap

guide that search engines use to help them index a website, which indicates how many pages there are, how often they are updated, and how important they are

internal link

hyperlink on a website that points from one page to another on the same website/domain

hyperlink

link in an electronic document that allows you to follow the link to the relevant web page

usability

measure of how easy it is for a user to complete a desired task

keyword frequency

number of times a keyword/phrase appears on a website

landing page

page user reaches when clicking on a paid/organic search engine listing

app store optimization (ASO)

process of optimizing mobile/web applications for the specific web stores in which they are distributed

search engine spiders

programs that travel the web, following links and building up the indexes of search engines

things to consider when choosing a keyword

search volume, competition, propensity to convert, value per lead

heading tags

standard elements used to define headings/subheadings on a webpage (H1, H2, H3, etc)

meta tags

tags that tell search engine spiders exactly what a web page is about. made up of meta titles, descriptions, and keywords

link bait

technique for creating content that is specifically designed to attract links from other web pages

flash

technology used to show video and animation on a website. can be bandwidth heavy and unfriendly to search engine spiders

alt text

the "alt" attribute for the IMG HTML tag. used in HTML to attribute a text field to an image on a web page, normally with a descriptive function, telling a search engine or user what an image is about and displaying the text in instances where the image is unable to load.

referrer

the site the user leaves when a user clicks on a link to a different site

key phrase

two/more words that are combined to form a search query. better to optimize than a single word

internet protocol (IP) address

unique number that is used to represent every single computer in a network

hypertext markup language (HTML)

used to structure the information and features within a web page

universal resource locator (URL)

web address that is unique to every page on the internet

keyword rankings

where the keywords/phrases targeted by SEO rank n the search engine results