Part of the
You Can Learn Web Success Techniques series.
By Ken Brown
Editor, YouCanLearnSeries.com
Updated: January 16, 2005
As you climb the mountain of search engine optimization you will be barraged by
SEO terms that are disguised in simple 3 and 4 letter combinations. What do
they all mean? Should I know what SEO, SERP, PPC and CTR mean? Are search
engine professionals just selling me a bunch of meaningless jargon?
We will see if we can uncover some of the jargon and determine what is
important and what is fluff. Obviously, the acronyms are important to some
people, but what do they mean to you?
SEO - Search Engine Optimization - This is the process of preparing your
site to rank high when people query a search engine for specific keywords. This
is not an easy process. It requires you to understand the words people use to
find information about your product. SEO is an ongoing process. You don't just
optimize a page once and you are done. You have to continually analyze how well
you rank on your keywords and then continually refine your pages to work best
with the algorithms used by the different search engines. Each search engine
has a different algorithm and over time the algorithms change.
SERP - Search Engine Result Pages - When you type in your keywords into
a search engine's search box and click submit, the search engine reviews its
database and returns the results to you. What you see is the "search engine
result pages".
CTR - Click Through Rate - This is a mathematical formula for
determining the percentage of people who view a web page and its ads compared
to the number of people who actually click on an ad. It is expressed as clicks
on ads / impressions of ads displayed. So if 1000 people go to a page with your
advertisement on it and 10 people click on the ad then your click through rate
is 10 / 1000 or 1%.
PPC - Pay Per Click - This is an advertising and marketing term. When
you create an ad, usually a banner ad, there are many ways to pay for the ad.
Some websites only charge you when someone clicks on your ad. This can be a big
benefit to you, because only people that are interested in your services will
click on your ad. It allows for direct marketing at its best. Your advertising
and marketing dollars go only to the people that are most likely to buy your
product or services.
SEM - Search Engine Marketing - This is targeting your marketing to the
search engines. Meaning you use pay per click, and place additional ads in the
search engines to enhance the power of the search engines to find you targeted
customers.
Organic Search - Organic search is allowing the search engines to find
your site through natural processes. This means that someone sets up a link to
your site and the search engines find that link and give you algorithm points
for that link. You create web pages with good content, strong keyword titles,
keywords prominently used throughout the content, keywords that match content
on the page and other search engine optimization procedures. This process is
normally slow and requires good optimization skills to make it work more
quickly than normal. Six months is a good starting point, but it could take
longer.
Natural Search - Natural search is allowing the search engines to find
your site through natural processes. This means that someone sets up a link to
your site and the search engines find that link and give you algorithm points
for that link. You create web pages with good content, strong keyword titles,
keywords prominently used throughout the content, keywords that match content
on the page and other search engine optimization procedures. This process is
normally slow and requires good optimization skills to make it work more
quickly than normal. Six months is a good starting point, but it could take
longer.
CPM - Cost per thousand - This is usually expressed as cost per thousand
impressions delivered. If you pay $50 for 10,000 impressions your CPM is
expressed as $50/10 or $5 per thousand impressions.
Impressions - Every time your ad is displayed on a website.
Above the Fold - This is a term taken from the old days of Newspapers.
When you receive a newspaper it is usually folded once. If you have an article
on the front page does it start before the fold or is it folded under? Same
theory applies to web pages only, if your ad appears without the user having to
scroll down to see it, that is considered above the fold.
PR - Page Rank - This is a number from Google that is calculated from
the number of links from other sites to your page. Some other factors that add
to the calculation is the relevance of the page that links to you.
Text Link Ads - These are ads that are completely text based. They
normally consist of a title, description and an URL. Many search engines and
directories use text link ads. They are also popular to drive customers to your
site as well as add important links to your site that will improve your page
rank.
Banner Ads - Ads that normally have some image that when clicked will
take a customer to your website. These are popular in drawing attention and
with cute images and sales messags.
This is a list of some important keywords in the Internet and SEO marketing
business. Learn these words and you are on your way to navigating the maze of
the strange SEO acronyms. Whether it is cost per thousand, pay per click,
Search Engine Result pages, click through rate or page rank, you are now better
prepared to handle the strange terms and acronyms of Search Engine
Optimization.
Next Lesson:
Secrets of SEO
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