SEO Vocabulary

General SEO Terms

Backlinks: All the links pointing at a particular web page. Also called inbound links.

Crawler (aka "spider"): Component of a search engine that gathers listings by automatically "crawling" the web. A search engine's crawler (also called a spider or robot) follows links to web pages. It makes copies of the web pages found and stores these in the search engine's index.

Directories: A type of search engine where listings are gathered through human efforts, rather than by automated crawling of the web. In directories, web sites are often reviewed, summarized in about 25 words, and placed in a particular category.

Inbound link: See backlinks, above.

Index: The collection of information a search engine has that searchers can query against. Typically, with crawler-based search engines, the index contains copies of all the web pages they have found from crawling the web. With human-powered directories, the index contains the summaries of all web sites that have been categorized.

Keywords: The most popular search terms identified for the subject of your wiki. Many different online tools can help you identify the most effective keywords.

See also Keyword Usage.

Organic Listings: Listings that search engines do not sell (unlike paid listings; see below). Instead, sites appear solely because a search engine has deemed it editorially important for them to be included, regardless of payment. Paid inclusion content is also often considered "organic" even though it is paid for. This is because that content usually appears intermixed with unpaid organic results.

Outbound Links: Links on a particular web page leading to other web pages, whether they are within the same web site or other web sites.

Page title: The name of your site that will appear in the blue browser bar at the very top of every page. This title is the first thing a search engine crawler will read, so it's important to use as many keywords as possible here to describe your site.

Paid Listings (a.k.a. "PPC"): Listings that search engines sell to advertisers, usually through paid placement or sponsored listings on Google, Yahoo!, MSN, etc. and are commonly known as PPC (pay-per-click) programs. In contrast, organic listings are not sold.

Position: Refer to Rank.

Rank: How well a particular web page or website is listed in a search engine results page, or SERP is known as "rank" or "position". The rank of a site (e.g. www.wikifido.com) or a particular keyword (e.g. dog rescue) is important for both Organic and Paid Listings. SEO and SEM strategies will be deployed to improve the rank of a site or keyword. However, the rank of a keyword in paid listings can only be affected via SEM, not via SEO.

Robot: See Crawler.

Search Engine: Any service generally designed to allow users to search the web or a specialized database of information. Web search engines generally have paid listings and organic listings. Organic listings typically come from crawling the web, though often human-powered directory listings are also optionally offered.

Search Engine Marketing (SEM): The act of marketing a web site via search engines, such as Google, Yahoo!, MSN, etc. The end-result might be to improve rank with organic listings, purchasing paid listings or a combination of the two, along with other search engine-related activities.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO): The act of altering a website so that it rises higher in the organic, crawler-based listings of search engines. SEO strategies and tactics are what ultimately garner "free" traffic or drive users to a website, rather than paying for listings via paid listings on Google, Yahoo, etc.

Wetpaint Page Related Terms

Body Text: This the main block of text located in the center of each page on your Wetpaint site. Most page edits and contributions take place here.

Headers: The largest headline style you can use on a Wetpaint Site. Best for main subject headings. Search engine crawlers will look for keywords used in headers.

Keyword Tags: Tags help your users find what will be discussed or conveyed on a particular page. Tags--which are always clickable on Wetpaint sites--are found in two places: in the tag line at the top of every page, and in the tag cloud.

See also Keyword Tags and Top 5 Ways to SEO Your Wiki.

Subheads: The second-largest headline style used on Wetpaint sites. Used to differentiate secondary topics on a page, often in combination with headers. Search engine crawlers look for keywords in subheads.