Search Industry Terms

Internet Marketing Terms

We know you don’t have the time to memorize all the technical mumbo-jumbo that goes along with Internet marketing. Since we are your one-stop source for all things Internet marketing, Industrial Web Pros put together a glossary of the most common industry terms you’ll hear:

Alt Tags:
Text used to give a short explanation of images on a website – usually shown when the user moves his/her mouse over the image.

B2B:
Acronym for “business-to-business” – signifies an exchange of goods or services between two businesses.

Black Hat:
Unethical search engine optimization techniques such as hidden text that can result in rejection from the search engines.

Browser:
The software program (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, etc.) that allows people to see Internet content.

Call-to-action:
A type of sales technique used in Internet marketing involving language that requests a specific action from the user (example: “Buy now” or “Order today”).

Conversion:
When a searcher takes an intended action. For example, when someone visits a site and signs up for an email newsletter.

Copywriting:
Using words to promote a business, product, service or idea.

Cross-browser Compatibility:
A website’s ability to work with all versions of all Internet browsers.

CSS Coding:
Cascading Style Sheets – a language used to describe how a website will look once live. Works best and is Web 2.0 compliant for translation to most devices.

Domain Name:
An Internet site’s unique name. Best SEO practices use keyword dense phrases for their custom domain name(s).

E-Commerce:
Business done over the internet. E-commerce can be the best way to finalize most visitor to customer conversions directly after found on search engines.

Email Address:
A unique name that identifies a person or business on the Internet.

Flash:
Animation software that downloads quickly and is browser-friendly. All Flash sites are usually not search engine friendly but adding flash to your web site header or call-to-actions can help gain the attention you want to key web elements. Flash movies are now considered the best format for all browser based movie presentations.

Graphics:
Pictures or illustrations drawn by web designer using a computer.

Header Data:
The information shown in the top of every page in a website.

HTML Coding:
Hypertext Markup Language – the language used to create documents so that they can display properly on the Internet. We use the web XHMTL Strict or Transitional per WC3 standards.

Internet Marketing:
Using the Internet to promote and sell products and services.

Java Coding:
Computer products that form a system for developing application software and using it across several platforms.

Keyphrase:
A group of words that are used to search for a specific item or service online.

Keyword:
A single word that is used to search for a specific item or service online.

Link Building:
The process of getting other websites to link to your website in order to improve organic search engine rankings.

Meta Tags:
HTML elements used to translate information about a website to search engine spiders.

Multimedia:
Media that uses several different content forms – for instance, website, print and video are all examples of multimedia advertising.

Natural/Organic Listings:
Unpaid listings that appear on a search engine due to the relevance of the website to the keywords that were searched. Natural/organic listings are shown under the required labeled “sponsored ads.”

Optimization:
The analysis of data in order to improve a website’s ranking, conversion and/or ROI.

PPC:
Pay-Per-Click – Type of Internet advertising where an advertiser pays each time a person clicks on the advertisement shown on a search engine.

ROI:
Return on Investment – The amount that is profited from a company’s advertising campaign.

Search Engine:
A server or group of servers that index Internet websites, store the results in a database and then return pages that match a particular search term.

SEO:
Search Engine Optimization – An advertising technique that focuses on creating and improving a website’s content so that it ranks higher in the natural search listings.

Search Engine Spiders:
Software sent out by the search engines in order to find a website’s content.

SEM:
Search Engine Marketing – Online marketing of a website in order to create the ranking of the website. Unlike SEO, SEM focuses on the paid (PPC) listings, rather than the organic or natural listings.

Social Media:
A category of sites that allows people to share information with each other. Google and other search engines seem to like inbound links from these sites to your website – especially if content relates to your page’s theme.

Source Code:
The instructions of a computer program that are written by a human in a programming language.

Tags:
Formatting codes used in HTML.

Tail (the “long tail” or “search tail”):
The use of less popular, niche keywords in SEM and other Internet marketing strategies.

Vertical Directories:
An online property that provides a large amount of content for a niche category.

W3C Code Validation:
The WC3 (World Wide Web Consortium) is the group that sets the standards used in web design. W3C Code Validation refers to the process of validating a website in order to confirm that it meets those standards.

Website Analytics:
Collecting and analyzing a website’s traffic and user activity.

Website Architecture:
A website design approach that organizes a website’s content in order to meet its users’ needs.

Website Design:
The process of creating a webpage or site that will be shown on the Internet.

Website Development:
Includes all areas of creating a website for the Internet; from website design to programming, content management, marketing, etc.

Website Forms:
A section of a document containing one or many input fields for collecting user information.

Website Hosting:
Providing equipment and services to host and maintain files for websites and provide fast Internet access.

Website Maintenance:
Ongoing changes that are made to a site once it is live on the Internet.

Website Redesign:
A major alteration to a website’s content or design and does not involve the addition of new pages.

Website Security:
Protecting your site from hackers and malicious software.

White Hat:
Ethical SEO practices that follow search engine guidelines.

Start your new B2B SEO development industrial web site today by calling:
678-592-5398