Glossary of Terms

Below you can find a glossary of relevant terms and expressions used in online marketing and social networks.

AdSense

Google Network's advertising placed on any website. Google automatically will place relevant advertising on a web page so that when a viewer clicks on any of the advertising, Google will send a part of the advertising earning to the owner of the website.

AdWords

Google's advertisement and link generation system. Most of Google's ads are based on targeted keywords. Advertisers will set up their campaigns and relevant keywords. Based on the keywords’ quality and their budget, Google will show and send viewers to the campaigner’s website.

Analytics

Software which allows tracking a website’s traffic (i.e. page views, user paths, etc.) to analyze viewers’ actions while visiting the website.

Blog

software / website system that allows periodically updating a journal, typically formatted in reverse chronological order. Many blogs provide a feed and allow simple user interaction like leaving comments on the posts. Most blogs tend to be personal in nature.

CGI

Common Gateway Interface is an interface program between a web server and other software (like a web form) to extract / manipulate information (of web form, for instance).

CMS

Content Management System is an application used to help make it easy to update and add information to a website.

Online Directory

A categorized catalog of websites, typically manually organized by editorial experts. Some directories cater to specific niche topics, while others are more comprehensive in nature.

Flash

Vector graphics-based animation which makes it easier to make websites look rich and interactive in nature.

HTML

HyperText Markup Language is the language in which web pages on the World Wide Web are created.

Keyword

A word or phrase that targeted prospects are likely to search for on search engines.

PPC

Pay Per Click is a pricing model which most search ads are sold through. PPC ads charge advertisers if a potential customer clicks on their ad.

Search Engine

A website, (tool or device) used to find relevant information. Search engines use sophisticated mathematical algorithms to find relevant search results.

SEO (Search engine Optimization)

It stands for Search Engine Optimization. SEO is the art and science of publishing information and marketing it in a manner that helps search engines understand your information is relevant to people who conduct search queries. SEO is the principal vehicle that facilitates you and your web site to become discoverable on the Internet.

SEM (Search Engine Marketing)

Marketing a website in search engines. This is done typically via SEO, buying pay per click (PPC) ads, and paid inclusion.

Social Media

Websites which allow users to create valuable contents. A few examples are social bookmarking sites and social news sites.

Spider

Search engine software to search the web for pages to include in their database.

SES (Search Engine Submissions)

Search Engine Submission is the act of making information systems and related websites aware of your website so that it can be discovered by people who are looking for your services.

URL

Uniform Resource Locator is the unique address of any web document.