Backlink
External link that points back to a site.
Black hat SEO
Search engine optimization tactics that try to trick a search engine into thinking a website has high-quality content, when in fact it does not.
Click-through-rate (CTR)
Percentage of users who click on a hyperlinked area of a SERP or webpage.
Collection analysis module
Creates utility indexes that aid in providing search results.
Content-based filtering
Recommends products based on the product features of items the customer has interacted with in the past.
Crawler control module
Software program that controls a number of "spiders" responsible for scanning or crawling information on the web.
Crawler search engine
Relies on sophisticated computer programs called "spiders," "crawlers," or "bots" that surf the Internet, locating webpages, links, and other content that are then stored in the SE's page repository.
Ghost page
Webpage optimized to attract many people but contains a redirect command so that users are sent instead to another page to increase traffic on that page.
Hybrid recommendation engine
Develops recommendations based on some combination of content-based filtering, collaboration filtering, knowledge-based and demographic systems.
Hybrid search engine
Combines the results of a directory created by humans with results from a crawler search engine, with the goal of providing both accuracy and broad coverage of the Internet.
Inbound marketing
Approach to marketing that emphasizes SEO, content marketing, and social media strategies to attract customers. Often viewed as an alternative to traditional marketing strategies based on advertising and personal selling.
Indexer module
Creates look-up tables by extracting words from webpages and recording the URL where they were found.
Informational search
Using search engines to conduct research on a topic or product.
Keyword
In the context of web search or SEO, a word or phrase that describes the content on a webpage. Search engines use keywords to match webpages with user search queries.
Keyword conversion rate
Likelihood that using a particular keyword to optimize a page will result in converting a website visitor into a buyer.
Link spamming
Generating backlinks for the primary purpose of search engine optimization, not to add value for the user.
Meta-search engine
Compiles search response listings by combining results from several other search engines.
Metadata
Data that describe and provide information about other data.
Navigational search
Using a search engine to locate particular web- sites or webpages.
Organic search listing
Search results that are heavily influenced by website content and design features.
Page rank
Google website evaluation algorithm that counts back- links, based on the assumption that people are more likely to link to high-quality websites than poor-quality sites.
Page repository
Data structure that stores and manages information from a large number of webpages, providing a fast and efficient means for accessing and analyzing the information at a later time.
Paid search listing
Form of advertising purchased from search engine companies in which advertisers pay search engines based on how many people click on their ads.
Pay-per-click (PPC)
Form of payment based on how many viewers clink on a link to a marketer's page.
Petabyte
Unit of measurement for digital data storage. A petabyte is equal to one million gigabytes.
Quality score
Ad rating determined by factors related to the user's experience.
Recommendation engine
Proactively identifies products that have a high probability of being something the consumer might want to buy.
Retriever/ranking module
Determines the order in which pages are listed in a search engine results page.
Rich snippet
Rich, attractive listing produced on search engine result pages by websites optimized with metadata for semantic technology.
Search engine marketing (SEM)
Collection of online marketing strategies and tactics that promote brands by increasing their visibility in SERPs through optimization and advertising.
Search engine optimization (SEO)
Collection of strategies and techniques designed to increase the number of visitors to a website as a result of the website's rank on search engine results pages.
Search engine results page (SERP)
List of links and other descriptive information about webpages returned by a search engine in response to a search query.
Semantic search engine
Uses natural language processing, contextual cues, synonyms, word variations, concept matching, specialized queries, and other strategies to create search results that are superior to those created by simple keyword-matching algorithms.
Semantic Web
Extension of the World Wide Web that utilizes a variety of conventions and technologies and languages developed by the W3C that allow machines to understand the meaning of web content.
Shadow page
Webpage optimized to attract lots of people but contain a redirect command so that users are sent instead to another page to increase traffic on that page.
Showrooming
Using mobile search engine for locating product reviews and price comparisons while shopping in brick-and-mortar stores.
Social media optimization (SEO)
Effective use of strategies designed to enhance a company's standing on various social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter.
Structured data
Highly organized data easily included in a relational database that can be readily searched.
Transactional search
Using a search engine to determine where to purchase a product or service.
Uniform resource identifier (URI)
One of the features that allow data to be used by multiple applications.
Unstructured data
Information that is not organized in a systematic or predefined way and more likely to contain inaccuracies or errors.
Web directory
Created by human editors and typically organized by categories, once the dominant method for finding web content.