Glossary of terms used on the "Can a Small Business Compete for Search Engine Visibility?" page.
- Alternative Text
- Descriptive text placed inside the HTML image source tag. If a graphic image does not display on a browser screen, the alternative text appears in place of the image.
- Filter Words (also called Stop Words)
- Common words that the search engines tend to ignore to save space on their servers and speed up searches. Common stop words are: the, a, an, for, and, but, and to.
- Frames
- An HTML page layout technique that divides the browser screen into sections - each section containing a separate Web page.
- Index
- A searchable database created by search engine software.
- Keyword density
- The ratio of the number of times a keyword occurs in Web page content to the total number of words on that Web page. Search engines each have their own methods for calculating keyword density.
- Keyword prominence
- How near the top of the page content a keyword appears. For instance, if the text containing the keyword is seen without a site visitor having to scroll down, that text is generally considered to be "above the fold" and can be given more "weight" by some search engines.
- Keyword proximity
- How close keywords are to each other in Web page content.
- Meta tag
- Meta Tags are information and instructions in Web page HTML code. This information is not displayed in the Web site browser, but is read by search engines, and can be seen by viewing the HTML code (select the View - Source tab at the top of most web browsers). The HTML code for a Web page can contain meta tags that specify information such as: who owns the site, who owns the copyright of the site, the page title, a page description, keywords and phrases related to information found on that specific page, and also instructions that tell a search engine whether it should index information on that page and whether it should follow any links on that page.
- Query
- A request for information from a database. In the case of search engines, a query is the "search string" words typed into the search box by a Web site visitor.
- Ranking (also called Positioning)
- A process used by search engines and directories of ordering Web pages to display the most relevant Web pages at the top of search results.
- Spider (also called a Robot or Crawler)
- Automated software programs used by search engines to visit Web pages - cataloging text on Web pages, and following links to other Web pages.
- Search strings
- Words and phrases typed into a query (search box) by Web site visitors using a search engine to look for Web sites.
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