SEO Terminology for Beginners: A - Z by

Although not arsenic hard arsenic learning Chinese oregon Mandarin, SEO manufacture terminology tin nonstop immoderate unsuspecting caput spinning successful circles. Call it ‘nerd-isms’, machine lingo, oregon ‘dork-ese’, but 1 thing’s for sure, if you are trying to hunt engine-optimize your website, you request to recognize the pursuing presumption successful the SEO Terminology for Beginners: A - Z.

A is for Algorithm

An algorithm is an effectual method for solving a occupation utilizing a finite series of instructions. Google’s algorithm uses a patented strategy called PageRank to assistance fertile web pages that lucifer a fixed hunt query. The PageRank algorithm computes a “score” for web pages, based connected a weighted sum of the pages linked to them. This is wherefore backlinks are precise important, but that volition beryllium explained successful the adjacent letter.

B is for Backlink

Backlinks are incoming links to a website oregon web page. The fig of backlinks is 1 of galore indicators of a page’s popularity and importance. Search engines, similar Google, usage the fig of backlinks to measurement and find a web page’s ranking successful hunt results. Backlinks tin supply antithetic amounts of worth to a page. If the nexus is from an authoritative tract connected a applicable topic, it volition person a stronger power connected rankings. If you nexus to irrelevant oregon suspicious sites, it volition lone wounded your rankings.

C is for Content Management System

A contented absorption strategy (CMS) is bundle utilized to make and negociate HTML contented and enactment travel successful an online, collaborative environment. A CMS helps facilitate contented creation, control, editing, and indispensable attraction functions. Basically, it is simply a publishing level connected which to physique a website. The champion CMS disposable is Drupal.

D is for Drupal

Drupal is a escaped and unfastened root CMS written successful PHP that is utilized arsenic a back-end strategy for galore antithetic types of websites, ranging from tiny blogs to authorities websites. (see whitehouse.gov) Drupal is besides the astir SEO-friendly CMS disposable to physique your website.

Here are 10 reasons wherefore Drupal is the level for SEO:

• Configurable
• Flexible
• Stays optimized
• No duplicate content
• Clean code
• Easy to integrate with 3rd enactment SEO services
• Fights spam
• Allows for landing pages
• Community features
• Thriving ecosystem

E is for Error Page (404)

The Error 404 "Page not found" is the leafage displayed whenever idiosyncratic goes to a leafage that is not available. Sometimes the hunt engines volition nonstop postulation to a web leafage of yours that nary longer exists. Maybe your visitors mistype a URL and they are sent to the darkest corners of the internet.

To prevention their cyber-souls, you should person an mistake leafage that redirects them to the close web page. This is simply a called a 404 leafage and is customized truthful that you tin seizure mislaid postulation and navigate them backmost to your site.

F is for Facebook Fan Page

Social media is rapidly becoming an important origin successful the hunt equation. Tweets and presumption updates are present being indexed by Google for its hunt results and businesses are optimizing their societal media profiles to their advantage. Use Facebook Fan Pages to physique your brands, make a community, and thrust postulation to your authoritative website. Check retired my station from a fewer weeks back, Drupal Users Guide to Facebook Social Media Optimization, wherever I sermon the palmy initiatives that companies similar The Gap, Katalyst, and Dell are doing for SMO. While SMO doesn’t spell hand-in-hand with SEO yet, it volition compliment immoderate run wherever societal media volition benefit.

G is for Google

According to a caller selling probe study by comScore, Google’s hunt motor dominates 65.6% of each U.S. online searches. They are the innovators and thought-leaders successful hunt and the proverbial “tail that wags the dog” passim SEO, PPC, and SEM.

H is for HTML Header Tags

A header tag is HTML codification (H1, H2, H3, etc.) that is utilized to format text, specify a page’s organizational structure, and simplify leafage navigation. As an identifier, the (H1) tag connected your web tract works conscionable similar a section rubric successful a book. The substance betwixt (H1) and (/H1) should pass precisely what that 1 leafage is each astir and should see the keyword you are focusing connected for this page.

If determination is further accusation oregon subsections connected the page, you tin usage (H2), (H3), each the mode up to (H6) heading tags to amusement hierarchical enactment connected the page. While it is OK to person aggregate (H2) to (H6) tags, beryllium definite to lone usage a azygous (H1) connected immoderate 1 leafage of your web site.

I is for Image Optimization

Images are everyplace connected the web and should besides beryllium optimized erstwhile utilized connected your website. Google Image Search uses the record sanction and the alt tag to find what the representation is each about.

A filename similar img0004.jpg does thing for you. However, batman-light-saber-kills-shark.jpg is descriptive, keyword-filled and does wonders for the findability of, say, a batman instrumentality site.

The record hold (.jpg) besides tells the hunt engines a batch astir what that record is and however to show it to users. The alt substance tin beryllium different indicator of what that constituent of the leafage is astir and hence, what the full leafage oregon tract is about.

J is for Javascript

Javascript is an object-oriented scripting connection utilized to successful dynamic applications connected websites and idiosyncratic interfaces, specified arsenic Flash graphics.The SEO municipality fable warns you not to usage javascript connected your site. And this fable was erstwhile true, arsenic hunt engines were erstwhile not capable to crawl javascript.

But javascript tin present beryllium crawled, erstwhile coded successful a definite way. But astir radical don’t usage it correctly and nonstop the hunt motor spiders scampering disconnected successful a frenzy, without indexing immoderate of your site. So, debar javascript for navigational purposes connected your site.

K is for Keywords

Keywords are azygous words that a hunt motor idiosyncratic types into the hunt container to effort to find what they're looking for. Key phrases are the aforesaid arsenic keywords but for the information that they dwell of 2 oregon much words. The astir captious portion of an SEO task is uncovering the close keywords.

If you prime the incorrect keywords, you'll walk months moving lone to find that determination is cipher who wants to bargain your product. Search motor optimization is simply a popularity contention for keywords and this is simply a popularity contention you privation to win.

L is for Link Building

Link gathering is the signifier of obtaining links from outer websites to your ain successful bid to amended postulation and hunt motor rankings. You tin besides nexus physique with paid links and reciprocal linking, which immoderate consciousness are much effective.

Whichever mode you bash it, arsenic agelong arsenic its legal, it is 1 of the astir important and beneficial aspects of immoderate SEO campaign.

M is for Module

In SEO, a module is simply a portion of a contented absorption strategy that performs a definite task. For example, if you privation to artifact spam from your Drupal website’s blog, you volition request to download, configure, and alteration the Mollom module.

Most CMSs, similar Drupal, volition travel with a definite acceptable of modules with the halfway installation, with further modules that you tin download and install, if you spot fit.

N is for Node

In SEO, a node is simply a transportation point. A node tin beryllium a azygous web page, blog post, oregon landing leafage for your site.

O is for On-Page SEO

You whitethorn perceive this operation mentioned rather often successful narration to off-page SEO. So let’s separate betwixt the two. On-page SEO refers to the substance and contented connected your website pages.

This includes editing your leafage and contented with keywords truthful that the hunt engines tin fertile your leafage good and funnel postulation your way.Off-page SEO refers to the substance and backlinks from different website pages to your website pages.

This is astir intolerable to wholly power arsenic you can’t origin successful each azygous tract that is linking to your contented via their blog and website.

P is for PPC (Pay-Per-Click)

Also known arsenic Per-Per-Click advertising, PPC is an net advertizing exemplary successful which advertisers wage hosts lone erstwhile their advertisement is clicked.

With hunt engines, advertisers, meaning you, volition bid connected keyword phrases applicable to your people market. When your keyword operation is queried by a searcher, your advertisement pops up successful the paid hunt file connected the right.

Q is for Query

Query successful SEO refers to the words oregon phrases a idiosyncratic types into a hunt box. For example, erstwhile I needed a connection for the missive Q, one went to Google and typed successful ‘SEO dictionary’.

That illustration is an illustration of a solution for writer’s block.

R is for Robots.txt

Search engines specified arsenic Google person web robots, oregon programs, crawling the net to scale web content. A robots.txt record restricts entree to your tract by hunt motor robots that crawl the web.

You request a robots.txt record lone if your tract includes contented that you don’t privation hunt engines to index, i.e. admin pages, delicate information, etc. You bash not privation to restrict entree to your full site, different you volition beryllium invisible to each hunt motor rankings.

In bid to usage a robots.txt file, you’ll request to person entree to the basal of your domain.

Check retired this large Google Webmaster Central assets for much information.

S is for SEO Checklist

The SEO Checklist is simply a Drupal module that provides a checklist of bully Drupal SEO champion practices. It besides provides a checklist that helps you support way of what needs to beryllium done.

Maximize your Drupal website successful each the large hunt engines similar Google, Bing, and Yahoo. All you request to bash is spell down the database and bash each the items. When you’re done, you’re optimized!

T is for Title Tags

The leafage rubric (also known arsenic rubric tag) is simply a enactment of substance successful the HTML of a web page, summarizing what that web leafage is each about. It serves the pursuing functions:

• It tells visitors that they are successful the close place
• It is displayed successful the browser rubric bar
• It holds important keywords truthful that your leafage tin beryllium decently categorized by Google and the different hunt engines
• It is displayed whenever idiosyncratic bookmarks your site
• Search engines usually usage the leafage rubric arsenic the heading of the hunt results

U is for URLs

URL, oregon Universal Resource Locator, the code utilized by a browser to find a definite portion of content. There are 2 antithetic types of URLs - static and dynamic. Dynamic URLs person random characters similar ?, =, &, oregon $ successful the query string.

These are not SEO-friendly. Clean URLs are URLs that bash not incorporate immoderate unusual characters similar ?, =, &, (, ), oregon $. Don't confuse a cleanable URL with a decently optimized one, though.

While a cleanable URL tin beryllium easy read, it doesn't archer the hunt engines thing astir your web site. Search Engine Optimized URLs really incorporate immoderate keywords.

V is for Viral Marketing

Viral selling refers to selling techniques that usage societal networks to summation marque consciousness oregon to execute different objectives via video clips, interactive games, advergames, ebooks, brandable software, images, oregon substance messages.

For example, Doritos is simply a cleanable illustration of however to tally a viral campaign. In the past, among different things, they person called upon marque fans to nutrient their ain commercials. The winner’s introduction was aired during the Super Bowl XLIII betwixt the Pittsburgh Steelers and Arizona Cardinals.

This photograph was taken successful downtown Sao Paulo, Brazil wherever a viral selling run suspended a elephantine container of Doritos (3 meters gangly and 132 kg successful weight) and simply asked its people assemblage to conjecture the fig of chips successful the container connected the Doritos website.

W is for Wiki

A wiki is simply a collaborative website that allows casual instauration and editing of web pages via a web browser, commonly utilizing a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) substance editor. It is akin to a blog successful structure, but a wiki allows visitors to alteration the archetypal posted material. Think Wikipedia.

Y is for Yahoo!

Despite Google’s decease grip connected the hunt market, Yahoo is inactive 1 of the champion web directories. As of the extremity of 2009, Yahoo had astir 1.5% of the hunt market.

They precocious struck a woody with Twitter truthful that you tin travel your Twitter provender connected Yahoo's interface portion you are logged into your Yahoo! email account. Be definite to taxable your website to Yahoo’s directory for SEO champion practices, arsenic Google is not the lone hunt motor radical use.

Z is for Zen

Zen is the eventual starting taxable for Drupal websites. This taxable has fantastic online documentation and tons of codification comments for some PHP and HTML. The thought down Drupal's Zen taxable is to person a "very flexible standards-compliant and semantically close XHTML taxable that tin beryllium highly modified done CSS and an enhanced mentation of Drupal’s template system."

This taxable is ace cleanable and highly simple, with either a one, two, oregon 3 file layout of fixed oregon liquid width, consecutive retired of the box. In addition, the HTML is written for accrued accessibility and SEO.

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