Here is a glossary of commonly used terms in the world of search engine ranking.

Algorithm: A step-by-step procedure used by search engines to complete a search query.

Alt Tag: The alternative text that the browser displays when the surfer does not want to or cannot see the pictures present in a web page. Using alt tags containing keywords can improve the search engine ranking of the page for those keywords.

Bridge Page: A page that has been specially created in order to get a high ranking in the search engines. Also called gateway page, bridge page, entry page etc.

Click Popularity: A measure of the relevance of sites obtained by noting which sites are clicked on most and how much time users spend in each site.

Cloaking: The process by which your site can display different pages under different circumstances. It is primarily used to show an optimized page to the search engines and a different page to humans. Most search engines will penalize a site if they discover that it is using cloaking.

Comment Tag: The text present within the <!-- and --> tags in a web page. Most search engines will ignore the text within the Comment Tags.

Crawler: Software that visits web sites and indexes the pages present in those sites. Search engines use spiders to build up their databases. Example: The spider for AltaVista is called Scooter.

Directory: A site containing links to other sites that are organized into various categories. Examples of directories are Yahoo! & Open Directory.  Directories are human-edited search properties. The goal in directory research and submissions is to have the pages of the website included in the directory database with minimal editing by directory editors.

Doorway Page: A page that has been specially created in order to get a high ranking in the search engines. Also called gateway page, bridge page, entry page etc.

Dynamic Content: Information in web pages that changes automatically, based on database or user information. Search engines will index dynamic content in the same way as static content unless the URL includes a ? mark. However, if the URL does include a ? mark, many search engines will ignore the URL.

Easy Segmentation:  Due to the great flexibility of search engine marketing, it is quick and simple to address specific segments of your market, allowing you to achieve the highest possible level of market penetration.

Entry Page: A page that has been specially created in order to get a high ranking in the search engines. Also called gateway page, bridge page, entry page etc.

Focused Content:  Repeating the desired keywords a specific amount of times can optimize the text within a page. This is describes as keyword density (the percentage a particular word is used within the text as a whole). The trick is to repeat the word enough times to let the search engine robot (a computer program) recognize the text as relevant, pertaining to the keywords in the Title Tag, while at the same time conveying to the reader in a concise manner the benefit of what is offered.

Frames: An HTML technique allowing web site designers to display two or more pages in the same browser window. Many search engines do not index framed web pages properly - they only index the text present in the NOFRAMES tag. Unless a web page that uses frames contains relevant content in the NOFRAMES tag, it is unlikely to get a high ranking in those search engines.

Gateway Page: A page that has been specially created in order to get a high ranking in the search engines. Also called gateway page, bridge page, entry page etc.

Hallway Page: A page containing links to various doorway pages.

Heading Tags: A paragraph style that is displayed in a large, bold typeface. Having text containing keywords in the Heading Tags can improve the search engine ranking of a page for those keywords.

Hidden Text: Text that is visible to the search engines but is invisible to humans. It is mainly accomplished by using text in the same color as the background color of the page. It is primarily used for the purpose of including extra keywords in the page without distorting the aesthetics of the page. Most search engines penalize web sites that use such hidden text.

High Flexibility: Because search engines operate through an electronic medium, you have the ability to define, redefine, adjust, tweak and add to your campaign on demand.

Image Map: An image containing one or more invisible regions that are linked to other pages. If the image map is defined as a separate file, the search engines may not be able to index the pages to which that image map links. The way out is to have text hyperlinks to those pages in addition to the links from the image map. However, image maps defined within the same web page will generally not prevent search engines from indexing the other pages.

Immediate Feedback:  Radio and television campaigns may take months to gather and analyze data, MegaRankings offers immediate feedback.

Inktomi: A database of sites used by many of the larger search engines like HotBot, MSN etc. For more information, see http://www.inktomi.com

JavaScript: A scripting language commonly used in web pages. Most search engines are unable to index these scripts properly.

Key phrase density:  The total number of keywords on a given Web page

Keyword: A word or phrase that you type in when you are searching for information in the search engines.

Keyword Frequency: Denotes how often a keyword appears in a page or in an area of a page. In general, higher the number of times a keyword appears in a page, higher its search engine ranking. However, repeating a keyword too often in a page can lead to that page being penalized for spamming.

Keyword Prominence: Denotes how close to the start of an area of a page that a keyword appears. In general, having the keyword closer to the start of an area will lead to an improvement in the search engine ranking of a page.

Keyword Weight: Denotes the number of times a keyword appears in a page as a percentage of all the other words in the page. In general, higher the weight of a particular keyword in a page, higher will be the search engine ranking of the page for that keyword. However, repeating a keyword too often in order to increase its weight can cause the page to be penalized by the search engines.

Link Popularity:  The number of other related websites that link to your site. In terms of search engine positioning, quality links are more important that the number of links. Search engines are now nullifying or penalizing sites using some link farms and link exchanges such as FFA(Free For ALL) sites popular with mass search engine submission programs.

Meta Description Tag: The tag present in the header of a web page that is used to provide a short description of the contents of the page. Some search engines will display the text present in the Meta Description Tag when the page appears in the results of a search. Including keywords in the Meta Description Tag can improve the search engine ranking of a page for those keywords. However, some search engines ignore the Meta Description Tag.

Meta Keywords Tag: The tag present in the header of a web page that is used to provide alternative words for the words used in the body of the page. The Meta Keywords Tag is becoming less and less important in influencing the search engine ranking of a page. Some search engines ignore the Meta Keywords tag.

Meta Refresh Tag: The tag present in the header of a web page that is used to display a different page after a few seconds. If a page displays another page too soon, most search engines will either ignore the current page and index the second page or penalize the current page for spamming.

Meta Tags:  HTML code hidden from the browser that provides a variety of identifying information. There are over 30 different metatags. The ones that concern search engine optimization are the title, description and keywords. The title is shown at the top of the browser. Search engines often pick up the description when showing results. Keywords should list the most important words relevant to the site and that Web page.

Optimal Branding: Internet Branding is one of the most effective tools available. Through specialized keyword analyses and other strategies, you can implement a search engine marketing campaign that reinforces your brand in a number of highly effective ways.

Pay Per Click Search Engine: A search engine in which the ranking of your site is determined by the amount you are paying for each click from that search engine to your site. Examples of pay per click search engines are Overture, HootingOwl etc.

Query: A word or set of words that requests information from a database such as a search engine.

Refined Targeting:  Strategic Internet Marketing, coupled with high search engine placement, positions your company directly in front of those who are specifically looking for the products and services you offer. This seriously increases the quality of the leads and visitors to your website.

Robot: In the context of search engine ranking, it implies the same thing as Spider. In a different context, it is also used to indicate software that visits web sites and collects email addresses to be used for sending unsolicited bulk email.

Robots.txt: A text file present in the root directory of a site that is used to control which pages are indexed by a robot. Only robots that comply with the Robots Exclusion Standard will follow the instructions contained in this file.

Search Engine: Software that searches for information and returns sites that provide that information. Examples of search engines are AltaVista, Google, Hotbot etc.

Search Index: The database of Web page contents that a search engine has collected.

Search Engine Optimization:  The practice of gaining high search engine position results for a website using specific terms.

Search Engine Placement: The practice of trying to ensure that a web site obtains a high rank in the search engines. Also called search engine positioning, search engine optimization etc.

Search Engine Spiders: Software robots that "crawl" Web pages, reading text and following links to gather information for search engine databases like Google and MSN.

Search relevancy: How each individual search engine determines how important a Web page or site is for a particular search query. Content, click-thru popularity and links are among the criteria.

Spamdexing: Using any search engine ranking technique that causes degradation in the quality of the results produced by the search engines. Examples of spamming include excessive repetition of a keyword in a page, optimizing a page for a keyword that is unrelated to the contents of the site, using invisible text, etc. Most search engines will penalize a page that uses spamming. Also called spamdexing. In a different context, spamming is also used to mean the practice of sending unsolicited bulk email.

Spamming: Using any search engine ranking technique that causes degradation in the quality of the results produced by the search engines. Examples of spamming include excessive repetition of a keyword in a page, optimizing a page for a keyword that is unrelated to the contents of the site, using invisible text, etc. Most search engines will penalize a page that uses spamming. Also called spamdexing. In a different context, spamming is also used to mean the practice of sending unsolicited bulk email.

Spider: Software that visits web sites and indexes the pages present in those sites. Search engines use spiders to build up their databases. Example: The spider for AltaVista is called Scooter.

Stop Word: A word that often appears in pages yet has no significance by itself. Most search engines ignore stop words while searching. Example of stop words are: and, the, of etc.

Strategic Internet Marketing: A strategic plan that catapults your company into the direct path of qualified customers who are looking for what you have to offer.

Text Links:  Recently, text links have also become much more important. It is a good idea to convert any image based navigation bar to text links. In most cases, a web site's navigation bar will repeat the most relevant keywords for a web site several times. Why not make the images text links and have those words benefit the overall keyword density? It is also a known fact that a keyword used in a link is given more weight than one used in regular copy.

Text Optimization:  Text optimization not only includes modification of the actual content within a page but also the headers, text links and HTML code. Each search engine has different requirements they use in determining the relevancy of a page, but for the most part, a consistent formula of both focused content and good placement of keyword qualifiers, will result in a page that ranks well with all search engines.

Title Tag: The contents of the Title tag is generally displayed by the browser at the top of the browser window. The search engines use the Title tag to provide a link to the sites that match the query made by the user. Having keywords in the Title tag of a page can significantly increase the search engine ranking of the page for those keywords.

URL submission: A request to a search engine using online forms that a URL be indexed.

Unique Visitor: Website traffic measurement where each person's individual IP address visiting one website is counted only once, regardless of how many times it visits that particular website in a given day.

Web Traffic: The number of visitors to a Web page.