Key Terms and Concepts of Search Engine Marketing

Algorithm When it comes to search, a search engine’s algorithm is its set of rules for computing ranking.

Browser An application used to access the Internet. Popular browsers include Firefox, Internet Explorer and Safari.

Index The databases for keywords created by the search engines.

Keyword A word or words used by a searcher on a search engine. In SEO, keywords are the words that a web site is optimised to rank for, and in PPC, keywords are bid on by advertisers.

Keyword phrase More than one keyword can be referred to as a keyword phrase.

Organic search results The listings on a SERP resulting from the search engine’s algorithm. These are not paid for.

Paid search results The listings on a SERP that are paid for.

PPC Pay Per Click is advertising on search engines where the advertiser pays only for each click on their advert.

Ranking In search, ranking is used to describe the relative position of a web page in the SERPs.

Search engine A tool for searching the Internet. Users of search engines enter keywords relevant to their search, and the search engine returns results from its databases.

SEM Search Engine Marketing refers to marketing that is related to search.

SEO Search Engine Optimisation is the practice that aims to improve a web site’s ranking in the search engines for specific keywords.

SERP  Search Engine Results Page - the page that shows the results for a search on a search engine.

Spider An automated program that scans or crawls web pages to gather information for search engines.

Sponsored links The paid search results on a SERP.

URL  Universal Resource Locator - the address of a web page on the Internet.