Glossary

HTML / The coding language used to create Hypertext documents for use on the World Wide Web. HTML looks a lot like old-fashioned typesetting code, where you surround a block of text with codes that indicate how it should appear. The "hyper" in Hypertext comes from the fact that in HTML you can specify that a block of text, or an image, is linked to another file on the Internet. HTML files are meant to be viewed using a "Web Browser".

Google / The most widely used search engine in the World. It claims to be the World's most comprehensive search engine having indexed over 4.2 billion Web pages. (www.google.com / www.google.co.uk etc.)

Google PageRank Explained / PageRank relies on the uniquely democratic nature of the web by using its vast link structure as an indicator of an individual page's value. In essence, Google interprets a link from page A to page B as a vote, by page A, for page B. But, Google looks at more than the sheer volume of votes, or links a page receives; it also analyzes the page that casts the vote. Votes cast by pages that are themselves "important" weigh more heavily and help to make other pages "important."

Important, high-quality sites receive a higher PageRank, which Google remembers each time it conducts a search. Of course, important pages mean nothing to you if they don't match your query. So, Google combines PageRank with sophisticated text-matching techniques to find pages that are both important and relevant to your search. Google goes far beyond the number of times a term appears on a page and examines all aspects of the page's content (and the content of the pages linking to it) to determine if it's a good match for your query.

We can suggest ways of increasing your PageRank!

Key Words (Key Phrases/Key Terms/Search Terms) / These summarise the theme and content of a web page, mainly to provide indexing information to the search engines They are used in the meta-tags in the head of the document, and should also appear in the content of the page. The selection of appropriate keywords is vital to getting your web-pages properly indexed - if they are too specific and obscure then no-one will search for them, too general and popular and your site could appear so far down in the results that no-one ever get to it!

Meta Data (Meta Tags) / Author generated source code that is placed in the header section of an HTML document. Current popular meta tags that can affect search engine rankings are keywords and description. The meta KEYWORDS tag is used to group a series of words that relate to a website. These tags can be used by search engines to classify pages for searches. The meta DESCRIPTION is used to describe the document. The meta description is then displayed in search engine results.

Pay Per Click / A method of charging for advertising based on results. An advert is displayed on a website (or search engine or directory’s results listings) inviting interested viewers to click on it, which takes them to the advertiser's website. The advertiser is charged each time a visitor clicks on the advert - hence pay per click. Some search engines list those advertisers who bid the highest price per click at the top of their listings of results for any particular search string.

Search Engine / A server or a collection of servers dedicated to indexing internet web pages, storing the results and returning lists of pages which match particular queries. The indexes are normally generated using spiders. Some of the major search engines are Google, MSN, Altavista, Excite, Hotbot, Infoseek, Lycos, Northern Light and Webcrawler. Note that Yahoo! is a directory, not a search engine. The term Search Engine is also often used to describe both Web Directories and search engines.

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) / Adding specific words and descriptions to hidden tags (metatags) for a search engine to read and add to their database. May also refer to manipulating content (text) of a website so specific keywords picked up by search engines to allow the website to rank higher for those specific search terms.

Spider (Bot) / This is a software program (usually part of a search engine) that regularly searches the Internet, indexing text from Web pages. Spiders allow search engines to locate any new content on the Web.

Web Browser / Software that gives a user access to the World Wide Web. Web browsers provide a graphical interface that lets users click buttons, icons, and menu options to view and navigate Web pages. Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer are popular Web browsers.

Yahoo! / The most visited site on the Web and consistently the biggest generator of Web site traffic. Yahoo has a directory compiled by human editors who make the final decision on a Web site's listing within the directory. Yahoo is particular about the quality of Web sites it indexes. Its editors object to broken links or attempts at multiple listings of the same site. Automated submissions do not work with the Yahoo directory, though some services still make the claim. And once a site is listed, it is not easy to change the category or description. Intermingled with Yahoo! directory listings are Google search results.