Alt Text Attribute

Text that search engine spiders can see and humans can't. Optimizers use this text to describe things like photos so that the spider has an idea of what it looks like.

Analytics

A subject most of us hated in high school. Oh, wait, that was statistics. Google Analytics is a free statistical reporting system that tracks everything about your website visitors, except their mother's maiden name. Most small business owners could care less, but SEO companies use this tool sometimes to show clients how well they're doing with optimization.

Anchor Text

The dark blue text you see on websites that takes you somewhere you didn't want go when you click it. SEO experts use this text to target particular keywords by strategically placing them on other websites.

Black Hat SEO

When a webmaster, website designer, or SEO architect does something stupid enough to get a website banned from Google search results.

Blog

Used to be something that a guy wearing spider-man underoos would use to post conspiracy theories late at night. Now it's actually perfect for niche markets and getting content published quickly. Small business owners can post about current trends in their industry or establish themselves as experts.

Google

A search engine started by two Stanford students in 1998. "Don't be evil," the company's unofficial motto, was coined to encourage ethical Internet business practices.

Google AdWords

The industry-leading PPC management system that's made Google into a gazillion-dollar company.

Local Search Marketing

Specialized SEO geared towards small business for a particular city or region. These small businesses are locally owned and can have a physical location like an eyeglass boutique or be mobile like a computer repair technician.

Inbound Link

Also known as a "back link," search engine algorithms use this to help determine website popularity so they can have a way to rank them in order. The thought process was that the more links or votes a website had the more important it must be. When adding links it is important to have someone who knows what they are doing so your·website is not linked to questionable websites or "bad neighborhoods." The necessary number of links vary with keywords targeted and competition.

Open Source

What started out as any software that a number of developers could contribute to, in order to create the best end-user experience, has turned into a philosophy of community and open thinking. For example, this website is built on the Joomla platform, which is an open-source content management system (CMS). In this same spirit, our website content can be used or duplicated (with a link back, of course), because freely educating small business owners on SEO benefits them as well as our whole industry.

Pay Per Click (PPC)

The sponsored ads on the top and right of a page when you do a search. Small business owners pay Google each time someone clicks one of these ads. Very effective for local search because it can be targeted to a particular city or even zip-code.

Robot

The part of a search engine which searches billions of web pages for new and updated websites. Sometimes called a "spider."

Search Engine

What people use to find stuff on the World Wide Web. There are three parts to every search engine: 1) spiders that crawl the Internet finding websites, 2) the index where a snapshot of each website is stored, and 3) the user interface that helps with misspelled words and syntax.

Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

The blanket term for all paid marketing on the Internet, which now includes other types of marketing not related to search engines.

Search Engine Optimization

The fancy way to say, "Putting your website on the first page of Google."

Social Media

Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn are what most people think of, but really includes any kind of networking between online friends.

Spam

An unsolicited website, e-mail, pop-up, banner, newsletter or advertisement. Search marketing is so powerful because it is the direct opposite of spam.

Spider

The part of a search engine which searches billions of web pages for new and updated websites. Sometimes called a "robot."

Usability

A term used to describe the user experience. Ten years ago people were just excited to see a small business with a website. As Internet users get more and more sophisticated, the information design of a website and how a user feels as they navigate through your site is becoming a critical part of their decision-making process.