Browsable indexes of websites compiled by humans. Their databases are smaller than those of search engines, so they often supplement their own results with search engines’ “fall-through results.”

Single term used in a query.

A set of words used as a search phrase.

Repeating keywords and keyword phrases in various parts of a Web page.

HyperText Markup Language

HTML coding instructions which describe some aspects of the content of a Web page. The information provided by Meta tags is (sometimes) used by search engines in indexing a document. The most commonly-used Meta tags are the “keywords” Meta tag and the “description” Meta tag.

It guarantees that your website won’t be excluded by a search engine, and that inclusion in its database will happen quickly. It does not guarantee positioning.

Also called pay-per-click. It is basically an ad. It gives you top positioning in exchange for an initial sum plus additional payments every time someone clicks a link to your website.

See Pay for placement

Word or phrase used to pass instructions to a search engine or directory.

A website’s position on a search engine results page for a certain search term or phrase.

Text file stored at the root level of a website to prevent robots from accessing specific pages or sub-directories.

Automated programs that send out agents (robots) called “spiders” or “crawlers” to search the Web for text content. Spiders collect lists of words and phrases which search engines then place in databases so people can search them by keyword.

A set of techniques to improve the exposure of a website to search engines and directories. For example, the use of specific keywords in the content and code portion of a Web page.

Raw data file produced by a Web server with traffic activity information relating to a specific domain. Web statistics programs use this data to compile reports.

The raw, human-readable code which gives commands to a machine or software. On the web, HTML forms the source code of web pages; most browsers allow you to view this code by selecting "Source" from the "View" menu.

Code that describes the style and layout of a Web page.

The time during which a web server is up and running, without interruptions of service (downtime). Value sometimes expressed as a percentage. Businesses commonly target between “Five 9s” (= 99.999%, or down for less than 5 minutes per year) and “Four 9s” (= 99.99%, or down for less than 1 hour per year).

Universal (or Uniform) Resource Locator. The address of a file accessible on the Internet.