Search Terms & Web Development Glossary
- Analytics or Web Analytics Tools
- - The analysis of data generated by people’s activity on websites or mobile apps, for the purpose of discovering ways to improve websites and marketing campaigns.
- App (Application)
- - A program designed to run on smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices.
- Banner Ad
- - A form of advert found on web pages and mobile applications, usually in image format.
- Blog
- - A regularly updated website written by an individual, typically in a conversational style, and focused on a specific subject.
- Browser
- - A computer program used to navigate the Internet on computers, tablets and smartphones. Examples include Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer and Safari.
- Click-through Rate (CTR)
- - The number of times people click on an item of interest, like an advert, in comparison to the number of times users are exposed to that item.
- Content
- - The digital material available to users, via text, video, audio, images, etc.
- Conversion or Goal
- - The action you want visitors to perform. Examples include e-commerce purchases, form submissions, phone calls, and video views.
- Conversion Optimization
- - The process of increasing the percentage of visitors who complete your goals.
- Conversion Rate
- - The ratio of conversions to visits, often used to measure digital performance.
- Cost-per-click
- - The amount of money required to produce a single click on a digital advertisement.
- Crawler or Spider
- - A program designed to systematically browse content on the Internet and collect information about it to help searchers find what they’re looking for.
- Desktop
- - A non-mobile device like a personal computer or laptop computer.
- E-commerce
- - The sale of products and services online.
- Email Marketing
- - The process of using email messages to share information and promote products and services.
- Homepage
- - The introductory or “main” page of a website.
- HTML
- - Hypertext Markup Language. A language used by web developers to create websites.
- Impressions
- - The number of times an advert is displayed in a viewable position.
- Index
- - A searchable catalog of web pages and digital content used by a search engine to provide relevant results.
- Keyword
- - A word or a phrase typed into a search engine, which businesses can target as part of their advertising campaigns.
- Landing Page
- - The first page on a website that a person usually sees—not necessarily the home page of that website.
- Link
- - A text or image that provides a link from one web page or website to another.
- Mobile Device
- - A portable device, such as a smartphone or tablet, capable of connecting to the Internet and running applications.
- Natural Listings or Organic Listings
- - Results from a search engine that are not paid adverts.
- Paid Listings
- - Advertisements that appear on search engines results pages.
- Pay-Per-Click (PPC)
- - An advertising system in which advertisers pay for users to click on their advertisements.
- Query or Search Term
- - The keyword or phrase a user types into a search engine in order to find what they’re looking for.
- Ranking
- - A listing’s position on a search engine results page.
- Search Engine
- - A tool that indexes and returns relevant digital content in response to users’ keywords. Popular Internet search engines include Google, Bing, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo, Baidu, Yandex and more.
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
- - The practice of making changes to web pages, content, and the promotion of that content to improve visibility in the organic—or unpaid—search engine results.
- Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
- - A form of advertising that allows you to bid for your advertisement to show along with search results for keywords that people are typing in. This lets businesses be seen by people at the very moment they’re searching for the things a business offers.
- Search Engine Results Page (SERP)
- - A list of results appearing in a search engine in response to a user’s search query.
- Session or Visit
- - A group of interactions that take place on your website within a given time frame. For example a single session can contain multiple page views and e-commerce transactions.
- Social Media
- - Content such as text, images, or videos, created by individuals and shared across the Internet.
- Social Network
- - A community of individuals creating and sharing content.
- Traffic Acquisition
- - The process of attracting visitors - often referred to as traffic - to websites, mobile apps and other digital assets.
- Unique Visitor
- - A single visitor to a website during a specific period of time.
- URL or Uniform Resource Locator
- - The unique address of a page or piece of digital content on the Internet.