A - Search Engine Optimization Glossary...

A - Search Engine Optimization Glossary for SEO terms that begin with the letter ' B ' including definitions.

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A

AJAX: An acronym for Asynchronous JavaScript and XML, a programming language allowing for the update of specified sections of the content found on web pages, without having to completely reload the page.

API (Application Programming Interface): program created by advertisers for the management of their SEM campaigns, which will bypass search engines’ interfaces altogether.

A/B Testing: The use of A/B testing, at its most basic, randomly shows visitors one version of a page – version (A) or the alternative, version (B) – and tracks any change to behavior based on the version they saw. Version (A) is normally the existing design (the “control” in statistics terms), with version (B), the “challenger” where one design or copy element has been changed. In “50/50 A/B split tests,” you flip a coin in deciding the page version to be shown, the classic example being a comparison of conversions that result from either serving version (A) or serving version (B), where they each display different headlines. The A/B tests are common applications for landing page copy and/or designs and clicked-on ad copy, in determining the version that drives the more preferred result. (See Multivariate Testing ref.)

Absolute URL’s Link: Absolute URLs use the full-path address, such as http://www.mydomain.com/page1.html. (See also Relative URL’s link.)

Acquisition Strategy: Process for finding potential customers in the market, ready to buy. An attempt at leading customers to particular web sites; welcoming them, answering their questions and closing the sale.

Ad: Advertisements that appear after a searcher submits a query into web site search boxes or search engines. In PPC, they are normally text format, with a Title, Description and Display URL. Occasionally, keywords used by the searcher in the query will appear bold in the ad displayed. Ads may be positioned anywhere search results pages; though commonly appear at the top – above natural or organic listed keywords –on the “Right Rail” at the right hand side of the page.

Ad Copy: The main text of clickable searches or context-served ads, usually located in the second and third lines of displayed ads, between the Display URL and the Ad Title.

Ad Title: In clickable searches or context-served ads, ad titles are the first lines of text displayed, therefore serving as ad headlines for ad copy.

Affiliate Marketing: Affiliate marketing is a form of revenue sharing whereby merchants duplicate sales efforts through the enlistment of other web sites acting as outside sales forces. Successful affiliate marketing programs result in the attraction of additional buyers, with the affiliate earning a referral fee equivalent, based on the number of click-through referrals made to the merchant site.

Algorithm: The set of rules whereby search engines rank listings in response to queries. Referred to as the “secret sauce”, search engines closely guard their algorithms, being unique formulae for determining relevancy.

ALT Text: Alt attribute or alternative text. The HTML tag (ALT tag) used for providing images with text descriptions in the event that the images in a web browser are turned off. The images text description, normally visible while “hovering” over an image is important also for web access by visually impaired users.

Anchor Text: Words that are used to link to pages, (re: anchor text) are important signals in determining page relevance for search engines.

Arbitrage: The practice by which web publishers and thus second tier search engines, vertical search engines and directories – engage in the purchase and resale of web traffic. Arbitrage occurs when these publishers pool their client budgets for engaging in PPC campaigns available on Tier I search engines (MSN, Google, Yahoo!). By publishers paying  $0.10 per click (typically) for traffic, they can resell those visitors on to clients bidding at least $0.20 for the identical keywords. To be successful, arbitrage requires the arbitrageur pay less per click than the traffic-selling price. A variation known as Affiliate Arbitrage involves web site owners or bloggers bidding for keywords in programs such as Google AdWords, Yahoo! or Search Marketing, who then link the ads directly to merchant sites, or to their own web sites and display ads on the Tier I search engines.
 
Auction Model Bidding: Type of popular PPC bidding. After determining what an advertiser will accept as the maximum amount per click as their spend for a particular keyword, the advertiser, in the absence of any competition pays their bid, or lower, for each click. Should there be competition for that keyword at auction, the advertiser bidding highest will pay one penny higher than the nearest competitor. So, if advertiser A indicates a willingness to bid as high as $0.50 and advertiser B shows willingness to bid as high as $0.75; as advertiser A has an actual bid $0.23 placed, advertiser B wins the auction and only has to pay a penny above the confirmed, bid costing $0.24 per click. Auction Model Bidding is also known as competition-driven bidding or market-driven bidding.

Automatic Optimization: A function performed by search engines to identify ads for individual advertisers that demonstrate the highest ‘click-through-rate’ (CTR) over time, and optimizing ad serves by showing those ads more frequently than other similar ads found in the same Ad Order/Ad Group.

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