If you come across unfamiliar terms in the field of search engine optimization, our SEO Glossary provides assistance.
URL
A URL (uniform resource locator) assigns a unique address to each individual website and also determines the type of website. The URL can be directly entered into the address bar in the browser and is composed of the location of the document on the server as well as the domain.
Keywords
Keywords refer to search terms that users enter into the search window of a search engine to find specific results. The keyword can consist of a single word or a combination of multiple words.
Keyword Density
Also known as keyword density, it is a metric that indicates how often a particular keyword is found in a text. It is calculated as the quotient of the frequency of the term being examined and the total number of words.
Keyword stuffing
Keyword stuffing refers to an unauthorized technique by Google, where one attempts to artificially increase keyword relevance by excessively and repeatedly repeating the search terms.
Rankings (Search Engine Ranking, Ranking Factors)
The term “ranking” describes the order of search engine results found for a specific search term. Various factors, known as ranking factors, are responsible for the position within the search engine. So, if a webpage is “ranked” for a keyword at a certain position, it will be displayed in the search results at that position.
PageRank
PageRank, derived from Google founder Larry Page, refers to the popularity of a webpage calculated using the Google algorithm. PageRank can take a value from 0 to 10, where 0 represents the lowest value and 10 the highest. The quantity and quality of backlinks are crucial factors in determining PageRank.
OVI (Static OVI)
OVI (Static OVI)
The Online Value Index (OVI) is a metric that describes the visibility of a domain on Google. Initially appearing abstract, the number allows for inferences about the improvement or development of visibility compared to competitors and previous year’s OVI. In recent analyses, this dynamic metric is being replaced by the new static metric, the Static OVI. It is formed based on a large keyword database that has been crawled historically since the beginning of data collection.
Backlinks
Backlinks refer to external links from other websites that link to your homepage. In the context of search engine optimization, both the quantity and quality of backlinks, as well as the anchor texts, play a role in ranking.
Linkbuilding
Also known as link building, it is a term from off-site SEO and describes a process for acquiring backlinks. The goal of link building is the deliberate increase in the number of high-quality backlinks pointing to one’s own website in order to achieve a good ranking.
Link Popularity
Link popularity is a quality measure for external links pointing to a webpage and is also a ranking factor for search engines. It considers the quality and quantity of links – the more a page is linked, the higher its link popularity.
Domain Popularity
Domain popularity is a measure of how many links from other domains point to a specific domain. The higher the number of links from different domains, indicating higher domain popularity, the better the relevance rating of the website for search engines.
Google Dance
Google Dance is a term commonly used colloquially to describe the behavior of the search engine Google. Similar to a dance, search results rotate when multiple search queries are made simultaneously. This means that search results for the same keyword can be different or the same in their order and content. Through this phenomenon, Google gathers insights into the user behavior of search engine users.
Google Penalty
A Google penalty is a measure taken by Google to penalize websites that violate Google’s guidelines or specific ranking factors. A Google penalty can result in a significant drop in rankings, for example.
Metadata
Metadaten
In the context of search engine optimization, metadata refers to the page titles (headings in the web browser tab) and the meta-description (visible in the search engine’s search results). Metadata is an important factor in search engine relevance assessment because these are the textual components visible in the search results.
SERP
SERP stands for Search Engine Result Page. The SERP is the results page of a search engine; it displays the results for a specific search query. The results are ranked in descending order of relevance and other ranking factors.
WDF (WDF*IDF)
The WDF*IDF formula describes a type of analysis used to calculate the ratio of keywords in a text to the entire text. The abbreviation WDF stands for “within document frequency,” indicating how often the keyword appears in a text. The IDF value (“inverse document frequency”) determines the relevance of a text to a specific keyword. Multiplying both values ultimately calculates the keyword density of a relevant search term within a text.
On-Site SEO (On-Page SEO)
The term On-Site SEO (also known as On-Site Optimization) encompasses all measures of search engine optimization that are directly executed and implemented on the website itself.
Off-Site SEO (Off-Page SEO)
In contrast to On-Site SEO, Off-Site optimization describes all SEO measures that take place outside of one’s own website. Off-Site optimization is largely focused on inbound backlinks from external websites.
Black Hat SEO
Black Hat SEO refers to all practices within search engine optimization (SEO) where a violation of Google’s search engine guidelines is accepted in order to achieve a better position on the search results page.
Unique Content
Unique content, is an important factor in assessing the ranking of a website. When the content or text of a page is unique, high-quality, and provides genuine added value, the chances of achieving a good search result position are high.
„Content is king“
This famous quote by Bill Gates from 1996 is often heard in the context of online marketing, especially in the realm of Content Marketing. The idea behind it is to engage users with unique, high-quality, and relevant content instead of “clunky advertising”.
Referrer Spam
The term Referrer Spam refers to a special form of search engine spamming. In this technique, a website is accessed massively with the aim of making the spammers’ domain more visible through “pseudo-traffic.” In reality, no genuine visits occur; they only appear in the statistics. The problem with this is that these so-called “ghost visits” can significantly distort visitor statistics.
Broken Links
A broken link refers to a hyperlink on a webpage that points to a non-existent or unreachable URL or file. Too many broken links can weaken the relevance of a webpage within search results.
Bad Neighbourhood
Bad neighbourhood refers to websites that violate search engine guidelines, thereby having a poor or untrustworthy reputation. It is recommended to steer clear of these sites to avoid being associated with them. Linking to such a site, as well as receiving a backlink from a Bad Neighborhood website, should therefore be avoided.
What does 404 Error mean?
The browser message “404 Not Found” – commonly referred to as a 404 Error – is an error message that appears when a link destination cannot be found or is no longer accessible. The consequence of too many 404 errors is a devaluation of the website within search results (see Broken Links).
Breadcrumb Navigation
Breadcrumb navigation describes the layout of a website’s menu structure. The detailed menu path indicates to the user which subpage they are on, to which menu item it belongs, thus enhancing the user-friendliness of the website.
Landing Page
A landing page describes a specially designed thematic subpage of a website. It can serve various functions for SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and SEA (Search Engine Advertising) measures, such as serving as the link target of a SEA campaign or being optimized with an SEO text for a specific keyword.
What is meant by usability?
Good usability, also known as user-friendliness, regarding a website describes the benefits of its handling for the user. In this context, factors such as menu navigation, labeling of links, etc., can improve the user-friendliness for the user.
User Experience
User Experience encompasses all aspects of the experience a user has while interacting with a product or software. In online marketing, the term is often used to describe the user experience for a specific website. (How easy is it to navigate? How quickly does the page load?)