SEO Software Glossary

(A - C) (D - F) (G - L) (M - O) (P - Q) (R - Z)

D

Daily World Searches
definition: this is the number of times a keyword may be searched for using a major search engines according to our best estimation. WebCEO keep database fresh by removing the search terms older than 90 days.
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Dead Link
definition: a link to a page that does not exist, probably because the page no longer exists, the page has moved, or the server is down. Automated programs can be used to check your website to ensure such dead links do not exist. A dead link leads to a '404 error page'.
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Deep Linking
definition: linking to a page that is one or more levels removed from the home directory. Deep linking may be used to fuel PageRank to a specific page on a website. Example: http://www.mysite.com/features/demo/flash/seo.html.
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Deep Pages
definition: if the number of accesses to get to a page from the main page is greater than specified in Web CEO Auditor's "Page evaluation" settings (File> Settings> Auditor> Scan Rules> Page evaluation), this page is considered deep. Because of the effort involved in reaching them, visitors may never see them. If they include important information, you should move these up in your site structure.
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Delisting
definition: this means that your website is now removed from a search engine's index. There are several possible reasons for this, including extended downtime and techniques perceived by search engines to be 'spam'.
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Density
definition: refers to the number of keywords on a page compared to the total number of words - expressed as a percent. Density is calculated as the number of words in the key phrase multiplied by frequency and divided by the total number of words (including the keyword).
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Description
definition: pretty self-explanatory, it is descriptive text which concisely explains the purpose of a page. A meta tag exists for this, and is used by some search engines when displaying the page as a result in SERPs.
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DHTML (Dynamic Hypertext Markup Language)
definition: allows for the content to be visually organized into several different layers, one above the other. All the dynamics is purely browser-side and consists of advanced usage of CSS (cascading style sheets) and JavaScript to make the pages interact with the visitors.
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Directory
definition: acompilation of websites reviewed and organized by human editors into useful categories and topics, similar to the organization of the Yellow Pages. Examples of directories are Yahoo!, About.com, and the Open Directory Project. Directories are web page or an entire website dedicated to listing Internet web pages. Directories use human editors to review and categorize sites for acceptance and are compiled manually by user submission. Sites such as UKwizzhave their own directory that accept websites submitted from the general public. The biggest directory is the Open Directory Project, which has members of the public editing the categories. Many other sites now use a Yahoo-like directory including major portal sites. Submission to directories is important because they provide a long-term link to your site from a relevant page - it will increase your link popularity, and, as a minor advantage - you can expect some traffic from them. Each directory listing contains short, descriptive information about the site. Strong directory listings are an excellent way your company can increase its link popularity and its Google PageRank. However, a poorly written listing that is submitted to Yahoo! (and subsequently edited or run with ineffective writing or keyword research) can negatively influence a search marketing campaign.
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DMOZ
definition: Directory MOZilla
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DNS
definition: is a distributed Internet directory service. DNS is used to translate between domain names and IP addresses, and to control Internet email delivery. DNS is a globally distributed system consisting of thousands of servers sharing information.
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DNS Propagation
definition: Every time a new domain name is registered (or an existing one is transferred to a new DNS), the information about the domain and the DNS that hosts it must make its way around the entire internet. This process usually takes around 24 hours, during which time the domain will be inaccessible to users.
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Domain
definition: a sub-set of internet addresses. Domains are hierarchical, and lower-level domains often refer to particular web sites within a top-level domain. The most significant part of the address comes at the end - typical top-level domains are .com, .edu, .gov, .org (which sub-divide addresses into areas of use). There are also various geographic top-level domains (e.g. .ru, .ca, .fr, .ua etc.) referring to particular countries. The relevance to search engine terminology is that web sites which have their own domain name (e.g. http://www.webceo.com) will often achieve better positioning than web sites which exist as a sub-directory of another organization's domain
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Domain Name
definition: the unique name that identifies an Internet site. Domain Names always have 2 or more parts, separated by dots. The part on the left is the most specific, and the part on the right is the most general. A given machine may have more than one Domain Name but a given Domain Name points to only one machine. Usually, all of the machines on a given Network will have the same thing as the right-hand portion of their Domain Names. It is also possible for a Domain Name to exist but not be connected to an actual machine. This is often done so that a group or business can have an Internet e-mail address without having to establish a real Internet site. In these cases, some real Internet machine must handle the mail on behalf of the listed Domain Name.
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Domain Name
definition: Name chosen by a site owner to be used as the URL or web page address instead of the numeric IP assigned by the domain name registrar.
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Domain Name Servers (DNS)
definition: These are special computers that translate human-friendly URLs into computer-friendly IP addresses. This process takes place every time a user requests a page from a website
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Doorway
definition: page is specifically designed for the search engines to rank well. One would be designed for Google and one for Yahoo! The pages would be differently optimized to rank well on both. When a normal user visits the page it will either detect their IP address and redirect them to the correct page (cloaking) or it will have a large link for them click through to the full site. Either way it is not great practice to use this type of tactic.
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Download Time
definition: required downloading a 20 Kb file from your server (in msec.). Download time shows how long it takes to retrieve the requested file and send it over the Internet. The monitoring center downloads a 512- byte portion of your page. The download has a "no-cache" cache-control directive to exclude the caching effect, and therefore measure the exact loading time.
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Duplicate Content
definition: two or more separate web pages that contain substantially the same content are said to contain duplicate content. Google and other top search engines have set up filters to detect duplicate content when their crawlers are active on the web. When pages containing duplicate content are detected, they are often assessed a duplicate content penalty which means a lowering of the page's ranking from what it would have received naturally.
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Dynamic Content
definition: information on web pages which changes or is changed automatically, e.g. based on database content or user information. Sometimes it's possible to spot that this technique is being used, e.g. if the URL ends with .asp, .cfm, .cgi or .shtml. It is possible to serve dynamic content using standard (normally static) .htm or .html type pages, though. Search engines will currently index dynamic content in a similar fashion to static content, although they will not usually index URLs which contain the ? character.
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Dynamic IP Address
definition: an IP address that changes every time your PC or Mac logs onto the Internet. People who blog spam would either use an Internet Service Provider who gave outline dynamic IP addresses or would connect to a proxy server which hides their IP address while online.
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Dynamic Page
definition: is a page with information which changes or is changed automatically, e.g. based on database content or user information. Sometimes it's possible to spot that this technique is being used, e.g. if the URL ends with .asp, .php, .cfm, .cgi or .shtml. It is possible to serve dynamic content using standard (normally static) .htm or .html type pages, though. Search engines will currently index pages with dynamic content in a similar fashion to static content pages, although they will not usually index URLs which contain too many parameters after the ? character.
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Dynamic Rotation
definition: delivery of ads on a rotating, random basis. Dynamic rotation allows ads to be served on different pages of the site and exposes users to a variety of ads.
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E

Electronic Mail (abbreviated "email")
definition: is a store and forward method of composing, sending, storing, and receiving messages over electronic communication systems.
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E-list (electronic mailing list)
definition: a type of Internet forum, is a special usage of email that allows for widespread distribution of information to many Internet users.
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Email Marketing
definition: is a form of direct marketing which uses electronic mail as a means of communicating commercial or fundraising messages to an audience.
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EPV
definition: Earnings Per Visitor.
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Error Log File
definition: a server log file which records errors encountered.
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Expandable Banner
definition: a banner ad that can expand to as large as 468 x 240 pixels after a user clicks on it or after a user moves the cursor over the banner.
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External and Internal Links
definition: from a Web site's point of view, outbound links on a specific page can be internal and external. Internal links are pointing to other pages on your site. External links lead to other sites. Having many internal links is a good thing for increasing your site's link popularity, because search engines evaluate all links to a specific Web page, though not all links are considered equal.
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Ezine
definition: is an online magazine that caters to a niche or special interest subject matter. It is delivered in an electronic form. Today, most online magazines are Internet websites (usually pronounced "ee-zeen").
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F