Rank
1: Where a webpage appears within the organic search results for a specific query.
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In a world ruled by algorithms, SEJ brings timely, relevant information for SEOs, marketers, and entrepreneurs to optimize and grow their businesses — and careers.
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Ranking Factor
1: Individual component which contributes to a complex series of algorithms that determine where webpages should appear with the organic search results for a specific...
Reciprocal Links
1: Result of two websites agreeing to exchange links to one another.
Redirect
1: A technique that sends a user (or search engine) who requested one webpage to a different (but equally relevant) webpage. 2: There are two...
Referrer
1: URL data that identifies the source of a user’s webpage request.
Reinclusion
1: The process of asking a search engine to return a website or webpage(s) to its search index after de-indexing.
Relevance
A way search engines measure how closely connected the content of a webpage is aligned to match the context of a search query.
Reputation Management
1: The practice of crafting a positive online perception of a brand or person by minimizing the visibility of negative mentions; in search results and...
Responsive Website
1: A website designed to automatically adapt to a user’s screen size, whether it’s being viewed on a desktop or mobile device.
Rich Snippet
1: Structured data added to the HTML of a website to provide contextual information to the search engines during crawling. 2: Structured data information can...
robots.txt
1: A text file, accessible at the root of a website, that tells search engine crawlers which areas of a website should be ignored.
Return on Investment (ROI)
1: A way to measure the performance of SEO activities.
Schema
1: A form of microdata that, once added to a webpage, creates an enhanced description (commonly known as a rich snippet), which appears in search...
Scrape
A technique used to copy website content or information using a computer program or script. Search engines, such as Google, scrape data in order to...
Search Engine
1: A computer program that enables users to enter a query in order to retrieve information (e.g., files, websites, webpages) from that program’s index (i.e.,...
PageRank
1: A Google algorithm named after Google co-founder Larry Page 2: Algorithm that focused on quality links to determine a website’s importance.
Page Speed
1: The amount of time it takes for a webpage to completely load.
Pageview
1: An instance of a webpage is loaded in a browser.
Paid Search
1: Pay-per-click advertisements that appear above (and often below) the organic results on search engines.
PBN
1: Stands for Private Blog Network. See: Link Farm.
1: Stands for Portable Document Format file that can contain text, images, links, videos, and other elements.
Penalty
See: Manual Action
Persona
1: A fictionalized representation of an ideal website visitor or customer – their demographics, behavior, needs, motivations, and goals – all based on actual data.
Personalization
1: A set of search results tailored to a specific user from a user’s search history, web browsing history, location, and others.
PHP
1: Hypertext Preprocessor is a scripting language used to create dynamic content on webpages.
Piracy
1: Content that infringes on copyright. 2: Search engines aim to reduce the organic search rankings of these through a filter in 2012 that reduces...
Pogo-sticking
1: When, after entering a query, a searcher bounces back and forth between a SERP and the pages listed in those search results.
Position
1: Where a webpage appears within the organic search results for a specific query.
PPC (Pay Per Click)
1: A type of advertising where advertisers are charged a certain amount (usually determined by bid, relevance, account history, and competition) every time a user...
QDF
1: Query deserves freshness, where a search engine might decide to show newer webpages in search results (rather than older pages) if a particular search...