Learn to speak SEO

Benefit statements express how your company's product or service solves an immediate need and clarifies a specific unique sales proposition. These statements are written in a "What's in it for me?" fashion where company features are immediately linked to client benefits.

Brochureware is a negative term that denotes a print brochure being uploaded, without revision, as Web page text. Brochureware is always counterproductive and should be avoided at all costs. It doesn't take into account the interactivity of Web copy, nor is it typically written in a user-friendly manner. Brochureware sites tend to get poor search engine positioning until the pages are rewritten for Web conversion.

Directories are compiled lists of sites, categorised and organised by topic. Each directory listing contains short, descriptive information about the site. Unlike search engines that use software ‘spiders’ (like Google), directories are compiled by human editors who approve listings. The human-involved process obtaining directories listings is far different than with obtaining listings in spider-built search indexes or paid search-advertising engines. In some cases, pay for inclusion is offered for expedited listings in directories such as Yahoo! The Open Directory Project, on the other hand, is meant to always be free. Strong directory listings are an excellent way your company can increase its link popularity and Google Page-Rank.

Also known as a hyperlink; call-to-action links in Internet marketing campaigns guide the reader to a new action step. Call-to-action hyperlinks could lead a prospect to a new Web page, an email form, a text section within a page or a shopping cart. Correctly written, call-to-action links increase micro-conversion rates and can affect key-phrase relevancy.

Conversion rates are distinct measurements that determine how many of your prospects take your preferred action step. Typically, micro-conversions (for instance, reading different pages on your site, or signing up for a newsletter) lead to your main conversion step (making a purchase, or contacting you for more information).

The description tag is a Meta data that appears if you right click your mouse and click "View Source" on any Web page. This data is written like a marketing statement and should clearly communicate the purpose of the page. Ideally, the description tag should be around 170 characters (with spaces). Depending on the engine, additional characters over 170 may be truncated. The description is visible on the SERP with engines that support this tag (some search engines, like Google, use a copy snippet for the description).

A headline is a quick-scan way customers can instantly learn your company's main benefits (for instance, "Lexus car parts sale. Free shipping."). Headlines are typically in bolded text, and appear at the top of a Web page. Headlines and sub-headlines (see below) are incredibly important for usability; as online readers scan, not read, headlines make the scanning process easier.

Otherwise known as spiderability. Indexability refers to whether a site can be indexed  or recorded by a search engine spider. If a site is not indexable, or if a site has reduced indexability it’s positioning in search engines will suffer.

A blue, underlined word or phrase that, when clicked upon, takes users to another Web page, or section within a Web page. Hyperlinks are also known as call-to-action links.

A single word i.e. Flights, that your prospects would type into a search query box to find products and services that you supply. Single words are not recommended for optimising.

These are phrases that contain keywords and narrow down the search i.e. ‘Flights to America’ or better still – ‘Flights to America from Manchester’. These phrases are far more productive for receiving targeted traffic.

Landing pages are pages that users would click through to from a SEO campaign. For best results, these pages are highly targeted for the reader and specific to the keyword phrase used. Rewriting landing pages is one of the easiest ways you can increase your conversion rates.

A link exchange Internet marketing campaign is the process of exchanging hyperlinks with a quality site that is somehow related to a company's product or service. For instance, a public relations agency may link to a search engine positioning firm's article on "PR and SEO marketing." The SEO may then include a link on their site listing the public relations company. Good link exchange vendors can increase a company's Page-Rank and increase the number of targeted visitors. Poor link exchanges where a company promises to link your site to thousands of others for a small fee can destroy your sites credibility and positioning in the search engines.

The search engine results page (SERP) is the first page searchers see when they've entered their query into the search box. This page lists results of the searcher's query, sorted in terms of relevancy. Gaining a page one or two SERP listing is highly desirable for companies targeting business to business or business to consumer sales.

Search Engine Optimisation is a form of online marketing which makes a site and its contents highly relevant for both search engines and searchers. Successful search optimisation helps a site gain top positioning for relevant words and phrases.

Search Engine Marketing is all forms of promoting a website including off-line promotions and PPC (Pay Per Click) marketing.

Like headlines, sub-headlines provide quick-scan benefits and instant information. Sub-headlines typically begin inner paragraphs, highlighting the following paragraph's main points and benefits. Sub-headlines, like headlines, can also be inscribed using HTML Heading tags. When key phrases appear in the sub-headline, positioning for those key-phrases may be improved.

The Title tag is Meta data that appears if you right click your mouse and click "View Source" on any Web page. It is extremely important that every Title tag contains well researched key phrases and is written in a way that entices a user to click thru from the SERP. Ideally, the Title tag should be around 50 characters (with spaces). More characters are acceptable, but the Title may be truncated if it's over 50 characters. The Title tag is a crucial part of your search marketing campaign and every page should have its own Title tag.

Spam is either a shelved meat product (great with brown sauce) or an Internet term for unsolicited commercial email. In the case of search marketing, search engines had to put up their guard against overzealous search marketers who bombarded them with massive daily submissions and loaded their pages with keyword junk. These pages are often derided as pollution and described as spammy by search engine "spam police" who remove and blacklist all the spam they find from their indexes.

A spidering search engine (Google for example) is one that uses machines (spiders) to fetch a website and record its pages. The database of over 2 billion Web pages in Google's search index was gathered together using Google machines and GoogleBot (Google's so-called "spider" or Web crawler technology).

Pay-for-Inclusion services are designed for Webmasters that are having trouble getting pages listed in spider-based search engines. A main benefit of PFI is fast re-spidering (every 48 hours or so), giving site owners and Webmasters instant positioning feedback and the ability to change content frequently. Also, site owners can submit deep-linked pages and be guaranteed that the URL will be included.
The typical PFI program is an annual URL-based subscription with regular refresh cycles and click-based reporting.

Pay per Click is a type of search marketing where advertisers pay a set amount every time their ad is clicked by a prospect (otherwise known as a click thru).
PPC is probably Google’s major income stream. Used well it’s a great source of targeted traffic. Used badly and you might as well light your fire with five pound notes. For a small fee we will set your campaigns up for you correctly.

Quite simply, usability is making your site easy for your customers to find the exact information they need when they need it. Anything that makes the process slower (like Flash animation served to a dial-up customer) inhibits usability. Conversely, easy, intuitive navigation and strong, informative text enhance usability.