SEO is the acronym for Search Engine Optimization. The process involves making relevant changes to the content and code of a web site so that its ranking in search engines and directories is increased. The changes that may be made also involve rewriting of the body copy, removal of Frames or Flash content or alterations of Title or Meta tags. There are many terms related to SEO, a few of these terms are are mentioned in this basic SEO Glossary.

Anchor text – this refers to the visible text that can be used for a hyperlink.

ATW – it is the abbreviation for AllTheWeb which is basically a FAST powered search engine.

Back link – this is a link that is found on any other page of the website, that leads to the subject page. This is also called an inbound link.

Bot – this is the abbreviation for robot, the spider of search engines. This is software that scans the web for varied purposes like indexing of web pages to harvesting of e-mail addresses from spammers.

Cloaking – this is a process where a different page is served to a search engine spider than what humans see. Spammers abuse this technique during keyword stuffing and this is why cloaking is now a violation of terms of service.

CPC – the abbreviation for Cost Per Click and is the base unit of a PPC campaign.

CTA – the abbreviation for Content Targeted Ads.

CTR – is the abbreviation of Click Through Rate and is a ratio of clicks per impressions found in PPC campaigns.

Doorway page – this page is meant only for the purpose of driving traffic to another page. It is also referred to as gateway page.

FFA – is the abbreviation for Free For All sites.

IBL – is the abbreviation for In Bound Link where links on other pages point to the subject page.

Keywords – are words used in search engine queries.

Keyword stuffing – is the practice of adding extra keywords to a web page for search engine benefits.

Mirror – is a duplicate website or page that is nearly identical to the original page or website.

Portal – are authoritative hubs for websites on a given subject.

PPC – is the abbreviation for Pay Per Click where advertisers pay for traffic generated by their ads.

PR – is the abbreviation for PageRank.

Robots.txt – is a file with well behaved spiders to decide on the best parts of the website to visit.

Spam – this is a phrase referring to manipulation techniques to violate terms of search engines.

Spamdexing – is the effort of spamming a search engine index.

Spider – also referred to bot and is software programs that scan the web.

Splash pages – are introduction pages to a web site; and it usually is heavy in graphics, and less of text.