Glossary

An XML-based web feed format.

Real Time Search provides the user with search results that include most recent postings about a topic rather thank links to Web sites that may not have been updated for a number of years. Real Time Search has developed to search across social media sites to deliver the latest news as it is being commented.

A link agreement between two web sites where each site places a link on its site to the other. A reciprocal link is typically worth less than a one way link.

A type of spam that involves making repeated web site requests using a fake referring URL pointing to the spammer's site. Sites that publicize their referrer statistics will then also link to the spammer's site.

The URL of the page from which a website visitor comes. Referring URLs are useful for tracking the results of natural search engine optimization efforts, as well as for tracking traffic and actions of visitors from links where you don't want to use a tracking URL.

As opposed to permanent links, rented links are purchased on a monthly basis. The advantage of such links is that one generally receives absolute control over anchor text and deep linking.

The disadvantage, naturally, is that one must pay for them every month. And, due to Google's requirement that links be aged, no benefit is received for months after their creation.

Wherever possible, the page from which such links come should match the theme of the key phrases on the page being linked to. If the geographic theme of the page matches that for the site, one might even receive decent direct traffic.

A measure of the effectiveness of one's online marketing campaign. Return On Advertising Spend is the gross revenue realized from an advertising campaign divided by its cost. Generally abbreviated as ROAS.

ROAS = Sales/Cost

A measure of the effectiveness of invested money. Return On Investment is the earnings realized from a venture divided by its cost. Generally abbreviated as ROI.

ROI = (Sales - Cost)/Cost

System of allocating PPC revenue to a site publisher and click-through charges to a search engine that distributes paid-ads to it context network partners. Similar to a site “finder’s fee.�

Media with embedded motion or interactivity. Rich media is an option of PPC advertisers.

An abbreviation for Return On Advertising Spend.

An alternative name for a web crawler.

A file used to prevent particular web pages from being indexed by search engines.

An abbreviation for Return On Investment.

An abbreviation for Real Simple Syndication.

RSS is a family of web feed formates used to publish frequently updated works - such as blog entries, news headlines, audio and video - in a standardized format.

An RSS feed can include full or summarized text and meta data. They can be read using an aggregator.

An alternative name for site wide links.