Acronyms are everywhere these days — nowhere more so than in the online world. But they don’t have to be as scary as they sound. And they certainly don’t have to be an opportunity for ‘online experts’ to take advantage of you by talking in this ‘foreign’ language.
Here’s a run-down of the most common acronyms and terms used in SEO. (Sorry — Search Engine Optimisation.)
301 Redirect — A method used to redirect permanently moved web pages from an old URL to a new URL. This is important to ensure you don’t lose the authority gained at the previous address when you move a page to its new address (this is critical for SEO purposes).
Algorithm — A mathematical formula used by the search engines to decide where websites rank in the results pages. Algorithms are constantly changing and redefining which websites are the most relevant for a search engine user’s query based on millions (if not billions) of different factors, such as content, links, domain age and so on.
Authority — The credibility of your site in the eyes of the search engines. Authority can be built through relevant content, quality links and strategic SEO processes.
Bots — A shortening of ‘internet/web robots’, a bot is an automated piece of software that reads, analyses and files information from websites. Also known as ‘spiders’, bots ‘crawl’ and ‘index’ web pages so that search engines can find relevant pages for any given search query.
CMS — Stands for ‘Content Management System’. This is the ‘back-end’ interface which allows web editors to easily upload new content to their site.
Domain — Your ‘domain’ is the address people use to find your site (iewww.yourcompany.co.uk).
Domain Age — A site’s domain age indicates how long it has been in existence. Older sites are generally more ‘trusted’.