SEO Glossary
Domain Penalized: This occurs when a website does not rank for their own domain name (YourDomainName.com) and is a sign of a penalty in which case it's usually not even indexed. Sometimes there are other websites with the same name but separated by hyphens in which case the oldest site or the one with more quality links will rank higher (see also site name penalized below).
Site Name Penalized: The site name is the domain name spelled out, i.e., (Keyword1 Keyword2). When this occurs it does not necessarily mean the site is penalized by Google, but the site may have problems affecting keyword ranking.
Description Tags: This tag is within the head section of the document. Search engines use this tag to describe your website. When description tags are all the same it can cause the search engine to think the same content appears on all affected pages.
Duplicate Titles: The title tag is displayed at the very top of your browser window, not what appears in the text of the page (that is usually a header tag). Each title needs to be unique. When titles are the same on all pages then the search engine may think the same content appears on each page.
Base HREF: This is a tag that appears in the head section of a document. Setting up a base href tag can help the search engine to determine who owns this page if it gets copied by a scraper. However if this tag is set up incorrectly, or misspelled, it can cause indexing problems in search engines or revert the visitor to another page.
Mirrors or Networks: These are sites with duplicate content and usually hosted on the same host and server and owned by the same person/company which are obvious copies and Google will only allow one of them to rank well (if any).
Alt Tags:This is a tag inside an image link to let those who are blind (and search engines) know what the image is about. When the image alt tags are not utilized it affects keyword ranking in Google.
Backlinks: Backlinks are links pointing at your website from other websites. Unless you have enough backlinks pointing at your site it will never go anywhere in search engines. Merely submitting to the search engines will only get your site indexed.
Split Domain: This occurs when someone links to the website without the www in front of the domain name at which point Google thinks there are two pages with the same content.
Linking to Index This occurs when relative URLs are being used on a site and linking to the home page as index.html (or .htm or .php, default.html, etc.). This causes a duplication problem as search engines see the domain name as the home page and the index.html as another page. This can affect the rank of that page.
Open DNS: This shows a problem with the server and can cause problems receiving email and hijacking vulnerablities. This is a problem your host needs to fix.
Shared Hosting: When a site is hosted on the same server with multiple other sites then if one of them gets penalized they can all get penalized. This usually occurs when people buy cheap hosting services.
302 Redirects: A 302 Redirect tells the search engine that the content on the site now belongs to the site linking to it. This used to occur when people wanted to steal a websites PR (Page Rank) but is rarely found anymore as search engines will now penalize the redirecting site instead of the one being redirected to.
302 and 301 Redirect Errors: This sometimes occurs when a site owner mistakenly redirects a page that has been removed to the home page which destroys the home page keyword rank as well as PR (Page Rank).
Other Malicious Redirects: These include Proxy Hijacks and other means of redirecting a site in a manner that harms it's ranking in Google.
Robots Text Problems: This occurs when pages are unintentionally removed from search engines due to an error in the Robots Text file disallowing search engines. If your site has been hacked check your robots text for errors.
Navigation Problems: This usually occurs when the menu is designed solely in Javascript which Google can sometimes read but not other search engines. This also occurs when the home page is not linked from the inner pages and visa-versa.
Spammy Alt Tags and Comment Tags: When spam (keywords repeated too often) is included in Alt and Comment tags this can incur a lack of Trust Rank (loosing trust) in Google. The alt tag can affect keyword rank but not comment tags.
Duplicate Content: This usually occurs when content is copied off other websites and often occurs on websites marketing other's products. It can also occur on product pages when too many images are used (resulting in a lack of text) and/or not enough unique text is used to describe the content. If other sites use the same text from a manufacturer then those pages will not rank well. It can also be caused by a competitor copying your pages. If the later happens just get more links to the affected pages or change your text.
Keywords in Images: When the business name or other major keywords are ONLY listed in images then the search engines won't see them and this eliminates any chance of ranking for those terms. Its OK to keep the images - just put the same words in the text if you want to rank for them.
Excessive Download Time: This is often caused by using too many images or a large Flash presentation or putting too much information on the home page. Search engine bots won't wait and more important visitors won't either.
Google Bombing" This occurs when a competitor pays for thousands of links pointing at your site and may cause your site to be penalized. If you notice your rank drops suddenly write the affected engine and request reinclusion and tell them you didn't get those links.
Htaccess: Htaccess is a file that redirects the browser to different pages within your site. This can correct a Split Domain and Index to Root problem. It can also tell the search engine that pages you have deleted no longer exist so it will remove them from it's index or it can be used to tell the search engine you've changed the file name (otherwise it can cause a duplication penalty).
Too Few Pages on Site: The more pages you have on a website the more links you have pointing back to the home page (these count as backlinks) and thus more PR (page rank). When you have too few pages then search engines consider your website not important.
Changing File Names: This is a problem when those file names are changed and are not redirected via Htaccess as search engines keep a copy of all pages for up to a year and this can cause a duplication problem.
Changing Domains: This problem occurs when a site owner desides to move content to a new domain and didn't set up a 301 redirect from the old site to the new one. This causes a duplicate content issue in search engines and all PR (Page Rank) and backlinks will be lost.
Capitals in File names: This can cause a 404 error because upper case file names are not always redirected to the right page.
No Keywords in File Names: Some WYSIWYGs (What You See is What you Get) and CMS (Content Management Systems) programs use numbers for file names instead of keywords which hampers keyword ranking.
Linking to Bad Neighborhoods: Linking to sites that Google considers bad neighborhoods can incur a penalty for your site.
Site Name Penalized: The site name is the domain name spelled out, i.e., (Keyword1 Keyword2). When this occurs it does not necessarily mean the site is penalized by Google, but the site may have problems affecting keyword ranking.
Description Tags: This tag is within the head section of the document. Search engines use this tag to describe your website. When description tags are all the same it can cause the search engine to think the same content appears on all affected pages.
Duplicate Titles: The title tag is displayed at the very top of your browser window, not what appears in the text of the page (that is usually a header tag). Each title needs to be unique. When titles are the same on all pages then the search engine may think the same content appears on each page.
Base HREF: This is a tag that appears in the head section of a document. Setting up a base href tag can help the search engine to determine who owns this page if it gets copied by a scraper. However if this tag is set up incorrectly, or misspelled, it can cause indexing problems in search engines or revert the visitor to another page.
Mirrors or Networks: These are sites with duplicate content and usually hosted on the same host and server and owned by the same person/company which are obvious copies and Google will only allow one of them to rank well (if any).
Alt Tags:This is a tag inside an image link to let those who are blind (and search engines) know what the image is about. When the image alt tags are not utilized it affects keyword ranking in Google.
Backlinks: Backlinks are links pointing at your website from other websites. Unless you have enough backlinks pointing at your site it will never go anywhere in search engines. Merely submitting to the search engines will only get your site indexed.
Split Domain: This occurs when someone links to the website without the www in front of the domain name at which point Google thinks there are two pages with the same content.
Linking to Index This occurs when relative URLs are being used on a site and linking to the home page as index.html (or .htm or .php, default.html, etc.). This causes a duplication problem as search engines see the domain name as the home page and the index.html as another page. This can affect the rank of that page.
Open DNS: This shows a problem with the server and can cause problems receiving email and hijacking vulnerablities. This is a problem your host needs to fix.
Shared Hosting: When a site is hosted on the same server with multiple other sites then if one of them gets penalized they can all get penalized. This usually occurs when people buy cheap hosting services.
302 Redirects: A 302 Redirect tells the search engine that the content on the site now belongs to the site linking to it. This used to occur when people wanted to steal a websites PR (Page Rank) but is rarely found anymore as search engines will now penalize the redirecting site instead of the one being redirected to.
302 and 301 Redirect Errors: This sometimes occurs when a site owner mistakenly redirects a page that has been removed to the home page which destroys the home page keyword rank as well as PR (Page Rank).
Other Malicious Redirects: These include Proxy Hijacks and other means of redirecting a site in a manner that harms it's ranking in Google.
Robots Text Problems: This occurs when pages are unintentionally removed from search engines due to an error in the Robots Text file disallowing search engines. If your site has been hacked check your robots text for errors.
Navigation Problems: This usually occurs when the menu is designed solely in Javascript which Google can sometimes read but not other search engines. This also occurs when the home page is not linked from the inner pages and visa-versa.
Spammy Alt Tags and Comment Tags: When spam (keywords repeated too often) is included in Alt and Comment tags this can incur a lack of Trust Rank (loosing trust) in Google. The alt tag can affect keyword rank but not comment tags.
Duplicate Content: This usually occurs when content is copied off other websites and often occurs on websites marketing other's products. It can also occur on product pages when too many images are used (resulting in a lack of text) and/or not enough unique text is used to describe the content. If other sites use the same text from a manufacturer then those pages will not rank well. It can also be caused by a competitor copying your pages. If the later happens just get more links to the affected pages or change your text.
Keywords in Images: When the business name or other major keywords are ONLY listed in images then the search engines won't see them and this eliminates any chance of ranking for those terms. Its OK to keep the images - just put the same words in the text if you want to rank for them.
Excessive Download Time: This is often caused by using too many images or a large Flash presentation or putting too much information on the home page. Search engine bots won't wait and more important visitors won't either.
Google Bombing" This occurs when a competitor pays for thousands of links pointing at your site and may cause your site to be penalized. If you notice your rank drops suddenly write the affected engine and request reinclusion and tell them you didn't get those links.
Htaccess: Htaccess is a file that redirects the browser to different pages within your site. This can correct a Split Domain and Index to Root problem. It can also tell the search engine that pages you have deleted no longer exist so it will remove them from it's index or it can be used to tell the search engine you've changed the file name (otherwise it can cause a duplication penalty).
Too Few Pages on Site: The more pages you have on a website the more links you have pointing back to the home page (these count as backlinks) and thus more PR (page rank). When you have too few pages then search engines consider your website not important.
Changing File Names: This is a problem when those file names are changed and are not redirected via Htaccess as search engines keep a copy of all pages for up to a year and this can cause a duplication problem.
Changing Domains: This problem occurs when a site owner desides to move content to a new domain and didn't set up a 301 redirect from the old site to the new one. This causes a duplicate content issue in search engines and all PR (Page Rank) and backlinks will be lost.
Capitals in File names: This can cause a 404 error because upper case file names are not always redirected to the right page.
No Keywords in File Names: Some WYSIWYGs (What You See is What you Get) and CMS (Content Management Systems) programs use numbers for file names instead of keywords which hampers keyword ranking.
Linking to Bad Neighborhoods: Linking to sites that Google considers bad neighborhoods can incur a penalty for your site.
Lori Eldridge
Copyright © 4-4-10
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