Online Marketing Glossary
Online Advertising (PPC) Terms
Pay Per Click Advertising - Also known as PPC or Search Engine Marketing, it's the generic term for the paid for advertisements that display on top of, or next to the organic search results in search engines like Google, Yahoo and Microsoft Live or MSN. The revenue from these ads make up the bulk of the earnings that Google and Yahoo report as profit each quarter. They are also lucrative for advertisers - provided the advertisers are vigilant in the monitoring and maintenance of their campaigns.
Google AdWords - Google's online advertising platform, also know as Pay Per Click or PPC. It allows advertisers to buy their way onto the first (and subsequent) pages of Google's search results. Done properly, the return on investment can be huge. Google's searches yield a higher concentration of "research" based users. The AdWords tool itself is not as easy to use and understand (there are plenty of nuances) as other Google applications. There are many stories of customers losing lots of money by simply "setting and forgetting" their ad campaigns. This a recipe for disaster - and one of the main reasons that customers look to professional PPC management firms like AdSynergies.
Yahoo Search Marketing - Yahoo's platform for Pay Per Click advertising. With only 20% of the market for search engine marketing it has less impact than Google, but has generally lower costs per click (for similar clicks) and has a higher proportion of "commerce" related searches.
Microsoft AdCenter - Microsoft's platform for Pay Per Click advertising. With 7% of the market it has less impact than either Google AdWords or Yahoo Search Marketing, but it is relatively easy to set up and one can copy existing campaigns from Google to save time. It is well worth the effort as long the campaigns are monitored and adjusted regularly.
Washington PPC - AdSynergies PPC Pay Per Click Methodology. A multi-step process for the set-up and monitoring of Pay Per Click advertising campaigns. Based on foundational keyword research, landing page optimization and relevancy, Washington PPC facilitates lower bids and higher ROI due to higher quality scores.
Quality Score - An algorithm used in the Pay Per Click advertising platforms for ranking the relevancy of landing pages to their corresponding PPC advertisements and keywords. Higher quality scores indicate a stronger correlation - thus giving the customer what they are searching for. This increased "quality" or relevance is often rewarded by the PPC platforms with lower keyword costs and improved ad placement position.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Terms
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) - Search Engine Optimization is a set of methodologies, processes and techniques used by SEO practitioners to boost the search engine rankings of web pages.
White Hat SEO - White hat SEO is the ethical conduct of search engine optimization. Through adherence to a set of ethical standards, SEO practitioners are able to achieve higher search engine rankings without resorting to techniques that create spam or other chaotic derivatives on the internet.
Keyword (Keyword Phrase) - A word or group of words that comprise a search term. "delicious stinky cheese" is a keyword phrase.
Page Rank - Also known as Google Juice, is the rank that Google assigns individual web pages within your site. Page Rank or PR is based on a logarithmic 0 -10 scale which considers the content and transparency of your site according to Google's search bots as well as the number and quality of inbound and outbound links to the site.
Googlebot - The software robots or "bots" that Google uses to find and categorize or "index" websites. The Googlebots will index more regularly as sites are updated. The results of the indexing and Google's Page rank algorithms determine the rankings for each page.
