A Microsoft standard for computer program building blocks known as objects

The process of ensuring the identity of a user who has logged on to a system.

Any link on another page that points to the subject page. Also called inbound links or IBLs. The number of IBLs to a page increases its popularity with the Search Engines.

How much stuff you can send through a connection. Usually measured in bits-per-second. A full page of English text is about 16,000 bits. A fast modem can move about 15,000 bits in one second. Full-motion full-screen video would require roughly 10,000,000 bits-per-second, depending on compression. See Also: Bps, Bit, T-1

A single digit number in base-2, in other words, either a 1 or a zero. The smallest unit of computerized data. Bandwidth is usually measured in bits-per-second.
See Also: Bandwidth, Bps, Byte, Kilobyte, Megabyte

A measurement of how fast data is moved from one place to another. A 28.8 modem can move 28,800 bits per second.
See Also: Bandwidth, Bit

A black hat is a person who compromises the security of a computer system without permission from an authorized party, typically with malicious intent. The term white hat is used for a person who is ethically opposed to the abuse of computer systems, but is frequently no less skilled.

A Client program (software) that is used to look at various kinds of Internet resources.
See Also: Client, URL, WWW, Netscape, Mosaic, Home Page (or Homepage)

A set of Bits that represent a single character. Usually there are 8 Bits in a Byte, sometimes more, depending on how the measurement is being made. See Also: Bit

Business-to-Business. Businesses providing goods or services to other businesses.

Business-to-Consumer. Businesses selling products to end users on the Internet.

An unethical SEO practice. It involves a different version of a web page being presented to each search engine spider. Each different version of the web page is optimized for the search engine spider it is presented to (i.e. exploiting its weaknesses). You can be penalized heavily by the search engines for doing it, so don't do it.

Bits of data stored on your computer that provide information back to a Web server.

Copy protection, also known as copy prevention or copy restriction, is a kind of hardware or storage media oriented method for technologically preventing unauthorized reproduction of copyrighted software, movies, music, and other media.

Acronym meaning "consumer to business."

A unique name for a web site (e.g., kegworld.com)

A doorway page exists solely for the purpose of driving traffic to another page. They are usually designed and optimized to target one specific key phrase. Doorway pages rarely are written for human visitors. Using doorway pages is a violation of the Terms Of Service of most search engines and could be grounds for banning.

DSL or xDSL, is a family of technologies that provide digital data transmission over the wires of a local telephone network. Typically, the download speed of consumer DSL services ranges from 256 kilobits per second (kbit/s) to 24,000 kbit/s, depending on DSL technology, line conditions and service level implemented.

ADSL modem or DSL modem is a device used to connect a single computer or router to a DSL phone line, in order to use an ADSL service.

The ability for an organization to sell products/services, provide online payment solutions, and process transactions via the web.

The electronic equivalent of a business document.

The computer application-to-computer application transmission of business documents in a pre-determined, standard format.

An electronic equivalent of a written signature that could be a code or a symbol.

The process of converting a message so that it is unreadable unless "decrypted." It is a method of securing privacy on networks through the use of complex mathematical algorithms. Encrypted files are usually assigned a key that must be used in order to decrypt them.

A very common method of networking computers in a LAN. Ethernet will handle about 10,000,000 bits-per-second and can be used with almost any kind of computer.
See Also: Bandwidth, LAN

A computer containing data or programs that another computer can access by means of a network or modem.

This is an acronym of HyperText Markup Language - it is the primary markup language used to create websites.

Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is a communications protocol used to transfer or convey information on intranets and the World Wide Web.

Internet Service Provider. A company that allows one to access the Internet through their equipment.

This is the ratio of the keyword frequency as compared to the total words found on a page. Online tools can be used to compare keyword densities for multiple pages. With this knowledge, one can build up a page with a similar density as other high ranking pages.

On the World Wide Web, a link farm is any group of web sites that all hyperlink to every other page in the group. Although some link farms can be created by hand, most are created through automated programs and services. A link farm is a form of spamming the index of a search engine (sometimes called spamdexing or spamexing).

When two sites are linked to each other for relevant content and search engine optimization.

Meta tags are HTML entities which are placed within the <head> section of a webpage. The most common, and most relevant to search engines, are the KEYWORDS and DESCRIPTION tags. The KEYWORDS tag is used to place emphasis on specific keywords that the author believes is relevant to the webpage. The DESCRIPTION tag is used to provide a brief and concise description of the webpage. While no longer as important as they once were, these tags are still used by some search engines.

In computing, a mouse (plural mice or mouses) functions as a pointing device by detecting two-dimensional motion relative to its supporting surface. Physically, a mouse consists of a small case, held under one of the user's hands, with one or more buttons

A web site where the main purpose is to list other web sites (e.g., Yahoo!)

Short for "search engine optimization", the process of increasing the amount of visitors to a Web site by ranking high in the search results of a search engine. The higher a Web site ranks in the results of a search, the greater the chance that that site will be visited by a user. It is common practice for Internet users to not click through pages and pages of search results, so where a site ranks in a search is essential for directing more traffic toward the site.

SEO helps to ensure that a site is accessible to a search engine and improves the chances that the site will be found by the search engine.

Short for search engine marketing, SEM is often used to describe acts associated with researching, submitting and positioning a Web site within search engines to achieve maximum exposure of your Web site. SEM includes things such as search engine optimization, paid listings and other search-engine related services and functions that will increase exposure and traffic to your Web site.

A script or program running on a web site that tracks what customers want to buy, gathers the products a customer wants and passes the information along to a checkout stage.

This is the actual process by which a site is directly submitted to a search engine for inclusion into their database. Some search engines charge a certain amount for 'guaranteed inclusion' into their search index.

Because most Web pages contain links to other pages, a spider can start almost anywhere. As soon as it sees a link to another page, it goes off and fetches it. Large search engines, like Alta Vista, have many spiders working in parallel.

Universal Resource Locator. The address of a web page.

A computer that is configured for the sole purpose of hosting web sites.

A Website (alternatively, website or web site) is a collection of Web pages, images, videos or other digital assets that is hosted on one or several Web server(s), usually accessible via the Internet, cell phone or a LAN.