Glossary Terms

Definition: Placing excessive amounts of keywords into the page copy and the HTML in such a way that it detracts from the readability and usability of a given page for the purpose of boosting the page’s rankings in the search engines. This includes hiding keywords on the page by making the text the same color as the background, hiding keywords in comment tags, overfilling alt tags with long strings of keywords, etc. Keyword stuffing is just another shady way of gaming the search engines and, as such, its use should be strongly discouraged.

FirstClickSEO Commentary: A ‘black hat’ technique that will get you banned. This happened to BMW, check out our history page to learn more.

Definition: Determining the words and phrases that people use to find something, then compiling them into a list for use on web pages, etc.

FirstClickSEO Commentary: Without a lot of research, you are taking a lot of risks in any on-line marketing investment. This is the purpose of a “First Analysis” which we offer our clients.

Definition: the location (i.e. placement) of a given keyword in the HTML source code of a web page. The higher up in the page a particular word is, the more prominent it is and thus the more weight that word is assigned by the search engine when that word matches a keyword search done by a search engine user. Consequently, it’s best to have your first paragraph be chock full of important keywords rather than superfluous marketingspeak. This concept also applies to the location of important keywords within individual HTML tags, such as heading tags, title tags, or hyperlink text. So get in the habit of starting off your title tags with a good keyword rather than “Welcome to.

FirstClickSEO Commentary: If you want to gain good rankings for a particular keyphrase, check out where it is mentioned, not just how often.

Definition: the number of occurrences of searches done by Internet users of a given keyword during a period of time. Both WordTracker.com and Overture’s Keyword Selector Tool (http://inventory.overture.com) provide keyword popularity numbers

FirstClickSEO Commentary: This is what determines how difficult it will be to rank well for that particular keyword. The greater the popularity, the more competitive the demand for rankings on that keyword.

Definition: the number of occurrences that a given keyword appears on a web page. The more times that a given word appears on your page (within reason), the more weight that word is assigned by the search engine when that word matches a keyword search done by a search

FirstClickSEO Commentary: We recommend 3-4%.