Go to the list of all search engine marketing definitions.
Definitions
- description
- Descriptive text summarizing a web page which may be displayed with the page title and URL when the page appears as the result of a user query of a search engine or directory. Some search engines use the text in a page's description meta tag. The alternative source for other search engines is to generate its own description from text on the page. Directories often use text provided at registration or in the site's submission.
- description (META
element)
- The HTML META element which contains text describing the page in which it is used. Amongst other things, this element allows the author to control the text of the summary displayed when the page appears in search engine results. Some search engines use the text stored in this element while others ignore it in favor of generating a description from the page's displayed text.
- directory
- See also search engine.
- A server or a collection of servers the purpose of which is to index Internet web pages and generate lists of pages matching user queries. Directories use human editors to review for acceptance and categorize the content of sites. Directories are compiled manually using website submissions. Examples are Yahoo! and LookSmart. Bruemmer 01
- A directory is basically a manual entry database system. You, as the end user submitting your URL, will supply the directory with all of the needed information during the submission process. At a minimum, this information includes, URL, title and a short summary of your website. Rarely will the directory have any program capable of visiting your website, although a few directories do have a simple spider capable of verifying that the URL you provided was a valid URL. Northern Webs 01
- A simulated file folder on disk. Programs and data for each
application are typically kept in a separate directory (spreadsheets, word
processing, etc.). Directories create the illusion of compartments, but are
actually indexes to the files which may be scattered all over the disk. UNIX
and DOS use the term directory, while the Mac and Windows use the term
"folder."
A database of users, hardware devices and applications in a network. See DSML, directory service and metadirectory.
A search site on the Web that catalogs Web sites by subject and also manually indexes the site, providing a brief description of its content. Yahoo! is the most well-known directory site. See web search sites, metasearch sites and Yahoo!. The Computer Language Company
- A Web directory is a static listing of Web links, usually built up by human editors. Directory links are usually described in a short paragraph, and categorized by subject. (This is as opposed to a Search Engine, which uses an automated database rebuilt regularly by a computer program, or spider, automatically following links.) The Open Directory you are using right now is an example of a Web directory. This category contains general interest directory Web sites in English or multilingual including English. Open Directory Project, searching
- document
- An item of information that users want to retrieve. It could be a text file, a Web page, a newsgroup posting, a picture, etc. Bruemmer 01
- domain
- A sub-set of Internet addresses. Domains are hierarchical, lower-level domains often refer to specific web sites within a top-level domain. The distinguishing part of the address appears at the end. Example of top-level domains: .com, .edu, .gov, .org (subdividing addresses into areas of use). There are also numerous geographic top-level domains: .ar, .ca, .fr, .ro (referring to specific countries). Bruemmer 01
- doorway page
- A web page submitted to individual search engine spiders to meet specific relevancy algorithms. The doorway page presents information to the spider while obscuring it from human viewers. The purpose of doorway pages is to present the spider with the format it needs for optimum rankings while presenting a more appropriate version to human viewers. It's also a way for webmasters to avoid publicly disclosing placement tactics. The use of doorway pages customizes submission to each individual search engine. Also known as gateway pages, bridge pages, entry pages, portals or portal pages. Bruemmer 01
- dynamic content
- Web page content that changes or is changed automatically based on database content or user information. You can usually spot dynamic sites when the URL ends with .asp, .cfm, .cgi or .shtml, but it's also possible to serve dynamic content with standard static pages (.htm or .html). Many search engines index dynamic content, but some don't if there's a "?" character in the URL. Bruemmer 01
