Search Engine Optimization Firm

Alphabetical Index

CGI
Common Gateway Interface - a standard interface between web server software and other programs running on the same machine.

CGI Program
Strictly, any program which handles its input and output data according to the CGI standard. In practice, CGI programs are used to handle forms and database queries on web pages, and to produce non-static web page content.

Channels, Channel listings
Lists of links to selected (and usually popular) web sites. The links are maintained by search engines and directories and are sorted into categories or channels. Sites are picked by a channel editor, often because of a site's already high ranking with the search engines. Some search engines and directories allow visitors to nominate sites for inclusion in their channels.

Client
A computer, program or process which makes requests for information from another computer, program or process. Web browsers are client programs. Search engine spiders are (or can be said to behave as) clients.

Click through
The process of clicking on a link in a search engine output page to visit an indexed site. This is an important link in the process of receiving visitors to a site via search engines. Good ranking may be useless if visitors do not click on the link which leads to the indexed site. The secret here is to provide a good descriptive title and an accurate and interesting description.

Cloaking
The hiding of page content. Normally carried out to stop page thieves stealing optimized pages. See also Bait-and-Switch.

Clustering
The listing of only one page from each web site in a search engine or directory's list of search results. This avoids occupation of all the top results by a small number of web sites and makes the list of results clearer and more useful to the user.

Comment
The HTML tags are used to hide text from browsers. Some search engines ignore text between these symbols but others index such text as if the comment tags were not there. Comments are often used to hide javascript code from non-compliant browsers, and sometimes (notably on Excite) to provide invisible keywords to some search engines.

Crawler
See Spider.

CPC
Cost Per Click, advertising where you only pay when your ad is clicked.

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