Search Engine Optimization Firm

Alphabetical Index

Dead Link
An internet link which doesn't lead to a page or site, probably because the server is down or the page has moved or no longer exists. Most search engines have techniques for removing such pages from their listings automatically, but as the internet continues to increase in size, it becomes more and more difficult for a search engine to check all the pages in the index regularly. Reporting of dead links helps to keep the indexes clean and accurate, and this can usually be done by submitting the dead link to the search engine.

De-listing
The removal of pages from a search engine's index. Removal can occur for various reasons, including unreliability of the machine that hosts a site or because of perceived attempts at spamdexing.

Description
Descriptive text associated with a web page and displayed, usually with the page title and URL, when the page appears in a list of pages generated by a search engine or directory as a result of a query. Some search engines take this description from the DESCRIPTION Meta tag - others generate their own from the text in the page. Directories often use text provided at registration.

Direct Hit
A system which monitors the search engine users' selections from search engine results, counting which results are clicked on most, and how long visitors spend at that site, so as to improve relevancy. Used by HotBot and as a plug-in to Apple's new innovative Sherlock search system. See www.directhit.com.

Directory
A server or a collection of servers dedicated to indexing internet web pages and returning lists of pages which match particular queries. Directories (also known as Indexes) are normally compiled manually, by user submission (such as at whatsnew.com), and often involve an editorial selection and/or categorization process (such as at LookSmart and Yahoo).

Dogpile
A meta search engine. Found at http://www.dogpile.com.

Domain
A sub-set of internet addresses. Domains are hierarchical, and lower-level domains often refer to particular web sites within a top-level domain. The most significant part of the address comes at the end - typical top-level domains are .com, .edu, .gov, .org (which sub-divide addresses into areas of use). There are also various geographic top-level domains (e.g. .ar, .ca, .fr, .ro etc.) referring to particular countries. The relevance to search engine terminology is that web sites which have their own domain name (e.g. http://www.nativetongues.com) will often achieve better positioning than web sites which exist as a sub-directory of another organisation's domain (e.g. http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/tijana/).

Doorway Page
See Gateway Page.

Dynamic content
Information on web pages which changes or is changed automatically, e.g. based on database content or user information. Sometimes it's possible to spot that this technique is being used, e.g. if the URL ends with .asp, .cfm, .cgi or .shtml. It is possible to serve dynamic content using standard (normally static) .htm or .html type pages, though. Search engines will currently index dynamic content in a similar fashion to static content, although they will not usually index URLs which contain the ? character.

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