Internet Marketing Terms: The Basics

I put together this Quick Reference Guide in case you are new to online marketing or just want a primer on some of the basic Internet Marketing terms. (For easy reference, this list of Internet Marketing terms is arranged alphabetically).

Keywords/Keyword Phrases are the terms used by online searchers to find what they are seeking. In general, the broader (or shorter) the term, the harder it will be to rank for due to increased competition. The more specific (3 words or more) the term, the easier it will be to achieve high organic search results.

The trade-off? The more specific terms usually receive a lot less traffic than the broader terms – BUT the traffic is more highly targeted (and often more motivated to buy). These more specific terms are also referred to as long-tail keywords.

Example: # of Searches/Month # of Results

Health Insurance: 450,000 104,000,000

Supplemental Health Insurance 8,100 3,120,000

The number of searches/month lets you know how many people are looking for a particular term. There is no sense trying to rank #1 for a term nobody is searching for (kinda like being the best surfer in Kansas, don’t ya think? ) The supply side of the equation (number of results) represents your competition .

The number of searches/month and the number of results returned represent only part of the equation, however. What really matters is how strong that competition is. I use Micro Niche Finder for all of my keyword research because it shows how many times a term has been searched for in the last month (plus the average number of searches/month over the last 12 months) and the number of sites the term appears on. In addition, it also clearly indicates the Strength of Competition (SOC) for particular keywords.

Organic Search Results (aka “Natural” or “Non-Paid” Search Results) are the results that are returned by Search Engines naturally. Most SEO efforts are targeted to obtain 1^st page Google results – preferably in spots 1, 2 or 3. Rankings are based on specific keywords and keyword phrases.

PageRank is the scale Google uses to determine the relative importance of a web site. The scale ranges from 0 – 10, with 10 being the most important. Page Rank is determined by a number of factors, including the amount of quality content a site has, how often it is updated and (mostly) the number of quality back links pointing to the site from “authority” sites.

Note: PageRank numbers increase exponentially – and it is very difficult for all but the largest sites to get beyond a 6 or 7. (Yahoo is an “8”). The higher a site’s PageRank – the more valuable getting a back link from it is.

Search Engines were originally developed to help Internet users find the information they were looking for online quickly and easily. The Big 3 are Google, Yahoo and Bing – (Google dominates w/ over 70% market share).

Some argue that the future of the Internet is LOCAL. Evidence to support this is Google’s decision in April 2009 to feature more localized search results. This means that they are able to track the general location of an Internet searcher’s computer I.P address to a particular geographic region and return results relevant to that area. This shift towards localization represents a MAJOR market trend – one that local businesses would be wise to capitalize on sooner versus later.

One popular LOCAL search engine is Local.com, while industry or niche-specific search engines abound, (i.e. restaurants.com and business.com).

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) refers to PAID forms of online advertising/marketing, including Pay-Per-Click (PPC), online box, banner or text ads and any other paid forms of driving traffic to a website.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) refers to how businesses obtain “organic” (non-paid or natural) search engine generated traffic. The best ways to accomplish this are by adding unique SEO content (and LOTS of it) to a web site and building quality back links from authoritative sites. Social Networking and Bookmarking sites such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and StumbleUpon can be leveraged to improve organic search engine results, as well.

That’s all I’ve got for now – but am sure I’ll continue to add on/update this list as time goes on. If I missed something, be sure to let me know – just leave a comment below!