Web Design Glossary O to Z
In our web design glossary, you’ll find some definitions and explanations of website terminology, such as Content Management System and Search Engine Optimisation. To move through the alphabetical list quickly, use the Index below.
Index
O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Website design glossary starts on the A to N page
O
online shop or store
See e-commerce websites
P
Pay-Per-Click (PPC)
SeeSearch Engine Marketing
page title
Also known as title tag. To see how you can use page titles more effectively and improve the structure of your site for the search engines, see our article, Better Page Titles
R
register domain name
See domain name registration
registry key
Your registry key is a user name and password for the registration of your domain name. Keep a record of your registry key so that you can renew your domain name registration and so your website can have your preferred web address (see URL). SiteSuite will need your registry key to host your website using your preferred web address, if you have not registered your domain name through us.
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S
search bot (robot), crawler or spider
A search bot (robot), crawler or spider is an automated programme used by a search engine (e.g., Google) to 'read' the text content of web pages and add them to the search engine's index. When the search bot 'crawls' or 'spiders' your web pages, it assesses how relevant the content is to the searches people are conducting (e.g., 'used cars Newcastle') and gives each page a ranking. Note: The search engines rank individual web pages, not websites. Your aim, therefore, should be to offer useful information on every page of your website, your home page being the most important, as it is usually the first one that search bots and website visitors see. See also search engine, search directory, Search Engine Optimisation and Search Engine Marketing
search directory
Not to be confused with search engine. A search directory is a list of websites arranged by category, such as location or type of product and service (e.g., Sydney hotels, musical instruments, dentists, Melbourne hair salons, NSW sports clubs). The listing may include a summary about the website. Some directories charge a fee for listings.
Search directories are usually compiled and edited by humans and rely on people submitting websites for inclusion in the directory. They may also approach a business and ask them to pay for a listing.
Unlike search engines, search directories do not use automated programmes to scan the Web for web pages to add to their lists, nor do they scan and store information from web pages. As a result, they don't produce search results based on the content of web pages, but by website category (e.g. Sports). Search directories index websites, rather than web pages.
See also search engine, search bot, Search Engine Optimisation and Search Engine Marketing
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search engine
Not to be confused with search directory. Search engines (e.g., Google) use automated programmes to scan the Web for pages to add to their indices. When someone conducts a search (e.g. ‘wedding photographers Melbourne’), the search engine looks in its index for web pages that match the search terms. The results are listed by the search engine in order of relevance and popularity, using an algorithm to determine the order.
You can submit your web pages for indexing by a search engine such as Google, but the search engine is not obliged to index your pages or give them a high ranking in search results. (Submitting web pages for indexing is different to paying for listings in directories or paying for advertisements that appear to the right of search results – see search directory and Search Engine Marketing.)
Search engines may scan the most important search directories, such as the Open Directory Project, for web pages to add to their indices. Unlike search directories, search engines index and rank web pages, not websites. Search engines rank web pages according to their content, whereas directories list websites by category.
See also search directory, search bot, Search Engine Optimisation andSearch Engine Marketing
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Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
Search Engine Marketing or Pay-Per-Click marketing is usually best for short-term campaigns and goals. Search Engine Marketing means paying for advertising via the search engines and is not to be confused with Search Engine Optimisation, some aspects of which are free when you have a Content Management System.
The most well known Pay-Per-Click system is Google AdWords. Pay-Per-Click campaigns can be a cost-effective way of generating business from your website. You can drive traffic to your site by creating advertisements that appear on the right-hand side of search engine results when a potential customer conducts a search that includes keywords that you have selected. You can set a daily budget, the maximum you're prepared to 'bid' for particular keywords and you only pay when someone clicks on your advertisement. You can specify the location in which you want to advertise. For example, if you provide services only within Sydney, you can ensure that Sydney customers will see your advertisement, but not Perth customers. You can run a Pay-Per-click campaign yourself, or you can pay a Search Engine Marketing company to do it for you.
See also keywords, search directory, search bot, and Search Engine Optimisation
Search Engine Optimisation or Optimization (SEO)
Not to be confused with Search Engine Marketing (paid advertising). Search Engine Optimisation means regularly improving the structure and content of your web pages to increase the likelihood of the search engines giving them a high ranking in search results (e.g., appearing in the first page of results for ‘wedding photographers Melbourne’).
You can do much of this work yourself, using your SiteSuite Content Management System, or pay a Search Engine Optimisation company to advise you. (They may also recommend using Search Engine Marketing as part of your overall strategy to promote your business through your website.) Search engines and website visitors favour sites that are updated frequently and provide useful text information, divided logically across multiple pages. This is one reason why it’s important to have a Content Management System and to use it regularly.
See also Content Management System, keywords, search engine, search bot, search directory, Search Engine Marketing
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static pages
A static web page displays the same information to all users and does not change as the user moves through the website. This is in contrast with dynamic web pages, which are driven by a database. See dynamic pages
T
title tags
Also known as page title. To see how you can use title tags more effectively and improve the structure of your site for the search engines, see our article, Better Page Titles
U
unattached pages
Unattached web pages are pages within your website that do not currently appear in the navigation menu, although you can move them into the menu if you wish, using your SiteSuite Content Management System. An example of an unattached page is the Thank You page that appears on a website visitor’s screen once s/he has submitted a form, such as a feedback form. Naturally, you would not want this page name to appear in the navigation menu of your site.
Uniform Resource Locator (URL)
Every page within a website has a unique address. The address includes the domain name. For example, our domain name is sitesuite.com.au, and the URL for our Products and Services page is http://www.sitesuite.com.au/page/products_services.html. The URL for our Community page is http://www.sitesuite.com.au/page/community.html. The URL for the home page of a site is usually the simplest, and is usually formed by adding 'www.' to the domain name. (E.g. www.sitesuite.com.au).
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W
web browser
Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Fire Fox, Netscape Navigator and Apple Safari are examples of popular web browser applications used for viewing pages from the Web or from Intranets (Intranets are commonly used by companies to give employees access to phone directories, procedural information, etc). A web browser allows you to move from one website to another, and to move between pages within a website, by following hyperlinks.
web hosting
Your website is made up of a collection of files, which have to be hosted (stored) on a powerful server (computer) in order for other people to view your web pages on the Internet, using a web browser. The server where your website is stored, or the company who owns that server, is known as your web host.
SiteSuite provides web hosting, email hosting, webmail and domain name registration, as well as website design. We also make our Content Management System for editing web pages available to our clients via our web hosting and we offer ongoing training and technical support. Many companies can offer you web hosting — storage space for your website files — but they do not all offer support or a Content Management System for editing and updating your web pages, as SiteSuite does.
webmail or web mail
Webmail allows you to access your e-mail account from any computer with an Internet connection. You may already be familiar with popular webmail programmes such as Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail and Google’s Gmail. Remember, if you are away from the office, you can use SiteSuite’s webmail service. See also email hosting.
web marketing
See Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
web page editor
See Content Management System
website software
See Content Management System
website management tools
See Content Management System
WYSIWYG editor
A Content Management System such as SiteSuite’s WYSIWYG web page editor allows you to edit and update your website. Through this interface, you can add text, images and hyperlinks and format the content of your web pages. WYSIWYG stands for What You See Is What You Get and is pronounced wizzy-wig). As the name suggests, the editor is designed to be familiar to anyone who has used a word processing program.