Glossary - Understanding Sponsored Search - page 252

for receiving a qualified purchase inquiry online) or provide consumer informa-
tion (demographic, contact, and behavioral) where the consumer opts into being
contacted by a marketer (e-mail, postal, telephone, and fax). These processes are
priced on a performance basis (e.g., cost per action, lead, or inquiry) and can
include user applications (e.g., for a credit card), surveys, contests (e.g., sweep-
stakes), or registrations (Source: IAB) (see Chapter 6 BAM!).
Link : a clickable connection between two Web sites. Formally referred to as a hyper-
link. If you click on the link, you will be taken to that page (Source: modified from
IAB and Quirk) (see Chapter 2 model).
Link bait : editorial content, often sensational in nature, posted on a Web page and
submitted to social media sites in hopes of building inbound links from other sites
(Source: Search Engine Watch) (see Chapter 4 ads).
Link building : the process of getting quality Web sites to link to your Web site to
improve search engine rankings. Link-building techniques can include buying links,
reciprocal linking, or entering barter arrangements (Source: Search Engine Watch)
(see Chapter 2 model).
Listing : a series of results shown on a SERP (see Chapter 4 ads).
Load time : the length of time it takes for a page to open completely in the browser
window (Source: Quirk) (see Chapter 2 model).
Log analyzer : software that provides information about a site's visitors, activity sta-
tistics, accessed files, click-through paths, and other analytical data based on the
user's behavior (Source: Quirk) (see Chapter 7 analytics).
Log file : a file that records transactions that have occurred on the Web server. Some of
the types of data collected are: date/time stamp, URL served, IP address of requestor,
status code of request, user agent string, and previous URL of requestor. Use of the
extended log file format is preferable (Source: IAB) (see Chapter 7 analytics).
Log file analysis : the analysis of records stored in the log file. In its raw format, the
data in the log files can be hard to read and overwhelming. There are numerous log
file analyzers that convert log file data into user-friendly charts and graphs. A good
analyzer is generally considered an essential tool in SEO because it can show search
engine statistics such as the number of visitors received from each search engine, the
keywords each visitors used to find the site, visits by search engine spiders, and so on
(Source: SEMPO) (see Chapter 7 analytics).
Logarithmic chart : a chart for which the price scale (usually on the vertical axis)
is skewed so that a given distance always represents the same percentage change in
price rather than the same absolute change in price (as is the case for a linear chart). In
other words, the distance from 1 to 10 is the same as the distance from 10 to 100 on a
logarithmic chart, but the latter distance is ten times greater on a linear chart (Source:
BusinessDictionary) (see Chapter 3 keywords).
Long tail : keyword phrases with at least three, sometimes four or five, words in
them. These long-tailed keywords are usually highly specific and draw lower traffic
than shorter, more competitive keyword phrases, which is why they are also cheaper.