Beacon

A snippet of code placed in an ad, on a Web page or in an e-mail which helps measure whether it was delivered to the browser—and helps track actions in general.

Back to top

Behavioral Targeting

Using advertising technology to target Web users based on their previous behavior (see "Profiling").

Back to top

Beta

A test version of a Web site or software, prior to final release. A Web designer's way of testing a site's wings out in the big scary world.

Back to top

Blog

Short for "Web log," a kind of online diary that a user ("blogger") can constantly update with his/her own news/opinions/photos/what have you. Through blogs, regular people can now compete with recognized publishers for the attention of millions of Web readers.

Back to top

Broadband

An Internet connection that delivers a relatively high bit rate—any bit rate at or above 128 Kbps. Cable modems and DSL both offer broadband connections.

Back to top

Buffering

When a streaming media player holds back portions of a streaming media file until there is enough information for the stream to begin playing.

Back to top

Cache Busting

Serving content in a way that reduces or prevents browsers from just pulling content out of their caches. This forces the browser to fetch a fresh copy for each request—so a site gets a more exact count of the number of requests from users.

Back to top

CGI Script (Common Gateway Interface)

A way to pass data to a Web server, usually through a Web form where you enter information and then click "submit."

Back to top

Click

The opportunity to be transferred to a new site by clicking on an ad, as recorded by the server.

Back to top

Click-Through Rate (CTR)

Percentage of times users responded to an ad by clicking on it.

Back to top

Cloaking

"Tricking" a search engine into giving a site a higher ranking. Done by giving false content to the search engine's spider, pretending the site is something it isn't. This often gets users to visit a site based on a completely fabricated description, only to find that the site contains completely irrelevant—maybe even harmful—content. Ew.

Back to top

Codec

Short for compressor/decompressor. Codecs are computer algorithms that are used to compress the size of audio, video and image files—making them smaller so they use less bandwidth.

Back to top

Conversion Rate

The percentage of clicks that generate sales or leads. This number is given by dividing the number of sales/leads by the number of clicks you send to the offer. For example, if 100 clicks generated 100 visitors to your site, and those visits generated 5 sales/leads, then your conversion rate would be 5%.

Back to top

Content Integration

Working advertising messages into a regular article or blog post—also known as a "Web advertorial."

Back to top

Cookie

A file on your computer that tracks where you've been on the Web. Your browser stores this information, so sites you've visited can "recognize" you when you return. But if you want to go into stealth mode, you can always disable them.

Back to top

Deep Linking

Linking to a page deep within the inner recesses of a site, where the ultra-specific content lives (instead of just linking to the home page).

Back to top

DNS (Domain Name System)

Translates domain names to IP addresses. In other words, DNS takes a simple "name.com" construction and turns it into a jumble of numbers—so that Web servers can tell exactly where a request is coming from (see "IP Address").

Back to top

Emoticons

Punctuation mark combos that look like smiley faces, sad faces, winking faces, etc. (We say "etc." to acknowledge that there are, in fact, more complex emoticon options out there—but beware that your e-lameness is directly proportional to the complexity of your emoticons.) A way to compensate for the fact e-mail can't communicate tone of voice. Useful if your e-friends never know when you're joking.

Back to top

Expandable Banners

Fixed online ads that expand when a user rolls over them with the mouse. Also called skyscrapers.

Back to top

Firewall

A security barrier placed between your internal computer network and the Internet. It keeps your information in and unwanted people out—your very own Secret Service.

Back to top

Flash

A vector-based animation program that has become popular with Web designers. But it tends to throw a wrench into this whole SEO business—because search engine spiders can't read the text contained in a Flash design.

Back to top

Floating Ads

Ads that appear within the main browser window on top of the Web page's normal content—"float" over the page.

Back to top

Frames

Multiple, independent sections that add up to a single Web page. Each frame is built as a separate HTML file but with one "master" file to identify each section.

Back to top

Frequency Cap

Limit on the amount of times a specific user is shown a specific ad. Leave 'em wanting more, we always say.

Back to top

GIF (Graphic Interchange Format)

A graphics format that can be displayed on almost all Web browsers. Everybody's doing it—most of the pictures you see online are GIF files.

Back to top

Hacker

Originally used to describe a computer enthusiast who pushed a system to its highest performance through clever programming. Problem is, a bunch of e-hooligans have given hackers a bad name.

Back to top

Heuristic

A way to measure a user's unique identity by looking out for a rule or algorithm only valid for that server.

Back to top

Hit

Any request to the Web server for any type of file—an HTML page, an image (jpeg, gif, png, etc.), a sound clip, a CGI script, the kitchen sink, etc.

Back to top

HyperText Markup Language (HTML)

A coding language used to make hypertext documents for use on the Web. Basically, a block of text is surrounded by codes pointing out how it should appear online.

Back to top

Hyperlink

A clickable link in text or graphics that takes you somewhere else when clicked—whether to another place on the same page, to another page on the same site or to a completely different site altogether. It's the single most powerful and important function of online communications.

Back to top

Interactive Advertising

The big umbrella category that covers all forms of online, wireless and interactive television ads—including banners, sponsorships, e-mail, keyword searches, referrals, slotting fees, classified ads and interactive television commercials.

Back to top

Interstitial Ads

Ads that appear between two content pages. Also known as transition ads, intermercial ads and splash pages.

Back to top

Intranet

Private networks that use Internet protocols, software and servers. Corporations usually use them for employee e-mail and messaging. They make it is easy for corporate users to communicate with one another, and to access information on the Internet.

Back to top

Inventory

The number of ads available for sale on a Web site. Ad inventory is determined by the number of ads on a page, the number of pages containing ad space and the number of page requests.

Back to top

IP Address

Internet Protocol address. Every system connected to the Internet has a unique IP address, which consists of a number in the format A.B.C.D where each of the four sections is a decimal number from 0 to 255. Most people use domain names instead, which are then converted to IP addresses by the network and the Domain Name Servers. With virtual hosting, a single machine can act like multiple machines (with multiple domain names and IP addresses).

Back to top

ISP (Internet Service Provider)

A business that provides Internet to either individuals or companies. And there's a lot of Net to go around—there are over 3,000 ISPs in the U.S. alone. So shop around.

Back to top

Java

A programming language created supports enhanced features, such as animation or real-time updating of info.

Back to top

Keyword

Magic words, that magically draw traffic to your site. OK, actually, they're just words that are commonly entered into search engines, and advertisers can buy them in order to get ads embedded into the search results—but don't you think the magic thing makes a better story?

Back to top

Lag

The amount of time between making an online request and receiving a response. Often, a user will give up if a site lags too long. Until lag time disappears completely, the Internet can't claim total user-friendliness.

Back to top

Link Popularity

A measure of inbound links. In other words, when a lots of quality sites link over to one particular site, then that site has become very "link popular."

Back to top

Log File

A file that records transactions occurring on the Web server—like the URL served, IP address of requestor, status code of request, user agent string, previous URL of requestor, etc. T's crossed, check; i's dotted, check.

Back to top

M-commerce

Mobile commerce—conducting monetary transactions via a mobile device. Business-on-the-go, literally.

Back to top

Meta Search Engine

A search engine that pools the results of other search engines to offer up a wider range of results. Web search on steroids.

Back to top

Micro-sites

Multi-page ads reached by clicking an initial ad. The user stays on the publisher's Web site, but gets more information from the advertiser than would come from standard ad format.

Back to top

Netiquette

The Internet's own rules of conduct. In this electronic age, leaving the e-mail subject line blank or using excessive CAPSLOCK is as mortifying as picking up your meat fork during the salad course.

Back to top

Opt-in

Giving a company permission to use your data for a particular reason, like sending emails to market the company's products and services.

Back to top

Organic Search Results

"All-natural" results from a Web search, appearing in the main body of a search page. These are the results that haven't been paid for and are placed according to how closely they match the search term.

Back to top

Paid Listings

The search results in which advertisers pay to be featured prominently. This list usually appears in a separate section to the organic search results—usually at the top of the page or down the right hand side.

Back to top

Performance Pricing Model

An advertising model in which advertisers pay based on a set of agreed upon performance criteria, such as a percentage of online revenues or delivery of new sales leads.

Back to top

Pixel

Picture element (single illuminated dot) on a computer monitor. Used to indicate the size of Internet ads.

Back to top

Podcasting

Making an audio file—like a radio program—available to download to an mp3 player.

Back to top

Portal

A Web site or service that offers a broad array of resources and services, such as email, forums, search engines, and online shopping malls. A way of keeping the site's users "close to home." The first Web portals were online services, such as AOL, that provided access to the Web—but now most search engines have transformed themselves into Web portals to attract and keep a larger audience.

Back to top

Profiling

Learning about a consumer's interests by tracking their movements online. Like a Private Eye. But without the narration and creepy saxophone.

Back to top

Push

A server delivering ("pushing") information to a consumer rather than letting the user request ("pull") the information themselves. It's where profiling pays off.

Back to top