B
Backlinks – All the links pointing at a particular web page. Also called inbound links or incoming links.
Ban – Also known as Delisting. Refers to a punitive action imposed by a search engine in response to being spammed. Can be an IP address of a specific URL
Baseline Metrics – Time-lagged calculations (usually averages of one sort or another) which provide a basis for making comparisons of past performance to current performance. Baselines can also be forward-looking, such establishing a goal and seeking to determine whether the trends show the likelihood of meeting that goal. They become an essential piece of a Key Performance Indicator (KPI).
Behavioral Targeting – The practice of targeting and serving ads to groups of people who exhibit similarities not only in their location, gender or age, but also in how they act and react in their online environment. Behaviors tracked and targeted include web site topic areas they frequently visit or subscribe to; subjects or content or shopping categories for which they have registered, profiled themselves or requested automatic updates and information, etc.
Bias
A prejudice based on experiences or a particular worldview. Any media channel, publishing format, organization, or person is biased by how and why they were created and their own experiences the current set of social standards in which they exist other markets they operate in the need for self preservation how they interface with the world around them their capital, knowledge, status, or technological advantages and limitations Search engines aim to be relevant to users, but they also need to be profitable. Since search engines sell commercial ads some of the largest search engines may bias their organic search results toward informational (ie: non-commercial) websites.
Bid – The maximum amount of money that an advertiser is willing to pay each time a searcher clicks on an ad. Bid prices can vary widely depending on competition from other advertisers and keyword popularity.
Bid Boosting – A form of automated bid management that allows you to increase your bids when ads are served to someone whose age or gender matches your target market. This level of demographic focus and the “bid boosting” tool are current Microsoft adCenter offerings.
Black Box Algorithms – Black box is technical jargon for a when system is viewed primarily in terms of input and output characteristics. A black box algorithm is one where the user cannot see the inner workings of the algorithm. All search engine algorithms are hidden. black hat Search engine optimization tactics that are counter to best practices such as the Google Webmaster Guidelines.
Black Hat SEO –– Search engines set up guidelines that help them extract billions of dollars of ad revenue from the work of publishers and the attention of searchers. Within that highly profitable framework search engines consider certain marketing techniques deceptive in nature, and label them as black hat SEO. Those which are considered within their guidelines are called white hat SEO techniques. The search guidelines are not a static set of rules, and things that may be considered legitimate one day may be considered deceptive the next.
Blacklists - A list of Web sites that are considered off limits or dangerous. A Web site can be placed on a blacklist because it is a fraudulent operation or because it exploits browser vulnerabilities to send spyware and other unwanted software to the user.
Block Level Analysis – A method used to break a page down into multiple points on the web graph by breaking its pages down into smaller blocks. Block level link analysis can be used to help determine if content is page specific or part of a navigational system. It also can help determine if a link is a natural editorial link, what other links that link should be associated with, and/or if it is an advertisement. Search engines generally do not want to count advertisements as votes.
Blog – A periodically updated journal, typically formatted in reverse chronological order. Many blogs not only archive and categorize information, but also provide a feed and allow simple user interaction like leaving comments on the posts. Most blogs tend to be personal in nature. Blogs are generally quite authoritative with heavy link equity because they give people a reason to frequently come back to their site, read their content, and link to whatever they think is interesting. The most popular blogging platforms are Wordpress, Blogger, Movable Type, medium and Typepad. A blog website which presents content in a more or less chronological series. Content may or may not be time sensitive. Most blogs us a Content Management System such as WordPress rather than individually crafted WebPages. Because of this, the Blogger can chose to concentrate on content creation instead of arcane code.
Blog – A truncated form for “web log.” A blog is a frequently updated journal that is intended for general public consumption. They usually represent the personality of the author or web site.
Blog Comment Spam
Either manually or automatically (via a software program) adding low value or no value comments to other sites. As time passes both manual and automated blog comment spam systems are evolving to look more like legitimate comments. I have seen some automated blog comment spam systems that have multiple fake personas that converse with one another.
Blogger – Blogger is a free blog platform owned by Google. It allows you to publish sites on a subdomain off of Blogspot.com, or to FTP content to your own domain. If you are serious about building a brand or making money online you should publish your content to your own domain because it can be hard to reclaim a website's link equity and age related trust if you have built years of link equity into a subdomain on someone else's website. Blogger is probably the easiest blogging software tool to use, but it lacks many some features present in other blog platforms.
Blogroll – Link list on a blog, usually linking to other blogs owned by the same company or friends of that blogger.
Bold –A way to make words appear in a bolder font. Words that appear in a bolder font are more likely to be read by humans that are scanning a page. A search engine may also place slightly greater weighting on these words than regular text, but if you write natural page copy and a word or phrase appears on a page many times it probably does not make sense or look natural if you bold ever occurrence.
Bookmarks – Most browsers come with the ability to bookmark your favorite pages. Many web based services have also been created to allow you to bookmark and share your favorite resources. The popularity of a document (as measured in terms of link equity, number of bookmarks, or usage data) is a signal for the quality of the information.
Boolean Search – Many search engines allow you to perform searches that contain mathematical formulas such as AND, OR, or NOT. Most search engines include AND with your query, requiring results to be relevant for all the words in your query. Some search engines also allow you to search for other unique patterns or filtering ideas.
bot (robot, spider, crawler) – A program which performs a task more or less autonomously. Search engines use bots to find and add web pages to their search indexes. Spammers often use bots to “scrape” content for the purpose of plagiarizing it for exploitation by the Spammer.
bounce rate – The rate of users who enter a site and then leave it without viewing any other pages.
Brand – The emotional response associated with your company and/or products. A brand is built through controlling customer expectations and the social interactions between customers. Building a brand is what allows you to move away from commodity based pricing and move toward higher-margin value based pricing.
Brand – Customer or user experience represented by images and ideas, often referring to a symbol (name, logo,symbols, fonts, colors), a slogan and a design scheme. Brand recognition and other reactions are created by the accumulation of experiences with the specific product or service, both from its use, and as influenced by advertising, design and media commentary. Brand is often developed to represent implicit values, ideas and even personality.
Brand and Branding – “A brand is a customer experience represented by a collection of images and ideas; often, it refers to a symbol such as a name, logo, slogan, and design scheme. Brand recognition and other reactions are created by the accumulation of experiences with the specific product or service, both directly relating to its use, and through the influence of advertising, design, and media commentary.” (Added Definition) “A brand often includes an explicit logo, fonts, color schemes, symbols, sound which may be developed to represent implicit values, ideas, and even personality.”
Brand Lift – A measurable increase in consumer recall for a specific, branded company, product or service. For example, brand lift might show an increase in respondents who think of Dell for computers, or WalMart for “every household thing.”
Brand Messaging – Creative messaging that presents and maintains a consistent corporate image across all media channels, including search.
Brand Reputation - The position a company brand occupies.
Branding Strategy – The attempt to develop a strong brand reputation on the web to increase brand recognition and create a significant volume of impressions.
Bridge Page – Often used to describe the web pages that linked together many doorway pages on a web site.
Branded Keywords – Keywords or keyword phrases associated with a brand. Typically branded keywords occur late in the buying cycle, and are some of the highest value and highest converting keywords. Some affiliate marketing programs prevent affiliates from bidding on the core brand related keywords, while others actively encourage it. Either way can work depending on your business model and marketing savvy, but it is important to ensure there is synergy between internal marketing and affiliate marketing programs.
Breadcrumb Navigation – Navigational technique used to help search engines and website users understand the relationship between pages. Whatever page the user is on is unlinked, but the pages above it within the site structure are linked to, and organized starting with the home page, right on down through the site structure. bread crumbs Web site navigation in a horizontal bar above the main content which helps the user to understand where they are on the site and how to get back to the root areas.
Broken Link – A hyperlink which is not functioning. A link which does not lead to the desired location. Links may broken for a number of reason, but four of the most common reasons are a website going offline linking to content which is temporary in nature (due to licensing structures or other reasons) moving a page's location changing a domain's content management system. Most large websites have some broken links, but if too many of a site's links are broken it may be an indication of outdated content, and it may provide website users with a poor user experience. Both of which may cause search engines to rank a page as being less relevant.
Browser – Client used to view the world wide web. The most popular browsers are Microsoft's Internet Explorer, Mozilla's Firefox, Safari, and Opera.
Bucket – An associative grouping for related concepts, keywords, behaviors and audience characteristics associated with your company's product or service. A “virtual container” of similar concepts used to develop PPC keywords, focus ad campaigns and target messages