A popular Apple Internet browser.

Also known as a Buying Funnel.

A controversial idea that Google places new websites under a filter that prevents them from ranking for competitive terms. Those that believe in the sandbox jump through impressive hoops to try and explain the behavior in a predictable manner. It is more likely that new sites are not placed into a sandbox, but new links must remain in Google's index for a certain time before they provide much Google juice. It is possible that links from trusted sites build Google juice faster than other links.

1) The extent to which a Web site’s pages are included in a search engine index. 2) The extent to which a Web site’s pages appear in a given query’s search result. 3) The extent to which a link profile is distributed across a Web site’s pages.

A term coined by Boing Boing reader John that reflects the feeling one gets when caught doing something one shouldn't on Google Street View.

An alternative name for malware.

Also known as Paid Search.

A search conversion occurs when a user clicks through a link in search results. Some metrics require that the user remain on the destination for a minimum length of time in order for the click-through to count as a search conversion.

The process of reading a web page and extracting the content into a database. If a page is not in a search engine's index, it cannot be returned for a natural search query. Method of improving indexing include the addition of bread crumbs and a site map, and the avoidance of frames, Flash-based sites, and using Javascript for links.

Techniques used to improve a website's rankings in the search engines. Consists of on-page optimization, indexing improvements and link building. Often abbreviated as SEO.

The position a website has on a search results page when a particular keyword is searched for. One should only be concerned with rankings for Google, Yahoo and MSN Search at this time, as other engines either do not have material amounts of traffic, or are actually driven by one of the big three search engines. Ask.com could join this list of relevant search engines in the future.

The pages returned by a search engine when a search query is performed. Generally consists of both paid search and natural search listings. Often abbreviated as SERPs.

Used to anticipate customer intent and develop keywords targeted to different stages in the purchasing process.

User data that is stored by search engines. This data is used to determine improvements in ad targeting or to make old information on the web easily available.

The information provided by a search engine about a specific Web document in response to a query as part of a search result . A typical search listing may include a page title, descriptive text (called a “snippet”), page name/URL, cache information, and other supplemental/incidental information.