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SEO Glossary: B

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Back links
Back links are inbound links pointing to a web page.

See: Inbound Links Definition [edit]
Bait and Switch
Bait and switch is considered as a spam technique when used in SEO. It provides one page for a search engine or directory and a different page for other user agents at the same URL. Sometimes it creates an optimized page and submits to search engines or directory, but replaces with the regular page as soon as the optimized page has been indexed.

- Allen Qu from Netconcepts [edit]
Banned
When a search engine blocks your site from appearing in its search results. [edit]
Banner Ad
A graphic image, usually a GIF or JPEG, that can be placed anywhere on a web page, most frequently centered across the top. The tile ad is a smaller counterpart, typically grouped with other tile ads along a side margin. The standard banner ad is 468 x 60 pixels; the most common size for tile ads is 125 x 125 pixels.

The Interactive Advertising Bureau regulates guidelines and standards for display advertising sizes.  [edit]
Beacon
A line of code placed in an ad or on a web page that helps track the visitor's actions, such as registrations or purchases. A web beacon is often invisible because it's only 1 x 1 pixel in size and has no color. Also known as web bug, 1 by 1 GIF, invisible GIF or tracker GIF. [edit]
Beyond The Banner
Any advertisement that is not a banner, such as an interstitial or a pop-up ad. [edit]
Bid management tool
Software or an ASP service used to manage bids on pay-per-click search engines such as Yahoo Search Marketing (formerly Overture) and Google AdWords. [edit]
Bidding
Bidding means placing a bid price that you are willing to pay as an advertiser on a pay-per-click search engine. The highest bid for a given keyword achieves the top spot in the PPC search results. In Overture, the top three bids are "featured" on Overture's partners' sites, including AOL, Altavista, Infospace, and others. The minimum bid amount on Overture is 5 cents per clickthrough.

Also see Pay Per Click / PPC Definition [edit]
Black Hat SEO
Black Hat SEO is sometimes called spamdexing (the opposite of White Hat SEO). Black Hat SEO can be any optimization tactics that cause a site to rank more highly than its content would otherwise justify or any changes made specifically for search engines that don’t improve the user’s experience of the site. In other words, Black Hat SEO is optimizations that are against search engine guidelines. If you step too far over the mark, your site may be penalized or even removed from the index.

For example, adding product reviews to e-commerce site is encouraged, because it adds useful content to the site. However, using bait-and-switch techniques to create a doorway page that hooks people querying for information on soccer, it then leads to information about health products will be unacceptable.

The following Black Hat SEO tactics should be avoided to keep your site away from penalties:
• Keyword, anchor text and domain name stuffing
• Using hidden text or links
• Using techniques to artificially increase the number of links to your pages, such as link farms
• Excessively cross-linking sites to increase link popularity
• Cloaking, delivering different pages depending on the IP address and/or agent who is requesting it
• Doorway / Gateway / Jump Pages
• Duplicate content taken from other sites
• Auto-generated content of no value to the end user
• Spamming forums or blogs
• Excessive outbound links to websites that use high risk techniques or spam

Last but not least, stay close to search engine guidelines is always a good idea while optimizing your site.

Search Engine Guidelines:

• Yahoo! Search Content Quality Guidelines
• Google Information on Search Engine Optimizers
• MSN Guidelines for successful indexing

- Allen Qu from Netconcepts [edit]
Blacklist
lists that either search engines or vigilante users compile of search engine spammers, which may be used to ban those spammers from search engines or to boycott them. [edit]
Blog
Also known as a "weblog". An online diary with entries made on a regular if not daily basis. Some blogs are maintained by an anonymous author who uses a nickname or handle instead of his or her real name.

 [edit]
Body copy
the 'meaty' textual content of a web page. Body copy refers to text visible to users, doesn't include graphical content, navigation, or information hidden in the HTML source code. [edit]
Bot
Short for robot. See "spider" [edit]
Bridge page
see "doorway page" [edit]
Broad Match
Broad Match is a form of "keyword matching" and refers to the matching of a search listing or advertisement to selected keywords in any order.

This means if selected keywords are "running shoes", then ads or a search listing may be displayed if the users searches upon the following example keywords:

Any Order: "shoes running"
Synonym: "running sneakers"
Plural, Singular: "running shoe"

Broad match terms are less targeted than exact or phrase matches.  [edit]
Bulk submission services
an ASP that submits many URLs to the search engines on your behalf. For example: SubmitWolf. Search engines don't like these. (see "automated submitting") [edit]
Button
A clickable graphic that takes the user to another page or executes a program, such as a software demo or a video player. [edit]