Technology related acronyms find there way into the lexicon of online professionals every day, however to a large number of businesses who are new to the industry, they can be rather confusing.

In the world of Search, the list of acronyms is a mile long. Below you will find out some of the more important ones.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
This is the term that most people have become familiar with. SEO consists of a series of methods and techniques used to ensure a website captures its maximum amount of exposure with search engines and visitors in general. Due to changing search engine algorithms and the endless growth of the web, SEO is more of an ongoing effort than a short term, quick fix.

SEM (Search Engine Marketing)
Online marketing is every bit as important as print, television, radio, etc. With the growing versatility of online marketing, it provides the ability to track conversions and reach markets that otherwise be unreachable. While very much its own component, SEM is directly tied in to SEO, as any advertising initiative will be directly effected by changes made due to SEO.

PPC (Pay Per Click)
Online advertising, such as Google AdWords or Microsoft Adcenter use the term Pay-Per-Click to explain their type of service. Generally, when a potential customer clicks on an advertisers ad, the advertiser will be charged a specific fee. That fee is determined by a large number of factors, such as page quality, relevance, CPC and more. These services have also evolved over the years to include different payment models, such as cost per thousand impressions and cost per action.

CPC, CPM & CPA (Cost Per Click / Impression / Action)
The most widely used payment method for online advertising is Cost-Per-Click. When an advertiser’s ad is clicked, they are charged a fee regardless of whether the visitor proceeds to purchase a product, or simply leaves the site. Cost Per Impression should actually be referred to as Cost Per 1,000 Impressions, since for every 1,000 Ad impressions an advertisers ad receives, they are charged a fee. This should be used with caution, as you can be charged without receiving any site traffic. If an advertiser only wants to pay when a potential customer buys a product or calls their sales department, then they would use a Cost Per Action payment model. This method is generally much higher priced, as is similar to an advertiser only paying for a television ad when it was confirmed that the viewers at home physically bought the product directly after viewing the ad.

SERP (Search Engine Results Page)
When you search for something using Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc, it is certain that a listing will be displayed, containing approximately 10 results, along with ads, relevant keywords and more. These pages are known as SERPs and are used by some as the basis for ‘ranking’ a site. Generally, visitors will click through the first 2 or maybe 3 pages of search results before changing their key phrase. If a website shows up on the first or second SERP, especially with a competitive key phrase, it should receive a good amount of search traffic.

RSS (Real Simple Syndication)
While not technically an SEO specific term, RSS feeds are widely used for the delivery of content across multiple websites and blogs. As we mention time and time again… content is king. Through the utilization of RSS feeds, new, frequent content is made easily accessible to everyone.