Search Engine Optimisation Glossary
Affiliate
Someone who sets up a business that is in between the original manufacturer and the end customer. Often these are not wholesalers, but store fronts. Most often, affiliates do not handle product delivery or customer support.
Cloaking
Using some system to hide code or content from a user, and deliver custom content to a search engine spider. The word Cloak comes from Star Trek where the Klingons were capable of "cloaking" their ships invisible. There are two main types of cloaking: IP based, User Agent based. IP based cloaking custom delivers a page based on the users IP address . User Agent cloaking sends a custom page based upon the users Agent (most often use to take advantage of a particular agents strengths or features).
CPA
Cost Per Action. The website only gets paid for advertising if the user purchases something at the advertisers site.
CPM
Cost per Thousand
CTR
Click Through Rate, If an advert is shown 100 times and clicked 5 times it has a click through rate of 5%.
Directory
A directory is a web site that focuses on listing web sites by individual topics. A quasi table of contents. A search engine lists pages, where a Directory (such as Looksmart or The Open Directory Project lists websites).
