Industry Dictionary for SEO/SEM

Aaron Wall, best known for the SEO Book and SEO Blog, has put together an extensive SEO Glossary that serves as an excellent resource for anyone in the industry.

I was looking through it this morning and noticed that it includes interesting facts about various search engines, experts and websites, in addition to commonly used terms and phrases. For example, the listing for AltaVista states:

AltaVista
Search engine bought out by Overture prior to Overture being bought by Yahoo. AltaVista was an early powerhouse in search, but on October 25, 1999 they did a major algorithmic update which caused them to dump many websites. Ultimately that update and brand mismanagement drove themselves toward irrelevancy and a loss of mindshare and marketshare.

You'll also find reference links throughout the definitions, which are helpful for more in-depth information and theory. Aaron doesnt just define industry terms - he basically offers a growing reference guide to anything search-related.

For example, if you look at the definition for Anchor Text, you will see that Aaron gives you an example of the HTML Code and a link to a Backlink Analyzer tool as well. The listing for Danny Sullivan includes a link to his personal blog and his profile on Search Engine Watch. Etc.

Whether you are brand new to search marketing, or a seasoned expert, this is a resource worth bookmarking. Between useful tips, interesting facts and resourcful links... this glossary actually makes for great reading from A to Z! It is also under a Creative Commons license which means that you can modify it, distribute it, sell it, and even keep the rights to whatever you create from this content...

--> www.seobook.com/glossary/

Also of interest is Aaron Wall's General Theory on SEO and the Web. There are actually quite a few interesting tidbits and references on this page if you take the time to read it and follow the links. 😉