Glossary

A collection of web development and digital marketing terminology.

AJAX

Asynchronous Javascript and XML, also know as AJAX, is generally used for creating dynamic web applications. AJAX allows the user to request information from a web server, without having to reload the page.

Ad Group

In search engine advertising, ad group refers to a group of one or more advertisements that target a shared group of keywords.

Ad Position

On search engine result pages (SERPs), ad position refers to the position of your paid advertisement. An ad with a good ad position is located at the top of the SERP.

Adaptive Design

A web design approach that uses static layouts based on breakpoints that represent possible viewing device widths. Each potential layout is “snapped” into position based on the current viewing device’s screen width.

Application Programming Interface (API)

An API is a set of tools or processes for building software applications. APIs specify how components of software should interact with each other.

Bounce Rate

Refers to the percentage of website visitors who immediately navigate away from the website after viewing only one page.

Back-end Development

The area of web development that deals with the computational logic of a website. These features will be indirectly accessed through a front-end.

Concrete5

An open source content management system (CMS) built with PHP.

Content Management System (CMS)

A software application that supports the addition and modification of digital content. Often times, a CMS will allow for multiple user accounts.

Campaign

In search engine advertising, a campaign refers to a set of ad groups that share settings like budget and location targeting.

Cascading Style Sheet (CSS)

CSS is a style sheet language used to format the layout of a webpage. This includes spacing, fonts, colors, and other design elements.

Deprecated

Deprecated code refers to code that is no longer supported by a specific programming language. This is usually because the code is outdated and/or has been replaced with a better option.

Front-end Development

The area of web development that deals with client-side programming languages like HTML, CSS, and Javascript.

Graphical User Interface (GUI)

A GUI refers to a type of user interfaces that allows the user to interact with software through graphical icons and symbols.

Google Search Console

A free web tool provided by Google that allows webmasters to check on the indexing status of their website. Search Console also allows webmasters to submit and manage sitemaps.

Google Analytics

A free web analytics service offered by Google. This service allows you to track and report website traffic. Google Analytics is one of the most widely used web analytics services on the Internet.

Google AdWords

An advertising service provided by Google that shows ads on Google’s search engine result pages. Users can bid for ad positions by maintain a monthly ad budget, and only pay when a user clicks an ad.

Hypertext Markup Language (HTML)

The standard set of markup symbols or code for creating web pages and web applications.

Inline Frame (Iframe)

An inline frame is a wrapper used to display one or more web pages from within a web page.

Javascript

A high-level programming language commonly used in front-end and back-end website development.

Keyword

A word or group of words that describe your product or service. Keywords are used to determine where your advertisement will appear in search engine results.

Landing Page

A page where a user first enters a website. This could be from a Google search, ad click, or direct traffic. Landing pages can have a big impact on a user’s perception of your website.

Laravel

An open-source PHP web framework that was created by Taylor Otwell. It was created for the development of web applications using the model-view-controller (MVC) architectural pattern.

MySQL

A popular open source relational database management system. Data in MySQL is organized in related tables.

Open-source

Refers to the source code of a software program that is freely available to the public. Most of the time, a team of volunteers maintains this type of software.

Plug-in

Third-party software that extends the capabilities of a website or web application. Plug-ins are useful in extending software functionality without having to re-code the core programming.

PHP

A server-side scripting language that provides a suite of tools for website developers to build dynamic website with. PHP powers many popular web frameworks like WordPress and Laravel.

Quality Score

With respect to search engine advertising, quality score refers to the quality of keywords, ads, and landing pages. Higher quality scores often lead to more desirable ad positions as well as lower prices.

Robots.txt

Also know as the robots exclusion protocol (REP), robots.txt is a text file that is created by webmasters to instruct search engine robots how to behave when indexing pages of a website.

Responsive Design

A web design approach that focuses on creating a layout that formats based on the viewing device’s width.

Script

Generally refers to a segment of code on a website or web application that adds functionality.

Structured Query Language (SQL)

A programming language designed to manage data held in relational database management systems (RDMS).

Static Web Design

A web design approach that uses absolute with values and concrete layouts. Static website designs do not adapt to different screen widths.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Search Engine Optimization refers to the process of maximizing the number of visitors to a website by increasing said website’s search engine result rankings.

Search Engine Result Page (SERP)

A search engine result page (SERP) is a web page that is generated as a response to a user’s search engine query. These pages list out search engine results related to the user’s keywords.

Variable

In software development, a variable is a storage location for data that is paired with a symbolic name.

Web Server

A computer with software installed that allows it to host websites and pages, while making them available to the public.

Web Application

A software application that a user runs in a web browser. Common web applications include webmail, ecommerce sales, wikis, and instant messaging services.

WordPress

A popular open source content management system (CMS) built with PHP. WordPress has a very active developer community that supports a robust selection of plugins and other useful tools.