Click to see all terms relating to: SEO • Paid Search • Analytics

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Click-through
Clicking a linked element in a web page, which causes the browser to load the linked page.

Click-through is often associated with web advertising, as a click-through signifies that an ad has been clicked on by a web site visitor.

Click-through Rate
Click-through rate, or CTR, is a percentage used to show the effectiveness of a web advertisement. CTR is determined by dividing the number of visitors who clicked on an ad by the number of times an ad was displayed (also known as impressions).

For example, if an ad was shown 50 times, and 1 user clicked on the ad, that ad's CTR would be 2%.

CTR is a great way to measure the success of a web advertising campaign.

Client-side Scripting
Client-side scripting is when a computer script or program is executed on the client-side (as opposed to the server-side), usually meaning in a user's web browser. Javascript is often used for client-side scripting.

CMS
See Content Management System

Coding
Slang for computer programming.

Computer Programming
The process of writing, testing, and debugging code written in a programming language, which when compiled or run, makes up a computer programs.

On the web, programming is done on the server side with languages such as PHP or Perl, and on the user-side with languages such as Javascript.

Content Management System
Often abbreviated to CMS, a content management system allows for the direct control over the content on a website or a particular section of a website. A content management system often works in conjunction with a database, to store web site content, and offers a code-free approach to content management.

Often a CMS allows a webmaster to update text and pictures, add new pages, and sometimes adjust page styling, all within the constructs of a user-friendly interface. Joomla and Wordpress (for blogging) are both widely used and full featured content management solutions available for free.

Conversion
A desired action a web visitor completes after arriving at your web site. E.g. purchasing a product, completing an enquiry form, or e-mail form, signing-up for a newsletter etc.

Cookies
HTTP Cookies, usually referred to as just 'cookies,' are files sent to a user's web browser when they access a web site. Depending on a user's settings, these cookies are usually stored on their computer, and used to save information from the web site on the user's computer, for future use. Every time a user goes back to a site that has stored a cookie on their computer, the cookie's information is sent back to the server. Often cookie information is used to re-establish some sort of status on the web site, such as being logged into a forum, or showing an old shopping cart on an ecommerce site.

Cookies are also often used in tracking visitors, allowing a site to better track user activity. Popular free stats programs StatCounter and Google Analytics both make use of tracking cookies to gather more information about site visitors.

Copywriting
Writing that promotes products and/or services. "SEO Copywriting" is a related term that pertains to writing for website content that is optimized for search engines with strategic keyword placement while remaining accessible to readers.

Crawler
Also known as a spider or robot - a computer program or script that automatically navigates the web, viewing pages, archiving them, and referencing them for use in search engines and other projects.

CSS
CSS is an acronym that stands for Cascading Style Sheets. CSS is a stylesheet language that is used to control the presentation of elements in a markup language, and is generally used in combination with HTML, and XHTML.

Basically, CSS is used to set fonts, colors, sizes, arrangements, and other visual aspects of a web document.