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Above the Fold
If you ever wondered what Above the Fold means, it’s this: what you can see when you open a website on a computer / laptop, without scrolling down. Everything you can see straight away is above the fold; what you have to scroll down to see is, of course, below the fold.
Ad Rank
So just what is Ad Rank? Well: when you’re running Google Ads, Ad Rank is the result of the formula Google uses to decide how far up the results page your ad will appear. Google Ad Rank depends not only on the amount you pay for the keyword (the bid), but also your quality score, how relevant your results are, how good your landing page is, and how satisifed previous searchers who have clicked on your ad have been with the result (based on what Google can see and interpret of their behaviour).
Adsense
Google Adsense if the program that Google uses to place relevant ads on websites. There are a huge number of websites that have agreed with Google to show the ads that Google chooses for that website – the display network (also known as the content network). So someone gives Google an ad (visual, moving images, text) and asks Google to put it on its display network – Adsense is responsible for choosing which sites to show that ad on within its Display Network, at which times of the day and week, and to which visitors. The websites, of course, receive a small amount of money for having Google’s ads show on their site.
Adwords
Google runs ads on its search engine. The top few results you see when you search using Google are paid ads – there’s a (pretty small) notice that they are advertisements. This used to be called Adwords, now it’s changed its name to simple Google Ads
Ahrefs
Ahrefs is a popular online platform which features tools that aid online marketers in keyword research, competitor analysis and link building. It’s highly popular among online marketing professionals and one of the go-to set of tools that SEO professionals use. (Ahref is also an html code which is used to add a link to a website 🙂
AMP pages
Starting around 2015, Google came up with a way for sites to load more quickly on mobile. They established a framework for websites to load a simplified version of their pages – especially for mobile devices, hence the name Accelerated Mobile Pages…is it important? Well – as of early 2021, Google has stepped right back from the project; while not cancelling it completely ( so it’s okay if you have AMP versions of some of your web pages), they’ve decided that their new Page Experience concept achieves the same result, just better…so as of 2021, AMP pages are no longer necessarily relevant.
AR (Augmented Reality)
AR, or Augmented Reality, is somewhat similar to VR – Virtual Reality. The difference is that Augmented Reality allows you to keep seeing the real world, but superimposes digital objects over our analogue reality – the best known example (as of time of writing, mid-2021) is Pokemon Go; but it has a great future in work environments and similar. Note that AR is foreseen as using not only visual elements but also audio.
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Banner
A banner is something that pops up on a website; usually containing advertising (banner ad) – so essentially a visual element which isn’t embedded in the basic framework of the website but appears on top of it.
Below the Fold
Anything that you can see on a website – on a computer / laptop – without scrolling down is known as Above the Fold. And, you guessed it, that which you see when you scroll down – is known as Below the Fold. Web designers with a sense for SEO and Usability (UX) do their best to get the most important contents of a webpage above the fold.
Bidding Types
Bidding types refers to Google Ads – and also Microsoft Ads. When you set up an ad on one of these search engines, you bid on the placing of your ad in Google, Bing / Microsoft search result. You have various bidding types, including CPC (cost per click), Enhanced CPC, Maximise-Conversions, Maximise CPA (cost per aquisition) and so on.
Bing Ads
Although Google Ads – previously known as Adwords – is far better known, Bing is what Microsoft used to call its search engine (for example on the Edge browser, and earler on Internet Explorer). The first few results on these search results pages (SERPs) are advertisements – ie someone has paid to have them placed there. In the Google search engine, these ads are called Google Ads; in the Bing search engine they’re called, surprise! – Bing Ads.
Note that Microsoft has ditched the Bing name, and so also the name Bing Ads. Now it’s Microsoft Search, and Microsoft Ads.
Bitcoin
Bitcoin was the first cryptocurrency. It is still the most well-known (in 2021). While the person – or group of people (it’s still not known), calling themselves Satoshi Nakamoto, who came up with and launched Bitcoin back in 2009, hoped to see it used as a method of payment, the fact is that Bitcoin is used mainly as an investment. Meanwhile there are a whole range of cryptocurrencies out there, some of the best known being ETH (Ethereum) and Dogecoin.
Black Hat SEO
Black Hat SEO refers to methods used to increase the visiblity of websites through means which go against the rules laid down by search engines. It is commonly associated with unethical and sometimes criminal activity. The name comes from the old cowboy movies where the good guys wore white hats (see White Hat SEO) and the bad guys wore black hats.
These days (2021) there also white hat and black hat hackers – whereby white hat hackers hack systems in order to help make the system stronger; while black hat hackers do so for nefarious, usually criminal purposes – or just to annoy people.
BOPIS
BOPIS is – in 2021 – a brand new buzzword that sprange up during the Covid lockdown of 2020/2021, and is an acronym that stands for Buy Online Pick-up In Store – to bridge the gap between the convenience of buying things on the internet while still being able to interact with humans when you collect your item. Or to avoid paying the postage…
Bounce
While also being something you can do in a bouncy castle, for example, a bounce in online marketing terms is when a visitor comes to a website and leaves without visiting any other pages in that website; or without taking any action which is seen as being relevant to the site’s purposes. Also known as a single-session visit. Online marketers tend to obsess with a site’s bounce rate, since it shows whether the site is attracting traffic that is relevant to its content. Others disagree.
Brave (browser)
Brave is a browser that came to prominence in 2021.
Broad Match
Broad Match is one of the bidding types in Google Ads. If you set a keyword, for example “bathmat”, as broad match, then people who search for any phrase or set of words that includes “bathmat” may be shown your ad. Also, of course, if they just write “bathmat”.
There was until recently also something called Broad Match Modified, but that’s gone. Now, apart from Broad Match, you can also bid with Phrase Match and Exact Match (as well as adding negative keywords, also using the above schema).
Broad Match Modified
Broad Match Modified is a google ads bidding type that as of July 2021 is no longer in use. If someone puts in “bathmats” into the Google search box, then they’re primed to see your ad if you use “bathmats” as a broad match keyword. Previously, you could put a plus sign before the keyword in a keyword phrase, and it would tailor who would see your ads further than a simple broad match keyword would. Broad Match Modified has now been subsumed into Phrase Match.
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Call Extensions
If you set up a call extension in your google ad, people will (or rather may) be shown your phone numbrer at the bottom of your google ad, allowing people – especially those searching using a smartphone – to click and call. Note that if you set up a call extension, it won’t always necessarily show. Why not? Because Google 🙂
Callout Extension
A callout extension is different from a call extension. A callout extension is something you add to your google ad, which will give further information to someone seeing the ad – for example, if you set some callout extensions, then these will tend to appear at the bottom of your google ad and show direct links to an offer or a special feature you want to let the user know about.
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