In the most recent installment of Search Engine Optimization Terms Explained, four critical terms related to SEO and SEM (search engine marketing) were detailed. This included LSI or Latent Semantic Index terms - phrases related to keywords, Meta Data - data search engines no longer rely on, Monetization - earning money from a site, and Nameservers and NoFollow/DoFollow link types - more complicated parts of search engine optimization strategies and terms. In this installment of the series we'll discuss four more terms that individuals, web masters and business owners should have a strong grasp on: Off and On Page Optimization, Organic Traffic, and the infamous Page Rank.

*Off-Page Optimization

Off-Page Optimization refers to all efforts made to rank a site that do not actually occur on the site. This can include strategies like blog commenting, article marketing, press release distribution and other tactics. In general these strategies rely on building a variety of links from different sources all pointing back to the home site. The more credible and contextually relevant those links are, the more the referenced page will be given authority for its targeted terms in the SERPs. (Search Engine Results Page.)

Off page optimization can also use other more complicated strategies such as building private networks and mirror sites.

*On-Page Optimization

On Page optimization consists of the data and information that is deliberately embedded in a website in order to tell search engines and human visitors what the site or page is all about. This information is generally found in the form of keywords and keyphrases located in the title and headings of pages and posts, in the meta data of a site, and in the content and related descriptions.

For instance, let's use a Pittsburgh SEO company as an example. The on-page optimization of the company website - if properly developed - will likely include SEO in Pittsburgh and other such terms in the title of the pages, and in the title of the posts of the site features and articles section or a blog. These same keywords will also need to be included in the form of data packets that the search engines can easily find and index.

*Organic Traffic

Organic traffic refers to traffic that arrives at a website as a result of entering a n organic search term and finding the site in the results from a source other than paid advertisements. Organic search results are the most powerful type of search reference available and companies compete for top positions. In order for an organic search campaign to be effective, the best combination of On Page and Off Page optimization must be used.

*Page Rank

Page Rank is a measure of trust and authority assigned to a website by Google. Page Rank is a range of PR1 through PR10, with PR10 being the highest measure of trust and authority possible. However, Google is vague about the page rank metrics and recently has urged webmasters and others in the search engine optimization industry to rely less - if at all - on the PR of a particular site or page. Nevertheless, page rank is usually a good indicator of a trustworthy site, as long as the page has not been manipulated. (i.e. by buying an aged domain and repurposing it. This can work for short periods of time, but Google will almost always catch on and act accordingly.)

In the next installment in the series Search Engine Optimization Terms explained 4 more crucial terms related to the SEO and SEM industries will be detailed. This includes: Plugins, Press Release Syndication, PPC and Referring Domains. But if you need professional SEO services right now, use the links at the bottom of this article.