Have you ever heard of paperclip ads on the internet? What about penguins and spiders, or quarries, anchors and breadcrumbs?
Language is changing at literally the speed of light these days, and it can be hard to keep up.
If you’re feeling a bit lost in the lingo, don’t worry. In fact, there are no paperclip ads on the internet (unless we’re talking about promotions for office supplies). But there are pay-per-click (PPC) ads.
There are also relatively few rock pits on the internet. Instead, there are hundreds of millions of queries, meaning requests for information such as searches on Google. And if you’ve every heard of gooey development, don’t worry that your app is going to end up soft and sticky. Instead, people are probably referring to GUI, an acronym for graphical user interface.
I could go on for days about favorite eggcorns, from doggy-dog worlds to explanation marks and pigments of imagination. Other all-time favorites are:
- half-asked efforts
- intensive purposes
- knowing people from atom
- packs with the devil
- relationships with no stings attached (OK – maybe just a typo but still hilarious)
- ideas passing mustard
- escape goats
Mondegreens are also pretty great, starting with the infamous “excuse me while I kiss this guy,” from Jimi Hendrix. I also love:
- “there’s a bathroom on the right” from Credence Clearwater Revival
- “the cross-eyed bear that you gave to me” from Alanis Morissette
- “you made the rice, I made the gravy” from Billy Joel
- “secret Asian man” from Johnny Rivers
- “here we are now, in containers” from Nirvana
But F’real Guys
For the record, there really are penguins in SEO, referring to a Google algorithmFormulas or computational procedures used to solve complex computer problems. update. There are also spiders, meaning computer programs that search through huge sets of data, and breadcrumbs, meaning elements users see that help them navigate on a webpage.
Check Your Eggcorns in our New Glossary
If you think you might be misunderstanding SEO terms or even if you want more clarification on the jargon of search engine marketing, we invite you to check out the first-ever Online Image® glossary. We’ve defined some standard terms such as “sitesThe entire set of pages that make up a website, including the homepage (root domain) and all other pages.” and “domainThis is a string of numbers that is translated into URLs. Top-level domains are represented by suffixes such as .com or .org. Domain names are the URLs for specific websites.,” less common ones such as “meta descriptionsThese are made up of the words that show up under hyperlinks in search engine results and are usually a few sentences about the page. Along with Meta titles, these make up metatags.,” and technical ones such as “canonical URLThis is the final URL users see when they navigate to your site after all redirects, and it can be used to help users get to your site regardless of whether they use http, https, www or other combinations before typing the root domain.” and “semantic markupHTML markup that is used to reinforce the meaning of online content and give it a language that can be better understood by search engines..”
You can also learn about the alphabet soup of internet acronyms, from SEO itself to PPCPay-per-click ads incur charges whenever users click on them, and their cost is determined during a bidding process. In Google Adwords, for example, these ads show up when users search for relevant keyword phrases., rich snippetsRich Site Summary is a format for the delivery of web content that changes regularly, such as content on a news site or blog., SaaSThis stands for software as a service. These applications are often web-based and require subscription or service fees., FTPFile transfer protocol is a system for transferring files online, and FTP servers store online files. In some cases, making changes to websites requires access to FTP servers. and DNSThis stands for domain name system, meaning a system for organizing and naming computers and networks into named domains that are easy to find.. If you have a little time to spare, you could study every definition from “AdwordsGoogle’s paid ads program for display and PPC (pay per click) advertising.” to “white hatThis is the term for search engine optimization and Internet marketing firms, such as Online Image®, that focus on honest ways to improve websites. Rather than trying to trick search engines, “white hat” firms focus on improving user experience to improve rankings..”
Did we miss any terminology? For that matter, have you come across any great mondegreens and eggcorns? We would love to hear from you.