WEB SCIENCE | VOCABULARY
Search Engine
A software system designed to search for information on the World Wide Web. Examples include Google, Bing, and Yahoo.
SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages)
The pages displayed by search engines in response to a user's query, consisting of a list of search results.
Crawling
The process used by search engines to discover new and updated pages to add to their index, using web crawlers or bots.
Indexing
The process of processing and storing data from web pages in a database for quick retrieval by a search engine.
PageRank Algorithm
An algorithm used by Google Search to rank web pages in their search engine results, based on the number and quality of links to a page.
HITS Algorithm (Hyperlink-Induced Topic Search)
An algorithm that rates web pages, identifying them as hubs (linkers) or authorities (linked to) based on their link structures.
Surface Web
The portion of the World Wide Web that is readily available to the general public and searchable with standard web search engines.
Deep Web
The part of the web not indexed by standard search engines, including pages behind paywalls or those requiring sign-in credentials.
Dark Web
A small portion of the Deep Web that has been intentionally hidden and is inaccessible through standard browsers, often associated with anonymity and possibly illegal activities.
Meta-Tags
Snippets of text that describe a webpage's content; they are placed in the page's code and are used by search engines to help index and display the page in search results.
Parallel Web Crawling
A method of web crawling where multiple crawlers operate simultaneously, dividing the task to increase efficiency and speed.
SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
The practice of increasing the quantity and quality of traffic to a website through organic search engine results.
Black Hat SEO
Unethical SEO practices that focus solely on search engines and not a human audience, often violating search engine guidelines.
White Hat SEO
Ethical SEO practices that focus on a human audience and adhere to search engine rules and policies.
Click-Through Rate (CTR)
A metric that measures the number of clicks advertisers receive on their ads per number of impressions.
Bounce Rate
The percentage of visitors to a particular website who navigate away from the site after viewing only one page.
Backlinks
Links from one website to a page on another website, often used in SEO as indicators of the linked-to content's quality.
Algorithmic Bias
Systematic and repeatable errors in a computer system that create unfair outcomes, such as privileging one arbitrary group of users over others.
Voice Search
A technology that allows users to perform searches by verbally asking a question on a smartphone, smart device, or a computer.
Mobile-First Indexing
The practice by search engines of predominantly using the mobile version of the content for indexing and ranking.