Glossary - G

ghost site
A site that remains available online but is no longer updated. Ghost sites are not the same as abandoned sites. Ghost sites typically contain some statement explaining that it is no longer being updated, but is not removed because it usually contains information that remains valid / has historic value.

Google
www.google.com
Arguably the biggest, fastest and most accurate search engine . Google is famous for its PageRank system. For a detailed look at Google, how important it is, how to rank well at Google and how Google compares to other search engines, please refer to the Search Engine Yearbook .

Google bomb / Google bombing
The practice of using anchor text to make a page show up in the SERP s under keywords that are out of context for that page. For instance, if you want your arch enemy's page to be #1 on Google for "absolute moron", you'd get as many people as possible to link to his page using "abosute moron" as anchor text. Google bombing can of course also be used to create a positive effect. In theory you could get your own site listed at the top for very targeted keywords using the same technique. Both these uses are of course aimed at manipulating search results and as such are spam .

Google Dance
Once a month Google updates its entire index of web sites. That is called the Google Dance and can last for a couple of days – usually it's from about the 20th to the 28th of every month.

Google juice
The quality, power or advantage that a website possesses, which enables it to enjoy a high ranking within the results of Google.

Googlewashing
A term invented to show a sort of cleaning-out of an old meaning of a word and a replacement of that old meaning with the new meaning. Googlewashing is where a new set of pages supposedly replaces older pages (in the SERP s) with a new meaning of a word - like expunging history. In reality, it cannot happen like that. Rather, to find the old meaning you just need to learn how to find it now that a new meaning has come into place as the first documents under that simple query .

Googlewhacking
The name of a " Google game". Google has an immense database . The aim is to enter a query consisting of two words (without using quotes) that returns only one result from the database. The words must both be in the dictionary (if they are they will be underlined at the top of your search results ). If you see "Results 1-1 of 1", you've got yourself a Googlewhack.