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Term	Definition
Cache	Copy of a web page stored by a search engine. When you search the web you are not actively searching the whole web, but are searching files in the search engine index. Some search engines provide links to cached versions of pages in their search results, and allow you to strip some of the formatting from cached copies of pages.
Canonical URL	Many content management systems are configured with errors which cause duplicate or exceptionally similar content to get indexed under multiple URLs. Many webmasters use inconsistent link structures throughout their site that cause the exact same content to get indexed under multiple URLs. The canonical version of any URL is the single most authoritative version indexed by major search engines. Search engines typically use PageRank or a similar measure to determine which version of a URL is the canonical URL. Webmasters should use consistent linking structures throughout their sites to ensure that they funnel the maximum amount of PageRank at the URLs they want indexed. When linking to the root level of a site or a folder index it is best to end the link location at a / instead of placing the index.html or default.asp filename in the URL.
Carrying Costs	Also known as Holding Costs; carrying cost is the cost associated with having inventory on hand. It is primarily made up of the costs associated with inventory investment and storage.
Cash Discount	A percentage reduction in price for payment within a specified period of time.
Cash Flow	The movement of money in and out of a business and the resulting availability of cash.
Catch All Listing	A listing used by pay per click search engines to monetize long tail terms that are not yet targeted by marketers. This technique may be valuable if you have very competitive key words, but is not ideal since most major search engines have editorial guidelines that prevent bulk untargeted advertising, and most of the places that allow catch all listings have low traffic quality. Catch all listings may be an attractive idea on theme specific search engines and directories though, as they are already pre qualified clicks.
Category Killer	A large retail chain store that is dominant in its product category. This type of store generally offers an extensive selection of merchandise at prices so low smaller stores cannot compete.
CGI	Common Gateway Interface - interface software between a web server and other machines or software running on that server. Many cgi programs are used to add interactivity to a web site.
Chain Store	One of a number of retail stores under the same ownership and dealing in the same merchandise.
Chat Software	One of the many different programs available to have real-time discussions. To use chat software, there must be at least two users connected at the same time ready to exchange messages. This is different than message board software, which is not a real-time program.
Checkout Process	Refers to the process an Online shopper or customer must go through to purchase a product or service from an eCommerce site.
Click Fraud	Improper clicks on a PPC advertisement usually by the publisher or his minions for the purpose of undeserved profit. Click fraud is a huge issue for add agencies like Google, because it lowers advertiser confidence that they will get fair value for their add spend.
Cloaking	Displaying different content to search engines and searchers. Depending on the intent of the display discrepancy and the strength of the brand of the person / company cloaking it may be considered reasonable or it may get a site banned from a search engine. Cloaking has many legitimate uses which are within search guidelines. For example, changing user experience based on location is common on many popular websites.
Clustering	In search results the listings from any individual site are typically limited to a certain number and grouped together to make the search results appear neat and organized and to ensure diversity amongst the top ranked results. Clustering can also refer to a technique which allows search engines to group hubs and authorities on a specific topic together to further enhance their value by showing their relationships.
CMS	Content Management System - Tool used to help make it easy to update and add information to a website. Blog software programs are some of the most popular content management systems currently used on the web. Many content management systems have errors associated with them which make it hard for search engines to index content due to issues such as duplicate content.
Co-Citation	In topical authority based search algorithms links which appear near one another on a page may be deemed to be related to one another. In algorithms like latent semantic indexing words which appear near one another often are frequently deemed to be related.
Co-Location	Co-location means housing a web server that you own in the facilities of a hosting provider. This is an option if you want to own your own server, but do not want the hassle or security risk of maintaining that server.
Comments	Many blogs and other content management systems allow readers to leave user feedback. Leaving enlightening and thoughtful comments on someone else's related website is one way to help get them to notice you.
Comments Spam	Comment spam is the unethical practice of leaving links in unrelated blogs and guestbooks with the intent of boosting a site's search engine ranking. Many comment spam postings are left automatically by programs that seek out blogs and guestbooks. One method to combat comment spam is to turn on word verification.
Comments Tag	Some web developers also place comments in the source code of their work to help make it easy for people to understand the code. They can be viewed if someone types views the source code of a document, but do not appear in the regular formatted HTML rendered version of a document. In the past some SEOs would stuff keywords in comment tags to help increase the page keyword density, but search has evolved beyond that stage, and at this point using comments to stuff keywords into a page adds to your risk profile and presents little ranking upside potential.
Concept Search	A search which attempts to conceptually match results with the query, not necessarily with those words, rather their concept. For example, if a search engine understands a phrase to be related to another word or phrase it may return results relevant to that other word or phrase even if the words you searched for are not directly associated with a result. In addition, some search engines will place various types of vertical search results at the top of the search results based on implied query related intent or prior search patterns by you or other searchers.
Conceptual Links	Links which search engines attempt to understand beyond just the words in them. Some rather advanced search engines are attempting to find out the concept links versus just matching the words of the text to that specific word set. Some search algorithms may even look at co-citation and words near the link instead of just focusing on anchor text.
Contextual Advertising	Advertising programs which generate relevant advertisements based on the content of a webpage. Google AdSense is the most popular contextual advertising program.
Contribution Margin	Contribution Margin is the difference between total sales revenue and total variable costs. The term is applied to a product line and is generally expressed as a percentage.
Control Panel	An online package of tools permitting easy site management and editing. Almost all hosting companies provide this option today. By having your own control panel, you can maintain basic information about your site, mailboxes, etc. without having to send emails to the hosting company or call them on the phone.