SEO (search engine optimization, SEO) is the work of getting a company's web pages to appear near the top of a search engine's natural search (自然検索) results.
User searches with a word
Search engine sets the order
Optimized page tends to rank high
Clicks bring more visitors
Higher-ranked pages catch the eye and get clicked more, so the site draws more visitors.
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Natural search results are the ordinary listings a search engine ranks by its own criteria, excluding the paid ad slots. Typical measures include earning links from other sites and putting the words users are likely to search for into page titles and body text. The higher a page ranks, the more often it is seen, so it attracts visitors without ad spending.
AnalogyIt is like a tourist information desk that recommends shops in an order set by its own standards: a shop polishes its details and reputation to fit those standards so its name comes up first.
How to rememberShort for Search Engine Optimization; the optimization is aimed at search engines.
Exam points
ExamSEO is the umbrella term for the measures that lift a company's site higher in the results when someone searches by keyword.
Mix-upListing ads (リスティング広告) are paid placements shown in the ad slots of search results. SEO buys no slot and instead raises a page's rank in natural search (自然検索), so the two appear in different places.
A/B testing (A/Bテスト) prepares two versions, shows each to a different group of users, and compares results such as clicks or purchases to pick the better one.
Make versions A and B
Show them to random groups
Measure each result
Adopt the better version
Put the version with the higher share into production.
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Changing only a few elements makes it easier to tell which change caused the difference in results. Assigning users at random and running both versions in parallel over the same period keeps every condition other than the versions the same. The benefit is that the choice rests on numbers from real users' behavior rather than hunches or personal taste.
AnalogyIt is like handing out two flyer designs in turn, one per passerby, over the same period, counting which flyer brings more people into the shop, and printing that design from then on.
How to rememberThe name simply puts side by side the labels of the two versions being compared, A and B.
Exam points
ExamA/B testing (A/Bテスト) runs two versions in parallel with real users and judges which is better from figures such as purchases or member sign-ups.
Recommendation (レコメンデーション) is a system that infers a user's tastes from their browsing history, purchase history and similar data, and suggests products or information likely to suit that person.
Each user's browsing and purchase records
Infer tastes from records
Show each person different picks
Products or information that match the inferred tastes appear on that person's screen.
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Browsing history records which pages someone viewed, and purchase history records what they bought. A video streaming service, for example, looks at the kinds of titles a person has watched so far and lines up the ones they are likely to watch next. Instead of showing everyone the same items, it changes the display for each person to lead to the next purchase or use.
AnalogyIt is like a clerk at your regular bookshop who remembers the books you bought and, each time you visit, picks out one new release that suits your taste.
How to rememberComes from the English verb recommend.
Exam points
ExamRecommendation (レコメンデーション) is a marketing technique that changes the products shown to each user based on that user's records, encouraging them to buy.
Mix-upAffiliate marketing (アフィリエイト) has other people place a company's ads or links on their sites and pays them according to the results those links bring. Recommendation (レコメンデーション) instead uses a user's records to suggest products suited to that person.
Digital signage (デジタルサイネージ) is a system that shows information and ads as video or text on screens (displays) placed where people gather and linked by a network.
Paper poster
Digital signage
Changing content
Reprint and repost
Switch over the network
Expression
Text and still images
Moving video too
Showing by time of day
Hard to do
Different content morning and night
Because the screens are networked, their content can be switched from a remote location, and the same content can be sent to many sites at once. Content can change by time of day or location, and moving video easily catches the eye of passersby. Besides ads, it is used for notices such as directions and transit service updates.
AnalogyIt is like replacing a notice board that is tedious to repost with a large screen whose contents can all be swapped at once from a distant office.
How to rememberSignage means signs taken as a group, so the term literally means electronic signs. In Japanese it is sometimes written ディジタルサイネージ.
Exam points
ExamDigital signage (デジタルサイネージ) delivers content over a network to display devices in busy places, passing information to the people who are there.