Glossary Term D – Best Affiliate Programs

Deactivation
The process of removing a domain name from the zone files for the top level domains. When a domain name is deactivated, the Domain Name System (DNS) will no longer have the information needed to resolve the domain name to its corresponding Internet Protocol (IP) number(s), effectively disabling the domain name as a tool for locating the related computers or organizations. Network Solutions refers to this status as being on "Hold." The domain name record, however, remains in Network Solutions' domain name database.

Dead Link
An internet link which doesn't lead to a page or site, probably because the server is down or the page has moved or no longer exists.

Dedicated Server
This is the king pin of hosting services, and is the most costly and effective hosting method. With a dedicated server, your host provides your own server and other hardware to house your web site. This means you do not share the server with anyone else, allowing more bandwidth, and cleaner service. This is usually only necessary for big business operations or web sites with an extraordinary amount of traffic.

Deep Linking
Linking to content buried deep within a website. These links are referred to as "deep" because they are often two or more directories deep within a website.

Defaults
A pre-set way that a computer performs certain operations unless a user instructs it to do otherwise.

Delisting
When pages are removed from a search engines index. This may happen because they have been banned or for other reasons, such as an accidental glitch on the search engine's part.

Direct Hit
A system which tries to measure the relevance of each site by noting which sites are clicked on most and how much time users spend in each site. HotBot uses Direct Hit in order to determine the search engine ranking of web sites. Teoma has now purchased the technology behind Direct Hit.

Directory
Searchable subject guide organized by topical subject or geographical region and consisting of web sites that have been reviewed and compiled by human editors. Directories are often provided as a browsable alternative to the searchable indexes of search engines. Examples: Yahoo!, The Open Directory Project and Looksmart are some of the most popular directories on the web.

DMOZ
Directory MOZilla, an open source directory project. Also called, ODP, an Open Directory Project, a volunteer based, human-edited search directory which produces search results for major engines like Google and AOL.

DogPile
A metasearch engine that searches four search engines at a time and lists the results from each engine on each page.

Domain Forwarding
The process of redirecting traffic received at one web address to another also called URL forwarding

Domain Name
Technically speaking a domain name is an alias for a numeric code. The numeric code is called an IP address. The format of an IP address is written as four numbers separated by periods, where each number can be from zero to 255. For example, 22.170.12.250 could be an IP address. The IP address is how a domain name is recognized by the domain name server. However, a long number like that is difficult for people to remember, so domain names were created to give an alias to IP addresses that would be easier for people to communicate and remember. ex. myname.com

Domain Name Registration
The first step in building a web site is registering a domain name. Whether you register your name with a registrar or your web host (who will register your domain name through a registrar for you) is merely a matter of convenience and preference. When a name is registered you are purchasing the right to the use of that name for the agreed amount of years at registration, usually 1-10 years. No one else may use that name with your specified extension (.com, .net) until you either let the name expire or you sell it to someone else.

Domain Reseller
A company/person that sells domain names through registry services provided by an ICANN approved registrar.

Domain Transfer
A domain name once registered for 60 days with a registrar may be transferred to another registrar. This transfer means the new registrar will now maintain the pertinent information regarding the domain and the registrant.

Doorway Pages
A Web page submitted to individual search engine spiders to meet specific relevancy algorithms. The doorway page presents information to the spider while obscuring it from human viewers. The purpose of doorway pages is to present the spider with the format it needs for optimum rankings while presenting a more appropriate version to human viewers. It's also a way for Webmasters to avoid publicly disclosing placement tactics. The use of doorway pages customizes submission to each individual search engine. Also known as gateway pages, bridge pages, entry pages, portals or portal pages.

Downtime
A live web site, meaning one that is uploaded to the web host’s server, is visible as long as the hosting server is working properly. If you have ever typed a URL into your web browser of a web site that you know exists, but the browser shows a 404 error page instead of the homepage the site was probably experiencing some downtime. Most web hosts advertise a 99.7% uptime, meaning they have a .3% of the year in which they will be scheduling downtime to service the servers that contain your web site files. With viruses, natural disasters, etc. it would be almost impossible for any host to guarantee 100% uptime. The trick is to find a reliable host who has protected themselves from outside factors and schedules server maintenance in non-peak site viewing times and communicates to users ahead of time when they will be doing maintenance.

Dreamweaver
Computer software made by Macromedia specifically designed for creating web sites. FTP upload, site management, and HTML editing are made easy with the Dreamweaver software.

Dropped Domain
A previously registered domain name whose registration was allowed to lapse by the original owner - often times because the registration fees went unpaid. A dropped domain is again available for registration by the public.

Dynamic Content
Content that is updated frequently and is fresh and relevant for its appropriate audience. Dynamic content can include content served as a flat HTML page that is updated many times a day, content that includes sophisticated Javascript or Shockwave for an interactive experience, or content that is generated from either a file-system or a database using server-side includes, CGI scripts, Java servlets, or an application server.