Ranking
A term used to describe the position of a site in a search result done on a keyword phrase. Often used in a phrase, such as, 'top search search engine ranking', this would relate to a site showing up in the first 10 or 20 results from a search done on a particular phrase.

Re-Submission
Repeating the search engine registration process one or more times for the same page or site. Under certain circumstances, this is regarded with suspicion by the search engines, as it could indicate that someone is experimenting with spamming techniques. However, occasional re-submission of changed pages is not a problem.

Refresh Tag
A meta tag that will let you either periodically refresh the current page or switch to another page. It is formatted like this: The above meta tag will switch to the URL after 10 seconds. Change the number to change the time delay, or delete it to make the change immediate. Delete the URL to make the refresh occur in the current page.

Registrant
The individual or business who registers a domain name. The registrant is accountable for the fees and conditions specified by the registrar.

Registrant Name Change Agreement
A Registrant Name Change Agreement (RNCA) is a document by which a domain name registrant changes its name, as it appears in InterNIC' records. Specifically, the RNCA must be used if the Registrant wishes to: Correct a typographical or other minor error in the Registrant's name; Change the Registrant's legal name; or Transfer the domain name to another party.

Registrar
A business that is given permission to register domain names on behalf of anyone wishing to obtain one. Registrars must be accredited by ICANN, and are only given permission to registrar certain top level domains. Registrars collect fees, maintain record information, and manage registration, re-registration, and expiration of domains.

Registration Term
The number of years (from 1-10) that a domain name is registered for is referred to as the registration term.

Registry
A database that contains information about every registered domain name. Different registries exist for different TLDs. When you register a domain name, all the information for that domain, including registrant, name, expiration, etc. is stored in the registry’s database.

Registry Fees
All TLD Registries require initial registration fees as well as annual renewal fees but it is the Registrar who collects these fees plus some service fee. Renewal fees are available in one to nine year increments after the initial registration period for the .Com, .Net, .Org .Biz and .Info TLD's.

Renewal
When the original domain name registration period is over the owner will be given the opportunity to renew the domain name for subsequent years. This is called a renewal, and is done through the registrant’s current registrar.

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

Resolve
The term used to describe the process by which domain names are matched with corresponding Internet Protocol (IP) numbers. "Resolution" is accomplished by a combination of computers and software, referred to as name servers that use the data in the Domain Name System to determine which IP numbers correspond to a particular domain name.

Robot
A program that automatically surfs the Web. Search engines use robots to surf the Web and catalog different Web sites in their databases. This allows the Web pages to be found when someone performs a search. Robots are commonly referred to as bots and spiders.

Root
In a web site, the root directory is the root for the site, NOT the root directory for the disk (usually C:\). The server root is the highest level directory that is read by the server, and therefore the highest level directory that can be accessed by remote browsers. The root is set by the server software, and all directories for the site must be subdirectories of the root. In a domain name- The top of the Domain Name System (DNS) hierarchy. Often referred to as the "dot."

Root
The top of the Domain Name System hierarchy. Often referred to as the "dot."

Root Server
A machine that has the software and data needed to locate name servers that contain authoritative data for the top level domains (e.g., root, servers know which name servers contain authoritative data for .com, .net, .fr, .uk. etc.). The root servers are, in fact, name server, and contain authoritative data for the very top of the Domain Name System (DNS) hierarchy. Currently, technical specifications limit the number of root servers to 13. These machines are located around the globe, in the U.S., the U.K., Sweden, and Japan.

Root Web
The FrontPage web that is provided by the server by default. To access the root web, you supply the URL of the server without specifying a page name. FrontPage is installed with a default root web named <root web>. All FrontPage webs are contained by the root FrontPage web.

rTLD - Restricted Top Level Domain
A top-level domain, such as .biz, .gov, .museum, .name, and .pro, that is only available to registrants who meet certain criteria.