Glossary
Every term in online marketing, plainly explained
Search a term or browse by letter. Short answer first, then the explanation and what it means in practice.
90 terms
A
- A/B testConversion and UXIn an A/B test you show two versions of a page or element to comparable groups of visitors and measure which performs better on one predefined goal.
- AI agentAIAn AI agent is a system that uses a language model not only to answer but to act: fetch data, use tools and perform actions in other systems.
- AI OverviewsSEO and AI visibilityAI Overviews are Google's generated summaries at the top of the results page, with links to the sources used.
- APIWebsite and technologyAn API is an agreed way for two systems to exchange data, for example your webshop passing orders to your accounting software.
- AttributionMeasurement and dataAttribution assigns the value of a conversion to the channels and touchpoints that preceded it.
- Average order valueE-commerceAverage order value is revenue divided by number of orders. Alongside traffic and conversion rate it's the third lever you can pull.
B
- BacklinkSEO and AI visibilityA backlink is a link from another website to yours. Search engines read it as a recommendation, provided the source is relevant and trustworthy.
- Brand bookContent and brandA brand book documents how your brand must be used: logo, colours, typography, imagery, tone of voice and examples of right and wrong.
- Brand identityContent and brandBrand identity is how your brand looks, sounds and behaves: logo, colours, typography, imagery, language and how you treat customers.
- Buyer personaContent and brandA buyer persona describes a typical buyer: their role, goals, doubts and the questions they ask before deciding.
C
- Call to actionConversion and UXA call to action is the button or line that moves a visitor to the next step: request a quote, call, add to cart, book a call.
- CanonicalWebsite and technologyA canonical tag tells search engines which URL is the main version of a page that is reachable at several addresses.
- Cart abandonmentE-commerceCart abandonment is when someone adds products but doesn't complete the order. In webshops this happens to the majority of carts.
- CheckoutE-commerceThe checkout is your shop's payment flow: from cart to confirmation. This is where most of the revenue you almost had disappears.
- CMSWebsite and technologyA CMS is the system you use to manage your website's content without programming: pages, copy, images and menus.
- Consent ModeMeasurement and dataConsent Mode is how Google tags adapt their behaviour to a visitor's cookie choice, with modelled figures for those who decline.
- Content calendarContent and brandA content calendar plans what you publish, when, for whom and with what purpose.
- ConversionConversion and UXA conversion is an action you defined as valuable: an enquiry, purchase, download or phone call. The conversion rate is the share of visitors who take it.
- CopywritingContent and brandCopywriting is writing with a purpose: text that explains, convinces and leads to an action, in the reader's language.
- Core Web VitalsWebsite and technologyCore Web Vitals are three Google metrics for perceived page speed and stability: LCP, INP and CLS.
- CPAAdvertisingCPA is ad cost per conversion: total spend divided by conversions, such as enquiries or purchases.
- CPCAdvertisingCPC is the price you pay per click on your ad. Your average CPC is ad spend divided by clicks.
- CPMAdvertisingCPM is the cost per thousand impressions of your ad, whether or not anyone clicks.
- CrawlingSEO and AI visibilityCrawling is a search engine fetching your pages by following links. No crawl means no index, and no index means no ranking.
- CRMEmail and CRMA CRM is the system where you keep customers, contacts, deals and all communication, so everyone sees the same state of play.
- CROConversion and UXCRO is conversion rate optimisation: getting more out of the traffic you already have through research and experiments.
- CTRAdvertisingCTR is the share of impressions that leads to a click: clicks divided by impressions.
- Customer acquisition costMeasurement and dataCAC is the total cost of winning one new customer: ad spend plus the people, tools and hours involved.
- Customer journeyContent and brandThe customer journey is the route someone travels from first contact to customer and beyond, including every touchpoint along the way.
- Customer lifetime valueE-commerceCustomer lifetime value is the total margin you earn from an average customer for as long as they stay, not just on the first purchase.
D
E
- E-E-A-TSEO and AI visibilityE-E-A-T stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness: the framework Google's raters use to judge whether content is reliable.
- Engaged sessionMeasurement and dataIn GA4 an engaged session is a visit lasting over ten seconds, producing a conversion, or viewing at least two pages. Its inverse is the bounce rate.
F
- Featured snippetSEO and AI visibilityA featured snippet is a short answer Google lifts from a page and shows above the results, with attribution and a link.
- First-party dataMeasurement and dataFirst-party data is data you collect yourself from your own customers and visitors: orders, email addresses, on-site behaviour, conversations in your CRM.
- FunnelConversion and UXA funnel is the model describing the path from unknown visitor to customer in steps, with a share dropping off at each step.
G
- GA4Measurement and dataGA4 is the current version of Google Analytics. Everything is recorded as an event, instead of pageviews with separate goals as in Universal Analytics.
- GEOSEO and AI visibilityGEO stands for generative engine optimization: working on the chance that AI tools such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity name your company on their own in an answer.
- Google Tag ManagerMeasurement and dataGoogle Tag Manager lets you manage tracking codes and pixels without changing your website every time.
H
- HallucinationAIA hallucination is an AI answer that sounds convincing but is factually wrong or invented, such as a non-existent source or an incorrect figure.
- HeadlessWebsite and technologyHeadless means the system where you manage content or products is separate from the layer that displays it; the two talk through an API.
- HeatmapConversion and UXA heatmap uses colour to show where visitors click, move and how far they scroll on a page.
- HostingWebsite and technologyHosting is where your website's files and database run and from where they are served to visitors.
- HreflangWebsite and technologyHreflang is the annotation that tells search engines which page belongs to which language or region, so they show the right version.
I
- IndexingSEO and AI visibilityIndexing is a crawled page being stored in the search engine's database. Only indexed pages can appear in results.
- Internal linksSEO and AI visibilityInternal links are links between pages on your own site. They move visitors along and show search engines which pages matter and what they cover.
K
- Keyword researchSEO and AI visibilityKeyword research maps the words and questions your audience searches with, including how often that happens and how strong the competition is.
- KPIMeasurement and dataA KPI is a number you steer on because it links directly to a goal, such as qualified enquiries per month or cost per customer.
L
- Landing pageConversion and UXA landing page is where a visitor arrives from an ad, email or search result, focused on one question and one action.
- LeadEmail and CRMA lead is someone who has shown interest and left contact details, for example through a form, call or download.
- Lead scoringEmail and CRMLead scoring assigns points to leads based on who they are and what they do, so you can prioritise follow-up.
- LLMAIAn LLM is a large language model trained to predict the next word, which lets it understand and generate text. ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini run on them.
- llms.txtSEO and AI visibilityllms.txt is a proposed text file in your site's root with a concise overview of your key pages, aimed at language models.
- Local SEOSEO and AI visibilityLocal SEO is being findable for searches with a location or a 'near me' intent, both in regular results and in the map block.
- Long tailSEO and AI visibilityLong-tail keywords are longer, more specific queries with little volume each, but together often the bulk of your traffic.
M
- Marketing automationEmail and CRMMarketing automation sends messages and triggers tasks automatically based on behaviour or data, such as a sequence of emails after a download.
- Mobile firstWebsite and technologyMobile first means designing content and technology for the small screen first, then expanding to desktop.
- MQL and SQLEmail and CRMAn MQL is a lead marketing considers interested enough to follow up; an SQL is a lead sales has reviewed and judged worth pursuing.
O
- Open rateEmail and CRMOpen rate is the share of recipients who open your email. Since privacy features in mail clients preload images, this figure has become less reliable.
- Opt-inEmail and CRMAn opt-in is the active permission someone gives to receive commercial messages. With a double opt-in they confirm it once more by email.
P
- PageSpeedWebsite and technologyPageSpeed is how fast your page loads and becomes usable. Google PageSpeed Insights scores it from 0 to 100 and lists concrete improvements.
- Performance MaxAdvertisingPerformance Max is a Google Ads campaign type that covers every channel from one campaign: Search, Shopping, YouTube, Display, Discover, Gmail and Maps.
- PositioningContent and brandPositioning is the place you occupy in your audience's mind: who you're for, how you differ, and why that difference matters.
- Product feedE-commerceA product feed is a structured file with all your products and their data, used by platforms like Google Shopping and Meta to display your items.
- PromptAIA prompt is the instruction you give an AI model. The clearer the role, goal, context and required format, the more usable the answer.
Q
R
- RemarketingAdvertisingRemarketing is advertising to people who previously interacted with your site, app or customer base.
- RetentionE-commerceRetention is the share of customers who keep buying over time. Its opposite is churn: the share that leaves.
- ROASAdvertisingROAS is revenue generated by your ads divided by what you spend on them. A ROAS of 4 means €4 revenue per euro spent.
- robots.txtWebsite and technologyrobots.txt is a file in your site's root telling crawlers which parts they may and may not fetch.
S
- SEAAdvertisingSEA is advertising in search engines: you pay to appear for queries, usually per click.
- Search intentSEO and AI visibilitySearch intent is what someone actually wants from a query: to learn something, compare options, navigate somewhere or buy.
- SegmentationEmail and CRMSegmentation splits your audience or email list into groups with similar characteristics or behaviour so you can communicate more precisely.
- SEOSEO and AI visibilitySEO is the work that makes your pages findable in search engines without paying per click. It has three parts: technology, content and authority.
- SERPSEO and AI visibilityThe SERP is a search engine's results page: alongside blue links it holds ads, maps, videos, question boxes and AI answers.
- Server-side trackingMeasurement and dataWith server-side tracking you send measurement data from your own server to platforms, instead of straight from the visitor's browser.
- SitemapWebsite and technologyAn XML sitemap is a list of the URLs you want indexed, meant for search engines.
- Smart biddingAdvertisingSmart bidding is automated bidding in Google Ads, where the system sets a bid per auction using conversion data and signals like device, location and time.
- SSLWebsite and technologyAn SSL certificate (technically TLS these days) encrypts traffic between visitor and server. You recognise it by https in the address bar.
- Statistical significanceConversion and UXStatistical significance indicates how likely it is that the difference between two variants isn't chance. In marketing we usually work at 95% confidence.
- Structured dataWebsite and technologyStructured data is schema.org code that states explicitly what a page contains: a product, an article, an organisation or a question and answer.
T
- Technical SEOSEO and AI visibilityTechnical SEO is the part of SEO about findability and readability for search engines: crawling, indexing, speed, structure and error handling.
- Tone of voiceContent and brandTone of voice is how your brand writes and speaks: word choice, form of address, sentence length and what you deliberately don't say.
U
- USPContent and brandA USP is a characteristic that demonstrably sets you apart from alternatives and delivers something to the customer.
- UTM parametersMeasurement and dataUTM parameters are snippets you add to a link so your analytics shows which source, medium and campaign a visitor came from.
- UXConversion and UXUX is the experience of using your site or app: how quickly someone finds what they need and how much effort it takes to finish something.
W
- WCAGWebsite and technologyWCAG are the international guidelines for digital accessibility. Level AA is the standard most legislation refers to.
- WebhookWebsite and technologyA webhook is an automatic message one system sends another the moment something happens, for example 'an order was just placed'.
- WireframeConversion and UXA wireframe is a bare sketch of a page containing only structure and order: which blocks, in what sequence, with what message.
- WordPressWebsite and technologyWordPress is the world's most used content management system, with a huge supply of themes and plugins and a large community.
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