Digital marketing glossary

Comparing two versions of a page or element to see which performs better, the basis of conversion optimisation.

The part of a page visible before scrolling. It carries your most important message and primary call to action.

The value Google uses to decide your ad position, combining your bid, quality score and expected impact.

An AI system that can take actions and complete multi-step tasks on your behalf, not just answer a single question.

A written description of an image that aids accessibility and helps search engines understand the image.

The visible, clickable words of a link. Descriptive anchor text helps search engines understand the linked page.

Structuring content, data and authority so AI answer engines such as ChatGPT and Perplexity quote your business directly as the answer.

Opening a page with a concise, direct answer to its main question so readers and AI engines can grasp or quote it quickly.

An application programming interface that lets different software tools connect and share data automatically.

Assigning credit for a conversion to the marketing touchpoints that led to it, so you know what is working.

The average amount spent each time a customer places an order, a key lever for growing ecommerce revenue.

A link from another website to yours. Search engines treat quality backlinks as votes of trust and authority.

The percentage of sessions where a visitor leaves after viewing only one page without further interaction.

The visible elements of a brand, such as name, logo, colours and voice, that make it recognisable and distinct.

How your business is perceived across reviews, search results and AI answers, increasingly shaped by what machines say about you.

A clear prompt telling the visitor what to do next, such as book a call, get a quote or buy now.

An HTML signal that tells search engines which version of a duplicate or similar page is the preferred one.

When a shopper adds items to their cart but leaves before buying, often recovered with reminder emails.

An automated assistant that answers questions and captures leads on your website around the clock.

Reducing friction in the checkout process, such as fewer fields and more payment options, to lift completed sales.

An online mention of your business name, address and phone number, which builds trust and supports local rankings.

The share of people who click your listing after seeing it, calculated as clicks divided by impressions.

Software like WordPress that lets you build and manage a website without coding every page by hand.

Attracting and retaining customers by consistently publishing useful content rather than advertising at them directly.

Searching by asking natural-language questions to an AI assistant rather than typing short keywords into a search box.

The path a visitor takes from first awareness to purchase, where each step loses some people on the way.

The percentage of visitors who complete a desired action, such as a purchase, enquiry or sign-up.

The systematic practice of improving a site so a higher share of visitors take the action you want.

Google metrics for loading, interactivity and visual stability that influence rankings and user experience.

The average cost to acquire one customer or conversion, a core measure of marketing efficiency.

The amount you pay each time someone clicks your ad, set by an auction based on bid and ad quality.

The cost per one thousand ad impressions, the standard pricing measure for awareness and display campaigns.

The number of pages a search engine will crawl on your site in a given period, important for large websites.

A Core Web Vital measuring unexpected movement of page elements as they load. Lower is better for usability.

The total sales and marketing cost to win a new customer. A healthy business keeps CAC well below lifetime value.

The total revenue you can expect from a customer over the whole relationship, used to judge how much to spend acquiring them.

A system that stores and manages your leads and customers, tracking every interaction from first enquiry to sale.

Whether your emails actually reach the inbox rather than spam, shaped by authentication, reputation and list quality.

A third-party score estimating how likely a domain is to rank, based largely on the quality of its backlink profile.

An automated series of emails sent on a schedule or trigger to nurture a lead toward a purchase.

Sending targeted emails to subscribers to nurture leads, drive sales and retain customers. One of the highest-return channels.

The share of an audience that interacts with a post through likes, comments, shares or saves, relative to reach.

A distinct person, place, business or thing that search engines and AI recognise and connect, central to how they understand your brand.

Content that stays relevant and useful long after publishing, continuing to attract traffic over time.

A short answer Google lifts from a page and shows at the top of results, also called position zero.

Optimising content so generative AI models include and cite your brand when they compose answers for users.

Google advertising platform that places your ads in search results, on YouTube and across the display network.

AI-generated summaries shown at the top of Google results that answer a query directly and cite supporting sources.

Google current analytics platform, built around events and engagement, that tracks how people use your site and app.

The free listing that controls how your business appears on Google Maps and in local search, formerly Google My Business.

A free Google tool showing how your site performs in search, including queries, impressions, clicks and indexing issues.

When an AI model produces confident but false or invented information, which is why verifiable sources and structured data matter.

HTML headings that structure a page from the main H1 down, helping readers scan and search engines understand hierarchy.

The secure, encrypted version of HTTP. It protects data, builds trust and is a confirmed Google ranking signal.

The number of times your listing or ad was shown, regardless of whether anyone clicked it.

The process of a search engine storing and organising a page so it can appear in results. No index, no ranking.

Partnering with people who have a trusted audience to promote your product to potential customers.

A Core Web Vital measuring how quickly a page responds to user input, which replaced First Input Delay in 2024.

A link from one page on your site to another, which spreads authority and helps users and crawlers navigate.

A measurable value that shows how well you are achieving a business goal, such as leads, revenue or cost per lead.

A word or phrase people type into search engines that you target with content to attract relevant visitors.

When multiple pages target the same keyword and compete with each other, weakening the ranking of all of them.

Google database of entities and the relationships between them, used to power rich results and understand what your business is.

A focused page built for a single campaign or offer, designed to convert visitors into leads or sales.

An AI model trained on vast text data that generates human-like language, powering tools like ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude.

A Core Web Vital measuring how long the main content takes to load. Under 2.5 seconds is considered good.

A useful free resource offered in exchange for contact details, used to capture leads who are not ready to buy.

Ranking leads by how likely they are to buy, so your team focuses on the most valuable opportunities first.

The block of three map listings Google shows for local searches, prime real estate for service businesses.

Optimising to appear in map results and near-me searches, centred on your Google Business Profile, reviews and citations.

A longer, more specific search phrase with lower volume but higher intent, usually easier to rank for and more likely to convert.

An audience built to resemble your existing customers, used on Meta and other platforms to find similar new buyers.

Using software to run repetitive marketing tasks automatically, such as follow-up emails and lead routing.

The short summary under a page title in search results that influences click-through but not rankings directly.

Google practice of using the mobile version of your site as the primary basis for ranking and indexing.

Your business Name, Address and Phone number. Keeping it identical across the web strengthens local SEO.

Ranking factors that happen away from your site, mainly backlinks, citations, reviews and brand mentions.

Optimising elements on a page itself, such as titles, headings, content and internal links, to rank and convert better.

The percentage of recipients who open an email, an indicator of subject line strength and sender reputation.

Unpaid social media activity, such as regular posts and replies, that builds audience and trust over time.

How quickly a page loads and becomes usable. Faster pages convert better and rank higher, especially on mobile.

An advertising model where you pay only when someone clicks your ad, most associated with Google Ads.

A comprehensive page covering a broad topic that links out to related deeper articles, anchoring a topic cluster.

A structured file of your products used to power Google Shopping, Meta catalogues and other ad placements.

The instruction or question you give an AI model to produce a response. Clear prompts produce more useful, accurate output.

The craft of writing prompts that reliably get accurate, useful results from an AI model, often using role, task, context and format.

A Google Ads rating of the relevance and quality of your keywords, ads and landing pages that affects cost and position.

The number of unique people who saw your content, as distinct from impressions, which can count repeat views.

A rule that sends users and search engines from one URL to another. A 301 is a permanent redirect that passes authority.

Scripts or styles that delay a page from displaying, a common cause of slow load times and poor Core Web Vitals.

Actively monitoring and improving what people and AI engines find about your brand, especially reviews and search results.

A website that adapts its layout to any screen size, essential now that most traffic is on mobile.

Showing ads to people who have already visited your site, a high-converting way to win back interested buyers.

A technique where an AI model retrieves relevant documents before answering, so its responses cite current, factual sources.

Revenue earned for every dollar spent on advertising, used to judge the efficiency of paid campaigns.

A file that tells search engine crawlers which parts of your site they may or may not access.

Structured data added to a page so search engines and AI understand its meaning, entities and relationships.

The practice of improving a website so it ranks higher in organic search results and earns more relevant traffic.

The reason behind a search, such as to learn, compare or buy. Matching intent is essential to ranking and converting.

Dividing your audience into groups by behaviour or attributes so you can send more relevant, higher-converting messages.

The search engine results page returned for a query, including organic links, ads, AI summaries and rich features.

Evidence that others trust you, such as reviews, testimonials and follower counts, which reassures new customers.

Email authentication standards that prove your messages are genuine, protecting your domain and improving deliverability.

Code in a standard format, usually JSON-LD, that describes a page to machines so they can show rich results and cite it.

The clickable headline of a page shown in search results, a key on-page signal and a major driver of click-through.

The consistent style and personality of your written communication, which builds recognition and trust over time.

A pillar page plus a set of related articles that interlink, signalling topical authority to search engines.

The depth and breadth of trusted content you publish on a subject, which helps you rank across that whole topic.

How easy and pleasant a website is to use. Good UX lifts conversions, trust and search rankings.

Content created by customers rather than your brand, such as reviews and photos, which is highly persuasive.

Tags added to a URL so analytics can track which campaign, source and medium sent a visitor.

A clear statement of the benefit you offer, who it is for and why you are different, that anchors all your messaging.

Modern image formats that deliver much smaller file sizes than JPEG at similar quality, improving page speed.

A defined sequence of automated steps triggered by an event, such as sending a quote when a form is submitted.

A file listing your important pages so search engines can discover and crawl them more efficiently.

A search where the answer appears directly on the results page, so the user gets what they need without clicking through.