Glossary
Marketing terms explained in plain English, with why they matter
Forty-five terms you will hear from agencies, ad platforms and software. Each one comes with a plain meaning and a short note on why it matters to your business.
A to Z
Forty-five terms, in plain words
- A/B test
- Showing two versions of a page, ad or email to similar groups of people at the same time, then keeping the version that brings more calls, bookings or orders.
- Why it matters: It replaces opinions with evidence, so changes to your site and ads rest on what your customers actually do.
- ACES and PIES
- Data standards for auto parts. ACES describes which vehicles a part fits. PIES describes the product itself, such as size, weight, price and images.
- Why it matters: Clean fitment data keeps parts listed correctly on marketplaces and your store, and cuts returns from wrong-fit orders.
- Advantage+
- Meta's automated campaign type for Facebook and Instagram ads. Meta's system chooses audiences, placements and often creative to reach the goal you set.
- Why it matters: It can work well, but it needs accurate tracking and regular checks, or it may spend on the wrong buyers.
- AI search (AEO)
- Answers given directly by AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Google's AI answers. AEO, answer engine optimization, is the work of helping those tools find and repeat accurate facts about your business.
- Why it matters: More buyers ask AI assistants who to call or what to buy. If your business is not named, it is not considered.
- Attribution
- The method used to decide which ad, search or message gets credit for a sale or booking, especially when a customer saw several before buying.
- Why it matters: Different methods give different answers. Knowing which one is used stops you cutting channels that really bring customers.
- Bounce rate
- The share of visits where someone leaves without taking any action. In GA4 it is the share of visits that were not engaged.
- Why it matters: A high bounce rate on a paid landing page often means wasted ad spend and a page that needs fixing.
- CAC (customer acquisition cost)
- The total you spend on marketing and sales to win one new customer, including ads, fees and, where counted, staff time.
- Why it matters: Comparing CAC with what a customer is worth tells you how much you can afford to spend to grow.
- Call tracking
- Using unique phone numbers on ads, listings and pages so each call can be traced to its source. Calls can also be recorded and reviewed.
- Why it matters: For phone-driven businesses, calls are the main result. Without call tracking, you cannot tell which ads bring them.
- Churn
- The share of customers, members or subscribers who stop buying from you over a set period, such as a month or a year.
- Why it matters: Lowering churn keeps revenue you already won, which often lifts profit faster than finding new customers.
- Citations and NAP
- Citations are listings of your business on directories, maps and review sites. NAP means name, address and phone number, which should match exactly everywhere.
- Why it matters: Mismatched details confuse search engines and customers and can lower where you appear in local search.
- Contribution margin
- What is left from a sale after the costs tied to it, such as product cost, shipping, payment fees and ad spend.
- Why it matters: It shows whether growth is profitable. A sale can raise revenue and still lose money.
- Conversion rate
- The share of visitors or clicks that take the action you want, such as calling, booking, filling in a form or placing an order.
- Why it matters: Raising conversion rate brings more customers from the same traffic and the same ad budget.
- Core Web Vitals
- Google's measures of how a page feels to use: how fast the main content loads, how quickly it responds to a tap and how much the layout jumps while loading.
- Why it matters: Slow or jumpy pages lose visitors, especially on phones, and Google uses these measures in search.
- Cost per booked job
- Ad or marketing spend divided by the number of leads that became booked jobs, appointments or orders. The same idea applies to cost per new patient or signed case.
- Why it matters: It judges marketing by paid work rather than clicks or leads, so you see what each customer really costs.
- CPC (cost per click)
- What you pay each time someone clicks your ad.
- Why it matters: A low CPC means little on its own. Cheap clicks that never call or buy still waste money.
- CPL (cost per lead)
- Ad spend divided by the number of calls, forms or booking requests the ads produced.
- Why it matters: It is a useful middle step, but only cost per booked job or sale shows whether leads turn into money.
- CRM (customer relationship management)
- Software that keeps every lead and customer in one place, with contact details, history, quotes and next steps.
- Why it matters: A CRM stops leads from being forgotten and shows where sales are won or lost.
- CTR (click-through rate)
- The share of people who saw your ad or search listing and clicked it.
- Why it matters: It shows whether your ad or listing catches the right people. A low CTR often means the message needs work.
- Email flow
- An automated series of emails sent when a customer does something, such as signing up, leaving a cart, buying or going quiet for a while.
- Why it matters: Flows run every day without extra effort and often bring repeat sales from customers you already have.
- First-party data
- Information your business collects directly from its own customers, with their permission, such as orders, bookings, emails and phone numbers.
- Why it matters: As ad platforms lose tracking, your own data matters more for measuring results and reaching the right buyers.
- GA4 (Google Analytics 4)
- Google's free tool for measuring visits, actions and sales on your website and app.
- Why it matters: Set up well, it shows which pages and sources bring customers. Set up badly, it gives misleading numbers.
- GBP (Google Business Profile)
- Your free business listing on Google Search and Maps, with your hours, services, photos, reviews and contact details.
- Why it matters: For local businesses, it is often the first thing a customer sees and a major source of calls.
- Holdout test
- A test where a group of customers or areas is kept away from an ad or message on purpose, then compared with a similar group that saw it.
- Why it matters: It shows how much extra business the marketing really created, rather than taking platform reports on trust.
- Impressions
- The number of times your ad, listing or post was shown on a screen. One person can count for several impressions.
- Why it matters: Impressions measure reach only. Read them alongside calls, bookings and sales.
- Incrementality
- The extra sales or bookings that happened only because of a piece of marketing, compared with what would have happened without it.
- Why it matters: Some ads take credit for customers who would have bought anyway. Incrementality shows which spend really adds business.
- Landing page
- The page someone arrives on after clicking an ad, email or link. A good landing page focuses on one offer and one clear next step.
- Why it matters: Sending ad clicks to a focused page usually turns more of them into calls or orders than a general homepage.
- Lead nurture
- Keeping in touch with leads who are not ready to buy yet, using helpful emails, texts or calls over days or weeks.
- Why it matters: Many leads buy later. Nurture keeps your business in mind until they are ready.
- Lookalike audience
- An ad audience that a platform such as Meta builds from people who resemble your existing customers, based on a list you provide.
- Why it matters: It helps ads reach new people likely to buy, based on customers you already know are a good fit.
- LSA (Local Services Ads)
- Google ads shown at the top of some local searches, with the Google Verified badge. You pay per lead rather than per click.
- Why it matters: For many home service and legal businesses, LSAs bring calls from people ready to hire. Lead quality still needs checking.
- LTV (lifetime value)
- The total a typical customer spends with your business over the whole time they stay a customer.
- Why it matters: Knowing LTV tells you how much you can afford to spend to win a customer and still make a profit.
- Metasearch
- Travel sites that compare hotel rates across many booking sites, such as Google Hotels, Tripadvisor and Trivago, and link to where travelers can book.
- Why it matters: Showing your direct rate on metasearch can win bookings that would otherwise go through an online travel agency.
- Organic traffic
- Visitors who reach your website from unpaid search results rather than from ads.
- Why it matters: Organic traffic keeps coming without a charge per click, which lowers what each customer costs over time.
- OTA (online travel agency)
- Booking sites such as Expedia and Booking.com that sell hotel rooms in return for a commission on each booking.
- Why it matters: OTAs bring guests but take a share of each booking. Each direct booking keeps more of the room rate with you.
- Performance Max
- A Google Ads campaign type that runs across Search, Shopping, YouTube, Maps, Gmail and display from one campaign, using Google's automation to place ads.
- Why it matters: It can reach many buyers, but it reports little detail. It needs careful setup and checks to avoid wasted spend.
- PPC (pay per click)
- Advertising where you pay each time someone clicks your ad, such as Google Ads or Microsoft Advertising.
- Why it matters: PPC can bring customers quickly, but costs add up fast without regular checks on what each click brings in.
- Retargeting
- Showing ads to people who already visited your website or engaged with your business but did not call, book or buy.
- Why it matters: It reminds interested buyers to come back, which often costs less than reaching new people.
- Review velocity
- How many new reviews a business receives over a set period, such as a month.
- Why it matters: Customers and search engines value recent reviews. A steady flow matters more than a large total from years ago.
- RevPAR (revenue per available room)
- Room revenue divided by the number of rooms available over a period. A standard measure of hotel performance.
- Why it matters: It combines occupancy and rate in one number, so it shows whether marketing and pricing are working together.
- ROAS (return on ad spend)
- Revenue from ad-driven sales divided by what the ads cost.
- Why it matters: It is a quick check on ads, but it ignores product cost and margin. Profit shows the full picture.
- Schema markup
- Code added to a web page that tells search engines and AI tools exactly what the page contains, such as your business type, hours, services and reviews.
- Why it matters: It helps search engines and AI assistants read your details correctly and can make your listing stand out.
- SEO (search engine optimization)
- The work of improving your website and online presence so you appear in unpaid search results for the searches your customers make.
- Why it matters: SEO brings steady customers without a charge per click, but it builds over months rather than days.
- SMS consent
- Clear, recorded permission from a customer to receive text messages from your business, usually given through a checkbox or a text keyword.
- Why it matters: US rules require consent for marketing texts. Without it, you risk complaints, blocked messages and legal penalties.
- UTM
- Short tags added to the end of a link that tell your analytics where a visitor came from, such as which email, ad or post.
- Why it matters: UTMs keep your reports accurate, so you can see which campaigns bring visitors who buy.
- VDP (vehicle detail page)
- The page on a dealership website that shows one vehicle, with photos, price, features and ways to contact the dealer.
- Why it matters: Shoppers decide on the VDP. Good photos, accurate details and an easy next step bring more leads and visits.
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