Digital Marketing Glossary of Terms

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

SEO Terms

• Search Engine Results Page (SERP) is the page that appears on a user’s screen after they search a term in any search engine. It usually shows the top results, the number of results, and links to maps or business profiles when relevant.
• Keywords are the phrases that a website ranks for in search engines. An example of a keyword would be “tennis shoes”, in which brands like Nike or Adidas would likely rank for that phrase at the top of Google.
  • Queries are the phrases or questions that users type into a search engine to receive results. An example would be “pizza restaurants near me”.
  • Search Volume is the estimated number of searches for a specific keyword in a search engine. For example, it is estimated that “car dealership” is searched in Google 450,000 per month in the United States.
  • Keyword Ranking involves a number system, in which a phrase is ranked based on its performance in a search engine. For example, Disney World likely ranks #1 for the keyword “amusement park” if you’re in Florida and search for that term; in this case, its keyword positioning would be 1.
  • Keyword Visibility is the index based on click-through rate (CTR) that shows a website’s progress in Google’s top 100 keywords.
  • Keyword Estimated Traffic is based on the average click-through rate (CTR) of each position in Google’s results by the volume of the keyword. It shows the probability that a user will click on a domain’s search result depending on this domain’s position.
  • Keyword Average Position is a combined average of a website’s overall keyword search ranking, with 1 being the highest and at the top of the SERP. The more keywords that are ranked at the top of a search engine, the higher their average position will be.
  • Featured Snippets are selected search results that are featured at the top of an organic SERP. They are often a brief highlight for a definition or quick fact after someone searches for something related to that term. Websites that achieve this spot on a SERP are deemed credible and informative by the search engine.
• Google is an online company that offers many free products and services for businesses to manage their online presence.
  • Google Search is the search engine provided by Google. Google Search is used 92.47% of the time to search for something, so this is where businesses should optimize their content around.
  • Google Local Packs are the listings that appear when a search is directly related to a local business. For example, if you search “marketing agencies near me” in the city of Portland, a list of local businesses with the Portland map and descriptions will show up for you.
  • Google My Business is a tool for companies to be included in an online search directory, in which they show your profile to users based on their location or what they search for. This is also where users can find your address and get directions to it, leave online Google reviews, and visit your website.
  • Google Shopping is the online service that acts as a product directory for businesses, showing thumbnail details, such as a product photo, price, title, and description; users can click on the listing to learn more and get to your website to purchase that item directly.
  • Google Analytics is the primary web analytics service that allows your website to see all performance metrics, website traffic, and more important marketing data.
  • Google Ads is the management portal that allows you to launch paid advertising campaigns using Google’s services. This was also previously known as AdWords.
  • Google Search Console is an important, free service that allows you to monitor, maintain, and identify actions steps directly related to SEO and your website performance. 
  • Google Tag Manager is a free hub for all of your website’s tracking tags, code, and ways to implement them on different pages or ad campaigns. This is generally managed by someone with experience in marketing or web development.
• Backlinks (Inbound Links) are any websites that link back to your organization’s website. For example, if Yelp lists your company under “Top Accountants in Idaho” and provides a link to your website, that would be considered a backlink.
  • Healthy Backlinks are great for your search ranking, and can increase your reputation. For example, if a well-known and reputable website lists your organization and links back to your website, it can help your online presence.
  • Toxic Backlinks are links that harm your website’s authority online. They are considered spam, or hazardous, and can hurt your reputation. It is best to allow a professional to disavow or remove these associated links from tying back to your website.
• Content Optimization involves editing and improving your written content on your website or social media to best match keywords you’d like to rank for. For example, if you want to be at the top of Google for “construction company in Dallas”, your written content should have that phrase in it and include similar phrases, so Google can find you and serve it to searchers.
• Blogs are an important section of your website that hosts all articles and helpful written content. Blog posts are a key component of SEO, and you can use keywords or commonly asked questions in Google to write blog posts that might be helpful for searchers.

Technical Website Terms

• URL (Uniform Resource Locator) is the address of a web page or address. This is also commonly known as the “link” to a specific place on the Internet.
• Web Domain is your organization’s presence on the Internet, or your “territory” online. This includes elements, such as a web page.
• Domain Name is the name of your website, or what comes after the “www” of your URL.
• Web Domain Authority is a search engine ranking score that deems your website credible, based on many factors, such as the amount of time you’ve been online, how many visitors you have, how many other organizations link back to your website, how your website is set up, and more.
• Website Page Speed involves how fast it takes for a web page to load at the start of someone clicking on the link to your website. Customers expect your website to load quickly, so this is something to watch for.
• Website Health Scores rank your website from A-F letter grades, or with a 0-100% grade, on how healthy your website is. This can directly relate to your SEO. Some things that can hurt your score include broken links, slow load times, errors, poor writing, and more. The higher your score, the fewer problems the website has, and the better optimized it is for search engines like Google. 
• Sitemaps are organized lists of your web pages that allow search engines to get a whole picture of your website’s navigation and structure. This uses a hierarchy system, generally starting from the main “Home” page to smaller sub-pages such as “About Our Company”, for example. Marketing professionals can indicate your website’s sitemap to Google directly, which can help in your overall digital presence and search ranking. 
• Web Crawlers are online bots that are operated by search engines to “crawl” or index your website in a specific, methodical way. This complicated process is done for those search engines to browse your website and assess its structure, what it is about, and more.
• Robots.txt files tell search engines like Google which URLs a web crawler can view on your website. This is another complex process, largely managed by web developers, to keep your website pages and information organized. 
• HTML or HyperText Markup Language is the set of code or symbols that are used to display things on the Internet. For web developers or marketers to manage your website, they use HTML to tell the web page to show the right fonts, color, graphics, and more elements.
• Indexing involves organizing information so that search engines can serve people with websites that best match their questions or queries. Google indexes your website to see what type of keywords align, so they would show your website when the search matches.
• Internal Links include URLs in your website that link to another page in your same website. This helps with navigation and the overall user experience, so Google assesses these internal links as well.
• Meta Tags are the snippets of text that appear to briefly describe a page’s content. Meta tags are embedded into a page’s code, and they are shown on a search engine results page (SERP) to quickly show someone who searches something what exactly they are about to click on. Writing these to best attract customers in Google, for example, is a great practice and crucial for SEO.

Website Traffic Metrics

• Users are visitors who have initiated at least one website session. This is essentially the number of people who visited your website.
• New Users are visitors to your website that have never visited your site before, so this is considered their first touch-point to your organization’s web presence.
• Sessions involve a period of time a user spends and is actively engaged on your website. The session duration also tracks how long they stayed and browsed within your website.
• Bounce Rate includes the percentage of website sessions that didn’t involve the user actually doing anything on your website. In other words, the session duration would be 0 seconds overall. Having a low bounce rate, such as 25%, means that 75% of users who visited your website spent time and browsed within it.
• Page Views are the total number of pages viewed on your website.
• Pages per Session is the average number of pages that a user viewed or clicked through during their website session. Essentially, this is how many pages someone got to see in one sitting.
• Bounce Rate includes the percentage of website sessions that didn’t involve the user actually doing anything on your website. In other words, the session duration would be 0 seconds overall. Having a low bounce rate, such as 25%, means that 75% of users who visited your website spent time and browsed within it.
• Website Traffic Sources or Channels indicate where your website came from. Channels sources can include an organic search listing, a paid search advertising listing, a referral link from another organization, a direct typing in of your website URL, a paid display ad someone clicks on, and social media posts. 

Digital Advertising

Digital Advertising Campaign Types

• Search advertisements are campaigns that reach customers interested in your product or service with text ads that appear on the top of search engine results pages (SERPs).
• Display advertisements are visual ads with graphic design and branding from your organization to attract people from websites across the web. 
• Video advertisements are video ads that can appear on social media, before YouTube videos, or other areas on the web to briefly show your services or mission to users.
• Carousel advertisements are on social media, where it is a display ad that a user can “swipe” through. The different “cards” can have a continuous look to each of them, or a separate graphic on each one to show different products.
• Shopping advertisements are product listings within Google shopping that promotes a product at the top of the page when a user types in a keyword or phrase similar to your product.
• Social media advertisements are ads specifically placed on a user’s social media feed, which can include image, video, or carousel ads. You can even turn a post into an ad, as well as launch ads to ask people to “like” your page or gain more followers.

Digital Ad Payment Structures

• Pay-per-click (PPC) ads have a pricing model that charges you each time a user clicks on your ad. This guarantees website traffic with your ad spend and is the easiest and most effective way to track results. 
• Pay per Impression (PPI) ads have a pricing model that charges you by the spread of your ad (by how many people see it), regardless of the clicks or results. Essentially, these ads are done to increase brand awareness, or awareness of your business.

Digital Advertising Elements

• Ad Campaigns are specific paid strategies that implement an idea or goal for an organization, such as a product launch, a new store location, or a new concept. A campaign is the general term used when speaking about the multitude of ads being sent out for a singular purpose. 
• Ad Groups are different sections of your ad campaign that may have different budgets, details, targeting, or design on the ads. They have the same goal but are potentially using different tactics.
• Landing Pages are where clicking on an ad will take the user. More often than not, it is best to create a strategic and tailored landing page that directly relates to the advertisement you are running instead of just the broad homepage of your website.
• Leads are those who are legitimately interested in your product or service.
• Lead Forms are contact forms where users can fill out their information. This is often put on landing pages, and it is a great way to keep in contact with those who are likely to purchase from you.
• A/B Testing or Split Testing involves launching two different campaigns or ad groups that contain different tactics in order to compare the effectiveness. Essentially, you launch two different versions of your ads and look at the metrics and performance to see which one performed better based on your goals.
• Ad Targeting involves implementing details that send your advertisement to specific people based on characteristics. This is the best way to send your ad to those who are more likely to purchase from your business or interact with your organization.
  • Demographic Targeting sends ads to people with specific characteristics, such as their age, gender, income, education, and more.
  • Location or Geo-targeting sends ads to people in specific geographic areas, or those who are searching about specific locations. This is great for local businesses that rely on in-person customers.
  • Interest Targeting sends ads to people based on their offline or online interests, such as their hobbies, media, industries, or what kind of things they like.
  • Behavior Targeting sends ads to people based on their online behaviors, such as the websites they browse, search history, or previous purchases.
  • Remarketing involves targeting those who have previously visited your website or purchased your products with an ad. This is great for generating customer loyalty and keeping your organization at the top of their mind.
• Ad Copy includes the written text, description, or phrasing that you write on the ad for the user to read. This should be compelling and reflective of your organization, encouraging them to engage.
• Ad Creative includes the visual graphic or video that the user will see. Each advertising platform has different rules and guidelines for the creative on the ad, so that’s something to pay attention to.
• Call to Action (CTA) buttons or phrases indicate what you would like the user to do, coinciding with the means to get there (such as a website link). CTA examples include “Shop Now”, “Learn More”, and others. It is great to be creative with CTAs and include those that your audience would be more receptive to. These are featured on all advertisements, varying in the way they are presented.
• Ad Extensions are on search advertisements that add more information to your ad in addition to written text, and it can increase the size of your ad and the space on the screen. 
  • Call Extensions easily show your phone number on the top of your ad. This allows for leads to quickly click on the number, and if they are on their phone, it will begin the call.
  • Location Extensions easily show your organization’s location, with the address, phone number, and map links. Users can easily get directions to your location from the ad, so this is great for local businesses or organizations.
  • Sitelink Extensions add extra links under your search ad that directs users to specific pages on your website. This is great for users looking for something specific from your organization, like a product category to shop from.
  • Structured Snippet Extensions feature the main categories or features of your organization, such as Amenities, Types, Locations, and more. This gives a quick list of relevant phrases for the user to see.
  • Callout Extensions are snippets of text that call out the most defining or beneficial features of your organization. Some examples could be “Free Shipping”, “Curbside Pickup”, and others.
  • Price Extensions show the numerical price or quote for your product or service right on the ad, which shows a sense of transparency. This can also be a selling point if you are known for your great prices.
  • Promotion Extensions have a specific sale or promo featured under your normal search ad that highlights a deal or code. This can be great for something like Black Friday sales.
  • Lead Form Extensions integrate a contact form for the user to fill out their information through the ad. For example, you can ask the customer to put their name, phone number, email, and other details.
  • App Extensions attach your organization’s mobile app (if you have one) to your search ad. Users can easily download your app to their phone by clicking the “install” button.

Digital Advertising Campaign Metrics

• Impressions describe how many times a user has viewed an ad.
• Clicks describe how many times a user has clicked on an ad.
• Conversions describe the user taking action, or “converting”, once they visit your website. This could mean the user filling out a lead form, purchasing a product, or calling your business depending on the goal set.
• Click-through Rate (CTR) refers to the ratio between how many users saw your ad and how many users actually clicked on it. For example, if your CTR is 1%, that means 1% of all the people who saw your ad actually visited your website.
• Cost per click (CPC) refers to the actual price you pay for each click, with a lower amount showing better results.
• Cost per Thousand (CPM) refers to the cost of an ad to obtain 1,000 impressions. Essentially, it shows how much it costs to show your ad to 1,000 users.
• Cost per Acquisition (CPA) or Cost per Conversion is a metric that measures the cost of a user actually taking action after they visit your website from an ad.
• Ad Frequency involves how many times, in an estimated average, a user sees your advertisement.

Social Media

Popular Social Media Platforms

• Facebook is the largest social media platform in the world, with over 2.5 billion monthly users. The target audience for this platform tends to gravitate towards those above the age of 30. Posts can include images, videos, polls, and they have many features, such as Groups, Events, Games, and more.
• Instagram started as a photo-sharing mobile app, but is now the home of images, videos, Stories, Shopping, and so much more. This app tends to be the most popular among online influencers and young adults, and has 1 billion monthly users; this mobile app is also now owned by Facebook (Meta). This platform is great for businesses who have a lot to show their customers visually, and can show their branding or experience to the customer.
• X / Twitter is known for its quick “Tweets” and updates, sharing breaking news, and giving users a place to share their opinions or communicate on issues with both their friends and complete strangers. X (formerly known as Twitter) is popular among men above the age of 35, though every age has a place or niche in the platform; they have approximately 400 million users.
• LinkedIn is a platform where business-to-business (B2B) companies can really thrive with its features allowing for job searches, networking, professional groups, and more. Businesses are often on LinkedIn to show how their products and services can benefit other businesses. Alternatively, users on LinkedIn can keep their profile as a digital resume, and consistently network with those in their industry. As of now, they have about 800 million members with a profile.
• TikTok is a newer video mobile app that has a very young target audience, ranging from early teens to young adults. Users enjoy funny videos, dance challenges, memes, and relevant clips on pop culture. Due to its popularity, influencers, celebrities, and even businesses are joining the app to create casual content that a much younger audience can connect with. They have about 2 billion active users worldwide and 170 million users in the United States.
• YouTube is a platform for video sharing, with around 1 billion active users. YouTube is a great place to house your company’s videos and link back to them, as well as upload consistent content that may be entertaining, helpful, or meaningful to your audience. 
• Snapchat is a popular social media messaging app that allows users to exchange videos and photos that disappear immediately after they are viewed. Businesses can now be on the app and share “stories” or quick updates with their followers, though it is primarily another form of texting for teens and young people. They have over 300 million daily active users.
• Pinterest is an image or short video sharing platform that is meant to build inspiration for users in organized boards, to which they “pin” something. Brands and organizations can offer tutorials, helpful guides, free downloads, and other helpful or inspirational content that users can save to their page. It is often popular to share cooking recipes, DIY hacks, and more. They currently have almost 90 million active users.
• WhatsApp is an Internet messaging and social app that is often used to communicate all around the world. This can be a great tool for companies that have customers internationally, and it can be connected to your Facebook and Instagram profiles. They currently have around 2 billion users worldwide.

Social Media Terms

• Target Audience describes the group of people that best make up who your ideal customers or followers are. Content should be created to best serve and please your target audience.
• Followers include all of the people who follow your page, like your profile, or stay subscribed to your social media.
• Subscribers are those who have signed up to see your content, which is commonly associated with YouTube. Subscribers can be notified when you post, receive exclusive content, and more.
• Social Inbox includes the private messages that followers send you. In other words, these messages are not public and viewable on your page. Organizations often engage and discuss things with customers in their private inbox if they have questions, are upset about something regarding their service, or other topics.
• Mentions describe the act of tagging or mentioning a user or organization in your social media post. Brands often track if their followers are posting things and tagging them, which can be great or potentially harmful.
• Social Listening or Monitoring includes the use of tools to keep track of what people are saying about your organization on social media. Both positive and negative things should be tracked and responded to, if appropriate. This can also be a great practice in really seeing what your target audience likes, thinks about you, or is looking for from you.
• Boosted Posts include paying for one of your social media posts to be shown to users again, or to new users. The post must be posted on your main feed first, so it can be a way of getting new followers or interest.
• Sponsored Posts refer to any social media post that involves a paid promotion. This can come from the organization themselves, or from someone who was paid to post about the company on social media.
• Influencers are individuals with a following on social media with a larger following than the average user. Influencers are for people of all interests, and they often are paid by companies to promote their products or show their followers how they use a product. This can show credibility and allows for your marketing to feel more organic to those who have a relationship with that influencer.
• Brand Ambassadors are those who have a paid partnership with a brand or organization, and they post on their social media promoting their products, services, or mission. Influencers are often also brand ambassadors for specific companies, such as Taylor Swift partnering with Target and Coca-Cola.
• Captions are the written text that goes with the post, whether it be alongside an image, video, or just text on social media by itself. The caption is also known as the copy, which is similar to the text you put on an ad or on your website.
• Carousels are posts on Instagram or Facebook that have multiple images or videos in which you swipe through or click left to go through the post. This is popular when you have a multitude of images you want to include in one post, or have a continuous design that would look really great as someone swipes through.
• Stories are vertical images or videos that are shown in a slideshow format on Instagram or Facebook; these posts only stay on your profile for 24 hours, and users have about 15 seconds to see each photo or video per slide. Posting a story can be a simple, casual, and quick update to your page without it being a main feed post.
• Hashtags are words or phrases with the “#” symbol in front of it to show the topic or category of the caption or post. For example, someone who posts a photo of the Empire State Building might add the hashtags: #NYC or #TheBigApple. Hashtags can also be a way to reach more people, especially if someone wants to look at posts about #NYC, click on the hashtag, and all of the posts that have that hashtag are all in one place.
• User-Generated Content (UGC) or user-created content (UCC) is any type of content that a user, follower, or customer posts about your brand. You can then use that content, with their permission, and share it on your organization’s page. This is a great way to show your followers that people are actually enjoying or using their products, and it can humanize your brand a bit. For example, Starbucks often reposts photos of customers holding their coffee, and Old Navy often reposts photos or videos of customers wearing their clothes.

Social Media Metrics

• Key performance indicators (KPIs) are ways to measure the performance of a social media activity. For example, a KPI to track the effectiveness of your social media posts could be how many people like your posts relative to the number of followers you have.
• Reach measures how many individual people viewed a post.
• Impressions measure how many times a user viewed a post.
• Engagement describes how many times a user interacted with a post, whether that be through liking it, commenting on it, sharing it, saving it, visiting your profile, or clicking on the link to visit your website.
• Engagement Rate calculates how many of the users who saw your post actually engaged with it. For example, if your engagement rate is 35%, that means 35% of the people who saw your post on their news feed actually clicked on it, liked it, commented on it, shared it, or other actions.
• Reactions are likes on a post, whether it be in terms of a like, love, support, etc. on Facebook or “favorite” on Twitter.
• Comments or Replies (on Twitter) are all under your post, and it is when users leave public messages that everyone can see. The comment section is something your business should monitor as well, looking for positive or negative comments, questions, or discussions about your organization.
• Shares or Retweets (on Twitter) involve when a user publicly reposts your post to their page. Their followers can see that they reshared it, and they can have their own likes and comments under that shared post. 
• Link Clicks describe how many users clicked on the URL or link that is attached to your post. This can be helpful to track if you are promoting a website or specific landing page outside of the social media platform.
• Brand Awareness is commonly used to describe a goal of social media, which is to spread the word about your brand or organization and what you do.

Social Media Jargon

• “Link in Bio” is a phrase most commonly used on Instagram since you cannot post links in your posts. If you want to direct your audience to a website, you’d have to have it on your main profile and your biography section (which allows you to feature one link).
• News Feed or For-You-Page (FYP) are terms that describe the central dashboard where users see either new content or content from those they follow on social media. On different platforms, they are generally called different things. For example, it is abbreviated as “Feed” on Instagram or “FYP” on TikTok.
• “DM” is a short abbreviation for direct message. More often than not, users on the web use DM (since it is shorter and easier to say). For example, if a business needs to follow up privately with a customer on social media, they can say: “Hey Sally! DM us so we can chat about this further!”
• Handle describes what would also be called your username, or the name that someone can tag you by. Usually, your handle would be after the “@” symbol on Instagram or Twitter, such as @johndoe123.
• Tweet describes a post on Twitter. This can be used as a verb or a noun in social media language, such as “I’m going to Tweet that” or “That was such a funny Tweet”.
• Thread describes an organized list of posts that go with each other, most commonly on Twitter. Since Twitter only allows a minimal amount of characters per Tweet, sometimes people have to post more underneath their Tweet in a thread, which is basically a continuation of their post.
• “Swipe Up” is usually associated with Instagram Stories, with businesses or influencers who have unlocked the coveted ability to add links to their Story posts. When you swipe up on an Instagram Story with a link attached, it will send you straight to the website on your phone.
• “Going Viral” is a phrase commonly associated with a post getting a large number of views or shares very quickly on social media. Posts that go viral often include memes, funny videos or photos, videos that give us an inside scoop in a real-time news event, and others. Like anything, “going viral” for something could be a positive or negative thing; in today’s world, you can often end up on national news programs for your viral post.
• Memes are ideas, styles, or images that are heavily related to something going on in popular culture that gets spread around the Internet. Usually, the meme is funny and makes light of something, and it has gone “viral” across social media platforms. For example, if someone posts a video of someone falling or reacting in a big way, that could “become a meme” and go viral. For memes to be effective, you have to know your audience, what they pay attention to in pop culture, and know what they would find ironic or humorous.
• Clickbait describes posting something that teases users with a provocative or enticing title that gets them to click on the link to see or learn more. If what the user ends up seeing is not really what they thought, it can be seen as very misleading and unethical.
• “Trolls” or Spam Users are very common on the web, and often create fake accounts to leave hateful comments, harass others, or leave spam or fake reviews for businesses. They can also leave harmful or inappropriate content in comment sections to get people to click on their links. You can often report these comments as spam, or block those users from interacting with your social media pages.
• #TBT is often used without any context, and it is short for #ThrowbackThursday. It is a social media term for posting an old photo of when you were much younger or of something in the past. #FBF (#FlashbackFriday) and #WBW (#WayBackWednesday) are also used in the same context.
• #NoFilter is related to an image that is not doctored or edited. Many people post a “selfie” to promote natural beauty, or post a beautiful picture of a mountain landscape, and add the #NoFilter to indicate they did not add any lighting, beauty filters, touch-ups, or Photoshop effects. This is generally to promote authenticity, but can also be added in an ironic way if there clearly is some editing done on the photo.
• AMA is short for “Ask me anything”, and this is often used by influencers, businesses, or celebrities to connect with their followers by giving them an open invitation to ask them questions.