This digital marketing glossary gives you plain-English definitions for the terms you'll encounter across our services and reports.
A
A/B Testing, comparing two versions of a page, ad, or email to determine which performs better based on real user behaviour.
ACoS (Advertising Cost of Sales), the percentage of ad-attributed sales spent on advertising, used mainly for Amazon and marketplace advertising.
AEO (Answer Engine Optimization), optimizing content to be directly quoted or cited by AI assistants and answer engines like ChatGPT and Google's AI Overviews.
B
Backlink, a link from another website to yours, treated by search engines as a signal of trust and authority.
Bounce Rate, the percentage of visitors who leave a website after viewing only one page.
Buy Box, the featured "Add to Cart" placement on Amazon product pages, won through a combination of price, fulfilment, and seller performance.
C
This section of the digital marketing glossary covers cost and conversion terms.
CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost), the total cost of acquiring one new customer, including all marketing and advertising spend.
Core Web Vitals, Google's set of page experience metrics (loading speed, interactivity, visual stability) that factor into search rankings.
CPC (Cost Per Click), the amount paid each time someone clicks a paid ad.
CRO (Conversion Rate Optimization), systematically testing and improving a website to convert more of its existing visitors into leads or customers.
CTR (Click-Through Rate), the percentage of people who click a link or ad after seeing it.
E
E-E-A-T, Google's framework for evaluating content quality: Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness, particularly important for YMYL topics like health and finance.
F
Featured Snippet, the highlighted answer box that appears above regular search results, often the source of voice assistant answers.
Funnel, the stages a prospect moves through from first awareness of a brand to becoming a customer.
G
This part of the digital marketing glossary covers the newest AI-search terms.
GEO (Generative Engine Optimization), optimizing content to be surfaced and cited by generative AI tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Claude.
GBP (Google Business Profile), the free listing that controls how a business appears on Google Maps and in local search results.
H
Hreflang, an HTML tag that tells search engines which language and country version of a page to show different users.
K
Keyword, a word or phrase people type into search engines, used to target content and ads.
L
This part of the digital marketing glossary covers local search and lifetime-value terms.
Local Pack, the map-based block of three local business results that appears at the top of Google for location-based searches.
LTV (Lifetime Value), the total revenue a business can expect from a customer over the entire relationship.
M
Marketplace, an online platform like Amazon or Flipkart where multiple sellers list products, distinct from a brand's own e-commerce store.
O
Organic Traffic, visitors who arrive at a website through unpaid search results, as opposed to paid ads.
ORM (Online Reputation Management), monitoring and managing how a brand appears across search results, reviews, and social platforms.
P
This entry in the digital marketing glossary covers advertising models.
PPC (Pay-Per-Click), an advertising model where the advertiser pays each time their ad is clicked.
R
Retargeting / Remarketing, showing ads to people who have previously visited your website or engaged with your brand.
ROAS (Return on Ad Spend), revenue generated for every unit of currency spent on advertising.
S
This section of the digital marketing glossary covers structured data and search results.
Schema Markup, structured data added to a webpage's code that helps search engines understand its content and can enable rich search results.
SEO (Search Engine Optimization), improving a website to rank higher in organic (unpaid) search results.
SERP (Search Engine Results Page), the page of results returned by a search engine after a query.
Speakable Schema, structured data marking specific content as suitable for voice assistants to read aloud.
T
This part of the digital marketing glossary covers advertising-efficiency and authority terms.
TACoS (Total Advertising Cost of Sales), advertising spend measured against total sales, both organic and paid, giving a fuller efficiency picture than ACoS alone.
Topical Authority, the degree to which search engines recognise a website as a trusted, comprehensive source on a given subject.
Y
YMYL (Your Money or Your Life), Google's classification for content that could impact a person's health, finances, or safety, held to the strictest quality standards.
Digital Marketing Glossary FAQ
This closing section of the digital marketing glossary answers the questions we hear most about how these terms relate to each other.
What does AEO mean and why does it matter now?
Answer Engine Optimization is optimizing content to be directly quoted by AI assistants and answer boxes rather than just ranked in a list of links, increasingly important as more searches are answered directly by AI rather than through a click.
What's the difference between SEO, AEO, and GEO?
SEO targets traditional search engine rankings. AEO targets being the direct spoken or quoted answer to a question. GEO targets being cited or referenced by generative AI tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity. They overlap heavily but aren't identical.
Is this digital marketing glossary being expanded?
Yes. This list grows as we publish new content and cover new topics across our blog and service pages.