Marketing is essential for growing your business and generating leads. But the terminology and jargon can be challenging and confusing.
This A-Z glossary is designed to help you understand some of the most used marketing terms.
301 Redirect: a permanent redirect that tells search engines and users that a page has moved to a new location. When a user visits the old URL, they will be automatically redirected to the new URL. 302 Redirect: a temporary redirect that tells search engines and users that a page has moved to a new location, but only temporarily. When a user visits the old URL, they will be automatically redirected to the new URL for a short period of time. 404 Error: an error message that appears when a web page cannot be found. This can happen for several reasons, such as: the page you are looking for has been moved or deleted, the URL you typed is incorrect, or there is a problem with the server.
A
A/B Testing: a method of comparing two different versions of a marketing message or campaign, to see which one performs better.
Above The Fold: the top part of a web page that is visible without scrolling.
Ad Network: a platform that allows advertisers to place their ads on websites and other online properties.
AdWords: Google's online advertising platform that allows businesses to create and manage their own pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns.
Alt Text: text that describes an image on a website. It is used by screen readers to help visually impaired users understand the content of a web page, and by search engines to index images.
Analytics: the process of collecting and analysing data to measure the performance of a website or marketing campaign.
Anchor Text: the clickable text in a hyperlink. It is important for SEO because it helps search engines understand the context of the link and the content of the page it is linking to.
App: a software application that is designed to be used on mobile devices.
Artificial Intelligence (AI): a branch of computer science that deals with the creation of intelligent agents, which are systems that can reason, learn, and act autonomously.
Audience: the group of people that you are trying to reach with your marketing messages.
Awareness: the first stage of the marketing funnel, where people are made aware of your brand or product.
B
B2B: business-to-business marketing, which focuses on selling products or services to other businesses.
B2C: business-to-consumer marketing, which focuses on selling products or services to individual consumers.
Backlink: A link from one website to another. Backlinks are important for SEO because they help to improve a website's ranking in search engine results pages (SERPs).
Black Hat SEO: techniques that are used to manipulate search engine rankings, often in a way that is unethical or against the search engine's terms of service.
Blog: a website, or part of a website, that is updated regularly with new content, usually in the form of news, articles, or posts.
Bounce Rate: the percentage of visitors who leave a website after only viewing one page.
Brand: a name, term, symbol, or design, or a combination of them, that identifies and distinguishes the products or services of one seller from those of others.
C
Call To Action (CTA): a prompt that encourages the reader to take a specific action, such as clicking on a link, signing up for a newsletter, or making a purchase.
Campaign: a series of marketing activities that are coordinated to achieve a specific goal.
Content: any information, such as text, images, videos, or audio, that is created for the purpose of being consumed by others.
Content Marketing: a marketing strategy that involves creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience.
Conversion: a desired action that a visitor to a website takes, such as making a purchase, signing up for a newsletter, or downloading a white paper.
Conversion Rate: the percentage of visitors to a website who take a desired action, such as clicking on a link, signing up for a newsletter, or making a purchase.
Conversion Tracking: the process of measuring the number of conversions that occur on a website.
Cost Per Click (CPC): the amount of money that you pay each time someone clicks on your ad.
Cost Per Impression (CPM): the amount of money that you pay each time your ad is displayed.
Cookie: a small file that is stored on a user's computer when they visit a website. Cookies can be used to track user activity on a website and to store user preferences.
Crawler: also known as a Spider or Bot, a computer programme that automatically browses the web and indexes web pages.
Customer Journey: the process that a customer goes through from the time they first become aware of a product or service to the time they make a purchase.
Customer Lifetime Value (CLV): the total amount of money that a customer is expected to spend with a business over their lifetime.
D
Demand Generation: the process of creating interest in a product or service among potential customers.
Data Analytics: the process of collecting, cleaning, and analysing data to extract meaningful insights.
Data-driven Marketing: a marketing approach that is based on data analysis to make decisions about marketing strategies and campaigns.
Domain: a unique name, or address, that identifies a website on the internet.
Domain Authority: a measure of how well a website is likely to rank in search engine results pages (SERPs).
Duplicate Content: content that appears on more than one web page and can harm a website's search engine ranking.
E
Email Marketing: a form of direct marketing that involves sending emails to a list of subscribers.
Engagement: the level of interaction that visitors have with your website or content.
F
Funnel: a visual representation of the customer journey, from awareness to purchase.
G
Goals: the specific objectives that you want to achieve with your marketing campaigns.
Google Search Console: A free tool from Google that helps website owners monitor and improve their website's performance in search results.
H
Heading: titles that are used to organise and structure the content of a website. They are typically used to indicate the main topics of a page, and they can also be used to help users scan and find the information they are looking for. HTTP: a protocol that defines how information is exchanged between a web browser and a web server. Hyperlink: clickable text or image on a web page that takes the user to another website, web page or location on the same web page.
I
Inbound Marketing: a marketing strategy that focuses on attracting customers by creating valuable content and experiences that meet their needs.
Indexed Page: a page on a website that is stored in a search engine’s database.
Internal Link: A link from one page on a website to another page on the same site.
K
Keyword: a word or phrase that people use to search for information on the internet.
Keyword research: the process of identifying and researching the keywords that you want your website to rank for in search engines.
KPIs: key performance indicators, which are metrics that you track to measure the success of your marketing campaigns.
L
Landing page: a web page that is designed to convert visitors into leads or customers. It is typically the first page that a visitor sees when they click on an ad, email, or other marketing campaign.
Lead: a potential customer who has shown interest in a product or service.
Lead Generation: the process of attracting and qualifying leads.
M
Meta Description: a short summary of a web page that appears in search engine results.
Marketing: marketing is a broad term that encompasses a wide range of activities, from market research to product development to sales and distribution. The goal of marketing is to create a sustainable competitive advantage for a company by understanding and meeting the needs of its target market.
Marketing Attribution: the process of assigning credit for a conversion to the marketing channels that were responsible for creating the lead.
Marketing Automation: the use of software to automate marketing tasks, such as email marketing, social media marketing, and lead generation.
Marketing Funnel: see 'Funnel', above.
Marketing Mix: the four Ps of marketing: product, price, place, and promotion.
Marketing Plan: a document that outlines your marketing goals, strategies, and tactics.
Marketing Research: the process of collecting and analysing data to understand your target market and their needs.
Marketing Strategy: a high-level plan that outlines how you will achieve your marketing goals.
Marketing Tactics: the specific actions that you will take to implement your marketing strategy.
Media Planning: the process of selecting the right media channels to reach your target market.
Messaging: the way that you communicate your message to your target market.
Metrics: the data that you track to measure the success of your marketing campaigns.
Mobile Marketing: marketing that is specifically designed for mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets.
N
Niche: a specific segment of the market that you target with your marketing messages.
O
Objectives: the specific goals that you want to achieve with your marketing campaigns.
P
PageRank: a system that Google uses to rank websites based on the number and quality of links to them.
Page Title: a short, descriptive text that appears in the title bar of a web browser, and in search engine results.
Paid Advertising: any form of advertising that requires a business to pay to place their ad.
Pay-per-click advertising (PPC): a form of online advertising in which advertisers pay each time a user clicks on their ad.
Plagiarism: the act of taking someone else's work and passing it off as your own.
Positioning: the way that you differentiate your product or service from the competition.
Promotion: the process of communicating your message to your target market.
Public Relations (PR): the process of building relationships with the media and other influencers to generate positive publicity.
Q
Quality Score: a metric that Google uses to evaluate the quality of a website's backlinks.
R
Redirect: a way to send users and search engines to a different URL from the one they originally requested.
S
Search Engine: a web based tool that helps users find information on the internet by matching keywords to web pages.
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO): the process of optimising a website to rank higher in search engine results pages.
Search Engine Results Page (SERP): the page that is displayed when a user performs a search on a search engine.
Social Media Marketing: a strategy that involves using social media platforms to promote a product or service.
T
Target Audience: the group of people that a business wants to reach with its marketing efforts.
U
URL: the unique address of a web page on the internet.
V
Value Proposition: a statement that explains why your business is different from your competitors and why customers should choose you.
W
Webinar: a live online presentation that is typically used to educate or promote a product or service.
Website Analytics: the process of collecting and analysing data about website visitors.
Website Traffic: the number of visitors who visit a website.
White Hat SEO: techniques that are used to improve a website's ranking in search engine results pages in a way that is ethical and follows the search engine's terms of service.
X
XML Sitemap: a file that lists all the pages on a website that you want search engines to index.
We hope the above guide has helped you understand any marketing terms that you previously found confusing. And if there are any marketing terms you couldn't find, let us know in the comments below and we'll add it to our marketing glossary.
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