Digital Marketing Dictionary

A work in progress that will be updated as new and exciting digital marketing terms come to our attention…

301 — A 301 is a permanent server redirect. It can pass 90 — 99% of the link juice to the redirected page. This is usually the best method for redirecting a page.

Originally the local pack appeared down below the organic listings and showed 7 businesses:

A/B Testing — A/B tests are easy to conduct and enable you to determine which of two variations (of a single variable) is the most beneficial to implement. For example, 50% of users are shown Version A (headline, CTA, etc.) and the other 50% are shown Version B. The version that receives the most love is the more advantageous of the two to implement.

AdWords — Google’s PPC (Pay-Per-Click) and CPA (Cost-Per-Acquisition) program. AdWords is Google’s main source of revenue.

Algorithm — Algorithms are programs used by search engines to determine which web pages to suggest to users for their search queries. Google’s algorithm PageRank, is the most famous algorithm in search and is named after Larry Page, one of Google’s founders..

Alt Text — Alt text is used by search engines to identify images because they can’t tell one picture from another without a description of the graphic, i.e. alt text. It isn’t usually displayed to the end user, unless the browser doesn’t display graphics or the graphic is undeliverable.

Analytics — Google Analytics is the most popular free analytics program and contains a wide range of features that assist with the gathering and analysis of website data.

Anchor Text — This is the text of the link that is visible to the user and serves as a description of where the text will take the user. Search engines use anchor text as a means of indicating the relevance of the referring site and the link to the content on the landing page.

Authority — Also known as link juice, authority is the amount of trust credited to a website for a particular search query by a search engine. It is determined by the incoming links from other sites.

Backlink — Also known as an incoming link, a backlink is any link to a website or page from another website or page. When you are building backlinks for your website you have to be very precise about what you do. Every marketer worth their salt knows what a backlink is. Building backlinks can quickly become a minefield of mistakes and mishaps for the uninformed SEO. Check out this step-by-step process on how to build backlinks the right way in 2018.

B2B — Business to Business. A B2B business is a business which sells products or services to other businesses.

B2C — Business to Consumer.  A B2B business is a business which sells products or services to end-user customers.

Blackhat SEO — SEO tactics which do not adhere to SEO best practices, most notably, the Google Webmaster Guidelines.

Blogging — A blog is an article on a website that doesn’t directly seek to sell a product or service. Blogs can take many forms and blogging has many notable benefits to offer, including enhanced online exposure and visibility, more website traffic and being seen as an industry authority.

Bofu (Bottom of Funnel) — This is the last part of the sales funnel, a process in which customers are taken from the awareness stage through to the buying stage.

Bounce Rate — The percentage of visitors who leave a website after viewing a single page. A high bounce rate is an indication that visitors are not finding the information that they are looking for or that the page has issues, for example, slow loading speed.

Bot — Also known as crawlers or spiders, bots are used by search engines to systematically browse the internet with the aim of finding and adding web pages to their search indexes.

Breadcrumbs — A horizontal website navigation bar, usually located above the main content on the page. Breadcrumbs help users understand where they currently are on a site and how to return to previous pages and root areas.

Buyer Persona — A buyer persona is a semi-fictional representation of a business’s ideal customer. It’s a profile created using a combination of real customer data and market research that marketers can use to define a target audience and market to them effectively.

Call to Action — CTAs take many forms, including buttons, images, text links and copy, and seek to entice the visitor to take the desired action, for instance, visiting a landing page or making an enquiry.

Canonical Issue — A canonical issue refers to duplicate content found on a website. It is important to address canonical issues as they can be viewed adversely by search engines. A canonical tag tells search engines which version is the master copy.

Churn Rate — This is a marketing metric which measures the cost of customer retention. It is calculated by dividing the number of customers lost (during a certain time frame) by the total number of customers at the outset of that period (without adding any new customers gained within that time frame).

Click-through Rate — This is a metric that shows the number of link clicks as a percentage of impressions (link views).  Your CTR affects your Quality Score.

Content — Also known as copy or text, written content is the part of a web page that should be of the most interest to, and have the most value for, the user. In addition to written copy, content comes in many forms, including videos, blogs, multimedia, photos and podcasts. Branding and navigation elements are not considered content.

Content Management System (CMS) — A CMS is a web-based application which enables users to design, build, edit and manage a website. WordPress is a top example of a CMS which has been designed for non-technical users.

Context — While it is important to provide content that is valuable to users, that content must be customised for the target audience. Content should not only be valuable but also contextually relevant.

Conversion — A conversion occurs when a user takes the desired action, whether that’s providing their contact details in exchange for a content offer, making an enquiry or buying a product or service.

Conversion Path — A series of events in the lead capture process and consists of a call to action (CTA) which leads to a landing page that captures leads and redirects to a page with a content offer. Website visitors exchange their contact information for something of value which helps them through the buying process.

Conversion Rate — The conversion rate is a metric that shows the number of users who convert (take the desired action) as a percentage of the total number of visitors. You can track your conversion rates using Google Analytics and other analytics programs.

Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO) — A system used by marketers to increase the percentage of visitors to a website that takes the desired action on a web page.

Cookie — Cookies are bits of information which are stored on users’ computers when they access a website, allowing their preferences and other details to be stored for future visits.

Cost-Per-Lead (CPL) — This is the amount it costs you to acquire a lead.  It is an important metric in digital marketing that factors into CAC (see below).

Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) — The total cost of sales and marketing activities over a certain timeframe. To calculate CAC, divide the sales and marketing spend by the number of new customers gained during that period.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) — A CRM is a software program used to keep track of all activities relating to their current and potential customers. In addition to keeping track of customer contact information, most CRMs enable the tracking of emails and phone calls, and log all instances of customer support and service.

Directory — A website that lists the details of businesses. Some directories are free whereas others require a paid subscription. Directories are often used in SEO for citation campaigns.

Domain Name — A key part of a unique online address that visitors used to find a website.

Duplicate Content — Content which is identical (or very similar to) content found on another website or web page. Sites with duplicate content may be penalised by Google.

Ebook — An ebook is a digital book, often used as a lead magnet to generate leads by offering the ebook in exchange for the recipient’s contact details, usually their email address.

Email Marketing — A digital marketing activity which promotes products or services via email.

Email Spam — Unsolicited emails.

Engagement Rate — A social media metric which is used to describe the amount of interaction that an item of content receives on a social media platform. Interactions include likes, comments and shares.

Freemium — An online business model in which basic services are provided free while more advanced features require payment, usually a subscription.

Friction — A term used to describe any element of a website, web page or landing page which stresses, confuses or distracts the visitor. Examples of elements which cause friction include excessive forms and fields, too much text and confusing navigation menus.

Google+ — ‘Google Plus’ is Google’s attempt at a Facebook-style social media platform. While Google+ didn’t prove anywhere near as popular as the world’s preferred social media platform, it is used in SEO due to the importance of social sharing signals. Plus it’s owned by Google.

Googlebot — Google’s spiders, crawlers or bots.

Google Dance — A constant cause of concern for marketers, the Google dance refers to the fluctuations in SERP rankings caused by algorithm or Google database updates. It can also be used to refer to the period in which different data centres display different sets of data during a Google index update.

Google Juice — Also known as trust/authority from Google, Google juice flows through outbound links to other web pages.

Google My Business — A free listing provided by Google. Your GMB page is vitally important and every effort should be made to ensure consistency across all listings with the details on this page.

Guest Blogging — A method used to increase website traffic. By writing content for similar websites, guest bloggers receive a link to their own website which helps to promote their name and blog.

GYM — Google, Yahoo & Microsoft — The Big 3 of search.

Hashtag — Hashtags enable users to interact with one another on social media and converse about a particular issue or piece of content by tying all public conversations into a single stream. Twitter, Facebook and Instagram all use hashtags.

HTML — HyperText Markup Language (HTML) is the language used to write web pages. It is often modified and enhanced with other technologies, such as JavaScript and CSS.

Impression — Also known as a page view, impressions refer to the instance in which a user views a web page a single time.

Inbound Link — A link coming from one site to another, the term ‘inbound link’ is generally used by the recipient of the link. Websites with numerous inbound links tend to get a ranking boost in SERPs.

Inbound Marketing — Inbound marketing techniques differ from traditional or ‘outbound’ marketing in that inbound is intended to draw visitors in rather than going out to get the attention of prospects. One of the main objectives of inbound marketers is to create useful, helpful content that attracts the attention of prospective customers.

Index — To add a web page to a search engine index (verb) or a database of web pages and the content contained on each which is used by search engines (noun).

Indexed Page — A page which has been indexed.

Infographic — Infographics are used to relay often complex concepts in a simple way through visuals and short bytes of text.

JavaScript — A programming language used by developers to create interactive sites. Most dynamic behaviour on websites is made possible with JavaScript. Examples of uses for JavaScript include slide-ins, pop-ups, interactive games and check forms.

Key Performance Indicator (KPI) — A performance metric used to evaluate the success of an activity or employee.

Keyword — Keywords, or keyword phrases, are the topics for which web pages are indexed in search results. Keywords are a main focus of SEO and PPC.

Keyword Density — The percentage of keywords on a page in relation to the total number of words on that page. Pages with unnaturally high keyword density may be penalised (see keyword stuffing below).

Keyword Mapping — The process of allocating keywords and key phrases to the targeted pages on a website.

Keyword Research — The process of determining which keywords are most advantageous and appropriate to target.

Keyword Stuffing — The process of (deliberately) increasing the density of a keyword on a web page to make it more visible to search engines. Keyword stuffing can result in penalties, usually in the form of a ranking drop — don’t do it!

Landing Page — A web page which contains a lead generation form. A landing page serves the purpose of capturing the visitor’s contact information.

Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) — Commonly associated word groups. LSI terms are often referred to as ‘long tail’. LSI is important in SEO as web page content is crawled by search engine bots and common words and phrases are collated and identified as keywords. You can find LSI keywords with a simple Google search — enter a term and you will automatically be shown LSI keywords related to your enquiry.

Lead — An entity which has shown interest in a product or service. They could have come to the attention of the marketer via a landing page, a telephone or email enquiry or an online form. A variety of tools, including calls-to-action, offers, forms and landing pages, are used by marketers to generate leads.

Lead Magnet — The practice of communicating with a lead to qualify them, then keep them engaged and push them further down the sales funnel.

Lead Nurturing — The practice of communicating with a lead to qualify them, then keep them engaged and push them further down the sales funnel.

Lifecycle Stages — There are three lifecycle stages — awareness, evaluation and purchase — with each stage determining the type of content that would be appropriate for the visitor.

Lifetime Value (LTV) — A prediction of the net profit of a customer’s entire relationship with a business. To calculate LTV:

1. Calculate the revenue paid by the customer
2. Subtract that amount from the gross margin
3. Divide by the estimated churn rate (cancellation rate)

Link — A clickable web page element that causes the browser to direct to another web page or another section of the current page.

Linkbait — A web page designed to attract incoming links.

Link Building — The process of actively increasing the number of incoming links to a website.

Link Juice — See Google Juice.

Link Text — Also known as anchor text, link text is the clickable, visible text of a link. Search engines analyse link text to identify the relevance of the referring site and the link to the content on the landing page.

Long-Tail Keyword — A highly-targeted search term that contains a minimum of three words. Visitors that land on web pages from long-tail search terms are more qualified and more likely to convert. Long-tail keywords are usually comprised of a ‘head term’ with additional words to refine the search term.

Marketing Automation — Similar to lead nurturing but with a few notable differences, the most important of which is that marketing automation provides the means and lead nurturing the practice behind it.

Meta Tag — Tags used in HTML and XHTML documents which provide structured information about a web page. Some meta tags, like H1 tags, are visible on the page, whereas others, like meta descriptions, are only visible in SERPs.

Meta Description — A meta description is a 160-word snippet which summarises the content of a web page and is displayed in search results to provide information on what the page is about. A compelling, informative meta description can increase your click-through-rate (CTR).

Mirror Site — An identical website with a different URL. They are generally used to relieve server traffic.

Mobile Optimisation — The practice of optimising digital content, including websites and web pages, for mobile devices. With Google pushing ‘mobile first’ priorities, it’s vital to optimise for mobile.

Mofu (Middle Of Funnel) — The second stage in the sales funnel. This stage occurs after ToFu (Top Of Funnel), which is the stage in which the prospect identifies the problem. MoFu offers present the business (and its products and/or services) as a solution to the prospect’s problem.

Navigation — Finding one’s way around a website. With the increasing importance of UX (User Experience), intuitive navigation is essential.

No-Follow Link — A links used to avoid passing search engine authority to another page which tells bots not to follow or pass credit to the linked website. It can be used to avoid association with spammy sites which have inadvertently violated webmaster guidelines.

Offer — The primary purpose of an offer is to generate leads by offering a prospect something of value in exchange for their contact details. Examples of offers commonly given in exchange for a prospect’s contact details include ebooks, demos and webinars.

Off-Page Optimisation — Off-page SEO refers to the external factors, including incoming links and social media, which influence how a web page is indexed. A good way to go about off-page optimisation is to create valuable content that will be linked to and shared.

On-Page Optimisation — On-page SEO refers to the on-page elements of a web page and includes the title tag, URL, image tags and content. To rank for a particular search term, it is important to include the keyword in the on-page elements in natural amounts.

Organic Search Results — Unpaid listings on SERPs. Organic search results appear because of their relevance to the user’s search terms.

Outbound Link — A link that directs visitors to another web page or website. There are two types of outbound links — the ‘dofollow’ link and the ‘nofollow’ link. The dofollow link is the normal, default link which passes link juice to the targeted webpage. The nofollow link doesn’t pass on link juice by telling the Google spider ‘not to follow’ the link. Most websites have outbound links.

PageRank — The algorithm used by Google to rank web pages within search engine results by measuring the importance of each page. It is named after Larry Page, one of Google’s founders.

Paid Listings — Paid listings appear in search results because the advertiser has paid the search engine for inclusion and/or position. Google AdWords is the most prominent example of a paid listing.

Pay-Per-Click (PPC) — A digital advertisement which costs the advertiser a predetermined or bid-based amount of money when the ad is clicked on and the user is directed to the advertiser’s website or landing page. Google AdWords is the most visible PPC platform.

Pop-Up Ad — Interstitial advertisements that appear in the foreground of the visual interface. The obtrusiveness of pop-up ads on mobile devices was addressed by Google with the rollout of their mobile intrusive interstitial penalty in January 2017.

Qualified Lead — A prospect who has already expressed interest in buying a product or service, though the definition often varies from business to business.

Reciprocal Link — An agreement between two webmasters to provide a hyperlink between their websites. This could be done to show a partnership or to deliver quick access to a related website.

Responsive Design — A website development practice which creates websites which adapt to the specific device used to view it. This enables the creation of a single website which recognises the device that’s viewing it and automatically generates a responsive web page. Google now prioritises responsive websites over websites with separate mobile and desktop versions.

Return On Investment (ROI) — A performance metric used to evaluate the efficiency and profitability of an investment. To calculate ROI, subtract the Cost of Investment from the Gain from Investment and express the result as a percentage or ratio. ROI can be used on every marketing channel used.

ROBOTS.TXT — A text file which instructs search engine crawlers how to crawl the pages on the website.

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) — A form of digital marketing that promotes websites by increasing SERP visibility. SEM primarily focuses on paid advertising but also uses SEO as a means of increasing exposure and traffic.

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) — The process of getting free or organic results on SERPs with the aim of increasing the number of visitors to a website. SEO techniques aim to get web pages to rank high in SERPs, as the higher a web page ranks, the more likely users are to visit the site. Following white hat SEO techniques is best practice in SEO.

SERP — Search Engine Results Page. A list of results for a particular search term.

Sitemap — A list of the pages on a website. Structured sitemaps are intended for search engine crawlers to aid indexing.

Social Media Marketing — The process of gaining website traffic through social media sites.

Social Media Poisoning — A term used to describe black hat (and likely illegal) techniques used to implicate a competitor as a spammer. An example of this is using a competitor’s name for blog comment spam. The term was coined by Rand Fishkin.

Social Proof — A psychological phenomenon (not limited to social media) in which people seek direction from others to determine how to act or think in a given situation. Social proof can be quantified in several ways, for instance, the number of followers a user has or how many interactions a piece of content generates.

Spam — Unsolicited emails sent for the purpose of advertising, spreading malware, phishing, etc.

Spammer — Someone who uses spam as a means to pursue a goal. Usually a nefarious one.

Spider (Robot, Crawler, etc.) — A program which creates entries for a search engine index by copying and saving information as it visits sites.

Submission — The process of submitting a listing to a directory.

Static Page — A web page that lacks dynamic content. As static pages are search engine spider-friendly, they are seen as advantageous to use in SEO.

Stickiness — Changes made to a website to mitigate bounce rate by enticing users to stay on the site longer and view more pages.

Title Tag — An HTML element which is displayed in the top bar of internet browsers and on SERPs. In on-page SEO, title tags are one of the most important factors.

Tofu (Top of Funnel) — ToFu is the first stage of the buying process. It is in this stage that a lead identifies a problem and starts seeking information on how to solve it.

Unique Visitor — A term which refers to a person who visits a website on multiple occasions within a certain timeframe. It is used in contrast to the overall number of site visits.

URL — Uniform Resource Locator. Basically, this is the address of a website, web page, document or image. It is good practice to include search terms within URLs.

User Experience (UX) — The experience a customer has with a business. The term is also used to describe the experience of visitor as they interact with a website or web page. To deliver great UX, marketers and website designers need to place themselves in the user’s shoes.

Viral Content — A piece of content, whether a video, image or article which has become extremely popular due to sharing on social media.

White Hat SEO — Search engine optimisation techniques which adhere to best practice guidelines. Following white hat SEO techniques and avoiding black hat techniques can help you to avoid Google penalties.

Word-Of-Mouth (WOM) — Information which is passed from person to person. WOM can be highly beneficial when positive and highly destructive when negative.

XML — eXtensible Markup Language. A metalanguage which is similar to HTML and defines a set of rules for encoding documents in a human-readable and machine-readable format.

XML Sitemap — A file of code which lists all of the URLs on the structure of a website. Search engine crawlers (bots) use XML sitemaps to determine the site structure which enables them to crawl the site more effectively. Having a sitemap in place is important as it helps search engines to see what’s on the website, enabling them to index the search terms that the user is looking for.

… suggestions welcome …

… any ideas?

Based in Brisbane and providing SEO, PPC and Social Media Marketing services Australia-wide, Bambrick Media has helped hundreds of local and interstate businesses achieve their digital marketing goals. To speak with a member of the team, please get in touch via our Contact page.