Whether you’re a skilled marketer or just stepping into the digital arena, having a digital marketing glossary at your disposal can come in handy. With dozens of acronyms, metrics, tools and techniques, and new technologies introduced all the while, our comprehensive PPC and SEO glossary is your go-to resource. Save and share with others for clarity on the essential terms that fuel the engines of online visibility, user engagement, and brand success!
SEO (Search Engine Optimisation):
Definition: The practice of optimising a website for improved visibility and ranking on search results. It involves both on-page and off-page techniques.
SEO Glossary:
· Organic search results: On the search results page, you will find paid for search results at the top and on the side, and then the normal search results in the middle and left, which are displayed due to their relevance of the search term. These are organic search results, which are based on how relevant the content is, and can be impacted through search engine optimisation, or SEO.
· SERP: SERP stands for search engine results page, which is the screen displayed after you make a search on Google, Bing, and elsewhere. Climbing the SERPs simply involves getting a better search engine ranking through SEO efforts.
· Keywords: Words or phrases commonly used by searchers to find what they are looking for.
· Keyphrase: A keyphrase is similar to a keyword, but it involves numerous words combined to form a single search term or query that visitors frequently use. If you can optimise a certain page for a phrase rather than a word, it can be beneficial, as searches will be more precise and drive more relevant traffic to your website.
· Keyword research: This is the process of formulating a list of keywords that people are searching for online, and thus producing a list of possible keywords or terms that your website should be optimised for.
· Long Tail: Long tail refers to the phrases or longer sentences that many people search for in search engines. While they can be less frequent, they still represent common searches which can be valuable keyphrases.
· Meta Tags: HTML tags that provide information about a web page such as how it should be displayed on the search results page.
· Crawling: A process used by search engines to discover and index web pages.
· A/B Split Test: Testing two different variables of a web page, email, or other marketing devices to find the best performing option.
· Algorithm: A mathematical, computational method which takes in a number of variables to output results, utilised by Google to determine which web pages should rank for different search terms.
· Meta description tag: The meta description is a short paragraph or a couple of sentences that describe what a web page is all about. This is usually shown in the search results under the meta title. The content of the meta description will also be highlighted if certain search terms or words appear within the description itself. However, the meta description does not directly impact rankings.
· Title tags: Title tags should consist of a short sentence or description of a web page, which is displayed in the top bar of a user’s internet browser. These are also displayed as the title of your page in search engine result pages and should be optimised with keywords or phrases.
· Alt Tag: Used in HTML to attribute a text field to a corresponding image, which describes what it is about. In the event the image is unable to load, the text is displayed in its place.
· Backlinks: Links from other websites that point towards yours..
· Anchor text: The text that is defined to be clickable within a link.
· Bounce rate: This is the percentage of visitors to your website which do not progress beyond a certain page.
· Engaged sessions: A session beyond 10 seconds, that involves a conversion event, or includes a minimum of two pageviews or screen views.
· Breadcrumb links: These are links which indicate where a certain web page sits within the hierarchy of the overall website – these can usually be found at the top of a page.
· Canonical: The canonical rel tag tells any Web Crawlers that a certain page is the definitive version, when there are multiple versions of similar pages. Non-canonical pages must link to canonical versions with this link in place. · Conversion rate optimisation: Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO) is the process of creating the best possible user-experience on a web page, in order to ensure the percentage of visitors which convert into leads or paying customers increases.
· EAT (Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness): Google’s holy grail for content quality. Build EAT by showcasing your team’s expertise, citing reliable sources, and establishing your brand as a trusted voice.
· Voice Search Optimisation: Voice search optimisation involves fine-tuning your web content to appear in voice search results. Think of it as teaching your website to speak the same language as Siri, Alexa, or Google Assistant. When users ask their devices questions verbally (e.g., “Hey Siri, what’s the best pizza place nearby?”), optimised pages have a better chance of being recommended. For voice optimisation, adapt your content to conversational language queries, as voice assistants grow in popularity. Think “How do I…” and “Best ways to…”
· Structured Data: Structured data is any set of data that is organised and structured on a webpage. When you tag specific groups of text with meaningful labels, search engines can understand the context of that information. When search engines grasp your content’s context, they can display richer results in search engine result pages (SERPs) in the form of eye-catching rich snippets, knowledge boxes, and carousels.
· CWV (Core Web Vitals): Google’s Core Web Vitals are three key performance indicators (KPIs) used to assess the quality of a web page. These metrics reflect how quickly your page loads, responds to user interactions, and avoids annoying layout shifts. The three CWV metrics are:
· Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): Measures loading performance and the time taken for the main content of a web page to load. Ideally this should be within the first 2.5 seconds of page load.
· First Input Delay (FID): Measures interactivity. You should strive for an FID of less than 100 milliseconds.
· Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): Measures visual stability. You should aim to keep your CLS score below 0.1.
PPC (Pay Per Click Advertising):
Definition: An online advertising model where advertisers pay for each click on their ads.
PPC Glossary:
· CPA: This stands for Cost Per Acquisition, referring to how much it costs to acquire a new customer from your website.
· CPC: Cost Per Click, which is used within Google Ads– only charging the advertiser when the paid search result or advertisement is clicked.
· Ad Rank: Determines ad position in search results.
· Quality Score: Google’s rating of ad relevance and landing page quality.
· CTR (Click-Through Rate): The percentage of clicks per impression.
· Impressions: The number of times an ad is displayed.
· Conversion Rate: The number of users who take a desired action (e.g., purchase, sign-up) after clicking an ad. This is usually expressed as a percentage.
· Search Partners: Google Search Partners is like having a network of friendly neighbours who help spread the word about your business. When you enable Search Partners, your ads can appear not only on Google’s search engine results page (SERP) but also on external websites that are part of the Search Partners network.
· Conversion Tracking: Tracking actions like sign-ups, purchases, and downloads to optimise your campaigns for ROI.
· Remarketing/Retargeting: Marketing/targeting users who previously interacted with your brand online. This presents users with relevant ads based on their previous behaviour.
· Performance Max: A goal-based campaign type introduced by Google Ads that focuses on maximising performance in real-time by leveraging machine learning and artificial intelligence.
· Cross-network (GA4 channel): A default channel grouping that combines data from multiple advertising networks. These networks include Discovery, Performance Max, and Smart Shopping campaigns.
