Digital Marketing Glossary

Ad: a form of advertising on the internet that takes the form of a promotion for a product or service.

Advertiser: a company or individual that pays to have an ad displayed on a website or social media platform.

Adware: software that displays ads on a computer or mobile device.

Affiliate marketing: a type of performance-based marketing in which a business rewards one or more affiliates for each visitor or customer brought about by the affiliate’s own marketing efforts.

Analytics: the process of analyzing data to gain insights and make better decisions.

A/B testing: a method of comparing two versions of a website or marketing campaign to determine which one performs better.

Algorithm: a set of instructions used to perform a specific task or solve a problem.

Attribution: the process of identifying the specific marketing touchpoints that contributed to a sale or conversion.

Backlink: a link from one website to another.

Banner ad: a type of ad that appears as a rectangular graphic at the top or bottom of a webpage.

Behavioral targeting: a method of delivering ads to specific users based on their browsing behavior.

Blog: a website or section of a website that features regularly updated content, often written in a personal or conversational style.

Bounce rate: the percentage of visitors who leave a website after only viewing one page.

Branding: the process of creating and promoting a brand identity.

Call-to-action (CTA): a button or link that encourages a website visitor to take a specific action, such as making a purchase or signing up for a newsletter.

Campaign: a coordinated series of actions designed to achieve a specific goal.

Canonical tag: a tag that indicates the original source of content that has been republished on multiple websites.

Click-through rate (CTR): the ratio of users who click on a specific link to the number of total users who view a page, email, or advertisement.

Content marketing: a type of marketing that involves creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and engage a specific target audience.

Conversion rate: the percentage of website visitors who take a desired action, such as making a purchase or filling out a form.

Cookie: a small text file that is stored on a user’s device by a website, used to track the user’s browsing activity.

Cost-per-action (CPA): a pricing model in which an advertiser pays for each specific action, such as a sale or lead, that is generated by an ad.

Cost-per-click (CPC): a pricing model in which an advertiser pays for each click on an ad.

Cost-per-impression (CPM): a pricing model in which an advertiser pays for each thousand impressions of an ad.

Crawler: a program that automatically scans and indexes the content of websites.

Cross-selling: the practice of promoting related products or services to a customer who is already in the process of making a purchase.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM): a strategy for managing interactions with current and potential customers.

Dashboard: a visual interface that displays data and metrics in a way that is easy to understand and interpret.

Demographics: characteristics that describe a specific population, such as age, gender, income, and education level.

Display advertising: a form of online advertising that uses images, videos, and other multimedia elements to promote a product or service.

Domain: the address of a website, typically in the format of www.example.com.

E-commerce: the buying and selling of goods and services online.

Engagement rate: a metric that measures the level of engagement of a social media post, such as likes, comments, and shares.

Email marketing: a form of direct marketing that uses email to communicate with potential and existing customers.

Exit rate: the percentage of visitors who leave a website from a specific page.

Facebook Ads: a form of advertising on the Facebook platform, which allows businesses to target specific audiences with text, image, and video ads.

Fan: a person who has liked a brand’s Facebook page.

Feed: a stream of content on a social media platform, such as a list of tweets or Instagram posts.

Followers: people who have chosen to follow a brand’s account on a social media platform.

Follower growth rate: the rate at which a brand’s followers on a social media platform are increasing.

Google Ads: a platform for creating and managing pay-per-click (PPC) ads on Google and its network of partner sites.

Google Analytics: a free web analytics service offered by Google that tracks and reports website traffic.

Google My Business: a free tool offered by Google that allows businesses to manage their online presence across Google, including search and maps.

Hashtag: a word or phrase preceded by the symbol # that is used to categorize content on social media platforms.

Header tags: HTML tags that indicate the importance of the text within a webpage, with H1 being the most important and H6 being the least.

Heatmap: a graphical representation of data that uses colors to indicate the density of certain values.

Inbound marketing: a marketing strategy that focuses on attracting customers to a business through relevant and helpful content and interactions.

Influencer marketing: a form of marketing in which business partners with an individual who has a large following on social media to promote its products or services.

IP address: a numerical label assigned to each device connected to a computer network that uses the Internet Protocol for communication.

Keyword: a word or phrase that is used as the basis for a search query.

Landing page: the webpage that a user is directed to after clicking on a link, such as a search result or an ad.

Lead: a potential customer who has shown interest in a business’s products or services.

Lead magnet: a valuable piece of content, such as an e-book or webinar, that is offered in exchange for contact information, such as an email address.

Like: a way for a user to indicate that they appreciate or agree with a post on a social media platform.

Link building: the process of acquiring backlinks to a website to improve its search engine rankings.

LinkedIn Ads: a form of advertising on the LinkedIn platform, which allows businesses to target specific audiences with text, image, and video ads.

Long-tail keyword: a keyword phrase that is longer and more specific than a general keyword, such as “best running shoes for wide feet” instead of “running shoes”.

Lookalike audience: a group of users on a social media platform or advertising platform who share similar characteristics with a brand’s existing customers.

Metrics: a set of data or measurements used to track the performance of a marketing campaign or website.

Micro-influencer: an influencer with a smaller, but highly engaged following on social media.

Multi-channel marketing: a marketing strategy that uses a combination of channels, such as email, social media, and paid advertising, to reach potential customers.

Native advertising: a form of advertising that is designed to blend in with the surrounding content, such as sponsored posts on social media platforms.

Net Promoter Score (NPS): a metric that measures the willingness of customers to recommend a business to others.

Organic search: the process of finding information on a search engine through the unpaid or “natural” results.

Outbound marketing: a marketing strategy that involves actively reaching out to potential customers through channels such as telemarketing, email, and advertising.

Overseer Marketing: Your favorite digital marketing agency!

Page views: the number of times a webpage has been viewed.

Paid search: the process of finding information on a search engine through paid advertising, such as Google Ads.

Pay-per-click (PPC): a pricing model in which an advertiser pays for each click on an ad.

Personalization: the process of customizing a marketing message or experience to a specific individual or group.

Pixel: a small piece of code that is placed on a website or email to track user behavior, such as website visits or email opens.

Platform: a digital medium or software that allows users to share or interact with content, such as Facebook or Twitter.

Pop-up ad: a form of online advertising that appears in a new window or tab and typically features a call-to-action.

Retargeting: a form of online advertising that displays ads to users who have previously interacted with a brand’s website or app.

Return on Investment (ROI): a metric that measures the profitability of a marketing campaign or investment.

Search engine optimization (SEO): the process of optimizing a website to improve its visibility and ranking on search engines.

Search engine marketing (SEM): the process of using paid advertising to improve a website’s visibility and ranking on search engines.

Search query: the text entered into a search engine to find relevant information.

Search result: the webpage or link that is displayed in response to a search query.

Segmentation: the process of dividing a target audience into smaller groups based on shared characteristics or behaviors.

Share: a way for a user to repost or distribute a post on a social media platform to their own followers or friends.

Social proof: the phenomenon by which people are more likely to take a desired action if they see others doing it.

Soft bounce: an email that bounces back because the recipient’s inbox is temporarily full.

Spam: unsolicited or unwanted email or messages.

Sponsored content: content that is created by a brand and paid for by an advertiser to be distributed on a platform, such as a sponsored post on Instagram.

Target audience: the specific group of people that a business wants to reach with its marketing efforts.

Testimonial: a statement from a satisfied customer that is used to promote a product or service.

Text ad: a form of online advertising that uses text-based content to promote a product or service, often found on search engine results pages or affiliate websites.

Time on page: the amount of time a user spends on a webpage.

Tracking link: a link that includes a unique identifier to track clicks or conversions.

Traffic: the number of visitors to a website.

Trending topic: a topic that is currently popular or widely discussed on social media platforms.

Twitter Ads: a form of advertising on the Twitter platform, which allows businesses to target specific audiences with text, image, and video ads.

Unique visitor: a person who visits a website for the first time.

Upselling: the practice of promoting a higher-priced or more advanced version of a product or service to a customer who is already in the process of making a purchase.

User-generated content (UGC): content, such as reviews or comments, that is created by users rather than brands.

Video marketing: a form of marketing that uses video content to promote a product or service.

Viewability: a metric that measures the ability of an ad to be seen by a user.

Viral marketing: a form of marketing that aims to spread a message or content through social networks by creating content that is likely to be shared by users.

Web analytics: the process of analyzing website data to understand how users interact with a website and make data-driven decisions.

Website: a collection of webpages that are grouped together and accessed through a common address, such as www.example.com.