Mega Glossary of Digital Marketing Terms
Updated: May 5, 2023
Have you ever found yourself talking with a prospective client or business partner and they’re using digital marketing terms that leave you feeling bewildered?
Parrot Digital Marketing has your back! We decided to put together the ultimate, mega glossary of digital marketing terms for you to bookmark.
If you come across digital marketing terms you don’t know, you can easily find it here by using the CTRL+F shortcut on PC (CMD+F on Mac).
A
A/B Split Testing or Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)
Using 2 versions of an advert, sales funnel, email campaign, landing page, etc., to test which one is more effective in attracting and/or converting traffic.
Ad Manager Account
A Facebook Ad Network account for advertising campaigns on the social media platform. Related term: Facebook Business Manager (Facebook platform allowing digital marketers to manage multiple ad manager accounts simultaneously).
Adwords
Google Adwords is the search engine’s primary PPC advertising platform for placing ads on any of Google’s affiliated platforms, including YouTube.
Adsense
Google Adsense allows website owners to host Google Adwords ads on their site to earn a commission every time a site visitor clicks on the ad.
Algorithm
In digital marketing, an algorithm is the process(es) used to rank search engine results.
Alt Text
An HTML coding attribute used to describe an image on your web page.
Analytics
A program, software, or practice for gaining insights on how well your advertising campaigns, landing pages, sales funnels, and website as a whole are performing, for example their CTR and time spent on a page.
Google Analytics is the most common example.
Anchor Text
The words you click on to follow a hyperlink.
Automation
The use of a program or software to automatically perform repetitive tasks when triggered, such as sending a welcome email when new customers sign up.
B
Backlinks
Hyperlinks on another website that directs their visitors to your site.
Black Hat SEO
Unethical SEO practices, such as duplicate content.
Blog
A regularly updated weblog used to deliver new content for attracting new visitors and engaging with your existing audience.
Bot
A program used to visit websites, such as for updating search engine algorithms (related digital marketing terms: “crawler” or “spider”).
Bounce Rate
The percentage of site visitors who immediately leave your website without interacting with your content.
Bread Crumbs
The links at the top of a web page that help visitors navigate your site.
Business-to-Business (B2B)
Describing companies who offer products or services to other businesses rather than consumers.
Business-to-Consumer (B2C)
Describing companies who offer products or services directly to the consumer rather than to other businesses.
C
Call to Action (CTA)
Text, an image, or a clickable button prompting site visitors to perform a specific action, such as subscribing or making a purchase.
Campaign
A series of ads following a theme, whether via email, PPC, social media, or other platforms.
Click-Through-Rate (CTR)
The ratio of ad or search engine result impressions (how many times it’s seen) to how many times it’s clicked on.
Contact Form
A website or web page section where site visitors can enter their contact details and/or query to contact the website owner.
Content Management System (CMS)
An online application that helps non-technical users create, edit, and manage their website. A Content Optimization System (COS) is similar, but allows for better UX in the end result.
Conversion
When a predefined goal, such as making a sale or gaining a new subscriber, is achieved. Conversions are also referred to as leads.
Conversion Path
The series of web pages a site visitor follows that ends in a conversion.
Conversion Rate
The percentage of site visitors who complete a predefined goal in relation to the total number of site visitors.
Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)
The practice of using different elements, such as a CTA, landing page, and UX to improve your conversion rate.
Cost-Per-Acquisition (CPA)
The percentage of conversions in relation to the total amount spent on advertising that leads to those conversions. Similar terms include Cost-Per-Lead (CPL), Cost-Per-Thousand (CPM), and Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC).
Cost-Per-Click (CPC)
The amount each click in a PPC ad campaign costs. This varies based on the keyword(s) used.
D
Dashboard
A web page that gathers and displays information about the website or software’s performance, typically from multiple sources.
Directory
A website or web page that categorizes helpful links to other websites.
Domain Name Service (DNS)
A protocol that translates alphabetical website URLs into the numerical IP addresses that servers use to relay information.
Duplicate Content
A black hat SEO practice where text is used word-for-word (in part or as a whole) on 2 or more web pages, whether on the same website or as plagiarism of another website.
E
Email List
The list of client emails collected via your contact form and used for email marketing and other email communications.
Email Marketing
The practice of using email to communicate with existing or potential clients, or other business contacts, in order to prompt conversions.
F
Featured Snippet
A summarized piece of text that search engines display on their search results pages to give users a quick answer to their search query without needing to open the corresponding web page.
Forecasting
A prediction of marketing and/or sales trends based on past performance.
Funnel
The entire buying process, starting with Top of the Funnel (identifying a want/need), Middle of the Funnel (where clients are looking for a solution – this is where your marketing campaigns come into play), and ending with Bottom of the Funnel (where conversion takes place).
H
Hashtag
A keyword/phrase tagged with the # symbol on social media platforms, typically used to help users discover your content.
Header
The top portion of a page, but also text headings (titles and sub-headings).
Heatmap
Graphical representation of user interaction on your site, showing where they click or hover, and how they scroll.
Hyperlink
A link (typically highlighted or in a different font color to regular text) which lets users navigate to another web page on your website (Internal Link) or to a different website (External Link).
Inbound Marketing
Another way of referring to Search Engine Optimization (SEO), the set of practices, activities, and strategies for attracting organic site visitors.
Index
The list of web pages a search engine has stored for showing in search results. Related term: Indexing, when a search engine uses their crawler bot to read your website or web page and add it to their index.
IP Address
The numerical address, which is unique to each server and website, which servers use to identify each other and websites.
K
Keyword/Keyword Phrase
A word or phrase that indicates the overall theme or topic of a web page’s content, allowing search engines to display relevant results based on the keyword/keyword phrase used as the search query.
Long-tail keywords are hyper-specific keyword phrases (for example, “affordable Austin digital marketing agency for small businesses” as opposed to “Austin digital marketing”).
Keyword Density
The number of times a keyword or keyword phrase appears on a page, in relation to the total word count.
Keyword Stuffing
A black hat SEO practice of overusing a keyword in the attempt to rank better on SERPs.
L
Landing Page
The web page a link or ad leads to. Ad-related landing pages are designed to encourage conversion.
Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI)
An indexing method that helps search engines better understand your content (see also: Index).
Lead
A user who has converted by filling out a contact form and/or subscribes for email updates.
Link Network/Private Blog Network
A black hat SEO practice attempting to artificially manipulate a link profile, typically with reciprocal links.
Link Profile
The collection of links that point to a specific website (see also: Backlink and Hyperlink). If the majority of these links originate from websites that are not trusted or of an adult nature, the link profile might negatively affect your SEO ranking. Backlinks from trusted/authority sites help boost your SEO ranking.
M
Metadata
Snippets of data added to a web page to help search engine crawlers index the page and/or website. Includes meta tags (publication date, author, alt text, etc.) and meta keywords (specifies the keywords/key phrases used on the page).
Meta Description
A meta tag that uses 160 characters or less to describe the page content. Meta tags are displayed on SERPs to give users a preview of the content before following the link.
N
Nofollow Link
A link that does not give any SEO benefits to the destination web page. Uses an HTML coding attribute to signify nofollow status to search engine crawlers.
O
Organic
Refers to traffic from SEO practices where you have not paid to be featured (differs from ad and PPC ad traffic).
P
An advertising model where the advertiser pays the ad host each time a user clicks on their ad. The CPC depends on the keywords associated with the specific ad.
Position/Ranking
Where your website shows on a SERP based on SEO and specific to the keyword/keyword phrase associated with each individual page.
R
Redirect
The way a browser takes the user from one page or site to another without the user having to use a link or type a new URL.
A 301 redirect is permanent and is typically used to direct users from your old page/site to your new one. 302 redirects are temporary and typically send visitors to an alternative page if the original is temporarily unavailable.
Remarketing
The practice of displaying personalized ads on other websites for users who have previously interacted with your site, with the intent of having them visit your site again (especially to generate more sales).
Return On Ad Spend (ROAS)
Net income from a PPC campaign minus the CPC total for that campaign, i.e. your PPC campaign’s profit.
Return On Investment (ROI)
Net income from all marketing campaigns minus their costs, i.e. your digital marketing profit.
S
Search Engine
The program that users interact with to find information on the web. The search engine (e.g. Google) references its index in order to display results.
Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
Most commonly used to refer to paid digital marketing practices involving a search engine, such as PPC campaigns. Can also refer to all digital marketing involving a search engine.
Search Engine Results Page (SERP)
The page generated by search engines to display websites/web pages in the search engine’s index that match the user’s search query.
Sitemap
A page or XML file that lists a website’s pages and content to make search engine indexing easier.
Slug
The part of a URL that comes after the “.com” and specifies the web page.
T
Title Tag
An identifying marker in the tabbed bar at the top of a web browser used to describe the page’s specific topic.
Tracker/Tracking Code
Code, typically placed in the header or footer of a web page, that passes data to analytics tools.
U
Uniform Resource Locator (URL)
The address of a web page in alphanumeric characters (e.g. www.parrotdm.com), including the slug.
Unique Visitors
Individual site visitors (based on IP address) identified in analytics.
User Interface (UI)
The part of the web page that users interact with via their device.
User Experience (UX)
The way users interact with a site or app, which can be affected by UI, design features, CTAs, content, forms, etc.
W
Webinar
A seminar hosted online, typically for training purposes but also as a sales technique.
White Hat SEO
Ethical SEO practices (as opposed to Black Hat SEO, above).
Conclusion
There are easily hundreds of digital marketing terms out there, some of which have actually become obsolete over time.
We wanted to focus on those you’re most likely to come across as a small business owner in this guide.
If there’s ever digital marketing terms you don’t understand and you can’t find it here, Parrot Digital Marketing’s expert team is always happy to help!
Check out our list of services or contact us to find out how we can help you.
