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A.I
A.I stands for artificial intelligence and refers to a program that can operate independently, without the control and input from a person. AI can come in many forms, one popular example being Chat GBT.
A/B Testing
A/B testing is the process of generating two pieces of content (whether it be a landing page, ad, image etc) and testing them against each other in a campaign. The content is usually similar with one distinct difference, whichever receives more engagement in a campaign is usually the successful and used piece of content.
ABM (Account based Marketing)
This is a marketing strategy that allows a marketer to choose accounts to market to based on potential revenue. Custom strategies are implemented which lean towards personalised & targeted campaigns for these specific customers.
Accelerated Mobile Pages
AMP – Accelerated Mobile Pages – is an Open Source framework designed to speed up load times for mobile internet users.
Ad Extensions
This relates to supplementary information provided in a Google Adwords ad page. This supplementary information can take the form of contact details, pricing, site links, app downloads and more. The greater resource of information available, the higher likelihood to have an increased click-through rate.
Ad Fatigue
This is when users have been exposed to the same advertising for an extended period of time and can be recognised through a lack of engagement when the ad was originally shown. It serves as a healthy indicator to update a marketing ad or tactic.
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate Marketing is a marketing arrangement by which certain online retailers pay a commission to an external website for traffic or sales generated from its referrals. Referrals can be generated by people themselves, sending links or sharing them, sometimes unique codes are given.
A fairly common example is on YouTube, many creators have sponsors, who dedicate time to their videos to advertise a product from that sponsor.
For example, Bob’s YouTube channel is sponsored by a retailer, Bob’s viewers can buy products from this retailer for a reduced price often given in codes, like in this example, “10% off with code BOB10” This code is recognised by the retailer as sales generated by viewers of Bob, who in return receives a commission.
Anchor text
Anchor text is a term for clickable text that features a hyperlink within it. For SEO purposes this allows a marketer to provide context to a claim or direct the reader to a particular product or website. Anchor text is usually recognized as the text will be in a different colour from the rest, or maybe underlined. However, the easiest way to tell is by hovering your mouse over the text, it generally changes from an arrow to a hand.
Assets
The images, sound, music or other creative contributions that are created and used in an online ad.
Audit
The process of gaining an in-depth look at the performance of a website, including all aspects including engagement, time spent etc.
Autoresponder
This is a script that automatically generates replies via email. These can be set in accordance with the needs and functions of the email. A common example of this in action is emailing someone who is out of the office, who responds with an email saying they are out of the office automatically.
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B2B
This stands for “Business to Business” and refers to companies that solely trade with other businesses & not the public.
B2C
This stands for “Business to Consumer”, it refers to companies that trade to the public
Backlinks
Backlinks are links from outside domains that point to pages on your domain; essentially linking back from their domain to yours.
Black Hat SEO
This refers to unsavoury methods taken by some marketers in order to boost their own credibility by lowering the ranks of competing sites. This can be done by leaving negative reviews on the competitor, or mass directory link building. Google, as well as other search engines, have strict guidelines and some of these optimization tactics can be considered Black Hat SEO.
Blog Post
A blog post is a piece of writing that references a certain topic.
In Digital marketing, a blog post is a method of generating organic traffic for a marketer by optimising SEO within the blog itself. By using credible sources, and clear and concise information that relates to the product or service being offered by the marketer.
An example can be a website that sells gaming chairs, they create a blog post about how having a gaming chair can increase your focus & alleviate strain on your body. Within the blog post, references to credible information and to the marketer (in this case the gaming chair website) are made via hyperlinks etc.
Brand Identity
This covers the various aspects that make a business identifiable and/or unique. Aspects include logos, mission statements, services & or products. Some brands harness social media to expand their brand identity. A common example is a Twitter account of a company commenting on a tweet that relates to them.
Brand loyalty
Brand loyalty is a reflection of customers feeling toward a particular brand. Having a customer who is loyal to your brand means your brand is their first choice. Company ethics, quality products/service or even good customer service can secure brand loyalty from almost anyone.
Brand/Branding
Branding is used by businesses to establish the identity of the business to the wider public/ potential customers. Within digital marketing, digital branding is the process of developing a brand in an online space. This can be through advertisements, websites, social media, and various channels. Brand identity can be expressed through these channels.
Buyer Persona
A buyer persona is a companies representation of an ideal customer. It can be determined by data from previous customers, along with site visitors. Without understanding your buyer persona, it will be difficult to reach your target audience.
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Call to action
A call to action can come in the form of text, or a button that encourages the reader or user to take action. ‘Taking action’ can come in various forms depending on the context of the content.
For example, a call to action for a clothing retailer would be ‘order today’ whereas a service like a vehicle modifier may urge you to ‘get a quote today.’
Chat Bot
A Chat Bot is an automated program used to conduct conversations, in marketing spaces such as an online retailer, a chatbot may be used to attain basic information or answer FAQ’s, providing the customer with quick and efficient help. A Chatbot can act as a buffer to speaking to an advisor which can come in helpful especially if the enquiry is easily solvable.
Content
Content refers to information that is made available to view, interact or listen to through a website, social media or applications. Content has many classifications, examples can range from an online blog, to a video, games, music, shopping items, almost anything.
Content Curation
A social media & marketing strategy that involves collating content that is already published and relevant to your business, and presenting it alongside your marketing in order to give your content more authority in the form of external links.
Content curation will vary depending on the subject at hand. For example, someone writing a blog about the legalities of cars should look to include links from their government website, as they are the best authority on the subject.
Conversion Rate
A conversion rate is a recorded percentage of visitors on a website who have completed an action on that site. This may vary with the site in question, an example being a website you can shop for items on, a conversion rate for them would be to get a sale. Sites that don’t sell products may have conversion rates that reflect how many website visitors created a profile or signed up for shared marketing information like a newsletter.
Cookies
Cookies are small files of text that are sent to the web page browser you use from any website you may visit. Its purpose is to allow the website to ‘remember’ information on your visit.
A common example is a login screen, if you choose for your details to be remembered, the website has a cookie placed in your browser that saves you from having to re-type your login details. This is why login details are gone when you delete cookies.
Copywriting
Copywriting refers to the process of writing specific content for a website whilst keeping information obtained via SEO in mind. This means there will be highlighted usage of specific keywords, headings, phrases and much more within the content being written.
As a result of using the previously mentioned factors, the website will likely rank higher on search engines, meaning it will be more likely to be seen.
Crypto Currency
this is an online currency, the main example being Bitcoin. There are many different cryptocurrencies which can be bought and can be used to buy products or services online.
Customer Experience
As the term suggests, this refers to the experience your customer has, in digital marketing terms, this can refer to your customer’s experience of navigating your website. The best way to ascertain your customer’s experiences is via a questionnaire.
Positive customer experiences can generate brand loyalty, positive reviews and increased popularity.
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Data Driven Marketing
This is the process of collecting data from previous customers and marketing campaigns and using it to generate helpful insights and ultimately make decisions as a result of that data.
Demographics
A Demographic refers to a section of statistical data that can be used to understand who engages with your ad or site the most. Demographics can be age, gender, location, religious belief, ethnicity and more.
Digital Marketing
This term refers to marketing techniques that employ the use of digital technology such as the internet, and devices (such as laptops or smartphones) that use channels such as social media, search engines, display networks, emails etc. Digital marketing can also include marketing analytics tools that record & monitor the performance and/or activity of the channels being used in marketing.
Domain authority
This is Google’s ranking factor which determines the quality of a website. A website has a higher domain authority when it has inbound links from established and other high quality websites
Domain Name
In digital marketing terms this is the location of a business on the internet, in other words, the website’s name. (e.g www.google.com) for a business, it is important to have a domain name that is exactly the same if not similar to the name of your business. This makes it easier for potential customers to find you.
Dwell Time
This is the length of time a web user spends between clicking on a result from a search engine results page & visiting the website and returning to the webpage.
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E-Book
An E-Book is a book bought online & only readable through a device such as a laptop, phone, kindle, etc. E-Books can not be edited. Aside from helping the environment, E-books present a convenient option to read as well as an opportunity for marketers to present their information as a product in the form of an E-book.
E-commerce
This stands for “electronic commerce’ and is a classification for businesses that sell online directly to consumers. Some E-commerce stores are exclusively online such as ASOS or small businesses with no store. On the other hand, established businesses can also have E-commerce sales such as supermarkets like ASDA or Tesco etc.
E-Learning
E-learning is the process of being taught through an electronic device. Online lectures and webinars are examples of e-learning. Which has seen a surge in popularity due to its necessity as a result of the COVID pandemic.
Email automation
This is the process of sending one (or a sequence of) email automatically, this is usually done after a purchase online. It can also be done by marketers to keep previous customers aware of new deals etc.
Email List
Put simply, this is a list of emails, however for digital marketers these are are vital to maintain & grow engagement. Emails are generally classified by user classifications. So for example a marketer may send different emails to somebody who subscribed to marketing emails than to somebody who is a frequent customer. It is up to the marketer.
Email Marketing
This is the process of using the email list, and automation, in order to entice a consumer to make more purchases. Email Marketing can come in form of announcing a sale early to people on the email list, before announcing it on their website, for example.
Engagement
This is a term that refers to how much your website, ad, or content is interacted with by internet users. Engagement can be measured by various factors, a website for example can track how many people visit it and its pages.
Evergreen content
Evergreen content refers to content that never loses its relevance, it can be re-used and repurposed as it can never be outdated. An example of evergreen content can be a blog or video about the seasons.
Exit rate
An exit rate is a recording of the percentage of website visitors who left your website. It compares total website visits to the total page views.
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Full Service Internet marketing
Full-service internet marketing is a service handled by an agency which allows the agency to be in control of all aspects of their client’s online marketing strategies and campaigns. Content production, strategy development, copywriting, social media, analytics etc are all aspects covered by full-service internet marketing.
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Google Ads
This is google’s online advertising service that allows marketers to advertise to potential customers, (and general consumers) through google search pages & display networks.
Google Analytics
A free tool provided by Google, its function is to track the performance of your website, allowing you to see how many people visited your site, what they viewed on your site and more.
Google Search Console
A free google tool formally known as webmaster tools. This allows the user to analyze data to determine how well their site is performing. However, this does not measure traffic.
Graphics
Graphics are illustrations that appear on the business’s website, landing pages, blogs, or other channels. Graphics can help reinforce brand identity.
Guerrilla Marketing
This is a form of marketing that can be considered unconventional, as it uses minimal resources for maximum results, this can either be intentional or out of necessity. It can come in many forms & is subject to the marketer’s creativity.
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Hashtag
A hashtag which appears as # followed by words is widely used on various social media to contextualise and order the content into subgroups. For example, users can search #football on Twitter and be inundated with lots of posts that relate to football and also contain the same hashtag. The utilisation of this can help businesses gain more exposure.
Hyperlink
This is a HTML element that creates a link from one webpage to another, without having to retype a new URL. A hyperlink often comes in the form of a highlighted word or image. Clicking it will take you to the embedded website.
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Impressions
Impressions are how many times an ad was viewed in total. This differs slightly to the ‘Reach’ of an ad, as impressions include if an ad was viewed by the same person more than once, resulting in the total impressions being higher (generally).
Inbound link
A inbound link is a link that comes from another website, to yours. Depending on where the inbound link is from, it can greatly increase your domain authority & open the door to new visitors & potential customers.
Inbound marketing
Inbound marketing refers to the marketing activity that entices the customer as opposed to directly reaching out to them. This works by attracting users with experiences personal to them.
A fairly common example is seeing adverts based on things you’ve searched for on the internet.
Infographic
A combination of text and images, this can be in the form of graphs and statistic charts, and images that contain informative information. Infographics are designed to have its reader engage and take in the information efficiently and quickly.
Instagram
A social media platform under the ownership of Meta. Instagram allows the user to create a profile which uses media to express themselves. This can come in the form of photos or videos.
Instagram can be used by businesses for viral marketing and to help engage with customers outside their immediate area.
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Keyword
A word or a combination of words that people use to search their queries on the internet. Search engines then present relevant web pages as a result of these keywords.
Keywords will vary based on subject. For example, for dentistry, “toothache” or “gums” would be a keyword. SEO strategies make use of keywords in relation to what is being advertised in order to score higher on search results.
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Landing Page
A landing page is a stand-alone webpage created specifically for a marketing or advertising campaign, it’s sole purpose is to persuade its reader to follow its “call to action”.
Here’s an example of a landing page: a business that collects excess waste from your home creates a landing page that is telling you exactly what they do, how it helps you directly, how much it costs, what they do with the waste etc. Their “call to action” would be to get you to use their services to clean your home.
Lead Generation
This is a crucial marketing & sales strategy that is the process of attracting and converting potential customers in order to secure future sales. This can be executed through methods such as blog posts, or landing pages and much more.
Lead magnet
This is a process that can result in generating a sale, examples can be a free consultation or a trial subscription to a service. There is a usual exchange of information like an email. This allows the business to keep in contact with the potential lead.
Livestreaming
This is the process of recording and sharing a video live. It can be a unique method of reaching customers by displaying your service/product in real-time or talking to your customers in real-time in digital marketing.
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Market Automation
The process of using software that automates routine marketing tasks that would otherwise be completed by people. These tasks can come in the form of ad campaigns, social media posts, email marketing, and much more.
Marketing KPI’s
A marketing key performance indicator (KPI) is the metric used to determine whether or not a marketing strategy is working to achieve a specific goal. Many factors can fall within the definition of a KPI, but the business determines which factors are relevant to its specific goals.
Meta
An umbrella name that refers to platforms that are owned by Facebook, like Instagram or WhatsApp, which can be used in digital marketing.
Mobile Advertising
This refers to marketing communication delivered through your mobile device. This can come in the form of text messages, adverts on apps and much more.
Mobile Page Optimisation
This is the process of optimising a webpage so it still provides a full view of the website regardless of screen size.
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Navigation
This is another word for an internet user’s movement from one website to another.
Newsjacking
This is the process of having marketing campaigns based on trending news, allowing the reach to be further. An example would be, during the covid pandemic, a business that specialises in cleaning products would have marketing that affirms the cleaning product’s ability to destroy Covid on surfaces.
NPS
This stands for “Net Promotor Score” this is valuable for any business it records the metric of user satisfaction, and if they are likely to recommend it. Examples of this can be google reviews, some sites and channels have their own NPS, like leaving a review on Uber Eats etc.
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Opt-in Email
This is an email that has been specifically requested by an internet user, usually coming in the form of a tickbox when signing up for a service or buying a product. Opt-in emails give a marketer the knowledge of potential returning customers.
Opt-Out
The process by which someone removes themselves from future deals, updates, newsletters or emails from a business. This is generally known as unsubscribing and is common to find at the end of marketing emails.
Orphaned Content
Orphaned content refers to web pages that contain zero web pages or articles linked to them. With no internal or external links to provide context to the reader, these pages rank low if at all by search engines.
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Page Speed
How quickly a webpage loads up all of its contents. A slow page speed can result in fewer potential visitors & customers.
Paid advertising
As the name suggests this refers to advertising that has been paid to have their ads and content displayed. This can come in many forms, a familiar form is seeing promoted posts on Meta platforms.
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Queries
Queries is another word for a question, in digital marketing, it refers to terms or phrases typed into search engines, which results in appropriate websites being displayed in relation to the keywords and phrases used. For example, “where is the best restaurant in manchester?”
Query
Another word for a question, in digital marketing this is also known as a search term. E.g “how do I cook a steak?”
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Rankings
A term used to describe the position of websites in relation to results in a search engine. Sites that are SEO optimised generally have a better ranking as they use the key factors that google takes into consideration when ranking a site.
Reach
A term for how many people a marketing campaign is seen by, reach can be collated by numbers and further subdivided by countries, and other demographics.
Reach
Reach refers to how many individuals a particular ad was delivered to.
Referral traffic
The process of using existing customers, employees and more to refer new customers, is generally known as word of mouth. In the digital marketing space, the act of referral especially online has a greater reward. For example, getting someone to sign up could result in you getting a discount on your next purchase etc.
ROAS
ROAS means ‘Return on ad spend’ this is used for businesses to analyse the revenue generated from an ad or campaign.
Royalty free
Royalty free refers to the process of not having to pay a creator for the usage of their work, sometimes they may ask to be referenced, other times they may have their work on a platform that hosts royalty-free content, and pays them on a basis of downloads their work contains. Royalty-free content can be (but is not limited to) images, videos, and music.
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SaaS
This stands for “Software as a Service”. They provide the user with their software which will allow the user to execute tasks they may struggle to do themselves. This is relevant to digital marketing, as there may be a marketer whose product is a SaaS. There are many examples of this such as Dropbox, Google, Asana, Slack and much more. The benefit of this is it saves companies from having to buy new hardware or software & usually only incur a subscription fee in order to use the software.
Scraped content
This is a term to describe content copied from one site and used on another without permission or acknowledgment to the original author.
Search engines
A software used to filter and assimilate websites that relate to a query posed by the user of the search engine. Search engines are the most common method web users use to answer questions or search for specific things. The most common example of this is Google. It is search engines and understanding their processes that led to SEO.
SEO
SEO or “Search Engine Optimisation” is the process of using search engine results in order to increase a website’s visibility within organic search results.
You essentially use the most commonly asked questions (in regards to the website that needs visibility) to create content that is flagged by search engines that are deemed relevant to the question.
Due to the content being relevant, it in turn creates more traffic to the website that is optimising ‘SEO’ which should result in a higher conversion rate.
SERP
This means “search engine result page” and refers to the list of results seen by a web user after typing a query or term on a search engine.
Shopping cart/Basket
on sites that provide a service or product, the shopping cart/basket shows you how many items etc you have and the cost. Clicking this generally takes you to the checkout page in which you can pay for the items or services.
Spam
Spam is the process of sending multiple emails to users without previous solicitation, Spam emails or spam, in general, can contain crude advertising, phishing scams, unwanted and un-asked for advertising of a product or service, or continuous unwanted messaging, sometimes even repeating the same message.
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Target Audience
A target audience is a specific group of people who share certain characteristics that makes them most likely to visit, buy from, or engage with a website, app or any other digital channel. The target audience is considered the most when it comes to marketing, though there can be more than one audience.
Here’s an example of a target audience. A retailer that specifically sells baby products like cots, swaddles etc would have first-time parents as one of their target audiences.
The Dark Web
This refers to a side of the internet that is unregulated. It is essentially the black market of the internet. It can not be accessed accidentally through general web browsing.
Due to the nature of the content on this side of the internet, visiting it can result in criminal proceedings depending on your actions once there. We recommend you never access the dark web.
Thin content
Thin content is a term to describe online information that has no relevance to the reader, duplicate pages, affiliate pages, pages with a lack of or no content, and doorway pages fall under the category of thin content. This kind of content is ranked via SERP, meaning it damages your website's SEO performance.
TikTok
TikTok is another social media platform which has the key feature of sharing posts in the form of videos exclusively. Individuals and businesses alike can use TikTok for viral marketing campaigns which helps to engage with customers outside the reach of the business.
Tone
In digital marketing terms, the tone is referencing how a business conveys conversation to its customers/potential customers in online spaces. Tone can help identify a brand as unique, professional, and even incompetent.
As an example, a brand that responds to a customer query with accusatory, offensive, and insensitive language has a bad tone, which in turn damages the business’s image and customer engagement.
Twitter
Twitter is a social media platform in which users express themselves through ‘tweets’ which can come in the form of photos, videos, link sharing, or text that is no longer than 280 characters. Many businesses have a twitter account to engage with their customers directly as well as share marketing campaigns with their followers.
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URL
A URL means “Universal Resource Locator”, it is used on a daily basis as it is the address of a webpage. Like this website, you can find the URL generally by looking at the top of your screen in your web browser.
User Experience
A user experience is essentially the thoughts and reflections of your clients, customers etc when accessing your business services or products. User experience falls into digital marketing as it can make or break your success. Channels such as google reviews can provide an insight into user experiences.
USP
This stands for “Unique Selling Point”. This is a key factor in determining what makes your brand, product or service stand out. Not having a unique selling point makes it difficult for your brand, product, or service to warrant attention as it does nothing new or different.
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VPN
A virtual private network or VPN is the process of concealing your IP address when browsing online. This is generally used to protect the user’s identity from potential hackers or phishing attempts.
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Web Browser
A web browser is a program you use in order to explore the world wide web. Different web browsers have their own unique features. Examples include Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Safari, and much more.
Web Browser Extension
A web browser extension is a downloadable add-on that can aid your browsing of the web. Some are 3rd party whilst others are from established developers, their uses are subject to the user’s wishes.
For example, a web browser extension like Grammarly helps the user to detect and correct spelling and grammar mistakes by reading in real time. Whereas a web browser extension like Honey actively searches for codes you can use in order to get money off from e-commerce websites.
Web marketing
This is the process of using the internet to market your product, business etc. Web marketing can be implemented through social media marketing, SEO & more.
Webinar
This is a seminar which is hosted over the web, this online seminar can be used to inform, train or sell to its participants, it is completely dependent on the host. For example, during COVID most if not all seminars were done over the web.