Marketing glossary.

Amazon PPC is Amazon's sponsored product advertising — Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands, Sponsored Display.

Attribution is the process of assigning credit for a conversion to one or more marketing touchpoints.

First-party data is information you collect directly from your customers — email, phone, purchase history, site behavior. Increasingly valuable as third-party cookies deprecate.

UTM parameters are tags added to URLs that track traffic source, medium, campaign, and content in analytics tools.

Google Tag Manager (GTM) is a free tag management system for deploying tracking scripts and pixels without code changes.

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is the current generation of Google's free web and app analytics platform. Replaced Universal Analytics in 2023.

A Customer Data Platform (CDP) unifies customer data from multiple sources (site, email, ads, CRM, support) into a single profile for each customer.

A Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL) is a lead that marketing has determined is ready for sales follow-up based on behavior or profile fit.

A Sales Qualified Lead (SQL) is an MQL that sales has reviewed and accepted as worth pursuing.

Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) brands sell directly to end customers, bypassing traditional retailers and wholesalers.

Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) is the practice of improving the percentage of visitors who take a desired action on your site.

A/B testing is showing two versions of a page (or element) to different users and measuring which drives more conversions.

A landing page is a standalone page designed for one specific campaign or offer, with a single conversion goal.

WhatsApp Commerce is selling and engaging customers via WhatsApp Business — product catalog, chat ads, automated messaging, payment integration.

Quick Commerce (Q-Commerce) is 10-30 minute delivery commerce — groceries, essentials, often on mobile apps. Blinkit, Zepto, Swiggy Instamart in India; Getir, Gopuff globally.

SMS marketing is sending promotional text messages to opted-in customers. Higher engagement than email but stricter regulations.

Push notifications are short messages sent to mobile devices or browsers outside of app/site sessions.

User-Generated Content (UGC) is content created by customers or creators — not polished by brand studios — that feels authentic.

Average Order Size (AOS) is the number of items per order. Different from AOV which measures dollar value.

Cart Abandonment Rate is the percentage of shoppers who add items to cart but do not complete checkout. Industry average is ~70%.

A Stock Keeping Unit (SKU) is a unique identifier for each product variant in your catalog. One product with 3 sizes + 5 colors = 15 SKUs.

Open Rate is the percentage of email subscribers who opened your email out of those it was delivered to.

Click Rate is the percentage of subscribers who clicked a link in your email.

Deliverability is the percentage of emails that reach subscribers' inboxes (not spam folders).

Abandoned cart emails remind shoppers who added items to cart but left without buying.

A flow (or automation) is a series of emails triggered by specific user behavior — welcome, cart abandonment, post-purchase, win-back.

Welcome emails are the automated series sent to new subscribers introducing your brand, setting expectations, and driving first purchase.

List size is the total number of active email subscribers. Often vanity — engaged list size matters more.

Segmentation is dividing your email list into groups based on behavior, demographics, or purchase history for more targeted messaging.

RFM is a customer segmentation framework scoring customers by Recency of last purchase, Frequency of purchases, and total Monetary value.

Unsubscribe Rate is the percentage of recipients who opt out after receiving an email.

A win-back is a campaign targeting customers who haven't purchased or engaged in 60-180 days, trying to re-activate them.

Your subscriber list is the collection of email addresses that have opted into your communications.

Meta Ads is the advertising platform for Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp. The largest performance advertising platform globally.

Google Ads is Google's advertising platform covering Search, Display, YouTube, Shopping, Performance Max, and App campaigns.

Performance Max (PMax) is Google's AI-driven campaign type that runs across all Google channels (Search, Display, YouTube, Gmail, Shopping, Discover) with one campaign.

A Lookalike Audience is an audience of users who resemble your best customers. Meta, TikTok, and other platforms build these from seed data you upload.

Quality Score is Google's 1-10 rating of ad quality based on expected CTR, ad relevance, and landing page experience. Higher score = lower CPC.

Smart Bidding is Google Ads' automated bidding system that uses machine learning to set bids per auction based on conversion probability.

Creative fatigue is when ad performance declines because the same audience has seen your creative too many times.

Frequency is the average number of times the same person saw your ad over a time period.

Lookalike is a common shorthand for Lookalike Audience — see the Lookalike Audience entry for full definition.

Retargeting is showing ads to people who have already visited your site or engaged with your brand.

PMax is shorthand for Performance Max — Google's AI-driven campaign type. See Performance Max for full definition.

Google Shopping Ads display product images, prices, and merchant info in Google Search results.

Facebook Ads is the legacy name for Meta Ads. Now includes Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp advertising.

TikTok Ads is TikTok's advertising platform. Campaign types include In-Feed, TopView, Brand Takeover, Spark Ads, and Shop Ads.

Spark Ads are TikTok ads that use a creator's existing organic post (with permission) as the ad creative, preserving engagement and authenticity.

LinkedIn Ads are B2B-focused ads on LinkedIn with the highest CPMs of any major platform but the best job-title and industry targeting.

YouTube Ads are video ads shown on YouTube. Formats include skippable TrueView, non-skippable, bumper, and masthead.

Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) is the total cost of acquiring one new customer. Calculated as total marketing + sales spend divided by new customers acquired in the same period.

Lifetime Value (LTV) is the total revenue a customer generates over their entire relationship with your business. It is the ceiling on what you can afford to pay to acquire them.

Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) is revenue generated per dollar of ad spend. A 4x ROAS means $4 in revenue for every $1 spent.

Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) is the ad spend needed to generate one conversion — a sale, signup, or lead.

Cost Per Lead (CPL) is the ad spend needed to generate one marketing-qualified lead (form fill, demo request, content download).

CPM is the cost to show your ad to 1,000 people. It measures how expensive the auction is for your audience.

Cost Per Click (CPC) is what you pay each time someone clicks your ad. Calculated as ad spend divided by clicks.

Click-Through Rate (CTR) is the percentage of people who click your ad or link out of those who see it.

Conversion Rate is the percentage of visitors who complete a desired action — purchase, signup, lead form — out of total visitors.

Average Order Value (AOV) is the average revenue per transaction. Calculated as total revenue divided by number of orders.

Marketing Efficiency Ratio (MER) is total revenue divided by total marketing spend across all channels. A blended view, not single-channel.

Payback Period is how long it takes to recover the CAC through customer revenue. Measured in days, weeks, or months.

LTV:CAC Ratio compares Lifetime Value to Customer Acquisition Cost. A 3:1 ratio is healthy — you earn $3 for every $1 spent acquiring customers.

Blended CAC includes all marketing spend — paid, organic, agency, tools, team — divided by total new customers.

Profit on Ad Spend (POAS) is ad spend measured against gross profit, not revenue. Shows actual dollars kept.

Retention Rate is the percentage of customers who remain customers over a given period. Opposite of churn.

CVR (Conversion Rate) is the percentage of ad clicks that convert to the goal action — sale, signup, or lead.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the practice of improving website visibility in organic search results to drive unpaid traffic.

Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) is optimizing content to be surfaced by AI answer engines like Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Claude.

Backlinks are links from other websites pointing to your site. One of Google's strongest ranking signals.

Domain Authority (DA) is Moz's 1-100 score predicting a site's ability to rank. Higher DA = stronger ranking potential.

Keyword research is the process of finding the search terms your audience uses — volume, competition, intent — to plan SEO and content strategy.

Long-tail keywords are specific, multi-word phrases with lower search volume but less competition and higher conversion intent. E.g., "best running shoes for flat feet under $120".

Keyword Difficulty (KD) is a 0-100 score estimating how hard it will be to rank for a keyword based on the backlink profile of current top rankings.

Search Intent is the goal behind a search query — informational (learn), navigational (find a specific site), commercial (research before buying), or transactional (buy now).

AI Overviews are Google's AI-generated summaries at the top of search results, citing multiple sources. Appear on ~47% of US searches in 2026.

A Featured Snippet is a highlighted answer box at the top of Google search results, pulled from an organic result.

Schema markup is structured data code added to your pages to help search engines understand content. Enables rich results and AI citations.

Technical SEO covers the technical foundations that let search engines crawl, index, and understand your site — speed, structure, schema, mobile usability.

Core Web Vitals are Google's three page-experience metrics: LCP (load speed), INP (interactivity), CLS (visual stability).

Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) measures how long it takes for the main content of a page to load. Google target: under 2.5 seconds.

Programmatic SEO is generating many similar pages from a template + data source, targeting long-tail keywords at scale.

A content cluster is a group of related pages linked to a central "pillar" page, all covering one topic from different angles.

A pillar page is a comprehensive 3000-5000 word page covering a broad topic, linking to focused sub-topics (cluster pages).

Internal linking is the practice of linking between your own pages. Distributes authority, helps crawling, and signals topical relationships.

Anchor text is the clickable text of a hyperlink. Helps search engines understand what the linked page is about.

Topical authority is Google's perception of your site as a comprehensive expert on a specific topic. Earned through thorough coverage across pillar + cluster pages.

Meta description is the short summary shown below the page title in search results. Not a direct ranking factor but affects CTR.

The title tag is the page title shown in browser tabs and search results. One of the strongest on-page SEO signals.

A sitemap is an XML file listing all your site's URLs, submitted to search engines to help them discover and crawl pages.

Google Search Console (GSC) is Google's free tool for monitoring how your site performs in Search — queries, clicks, impressions, technical issues.

Link building is the process of acquiring backlinks from other websites. One of the two pillars of off-page SEO (alongside brand signals).

Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) is the predictable yearly revenue from subscription customers, normalized to an annual figure.

Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) is the normalized monthly revenue from all active subscriptions.

Net Revenue Retention (NRR) measures revenue growth from existing customers including expansions, minus churn. Above 100% means customers spend more over time.

Churn Rate is the percentage of customers who cancel during a given period. Monthly churn of 3% = 36% annual churn.

An API (Application Programming Interface) is a set of rules allowing different software systems to talk to each other programmatically.

A tracking pixel is a 1x1 image or script that loads on your site to track user behavior and send data to ad platforms.

Conversions API (CAPI) is Meta's server-side tracking protocol. Sends conversion data from your server to Meta, bypassing browser blockers and iOS privacy restrictions.

Server-side tracking sends conversion data from your server to ad platforms, bypassing browser-based tracking (pixels) that ad blockers and iOS privacy restrictions disrupt.