Above the fold [əˈbʌv - ðə - ˈfoʊld] The part of the webpage that can be seen, before the user starts scrolling
A/B testing or A/B split testing [eɪ/biː -ˈtɛstɪŋ - ɔːr - eɪ/biː splɪt -ˈtɛstɪŋ] The practice of comparing two versions of a similar webpage or paid media ad to find out which performs better.
Ad [æd] A form of marketing that involves paying for an asset to be seen with the intention of having a user clickthrough to a corresponding product or webpage. This can include search, display ads & social media ads.
Ad extensions [æd - ɪksˈtɛnʃᵊnz] Further information about the company (links, pricing, reviews etc.) that can be seen underneath a display or search ad. The richer the information, the more likely the ad will be seen on the search page, consequently increasing the clickthrough rate
AI generated content [eɪˈaɪ - ˈdʒɛnəˌreɪtɪd - ˈkɒntɛnt] Content created by artificial intelligence algorithms without direct human involvement. This can include text, images, and other media generated based on patterns and data inputs.
Algorithm [ˈælɡərɪðm] Rules set out by search engines and advertising or social media platforms that determines what a user sees. This is affected by numerous aspects, such as previous interaction with content, relevance, keyword bidding as well as other factors.
Alt text [ælt - tɛkst] An attribute that is part of the code behind an image in HTML, which describes the image. It isn’t shown to the user except when an image is broken and is used for those with accessibility issues. Search engines use this attribute as part of their algorithm so they can understand what the image is.
Anchor text [ˈæŋkə - tɛkst] The text part of the link visible to the user. This should also be clickable. Search engines use this to help them determine the relevancy of the site it links to.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) [ˌɑːrtɪˈfɪʃəl - ɪnˈtɛlɪdʒəns] AI refers to the simulation of human intelligence in machines that are programmed to think and learn like humans.
Backlink [bæklɪŋk] A link on a third party website that navigates back to your website. Backlinking is one of the more important factors in regards to technical SEO.
Bounce rate [baʊns - reɪt] The percentage or number of users that enter and then leave a website without navigating to another page.
Broad match keyword [brɔːd - mætʃ -ˈkiːwɜːrd] A type of keyword match that allows ads to be displayed for a wide range of search queries, including variations, synonyms, and related terms, providing a broader reach but potentially lower relevance.
Call to action (CTA) [kɔːl tuː - ˈækʃᵊn] A short snippet of text that persuades a user to perform a desired action, such as clickthrough to a website, download an E-book, or reserve their place on a course.
Cascading style sheet (CSS) [kæsˈkeɪdɪŋ - staɪl - ʃiːt] Formats the layout of a webpage; gives you the ability to define the appearance of text, colours, and tables.
Citation [saɪˈteɪʃən] A reference to a source or mention of a business's name, address, and phone number on external websites, which is important for local SEO and online visibility.
Channel [ˈʧænl] The platform being used to market your products or services on. Common channels include: social media, organic search, paid (ads), & email.
Click-through [klɪk-θruː] The term used for when a user clicks on an advertisement that then links through to your website.
Click-through-rate (CTR) [klɪk-θruː-reɪt] The number of clicks divided by the number of impressions. Impression - when an ad is displayed.
CSS (Comparison Shopping Service): [ kəmˈpærɪsən - ˈʃɒpɪŋ -ˈsɜːrvɪs] An online platform that allows users to compare products and prices from different retailers to make informed purchasing decisions.
Content management system (CMS) [ˈkɒntɛnt - ˈmænɪʤmənt -ˈsɪstəm] Stands for “content management system”. Software such as Wordpress, Joomla and Magento are used by webmasters to manage websites and content without necessarily having knowledge of HTML or other coding skills.
Conversational search [ˌkɒnvəˈseɪʃənl - sɜːrtʃ] A search method using generative AI tools such as ChatGPT, Bing AI, or Google’s Bard that generates a conversational style answer to your query, instead of a list of associated links. In traditional search the user could click links in the search results and eventually find the answer to their query, whereas in conversational search the system returns an answer directly - using several sources from its knowledge base to construct an answer.
Conversion rate [kənˈvɜːʃᵊn - reɪt] The average number of conversions resulting from each click on your ad, expressed as a percentage.
Conversion rate optimisation (CRO) [kənˈvɜːʃᵊn - reɪt - ˌɒptɪmaɪˈzeɪʃᵊn] Improving the usability of your website to increase the chances that the user will make a purchase (or perform a desired action), also known as a ‘conversion’.
Cookie [ˈkʊki] Information about a user stored by a website so that any interaction or preferences made by that user can be stored and used for future requests or remarketing campaigns.
Core Web Vitals [kɔː - wɛb - ˈvaɪtlz] Core Web Vitals are a set of specific factors that Google considers crucial in determining the user experience of a webpage.
Cost per click (CPC) [kɒst - pɜː - klɪk] The actual price you pay for every click on your ad as part of your Paid Search campaign.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) [ˈkʌstəmə - rɪˈleɪʃənʃɪp - ˈmænɪʤmənt] A technology used by marketing and sales teams to manage interactions with leads and potential customers.
Digital PR (public relations) [ˈdɪʤɪtl - piː-ɑː] Building a series of links back to your company or website through providing expert comments and thought-leadership pieces across various online platforms. This often requires strong relationships with journalists and external publishers.
Disavow [dɪsəˈvaʊ] The act of informing search engines that a particular link or set of links should be ignored or not considered when assessing a website's ranking. This is typically done to disassociate from low-quality or spammy backlinks.
Display advertising [dɪsˈpleɪ - ˈædvətaɪzɪŋ] A form of digital advertising that displays visual imagery on an advertising network to third-parties.
DTC [diː-tiː-siː] An abbreviation that stands for Direct to Consumer. DTC refers to a business model where products or services are sold directly to consumers, bypassing traditional retail channels.
EEAT [iː-iː-eɪ-tiː] An acronym standing for ‘(experience) expertise, authority, trust’ – a key part of modern search.
Exact match keyword [ɪɡˈzækt - mætʃ - ˈkiːwɜːrd] A type of keyword match where ads are displayed only when the search query precisely matches the specified keyword, providing a more targeted reach.
Featured snippet [ˈfiːʧəd - ˈsnɪpɪt] Provides answers to specific questions or search terms, and are displayed in a small box at the top of the search results page . They aim to answer the question without having the user click on the search result.
GA4 [dʒiː- eɪ - fɔːr] Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is the latest version of Google Analytics, offering advanced features, improved user-centric measurement, and better integration with other Google products.
Generative AI [ˈdʒɛnəˌreɪtɪv -ˌeɪˈaɪ] Artificial intelligence tools that can generate new and unique content, such as text, images, or music, based on patterns learned from existing data.
Ghost tagging [ɡoʊst - ˈtæɡɪŋ] An Instagram term, that refers to when you create a story, tag someone and drag the tag off the screen so your viewers can't see that anyone has been tagged.
Helpful content [ˈhɛlpfəl - ˈkɒntɛnt] Content that provides value, solves problems, or meets the needs of the target audience, aiming to be informative and relevant to the user. This is a crucial ranking factor for Google, and content that is deemed to be helpful is more likely to rank high on the platform.
HTML [eɪʧ-tiː-ɛm-ɛl] Stands for “hyper-text mark-up language” and is the code that makes up a website.
HTTPS [eɪʧ-tiː-tiː-piː-ɛs] Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) is used for secure communication over a computer network, and is widely used on the Internet.
Human generated content [ˈhjuːmən - ˈdʒɛnəˌreɪtɪd - ˈkɒntɛnt] Content created by ‘humans’ rather than generative AI tools.
Hyperlink [ˈhaɪpəlɪŋk] A snippet of text in a piece of content that takes you to another link or webpage. The hyperlinked text is often displayed in a different colour to the rest of the document, and can also be underlined or italicised to embolden the text and encourage clicks.
Indexing [ˈɪndɛksɪŋ] The process by which search engines collect, organise, and store information from web pages to facilitate efficient and accurate retrieval of relevant content in response to user queries.
Intent [ɪnˈtɛnt] Intent refers to the user's purpose or goal when entering a search query, such as informational, navigational, or transactional intent.
Keyword [ˈkiːˌwɜːd] A word (or phrase) that a user wants to search for (when searching) or wants to associate a page or piece of content onto a web page.
Keyword density [ˈkiːˌwɜːd - ˈdɛnsɪti] The percentage or number of times a keyword has been mentioned on a page.
Keyword mapping [ˈkiːwɜːrd ˈmæpɪŋ] The strategic process of associating specific keywords with specific pages on a website, aligning content with user search queries and improving SEO.
Keyword research [ˈkiːˌwɜːd - rɪˈsɜːʧ] The practice used by search marketing professionals to identify actual search terms that people enter into search engines.
Keyword stuffing [ˈkiːˌwɜːd - ˈstʌfɪŋ] Also known as keyword spam, is the act of using a keyword a huge number of times on a web page in hope that the search engines notice and associate the content on the page with that keyword. Keyword stuffing can get a page or site penalised.
Local SEO [ˈloʊkəl - ɛs - iː - oʊ] Search engine optimization (SEO) focused on improving a business's visibility in local search results; it involves using strategies to enhance local online presence, such as local citations and Google My Business optimization.
Long tail [lɒŋ - teɪl] A more specific search query. These are generally targeted less often than so called ‘fat head’ search queries. For example you might search for “hat” which is very may have a large volume, but “blue hat with a ribbon” may have less volume but is more specific
Lookalike audience [lʊk - əˈlaɪk - ˈɔːdiəns] A feature that can be used for advertising on certain social media platforms; allows for the upload of an existing customer or subscriber list - the platform will then use the features of the people listed to find others on the platform with similar demographics who are also likely to relate to the content being advertised.
Machine Learning [məˈʃiːn - ˈlɜːrnɪŋ] A type of artificial intelligence that enables computers to change and adapt their processes based on data patterns, without being explicitly programmed - therefore ‘learning’ from data they have received, and improving processes in the future.
Meta data [ˈmɛtə - ˈdeɪtə] Refers to the ‘hidden’ information within a document that gives users a concise overview of the type of content they might find on a webpage. Metadata is important information for SEO and it has a direct impact on search rankings.
Meta description [ˈmɛtə - dɪsˈkrɪpʃᵊn] A short summary of the content on a webpage that is displayed alongside search results. It is limited to 160 characters.
Meta tags [ˈmɛtə - tæɡz] Lines of code within the header of a website which tell crawlers information about the page. These include the title, description and the (unused by most crawlers) keywords. It’s important to have this information so the search engines can use it to help them determine what the page is about.
Multi-channel marketing [ˈmʌltɪ - ˈʧænl - ˈmɑːkɪtɪŋ] The use of several marketing channels (e.g. website, social media, email, display ads etc) to reach a wider audience and gain more exposure.
Natural Language Processing (NLP) [ˈnætʃərəl - ˈlæŋɡwɪdʒ - ˈproʊsɛsɪŋ] A field of artificial intelligence that focuses on the interaction between computers and human language, enabling machines to understand, interpret, and generate human-like text.
Negative keywords [ˈnɛɡətɪv - ˈkiːˌwɜːdz] You can set a negative keyword to tell a search engine what searches you don’t want your ads to appear for, as a way of filtering out unwanted clicks.
Nofollow [noʊˈfɒloʊ] A link attribute used in HTML to indicate to search engines that a hyperlink should not influence the ranking of the linked page, often used for paid or untrusted links.
OOH marketing [uː - oʊ - eɪtʃ - ˈmɑːrkɪtɪŋ] Out-of-home marketing refers to advertising efforts that target consumers when they are outside of their homes, such as billboards, transit ads, and street furniture advertising.
Organic search (SEO) [ɔːˈɡænɪk - sɜːʧ] The process of achieving, improving and maintaining the visibility of a web asset (e.g. a website, Facebook page or YouTube video) within the organic or algorithmically determined search results of popular search engines. See more
Organic search results [ɔːˈɡænɪk - sɜːʧ - rɪˈzʌlts] Search engine results which are not paid for advertisements. Paid advertisements generally appear in a (sometimes only slightly) different coloured box at the top, bottom or right hand side of the search results.
Paid media [peɪd - ˈmiːdiə] A form of digital advertising that involves placing assets across a variety of platforms for a fee - sometimes the fee is only charged per click (known as PPC). See more
People also ask [ˈpipəl - ɔːlsoʊ - ˈæsk] A feature in search engine results pages (SERPs) that provides additional questions related to the user's query, offering more information and potential topics of interest.
Pestle analysis [ˈpɛsl - əˈnæləsɪs] An important stage of discovery, PESTLE is the political, economic, sociocultural, technological, legal and environmental analysis of the client’s market.
Phrase match keywords [freɪz - mætʃ -ˈkiːwɜːrd] A type of keyword match where ads are displayed when the search query includes the specified keyword phrase, allowing for variations and additional words in the query.
Publisher [ˈpʌblɪʃə] An online digital platform that allows marketers to purchase space for advertisements.
Rankings [ˈræŋkɪŋz] The term that refers to the position of a webpage on the search engine results page.
Ranking signals [ˈræŋkɪŋ ˈsɪɡnlz] The criteria by which search engines evaluate webpages to compile the rankings for their search results.
Remarketing/retargeting [riːˈmɑːkɪtɪŋ/ˌriːˈtɑːɡɪtɪŋ] Remarketing or retargeting is the process of displaying advertisements to those who have previously interacted with your website, with the products or services they have shown an interest in.
Rendering [rɛnˈdɛrɪŋ] The process of displaying web content, including text, images, and multimedia, in a user's browser or device, ensuring a visually appealing and functional presentation.
Return on ad spend (ROAS) [rɪˈtɜːn - ɒn - æd - spɛnd] A key performance indicator of paid search, representing the revenue you earn against what you’ve spent on your campaign.
Sanity metrics [ˈsænɪti - ˈmɛtrɪks] Metrics such as engagement rate, link clicks, and saves. These metrics showcase that your content is resonating with your audience and therefore they are more likely to click those links and buy your products and services.
Schema [ˈskiːmə] Information markup in JSON (preferably) or microdata, schema helps add machine readable context to your content.
Search engine [sɜːʧ - ˈɛnʤɪn] An online platform that evaluates web content and matches them to user search queries or requests.
Search engine marketing (SEM) [sɜːʧ - ˈɛnʤɪn - ˈmɑːkɪtɪŋ] The combination of search engine optimisation, paid listings/advertising and other related activities used to increase your exposure to search engines and boost traffic to your site.
Search engine optimisation (SEO) [sɜːʧ - ˈɛnʤɪn - ˌɒptɪmaɪˈzeɪʃᵊn] The process of optimising web pages and link building to them to increase page ranking and overall traffic in and from search engines.
Search engine results page (SERP) [sɜːʧ - ˈɛnʤɪn - rɪˈzʌlts - peɪʤ] The page you see after you have searched for your query.
Search engine robots [sɜːʧ - ˈɛnʤɪn - ˈrəʊbɒts] A piece of software that collects information from websites, including their links, then follows links to other websites and repeats the process. This software is how search engines are able to show you results when you make a search. (can also be known as crawler, bot, spider etc.)
Search engine spam [sɜːʧ - ˈɛnʤɪn - spæm] Using excessive tactics in an attempt to rank highly on search engine results pages, often for webpages that contain nonsensical or irrelevant content.
Search intent [sɜːrtʃ - ɪnˈtɛnt] The underlying goal or purpose behind a user's search query, which can be classified into different categories such as informational, navigational, or transactional intent.
Server side rendering [ˈsɜːrvər - saɪd - rɛnˈdɛrɪŋ] A web development technique where web pages are rendered on the server before being sent to the client's browser, providing faster initial page loads and better performance.
Technical SEO [ˈtɛknɪkəl - ɛs-iː-əʊ] Tactics applied that improves the perception of your website to search engine robots, consequently increasing the chances of ranking higher on the search engine results pages.
User generated content (UGC) [ˈjuːzə - ˈʤɛnəreɪtɪd - ˈkɒntɛnt] Forums, blog comments, reviews and wiki’s are all examples of user generated content where anybody on the web can make a contribution.
User interface (UI) [ˈjuːzər - ˈɪntəˌfeɪs] A part of the user experience that focuses on the overall look and versatility of the layout and design of your website.
Uniform resource locator (URL) [ˈjuːnɪfɔːm - rɪˈsɔːs - ləʊˈkeɪtə] It is simply the web address used to view a website.
UTM tracking [juː-tiː-ɛm - ˈtrækɪŋ] When a small snippet of code is placed onto the end of a web URL that allows companies to track where their web traffic has come from. UTMs can be integrated across a variety of channels - such as social media, emails, online documents - and gives businesses an idea of which marketing channels are driving traffic to their website.
User experience (UX) [ˈjuːzər - ɪksˈpɪərɪəns] The way a user feels when interacting with your website; it is important to ensure that the user has an enjoyable and seamless experience when navigating your site.
Vanity metrics [ˈvænəti - ˈmɛtrɪks] Metrics such as follower count. Vanity metrics used to be one of the most important metrics to showcase success for a brand, but over the years, social media has evolved and how it's used has changed. It is encouraged by social media managers for brands to not focus on follower count; Having a huge follower count does not necessarily mean your followers are loyal and will buy from you (see 'Sanity Metrics' above).
Visual Search [ˈvɪʒuəl - sɜːrtʃ] A search method that involves using images or visual input as queries, allowing users to find information, products, or similar images online.
Voice Search [vɔɪs - sɜːrtʃ] A technology that enables users to interact with search engines or virtual assistants using spoken language, allowing for hands-free and natural language interactions.
Web crawler [wɛb - ˈkrɔːlər] A program or script that systematically browses the internet to index and collect information from web pages, enabling search engines to provide relevant and up-to-date search results.
Web scraper [wɛb ˈskreɪpər] A tool or program that extracts data from websites, typically for the purpose of collecting information or monitoring changes in content.
XML [ɛks-ɛm-ɛl] Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a markup language and file format for storing, transmitting, and reconstructing arbitrary data.
YMYL [waɪ - ɛm - waɪ - ˈɛl] Your Money or Your Life (YMYL) refers to content that could impact a person's health, safety, financial stability, or overall well-being, often subject to higher scrutiny and quality standards in search engine algorithms.