Digital marketing glossary

Terms A–Z

AEO (Answer Engine Optimisation)

Structuring content so AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini quote and cite it.

AI agent

Software built on a language model that can plan steps and use tools to take actions toward a goal.

A/B test

Showing two versions of an ad or page to comparable audiences to see which performs better.

Attribution

The method used to assign credit for a conversion to the marketing touchpoints that preceded it.

Blended ROAS

Total revenue divided by total ad spend across all channels, avoiding double counting between platforms.

CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost)

Total sales and marketing cost divided by the number of new customers won.

Conversion rate

The percentage of visitors or clicks that complete a desired action.

CPC (Cost per Click)

Ad spend divided by the number of clicks.

CPL (Cost per Lead)

Ad spend divided by the number of leads generated.

CPL-Q (Qualified Cost per Lead)

Ad spend divided by the number of leads your sales team confirms as qualified.

CPM

Cost per thousand ad impressions.

CRM

Customer relationship management software that stores leads, deals and customer history.

CTR (Click-through Rate)

Clicks divided by impressions, shown as a percentage.

Core Web Vitals

Google's page experience metrics for loading (LCP), responsiveness (INP) and visual stability (CLS).

Funnel

The stages a buyer moves through, from awareness to consideration to purchase.

GA4

Google Analytics 4, Google's event-based analytics platform.

GTM (Google Tag Manager)

A tool for managing tracking tags on a website without editing code each time.

Key event

A GA4 event marked as a business outcome, such as a form submission or purchase.

LTV (Lifetime Value)

The total gross profit a customer generates over their relationship with you.

Lookalike audience

An ad audience of people who resemble an existing list of customers or leads.

Retargeting

Showing ads to people who have already visited your site or engaged with your brand.

ROAS (Return on Ad Spend)

Revenue from ads divided by ad spend.

Schema markup

Structured data (JSON-LD) that tells search engines what a page is about.

Speed-to-lead

How quickly a new lead receives a first response.

UTM parameters

Tags added to URLs that tell analytics which source, medium and campaign sent the visit.