Glossary of 31 Digital Marketing Terms (2021)
Your resource for the jargon, abbreviations, and acronyms of online marketing.
We’ve all been there; you have a meeting with the marketing guys and they’re throwing out acronyms left and right. “We’ve seen a huge spike in CPC over the last quarter and ROAS is way down in our bottom of funnel campaigns!” What the heck does that mean?
Never fear! We have you covered with 31 online marketing terms that will keep you in the know.
1. User
A user refers to an online individual that has visited your website. Users are often classified as new or returning.
2. Session
A session represents a user’s visit to your website. All the actions that user takes during that visit can be viewed as session activities. A user can have multiple sessions.
3. Page View
A page view occurs whenever a user visits a page on your website. One session may contain multiple page views.
4. Landing Page
A landing page refers to the webpage a user begins their session on. This is sometimes referred to as an entry page.
5. Bounce
A bounce occurs when a user leaves your website without visiting any other pages.
6. Bounce Rate
Bounce rate is calculated as the number of single page visits divided by the number of total visits. A lower bounce rate is an indicator that users value the content on your website.
7. Impression
Impressions represent the number of times your ad was shown to a member of your audience whether the ad was clicked or not.
8. Reach
Reach represents the unique count of users that saw your ad.
9. Frequency
An ads frequency is equal to its impressions divided by its reach This number tells you the average number of times a member of your audience saw your ad.
10. SEO
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization and describes any type of organic marketing (non-paid) designed to increase the visibility of a website in the results page of a search engine.
11. SEM
SEM stands for Search Engine Marketing and is a blanket term describing any type of paid marketing designed to increase the visibility of a website in the results page of a search engine.
12. MQL
MQL is short for marketing qualified lead. A marketing qualified lead is one who has expressed interest in becoming a customer and is primed to receive additional touchpoints.
13. CTA
CTA stands for Call-to-action and describes the ask an ad makes of a consumer. For example, an ad may say, "Sign up for Free Today!".
14. ROAS
ROAS stands for Return on Ad Spend and is commonly expressed as a dollar figure. A ROAS of $5 would mean you were generating a return of $5 for every $1 you spend on ads. This is also commonly referred to as ROI (return on Investment).
15. PPC
PPC stands for Pay-per-click refers to a model of digital marketing where advertisers are charged when their ads are clicked as opposed to when their ad is viewed (impression).
16. CPC
CPC stands for Cost per Click and is defined as your ad spend divided by the number of clicks that ad generated. This metric along with CTR are typically your primary indicators of ad effectiveness.
17. CPA
CPA stands for Cost per Action and is defined as your ad spend divided by the number of occurrences of a specific action. The action can be anything from a form submission to a purchase on your website.
18. CPM
CPM is a weird one. It actually stands for Cost per Mile, but just refers to your ad spend per 1,000 impressions.
19. CTR
CTR is short for Click-through-rate and is your number of clicks divided by your number of impressions. This metric along with CPC are typically your primary indicators of ad effectiveness.
20. A/B Test
An A/B test is a method of testing that compares 2 or more variants to determine the best performing version of an ad, webpage, or other digital asset (Also known as split testing).
21. Top of Funnel
Top of funnel refers to the initial stage of the buying cycle where advertisers are focused on generating awareness of their products and acquiring leads to pursue.
22. Middle of Funnel
Middle of funnel reefers to advertising focused on engaging with leads already in your marketing database with the goal of moving them closer to a purchase.
23. Bottom of Funnel
Bottom of funnel refers to advertising focused on closing the deal with leads that are on the verge of making a purchase. It's common to see retargeting tactics applied at this stage of the buying cycle.
24. Retargeting
Retargeting is the process of targeting consumers based on some behavior that they have already taken. For example, you may retarget leads that viewed a product page with an ad offering 5% off their purchase.
25. Marketing Attribution Model
A marketing attribution model determines how you allocate results across the various ads a consumer may interact with during the buying cycle.
26. Keyword
A keyword in the marketing sense, refers to the term(s) a user types into a search engine.
27. Conversion Rate
Conversion Rate is calculated as the number of conversions over the number of visitors (users) to your website.
28. Micro-conversion
A micro-conversion is a blanket term for any action that brings a consumer closer to a purchase decision. This could be a form submission, PDF download, or other on-site action.
29. Churn
Churn represents the number of once active customers that have left the buying cycle.
30. Churn Rate
Churn rate is calculated as the number of churned customers over the number of total customers during a fixed period.
31. Resurrection Rate
Resurrection rate refers to the percentage of churned customers that have rejoined the buying cycle over a fixed period of time.
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