Marketing Acronyms, Terms & Definitions

Clear up the confusion in your next board meeting with popular marketing acronyms and definitions.

SEM: Search Engine Marketing

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is the process of generating traffic to your website through internet search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing.

SEP: Search Engine Placement

Search Engine Placement (SEP) is the process of placing a web page on a specific search engine within the sponsored listings section.

SMM: Social Media Marketing

Social Media Marketing (SMM) refers to the marketing performed through social media platforms, websites, and mobile platforms. Social media marketing provides an alternative for you to reach large numbers of potential customers, gain brand recognition and create name awareness all for a low cost.

SEO: Search Engine Optimization

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of increasing website relevancy and visibility when your customers perform targeted search queries.

SERPs: Search Engine Results Page

Search Engine Results Page (SERP) are web pages that a search engine returns with. A list of results are displayed when a search query is performed.

Organic Search Results

In short, an Organic Search Result is a non-paid search relevancy boost. When your website appears organically on a search query, it means that your website has relevant information at that time relative to the entered search query.

PageRank:

A numerical value that a patented link analysis algorithm assigns to web properties. It works by examining which web pages link to your web pages – as well as the PageRank of the pages that link to yours. Sites with the highest PageRanks have a high number of links from other web sites with high PageRanks. Many believe that other factors such as placement and keyword density have assumed a larger role in website ranking. PageRank has certainly not become irrelevant. However, there is significant evidence to suggest that PageRank is not as significant as it once was for a web property’s SEO.

PPC: Pay-Per-Click Advertising

Pay-Per-Click advertising (PPC) is an effective form of internet marketing that basically involves buying visits to your website as a means of generating traffic and sales.

CPC: Cost-Per-Click

Cost-Per-Click (CPC) is the amount paid per click on your ad.

Keywords:

A Keyword is a specific target word or phrase that triggers your website to appear on a search engine’s results for a specific search query. Keywords may be singular or contain phrases of several words.

Impressions:

An Impression is the number of times an ad is shown. Each time your ad appears on Google or the Google Network, the Google algorithms count it as one impression. Our experienced advertising specialists create multifaceted campaigns to ensure every impression is a potential customer within your target market.

Clicks:

The point at which a user selects a listing, link, image, or ad on the web.

CTR: Click-Through-Rate

The Click-Through-Rate is a ratio showing how often potential customers who view your ad ultimately click it. The ratio is derived from the number of clicks that your ad receives divided by the number of times your ad is shown. CTR is expressed as a percentage.

Avg. Pos:

Is the abbreviation for Average Position which denotes where your ad appears in the search results.

Conversions

A predetermined point within the sale process when a specific action is carried out. Every business is different, so we discuss what point qualifies as a conversion for you within the sales process.

Conversion Rates:

A measure of efficiency based on the number of clicks and conversions. It is calculated by dividing the number of clicks by the number of conversions, then multiplying by 100 to express it as a percentage.

Quality Scores:

The term Quality Score refers to the estimated relevancy of your keyword, ad, and landing page for someone looking at them. If you have a high quality score, the search engine believes you are providing relevant information the user will find useful.

Ad Rank:

Sponsored ad and PPC ad page position are determined by an ad’s rank. Ad Rank is determined by your bid and your Quality Score. Every time a search query is performed, Ad Rank is reassessed.

Alternating Ads

An alternating ad displays multiple variations of an ad on a rotating basis in order to gauge ad copy response. The goal is to determine what version of copy is producing more clicks.

CPM: Cost Per Thousand

Cost-Per-Thousand Impressions (CPM). The letter “M” is the Roman numeral for 1,000. CPM means how much you pay is based on the number of impressions your ad receives.

Exact Match Keywords:

An exact match keyword is a matching system where ads are matched with searches that only include the exact keyword phrase and nothing else.

Phrase Match Keywords:

A phrase match keyword is a keyword matching system where ads are matched with searches that include the exact keywords and all search phrases with other words either before or after the matched keyword.

Broad Match Keywords:

A broad match keyword is a keyword matching system where ads are matched with the searches and keywords that are similar to the matched keywords.

Reach:

The number of users within a selected location target exposed to an ad. Increased Reach means that more potential customers are exposed to your ad, which leads to increased name and brand awareness.

Frequency:

The average number of times a unique user sees your ad in the “1” spot over a given time period determines what your frequency is.

Above the Fold:

Refers to the portion of the webpage visible without having to scrolling. It is the first thing a visitor sees when clicking through to your website.

Infographic:

An infographic is an graphic illustration of information. Infographics display a significant amount of information in a large graphic format that is typically used on websites, brochures and social media graphics and other print material.

Social Bookmarking:

Social bookmarking is a way for internet users to organize (bookmark) online resources and websites. Some examples of social bookmarking sites include Reddit, Delicious, Digg, and StumbleUpon.

Landing Page:

After clicking an ad, this is the page the visitor arrives at. Creating and implementing a custom landing page can reduce ad spending, increase ad positioning, improve keyword quality scores, and dramatically boost conversions.

URL: Uniform Resource Locator

The abbreviation of Uniform Resource Locator (URL). URL is the global address of documents and other resources on the World Wide Web. The term “Web address” is a synonym for URL that uses the HTTP / HTTPS protocol.

Domain Name:

Domain names are used in URLs to identify individual Web pages. For example, in the URL https://www.totalmarketexposure.com/, the domain name is totalmarketexposure.com.

DNS: Domain Name System

Domain Name System (DNS) servers translate domain names into IP addresses because the Internet is based on IP addresses, not domain name, every Web server requires a Domain Name System (DNS) server.

SSL: Secure Sockets Layer

Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) provides a secure connection between a server and a client, over which you can securely send any amount of data. SSL is completely mandatory for ALL eCommerce websites and mobile applications.

Web Hosting:

A web hosting service is an internet hosting service that makes your website accessible on the World Wide Web. Web hosts house web pages and file hosting, where files can be uploaded via a web interface or File Transfer Protocol (FTP).

FTP: File Transfer Protocol

File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is a standard network protocol used to transfer files from one host to another host over the internet.

cPanel:

cPanel is a graphical web hosting control panel used to more easily manage and host a web site. This control panel is used on Linux hosting servers. Every level of hosting uses it from the server administrators right down to the end user.

Email Client:

An email client, email reader, or more formally mail user agent (MUA), is a computer program used to access and manage a user’s email.

Programming Language

A programming language is an artificial language designed to communicate instructions to a machine, primarily a computer. Programming languages can be used to create programs that precisely express algorithms and/or control the behavior of a machine.

PHP

PHP is a general-purpose server-side scripting language initially designed for web development to produce dynamic web pages. It is one of the first developed server-side scripting languages to be embedded into an HTML source document instead of calling an external file to process the data. The code is interpreted by a web server with a PHP processor module that generates the resulting web page.

HTML

HyperText Markup Language (HTML) is the primary markup language for displaying web pages and other visual information in a web browser.

CSS

Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is a style sheet language for describing the presentation semantics (the formatting and look) of a document written in a markup language. Its most common application is to style web pages written in HTML and XHTML, but the language can also be applied to any kind of XML document, including plain XUL, SVG and XML.

Java (.js):

JavaScript (JS) is a multi-paradigm language that supports object-oriented, functional, and imperative programming styles.

Search Query

A Search Query is an individual query or search that an internet user enters into a web search engine to find information.

Internet Protocol (IP) Address:

Internet Service Providers (ISPs) assign a unique IP address number to each computer connected to the internet.

CPA:

Cost-Per-Action (CPA) means you only pay when a desired action is completed. An action can refer to different things such as watching a video, a purchasing a product, completing a survey, filling out a contact form, etc.

CMS:

A Content Management System (CMS) provides tools and capabilities for multiple users with different permission levels to manage, edit, and publish the content on your website, internet application, or mobile application.

Page Views:

A web page that has been viewed by one visitor. A page view is registered whenever that visitor visits a new page on the website.

ROI: Return-On-Investment

Return On Investment (ROI) is a measurement of how much profit you make for a particular marketing strategy or advertising investment. ROI may be tracked and reported in many various ways because campaign goals vary greatly from business to business.

KPI: Key-Performance Indicators

Key Performance Indicators (KPI) use clear objectives and numerous metrics to reduce confusion. Identifying KPI within strategic plans and social media makes measurement easy, clear, and measurable.

Learning Center