Digital Marketing Glossary for Owners

This glossary explains the terms that appear in our proposals, monthly reports and guides, written for a business owner rather than a marketer. Each definition runs a few sentences and ends with the page on this site that goes further. Terms are grouped by topic, and the alphabetical list below jumps straight to any of them.

By Donnie Strompf. Updated October 2026.

If you would rather read first, our marketing guides and research are the pages these definitions come from. Published monthly fees for every service are on the pricing page, and the services page shows what we offer from Boynton Beach, Florida. If a word in a proposal is missing here, ask the sender to explain it in plain language.

Terms in alphabetical order:

Search and rankings

SEO

Search engine optimization is the work of making a website easier for Google to understand and to show for the searches your customers type. It covers the pages you publish, the technical condition of the site and the references to your business found elsewhere online. A monthly report from your provider should list what changed since the month before.

Local SEO

Local SEO is search optimization for a business that serves customers in a particular area. It aims at map results and at searches that name a town or ask for something nearby. A plumber in Boynton Beach needs to appear for people searching close by. Your Google Business Profile and your reviews feed it, and so does a website that names the towns you serve.

Keyword

A keyword is a word or phrase a person types into a search box, such as a service name plus a town. Someone searching emergency plumber Boynton Beach is closer to calling than someone searching how plumbing works. Google Search Console shows which searches displayed your site and which of them produced a click.

Organic traffic

Organic traffic is the set of visits to your site that come from unpaid search results. Clicks on ads do not count toward it, and neither do visits from email or social posts. Your analytics tool reports these sources separately. A site can gain thousands of organic visits in a month and still produce few calls, so the leads that follow matter more than the visit count.

E-E-A-T

E-E-A-T is the label for qualities Google asks the people who rate its search results to look for: first-hand experience and subject knowledge, plus authority and trustworthiness. Google has said it is not a single ranking score. A roofing guide carries more weight with readers when its author has worked on roofs and the page says so.

Technical SEO

Technical SEO covers the behind-the-scenes condition of a website: whether search engines can reach its pages, load them quickly and store them correctly. Typical problems include slow pages, broken links, pages that show the same content at different web addresses and settings that tell search engines to skip pages you want found. Fixing these belongs near the start of any SEO plan.

Crawling and indexing

Crawling happens when a search engine’s software visits your pages by following links. Indexing is the step where it stores a page so that page can come up in results. Visiting does not guarantee storing, which is why Google Search Console lists pages by their indexing status. A page missing from the index cannot appear for any search.

AI search and answer engines

AEO

Answer engine optimization means preparing your business to be found and named by AI tools when they respond to a question. ChatGPT and Google’s AI Overviews are two examples. It builds on ordinary SEO, since many of these tools read the open web. A page that states plainly what you do and which towns you serve gives them something accurate to quote.

GEO

GEO stands for generative engine optimization. Agencies often use it and AEO for the same work: making it easier for AI tools to find accurate information about your business and to mention it in their answers. Some writers draw a line between the two terms and others do not. No provider can promise how often those tools will recommend you.

AI Overviews

AI Overviews are the AI-written summaries Google places above the regular results for some searches, with links to the sites it drew on. Google’s help page describes them as a way for people to “get to the gist” of a topic. A summary can answer the question on the spot, and some searches now send fewer clicks to the sites listed beneath it.

AI citation

An AI citation is a link or source name that an AI answer shows to support what it says. Being cited means the tool pointed to your page or listing while answering. A citation differs from a mention, where the tool names your business without a link, so it helps to track both. Paying an agency does not guarantee that ChatGPT will link to your website.

llms.txt

The llms.txt file is an optional file placed on a website to name the pages that AI tools should visit first. Google says you do not need special AI files to appear in its AI features, so the file cannot stand in for clear pages that automated visitors are allowed to reach. It is an optional extra that comes after the main pages are clear and open to AI crawlers.

AI visibility

AI visibility is how often, and how accurately, tools such as ChatGPT or Gemini name your business when a buyer asks for a recommendation. It can be checked by asking the questions your customers would ask and saving every answer with its source links. A plumber might appear first on Google and never get named when someone asks ChatGPT for a recommendation.

Google Ads and Local Services Ads

PPC

PPC stands for pay-per-click advertising, where you pay each time someone clicks your ad. Google Ads is the best-known example. You choose the searches or audiences you want to reach, set a daily budget and write the ads. A hundred clicks are expensive if none of those visitors calls you, so results depend on what clicks cost and how many visitors become calls or sales.

CPC

CPC means cost per click, the price paid when one person clicks your ad. It differs by industry, by town and by keyword, and it moves as competitors change their bids. A low CPC is not automatically a good deal, since clicks that never lead to a call still cost money. Read it together with the cost per lead.

Cost per lead

Cost per lead is the ad cost divided by the number of inquiries it produced. A lead can be a call, a form or a booking, so agree on what counts before comparing numbers. The figure only means something next to what a lead is worth. If a customer leaves you 800 dollars in profit and one lead in five becomes a customer, a lead is worth up to about 160 dollars before other costs.

ROAS

ROAS means return on ad spend: the sales revenue a campaign brings in divided by what the campaign cost. A ROAS of 4 means each dollar spent produced four dollars of sales. Revenue is not profit. A store that keeps 25 cents of profit from each dollar of sales loses money at a ROAS of 3, while a store with wide margins may do well at that level.

Quality Score

Quality Score is a 1 to 10 rating that Google Ads displays beside each keyword. Google’s help page describes it as “a diagnostic tool” meant for spotting weak ads and landing pages. The number is a summary for your benefit and is separate from the quality signals Google weighs each time an ad could show. A low score is a reason to look at the ad and its page.

Negative keyword

A negative keyword tells Google Ads not to show your ad for searches that contain a certain word. An advertiser might exclude words such as jobs or free so that people hunting for work or bargains do not click. Matching rules mean some variations can still slip through, so review the search terms report regularly to see which unwanted searches have already cost money.

Performance Max

Performance Max is a Google Ads campaign type that runs across Google’s channels from a single campaign. Google’s help page describes it as “a goal-based campaign type”. Google’s automation chooses where the ads appear, including Search and YouTube, using the pictures and wording you supply along with your goal. That means less control over placement, and part of the budget can land on channels a local business would not have picked.

Local Services Ads

Local Services Ads let service businesses pay Google for each lead rather than each click. They appear at the top of results for searches such as emergency electrician in Boynton Beach. Businesses that pass Google’s screening carry a Google Verified badge. Management fees are separate from the per-lead charge Google bills, and the pricing page lists our range.

Google Verified

Google Verified is a badge shown on Local Services Ads after a business clears Google’s screening. Screening starts with a verified Business Profile and adds checks that vary by type of work, such as licensing or insurance for certain trades. The badge shows Google ran its checks, and it says nothing by itself about the quality of the work.

Google Business Profile and reviews

Google Business Profile

A Google Business Profile is the free listing that appears on Google Search and Maps when someone looks up your business or searches for what you sell nearby. It shows your hours and photos along with your reviews, and it is where the call and directions buttons live. Verified owners and managers can edit it, so keep at least one login in your own name.

Map pack

The map pack is a short group of businesses, usually three, shown under a map when a search has local intent. Each entry links to a Business Profile. Placement depends on how well a business matches the search, how near it is to the searcher and how widely it is known. A plumber who holds one of those three spots is easier to call than the plumbers listed below it.

Business listing

A business listing is an entry for your business in a directory or map service, such as Bing Places, Apple Business or Yelp. Each one carries the contact details you use everywhere else. If one directory shows an old phone number, customers may call the wrong line, and search engines and AI tools may repeat the error. A listing that repeats your details across the web is also called a citation.

Service-area business

A service-area business goes to its customers or delivers to them, instead of welcoming visitors at a shop. Plumbers and mobile groomers are typical examples. Google lets these businesses hide their street address and list the areas they serve instead. Showing an address where you do not serve customers can lead to a suspended profile.

Profile suspension

A profile suspension means Google has taken your Business Profile out of search and maps, or locked it from edits, after finding a breach of its guidelines. Common triggers include an ineligible address or a business name stuffed with extra keywords. Owners can appeal with documents that show the business exists. Reinstatement is not guaranteed.

Google reviews

Google reviews are the star ratings and written comments customers leave on your Business Profile. They influence whether a searcher calls you, and Google notes that good ratings and prompt replies help a business stand out. Google’s policy forbids offering rewards for reviews and asking only your happiest customers. A direct link makes it easy for any customer to leave one, and each review deserves a polite reply.

Websites and tracking

Google Analytics 4

Google Analytics 4, or GA4, is Google’s free tool for measuring what visitors do on a website: where they came from and what they did once they arrived. It replaced the earlier version of Analytics. Reports are only as good as the setup behind them. A contact form that was never marked as a key event will not show up as a result.

Key event

A key event is an action in Google Analytics that you tell the tool to count as important, such as a submitted contact form or a tap on a call button. Google’s help page says you decide which events to mark, and the marked ones are called “key events”. Count only the actions that mean a customer reached out. Analytics used to call these conversions, which is why the two words get mixed up.

Conversion

A conversion is an action from a visitor that you want, such as a call, a form submission or a booking. Tracking records each one so your ad platform and your reports can count them. A conversion is only useful when it matches an outcome you can verify, since a page view or button tap that never leads to a sale makes the numbers look better than the business is doing.

Google Tag Manager

Google Tag Manager is a free tool for adding and changing tracking code on a website without editing the site itself each time. For example, it can tell Google Ads when someone submits your contact form. Many ad tracking setups run through it. The account should sit in your company’s name, so the tracking stays with the business if you change providers.

Google Search Console

Google Search Console is a free tool that shows how your site performs in Google Search: which searches display your pages, how many clicks follow and what problems Google found. Only verified site owners and the users they add can open it. Its data comes straight from Google, which makes it a useful check on any report a provider sends you.

Landing page

A landing page is the page a visitor arrives on after clicking an ad, an email link or a search result. It should match the promise that led to the click and ask for one action, such as a call or a form. A weak landing page raises your cost per lead even when the ad itself works, because visitors leave without contacting you.

Core Web Vitals

Core Web Vitals are Google’s measurements of how a page feels to use. They look at how quickly the main content loads, how fast the page responds to a tap and whether the layout jumps around while loading. A page that shifts just as a customer taps your phone number can lose that call. Search Console reports these scores for your site.

Schema markup

Schema markup is code added to a page that labels its facts for machines, such as your business name and opening hours. Search engines and AI tools can read these labels without guessing. It does not guarantee any special display in results. A common start for a local business is labeling its name, phone number and hours, with other labels added only where the page content supports them.

Email, social and content

Email deliverability

Email deliverability is the likelihood that your messages reach the inbox instead of the spam folder or going missing. Mailbox providers decide based on whether your sending domain is set up to prove who is sending, which your web or email provider handles, and on how recipients react to your past emails. A well-written email is wasted if it never arrives.

Email automation

Email automation sends a message by itself when a customer does something or reaches a date, such as a booking confirmation, a reminder before an appointment or a review request after a visit. The message is written once and the platform delivers it each time the trigger occurs. Automation suits routine moments in a service business, while one-off announcements still need a manual send.

Segmentation

Segmentation means splitting an email list into groups so each group gets a message that fits. Groups can be based on what people bought, which links they clicked or where they live. A reminder for past customers and an introduction for new subscribers should not read the same. A customer who just booked a service does not need an email asking them to book it.

Meta ads

Meta ads are paid ads on Facebook and Instagram, which Meta owns. They reach people by interests, demographics, past website visits or an uploaded customer list rather than by a search they just made. That suits a business with an offer to put in front of an audience, and it differs from Google Ads, where the buyer is already searching. Results depend heavily on the offer and on how quickly leads get a reply.

Content marketing

Content marketing is publishing useful pages, articles or videos that answer the questions your buyers ask, so they find and trust your business before they contact you. A page explaining what a roof replacement costs answers a question people ask before requesting an estimate. Each piece should connect to a service you sell.

Reporting and pricing

Retainer

A retainer is a fixed monthly fee for ongoing work, charged whether the month is busy or slow. SEO and ad management are commonly sold this way. Agree in writing what the fee covers, which reports you will receive and how either side can end the arrangement. Our published monthly ranges are on the pricing page.

Ad spend

Ad spend is the money paid to an ad platform for clicks or leads, and it is separate from the fee an agency charges to manage the account. Google Ads management with us costs $600 to $1,000 a month, as the pricing page lists, and you pay the ad spend to Google on top. Every report should show both numbers.

Lead

A lead is a person or business that contacts you about buying, usually by phone call, form or message. Counting rules differ, because some reports tally every call while others count only inquiries that match a service you sell. Decide with your provider what a lead means before comparing costs. A report that counts spam calls and wrong numbers makes results look better than they are.

Conversion rate

Conversion rate is the share of visitors who take a desired action, such as calling or submitting a form. Divide the number of conversions by the number of visits. If 200 people visit a page and 10 call, that is 10 out of 200, or one visitor in twenty. A rise can come from a better page, better traffic or a change in what is counted, so check all three before crediting a tweak.

Attribution

Attribution is the rule a report uses to decide which marketing effort gets credit for a lead or sale. Someone may see your ad on Facebook, search on Google a week later and call. One report might credit the ad and another the search. That is why Google Ads, Google Analytics and your own records can show different totals for the same month.

Monthly marketing report

A monthly marketing report summarizes what your marketing produced in the past month. The useful ones start with leads and sales and then show the channel numbers behind them. Every figure should trace back to an account you can open yourself, along with the dates it covers.

Publishing five pages tells you what the agency did. The report should also show whether those pages brought in visitors or leads.

ROI

ROI means return on investment: the profit a spend produced, divided by the amount spent. Count profit rather than revenue when you work it out. Marketing return often arrives weeks after the spend, particularly for large purchases, so choose a time window before judging a campaign. Track leads that became customers instead of raw clicks.

Break-even point

The break-even point is the cost per lead, or the return on ad spend, at which a campaign earns back what it cost across all its leads. Work it out from your average profit per customer and the share of leads that become customers, then include the management fee and other marketing costs. If leads cost $120 each and you can only afford $90, the campaign needs work.

Click-through rate

Click-through rate is the share of people who saw a link or ad and then clicked it. Divide clicks by impressions, an impression being one showing of your page or ad. A page that appears often yet earns few clicks may have a weak title or a poor match for the search. A low rate is a prompt to look closer.

Next step

If a term in your proposal or report is still unclear, bring it to a call. The free audit shows where your business appears in AI answers today, and a 15-minute call covers anything in this glossary that is not clear. Get your free AI-visibility audit or Book a 15-minute call.