Free glossary
Glossary of marketing terms
The jargon, minus the jargon.
This glossary of marketing terms explains the words you'll hear from agencies in one plain sentence each, grouped into search and SEO, paid ads, websites and conversion, and brand, content and PR. Use it to check a proposal, a report or a sales call.
If an agency can't explain a term this simply, ask them to. Terms about AI assistants and AI search have their own glossary.
20 mins
reply our average
Glossary of marketing terms: search and SEO
The words behind getting found on Google and Bing without paying for each click.
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
| SEO | Search engine optimisation: making your site easy for search engines to find, understand and rank. |
| Organic | Results and visits you don't pay for per click, as opposed to ads. |
| SERP | Search engine results page: everything Google shows for a search. |
| Keyword | A word or phrase people type into a search engine. |
| Search intent | What someone actually wants when they search: to learn, compare, buy or find a place. |
| Title tag | The page title shown as the blue link in search results. |
| Meta description | The short summary under the link in search results. It doesn't affect ranking directly, but it affects clicks. |
| Backlink | A link from another website to yours. |
| Domain Authority | A score from the SEO tool Moz that estimates a site's link strength. Google doesn't use it. |
| Indexing | Google storing a page so it can appear in results. |
| Canonical tag | A tag telling search engines which version of a page is the main one. |
| Core Web Vitals | Google's measures of loading speed, responsiveness and visual stability. |
| Local SEO | Getting found for searches with a place in them, or on Google Maps. |
| Google Business Profile | Your free listing on Google Search and Maps. |
| Schema markup | Code that describes a page's content, such as your business, services and FAQs, to search engines. |
What do the paid ads terms mean?
The words you'll see in Google Ads, Meta and LinkedIn reports.
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
| PPC | Pay per click: ads where you pay each time someone clicks. |
| Impression | One showing of an ad or a search result. |
| CTR | Click-through rate: the share of people who saw an ad or result and clicked it. |
| CPC | Cost per click: what you pay, on average, for each click. |
| Conversion | An action you want, such as an enquiry, a call, a booking or a sale. |
| Conversion rate | The share of visitors or clicks that become conversions. |
| CPA | Cost per acquisition: ad spend divided by conversions. |
| ROAS | Return on ad spend: sales from ads divided by what the ads cost. |
| Quality Score | Google's 1 to 10 rating of how relevant your keyword, ad and landing page are. |
| Match type | How closely a search must match your keyword for your ad to show. |
| Negative keyword | A word that stops your ad showing on searches you don't want. |
| Remarketing | Showing ads to people who have already visited your site or engaged with you. |
| Pixel | A piece of code that tells an ad platform what visitors do on your site. |
| Performance Max | A Google Ads campaign type that runs across Search, YouTube, Display, Gmail and Maps from one set of assets. |
| UTM tags | Labels added to a link so analytics can show where a visit came from. |
What do the website and conversion terms mean?
The words behind turning visits into enquiries.
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
| Landing page | The page someone lands on after clicking an ad, email or link. |
| CTA | Call to action: the button or line that tells someone what to do next. |
| CRO | Conversion rate optimisation: changing a site so more visitors become customers. |
| A/B test | Showing two versions to different visitors to see which works better. |
| Bounce rate | In Google Analytics 4, the share of visits that weren't engaged. |
| Engagement rate | In Google Analytics 4, the share of visits that were engaged: long enough, more than one page, or a conversion. |
| Funnel | The steps someone goes through from first hearing of you to buying. |
| Attribution | How credit for a sale is shared between the ads, searches and emails that led to it. |
| CMS | Content management system: the tool you use to edit your website. |
| Hosting | The service that stores your website and serves it to visitors. |
| CRM | Customer relationship management: the system that holds your leads and customers. |
What do the brand, content and PR terms mean?
The words behind how you come across and who talks about you.
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
| Brand positioning | The space you want to own in your customers' minds, and how you differ from competitors. |
| Tone of voice | How your business sounds in writing and speech. |
| Brand guidelines | The rules for using your logo, colours, fonts and tone. |
| Content marketing | Publishing useful guides, videos and posts that bring buyers to you. |
| Evergreen content | Content that stays useful for a long time, such as a how-to guide. |
| UGC | User-generated content: photos, videos and reviews made by customers, or ads made in that style. |
| Digital PR | Getting your business covered by online news sites and publications, often with links back to your site. |
| Press release | A written announcement sent to journalists. |
| Earned media | Coverage you didn't pay for, such as press articles and reviews. |
| Fractional CMO | A senior marketing lead who works with you part-time, instead of a full-time hire. |
| KPI | Key performance indicator: a number you track to see whether you're on target. |
| Retainer | A fixed monthly fee for ongoing work. |
How does Foundry use these terms?
As little as possible. Our monthly report, on the 1st, leads with enquiries, sales and what we did, in plain English, with the jargon in the appendix.
You talk to the senior people doing the work, over WhatsApp or Slack, so if a term doesn't make sense you can ask and get a straight answer.
Our averages. Not our best days.
Our averages
5days
Website, kick-off to live
3hours
Google Ads setup
4hours
Meta Ads setup
7days
To a first PR feature
20mins
Average reply timethis service
Glossary of marketing terms FAQs
SEO earns free listings in search results over time. PPC buys ads you pay for per click, which show straight away. Most businesses do best with both.
CPA tells you what each enquiry or sale cost in ads. ROAS tells you how much revenue each pound of ad spend brought back. Shops tend to use ROAS, and service businesses CPA.
It depends on your sector, price and traffic. Compare against your own past numbers rather than a general average.
It's a rough guide to link strength from one SEO tool, not something Google uses. Useful for comparing sites, not as a goal.
In our AI search glossary: AEO, GEO, LLM SEO, AI Overviews, MCP, llms.txt and the AI crawlers.
Yes. Send it over and we'll go through it with you. We'll reply within the hour (working hours).
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Jargon sorted? Get moving.
Tell us what you need. We'll reply within the hour (working hours), and most websites go live about 5 days after kick-off.
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