DNM Digital Glossary of Digital Marketing Terms
A reference guide for clients and marketers
A/B Testing
Sending two variations of an email, ad, or page to different segments of your audience to see which performs better. For email, this might mean testing two subject lines or two calls to action.
Above the Fold
The portion of a webpage visible without scrolling. Content placed above the fold tends to receive the most attention, making it prime real estate for key messages and calls to action.
Above-the-Line (ATL)
Marketing activities with a broad reach, typically through mass media such as TV, radio, print, or billboards. Aimed at building brand awareness across a wide audience.
Ad Extensions (Assets)
Additional information shown alongside your Google ad, such as phone numbers, site links, locations, or callouts. They increase the size and visibility of your ad and can improve click-through rates.
Ad Rank
The score Google uses to determine where your ad appears on the page. It is calculated using your bid, Quality Score, expected impact of assets, and the context of the search.
AI-Generated Content
Content produced by artificial intelligence tools such as ChatGPT or Claude. While AI can speed up content production, quality, accuracy, and brand voice still need human review before publishing.
AI Overviews
Google's AI-generated answer boxes that appear at the top of search results, summarising information from across the web. They are changing how SEO traffic flows, as some users get their answer without clicking through to a website.
AI Search
Search engines and tools that generate conversational, synthesised answers rather than just listing links. Examples include Perplexity, ChatGPT Search, and Google AI Mode. Optimising for AI search is an emerging discipline for SEO professionals.
Algorithm
The set of rules a search engine uses to rank web pages. Google updates its algorithm regularly, which can affect where your site appears in search results.
Algorithm (Social)
The system social media platforms use to decide which content to show users and in what order. Each platform's algorithm weighs factors like engagement, recency, and relevance.
Anchor Text
The clickable, visible text of a hyperlink. Descriptive anchor text helps search engines understand what the linked page is about.
Audience Persona (Buyer Persona)
A semi-fictional representation of your ideal customer, based on research and data. Personas include demographics, goals, pain points, and behaviours, and help shape more relevant marketing.
Authority
A measure of how trustworthy and credible a website is in the eyes of search engines. Authority is built over time through quality backlinks, consistent content, and a strong technical foundation.
Automation (Marketing Automation)
Using software to automatically execute repetitive marketing tasks, such as sending a welcome email when someone subscribes, posting to social media on a schedule, or triggering follow-up messages after a form submission.
B2B (Business-to-Business)
A business model where a company sells products or services to other businesses rather than directly to consumers.
B2C (Business-to-Consumer)
A business model where a company sells products or services directly to individual consumers.
Backlink
A link from another website pointing to yours. High-quality backlinks from reputable sites signal to Google that your content is trustworthy, which can improve your rankings.
Below-the-Line (BTL)
Targeted marketing activities aimed at specific audiences, such as email campaigns, direct mail, social ads, or in-store promotions. More measurable than above-the-line marketing.
Bidding Strategy
How you choose to pay for clicks, impressions, or conversions in Google Ads. Common strategies include manual CPC, Target CPA, Target ROAS, and Maximise Conversions.
Blog
A section of a website where informational articles and guides are regularly published. Blogs help attract organic traffic, build authority, and answer questions your potential customers are searching for.
Boosted Post
An organic social media post that you pay to show to a wider audience. Boosting is simpler than running a formal paid ad campaign but offers fewer targeting and optimisation options.
Bounce (Email)
An email that could not be delivered to the recipient. A hard bounce means the address is invalid or does not exist. A soft bounce means a temporary issue such as a full inbox.
Bounce Rate
The percentage of visitors who land on a page and leave without taking any action or visiting another page. A high bounce rate can indicate the page is not meeting visitor expectations.
Brand Awareness
The extent to which your target audience recognises and recalls your brand. Building brand awareness is typically a top-of-funnel goal, before leads and conversions.
Call to Action (CTA)
A prompt that tells visitors what to do next, such as "Get a Free Quote," "Book a Consultation," or "Download the Guide." Effective CTAs are specific, visible, and action-oriented.
Canonical Tag
A piece of HTML code that tells search engines which version of a page is the main one, preventing duplicate content issues across your site.
Churn Rate
The percentage of customers who stop using your service over a given period. A high churn rate signals dissatisfaction or a poor retention strategy.
Click-Through Rate (CTR)
The percentage of people who see your ad or link and click on it. Calculated as clicks divided by impressions, multiplied by 100. A higher CTR generally means your ad or content is resonating with your audience.
Click-Through Rate (Email CTR)
The percentage of email recipients who clicked a link within your email. A strong indicator of how engaging and relevant your email content is.
Content Brief
A structured document that outlines the goal, audience, keywords, structure, and guidelines for a piece of content before it is written. A good brief ensures the content is strategically aligned before a single word is drafted.
Content Calendar
A planning tool that maps out what content will be published, on which channels, and when. It ensures consistency and strategic alignment across your content output.
Content Marketing
A strategy focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant content to attract and engage a defined audience, with the goal of driving profitable customer action.
Content Pillar
A comprehensive, in-depth piece of content (usually a long-form page or guide) that covers a broad topic and links to related, more specific cluster pages across your site.
Conversion
A completed action on your website that has value to your business, such as a form submission, phone call, purchase, or booking. What counts as a conversion depends on your goals.
Conversion Rate
The percentage of visitors who complete a desired action. Calculated as conversions divided by sessions, multiplied by 100. A higher conversion rate means your site or landing page is effectively turning visitors into leads or customers.
Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO)
The process of improving your website or landing pages to increase the percentage of visitors who take a desired action, without necessarily increasing traffic.
Core Web Vitals
A set of specific metrics Google uses to measure real-world user experience on a webpage, focusing on loading speed (LCP), interactivity (INP), and visual stability (CLS). They are a ranking factor.
Cost Per Acquisition (CPA)
The average amount it costs to acquire one customer or conversion. Calculated as total ad spend divided by number of conversions.
Cost Per Click (CPC)
The amount you pay each time someone clicks on your ad. CPC varies by keyword competition, industry, Quality Score, and bidding strategy.
Cost Per Mille (CPM)
The cost per 1,000 ad impressions. Commonly used in display and awareness campaigns where reach, not clicks, is the goal.
Crawl
The process by which search engines send bots to discover and read your website's pages. If a page cannot be crawled, it will not appear in search results.
Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)
The total cost of acquiring a new customer, including all marketing and sales expenses. Calculated as total acquisition spend divided by number of new customers.
Customer Journey
The full sequence of interactions a person has with your brand, from first becoming aware of you through to research, consideration, purchase, and beyond.
Customer Lifetime Value (CLV or LTV)
The total revenue you can expect from a customer over the entire duration of your relationship with them. CLV helps justify how much you should spend to acquire a customer.
Dark Post
A paid social ad that runs in a target audience's feed but does not appear on your own page's timeline. Commonly used for A/B testing and targeted messaging.
Dashboard
A visual display of key metrics and data in one place. Dashboards in tools like GA4 or Google Looker Studio give a quick overview of how your marketing is performing.
Digital Marketing
The promotion of products, services, or brands through digital channels, including search engines, social media, email, websites, and online advertising.
Display Network
A collection of millions of websites, apps, and YouTube channels where Google can show your visual ads. It is used primarily for brand awareness and remarketing.
Domain Authority (DA)
A third-party score developed by Moz that predicts how well a website will rank in search engines, on a scale of 1 to 100. Higher is better, but it is a directional metric, not an official Google signal.
Drip Campaign
A series of automated emails sent to contacts over time, triggered by a specific action such as signing up for a newsletter or downloading a guide. Designed to nurture leads at their own pace.
E-E-A-T
Stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. Google's quality rater guidelines use these principles to assess whether a page deserves to rank highly.
Email Automation
Using software to automatically send emails based on triggers, such as a welcome email when someone subscribes or a follow-up after a form submission.
Email Marketing
Using email to communicate with your audience, to nurture leads, retain customers, share updates, or promote products and services.
Engagement
Interactions people have with your social content, including likes, comments, shares, saves, and clicks. High engagement signals to platforms that your content is valuable.
Engagement Rate
A metric that measures how actively your audience interacts with your content, relative to your reach or follower count. Calculated as total engagements divided by reach (or followers), multiplied by 100.
Evergreen Content
Content that remains relevant and useful over a long period of time, regardless of when it was published. For example, "how to write a business plan" is evergreen. "Best marketing trends of 2022" is not.
Featured Snippet
A highlighted answer box that appears at the top of Google's search results, pulled directly from a webpage. Earning a featured snippet puts your content above all other organic results.
Follower
A social media user who subscribes to your account to see your content in their feed.
Funnel
A model that represents the stages a potential customer moves through, from awareness to interest, consideration, intent, and finally conversion. Marketing funnels help identify where people drop off.
Generative AI
Artificial intelligence that creates new content, including text, images, video, and audio, from a user prompt. Tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Midjourney are examples of generative AI used in marketing.
Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO)
The practice of optimising content so it appears within AI-generated answers from tools like Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, and Perplexity. GEO is an emerging discipline alongside traditional SEO as AI search becomes more mainstream.
Go-to-Market Strategy (GTM)
A plan for how a company will launch a product or service to market, covering target audience, positioning, pricing, distribution, and marketing channels.
Google Analytics 4 (GA4)
Google's current web analytics platform. It tracks user behaviour across your website and apps, helping you understand how visitors find and interact with your site.
Google Search Console (GSC)
A free tool from Google that shows how your website performs in search, including which queries bring visitors to your site, how many clicks and impressions you receive, and any technical errors Google finds.
Growth Marketing
A data-driven, experiment-led approach to marketing that focuses on growing a business across the entire customer funnel, not just top-of-funnel awareness.
Heatmap
A visual tool that shows where users click, scroll, and spend time on a webpage, using colour gradients. Heatmaps reveal how people actually interact with your pages.
Impression
A single instance of your ad or content being seen. Impressions measure how many times your ad was displayed, regardless of whether it was clicked.
Impression Share
The percentage of total available impressions your ads received in a given period. Low impression share may indicate budget constraints or a low Ad Rank.
Inbound Marketing
Attracting customers by creating valuable content and experiences tailored to them, such as blog posts, SEO, and social media, rather than pushing messages at them.
Index
The database of web pages that Google has discovered and stored. If your page is indexed, it is eligible to show up in search results. If it is not indexed, it will not appear.
Influencer Marketing
Partnering with individuals who have an established social media following to promote your brand, product, or service to their audience.
Internal Link
A hyperlink that connects one page on your website to another page on the same website. Internal links help visitors navigate your site and help search engines understand your site structure.
Keyword
A word or phrase that people type into search engines. Targeting the right keywords in your content helps match your pages to the searches your potential customers are making.
Keyword Difficulty
An estimate of how hard it would be to rank for a specific keyword, based on how competitive the existing results are. Higher difficulty means more effort required.
Keyword Intent
The reason behind a search. Someone searching "how to fix a leaking tap" has informational intent. Someone searching "plumber Melbourne" has transactional intent. Matching your content to intent is key to conversions.
KPI (Key Performance Indicator)
A specific, measurable value used to assess how effectively your business or campaigns are achieving objectives. Examples include cost per lead, organic sessions, and conversion rate.
Landing Page
The specific page a visitor arrives on after clicking an ad or link. A good landing page is focused, relevant to the ad, and designed to drive a single action such as filling in a form.
Large Language Model (LLM)
The type of AI model that powers tools like ChatGPT and Claude. LLMs are trained on vast amounts of text and can generate, summarise, translate, and analyse written content. They are the engine behind most AI writing and AI search tools.
Lead
A person who has shown interest in your product or service, typically by sharing their contact details. Leads can range from warm (ready to buy) to cold (early research stage).
Lead Generation
The process of attracting and capturing the interest of potential customers. Common lead gen tactics include SEO, paid ads, content, events, and gated resources.
Lead Nurturing
Building relationships with leads who are not ready to buy yet through consistent, relevant communication, such as email sequences, retargeting, and helpful content.
List Segmentation
Dividing your email list into smaller groups based on shared characteristics such as industry, location, behaviour, or purchase history, so you can send more targeted, relevant messages.
Local SEO
Optimising your online presence to attract customers searching for services in a specific geographic area, for example "accountant Brisbane" or "cafe near me."
Long-Tail Keyword
A longer, more specific search phrase (usually three or more words) that typically has lower search volume but higher purchase intent. For example, "best accounting software for small businesses in Australia."
Looker Studio
A free Google tool (formerly called Data Studio) that turns data from GA4, Google Ads, GSC, and other sources into visual, shareable reports and dashboards.
Machine Learning (ML)
A branch of artificial intelligence where systems learn and improve from data without being explicitly programmed for every scenario. Machine learning powers many marketing tools, including smart bidding in Google Ads, personalisation engines, and predictive analytics.
Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL)
A lead who has engaged with your marketing in a way that suggests they are more likely to become a customer, for example downloading a guide or attending a webinar.
Meta Ads
Paid advertising across Meta's platforms, Facebook and Instagram. Meta Ads allow precise audience targeting based on demographics, interests, behaviours, and custom or lookalike audiences.
Meta Description
A short summary (around 155 characters) of a web page's content, displayed under the page title in search results. It does not directly affect rankings but influences whether people click through.
Meta Title (Title Tag)
The title of a web page as it appears in search results and browser tabs. It is one of the most important on-page SEO signals and should include your primary keyword.
Mobile-First
A design and development approach that prioritises the mobile experience before the desktop experience. Google indexes and ranks the mobile version of websites, so mobile-first is essential for SEO.
Negative Keywords
Words or phrases you exclude from your Google Ads campaigns to prevent your ads from showing for irrelevant searches. For example, adding "free" as a negative keyword stops your ads showing to people looking for free solutions.
Off-Page SEO
SEO activities that happen outside your website, primarily building backlinks, managing online reviews, and establishing brand mentions across the web.
Omnichannel Marketing
A strategy that delivers a seamless, consistent experience across all channels and touchpoints, online and offline, so customers can move between them without friction.
On-Page SEO
Optimising the content and HTML elements on individual pages, including titles, headings, body copy, images, and internal links, to help search engines understand and rank them.
Open Rate
The percentage of recipients who opened your email. A key metric for measuring subject line effectiveness and list health.
Organic Reach
The number of unique people who see your social content without paid promotion.
Organic Traffic
Visitors who arrive at your website through unpaid search results. Unlike paid ads, organic traffic does not cost you per click.
Outbound Marketing
Proactively reaching out to a broad audience through methods like cold calling, paid ads, and direct mail, as opposed to drawing them in with content.
Page Speed
How quickly a web page loads for visitors. Faster pages rank better in Google and provide a better experience for users.
Paid Reach
The number of unique people who see your content as a result of paid promotion.
Performance Max (PMax)
A Google Ads campaign type that uses machine learning to automatically serve ads across all Google channels (Search, Display, YouTube, Gmail, Maps) from a single campaign.
Pillar Page
A comprehensive, long-form page that provides broad coverage of a topic and links to more detailed cluster content on related subtopics. This structure supports topical authority and SEO.
Positioning
How your brand or product is perceived in the minds of your target audience relative to competitors. Strong positioning makes clear who you are for, what you offer, and why it matters.
Predictive Analytics
Using AI and machine learning to forecast future outcomes based on historical data. In marketing, predictive analytics can be used to identify which leads are most likely to convert, when customers are likely to churn, or which audiences are most likely to respond to a campaign.
Prompt / Prompt Engineering
A prompt is the instruction or question you give to an AI tool. Prompt engineering is the skill of crafting those inputs to get the most useful, accurate, and relevant outputs. In a marketing context, well-written prompts can significantly improve the quality of AI-generated content and analysis.
Quality Score
Google's rating (1 to 10) of the relevance and quality of your keywords, ads, and landing pages. A higher Quality Score can lower your CPC and improve your ad position.
Ranking
Where your website appears in search engine results for a given keyword. The higher your ranking (closer to position 1), the more visibility and clicks you typically receive.
Reach
The total number of unique people who saw your content or ad during a specific period.
Readability
How easy a piece of content is to read and understand. Short sentences, plain language, subheadings, and bullet points all improve readability, especially for online audiences.
Remarketing (Retargeting)
Showing ads to people who have previously visited your website or engaged with your brand. It is an effective way to re-engage warm audiences who did not convert the first time.
Responsive Design
A web design approach that ensures a website looks and functions well across all screen sizes, including desktops, tablets, and mobile phones, automatically adjusting layout as needed.
Return on Ad Spend (ROAS)
The revenue generated for every dollar spent on advertising. Calculated as revenue divided by ad spend. A ROAS of 4 means you earned $4 for every $1 spent.
Return on Investment (ROI)
A measure of the profitability of a marketing activity. Calculated as revenue minus cost, divided by cost, multiplied by 100. ROI tells you whether your marketing spend is generating a positive return.
Robots.txt
A file on your website that tells search engine crawlers which pages they are and are not allowed to access and index.
Sales Funnel
A model tracking the stages a prospect moves through from initial awareness to purchase, often broken into Awareness, Consideration, and Decision.
Sales Qualified Lead (SQL)
A lead that the sales team has assessed and determined is ready for direct follow-up. SQLs are further along the buying journey than MQLs.
Schema Markup
Code added to a webpage that helps search engines understand the content in more detail, for example marking up a review, event, or FAQ. This can unlock rich results in Google such as star ratings or FAQ dropdowns appearing in search.
Search Campaign
A Google Ads campaign type where your text ads appear in Google's search results when someone searches for your keywords.
Search Engine Results Page (SERP)
The page Google (or another search engine) displays after someone performs a search. It includes organic results, paid ads, featured snippets, local packs, and more.
Search Volume
The average number of times a keyword is searched per month. High search volume means more potential traffic, but usually more competition.
Session
A single visit to your website, which may include multiple page views. A session ends after 30 minutes of inactivity.
Sitemap
An XML file that lists all the pages on your website, helping search engines find and crawl them efficiently. It is submitted through Google Search Console.
Smart Bidding
Automated bidding strategies in Google Ads that use machine learning to optimise for conversions or conversion value, including Target CPA, Target ROAS, and Maximise Conversions.
Social Proof
Evidence that other people trust and value your business, such as reviews, testimonials, follower counts, and user-generated content. Social proof builds credibility and influences buying decisions.
Spam Score
A rating that indicates how likely an email is to be flagged as spam by email providers. Using certain words, excessive links, or a poor sender reputation can increase your spam score.
Split Testing
Running two versions of a page, ad, or email simultaneously to determine which performs better. See also A/B Testing.
Tag
A snippet of code placed on a website to collect data or enable a tool, such as a Google Analytics tracking tag, a Google Ads conversion tag, or a Facebook pixel.
Tag Manager (Google Tag Manager / GTM)
A tool that lets you add and manage tracking tags on your website without needing to edit the code directly. It simplifies tracking setup and reduces reliance on developers.
Targeting
Choosing the specific audience segment you want to reach with your marketing, based on criteria like location, age, interests, behaviour, or job title.
Technical SEO
Optimising the behind-the-scenes elements of your website, such as site speed, crawlability, mobile-friendliness, and site structure, so search engines can access and understand it properly.
Tone of Voice
The consistent personality and style used in all your written and spoken communication. A defined tone of voice helps your brand feel coherent and recognisable across every touchpoint.
Topic Cluster
A group of interlinked pages that collectively cover a topic in depth, with one pillar page supported by multiple cluster pages on related subtopics. Topic clusters help establish topical authority with search engines.
Touch Point
Any interaction a person has with your brand, from seeing an ad or reading a blog post to speaking with your team or receiving a follow-up email.
Tracking Pixel
A tiny, invisible image embedded in a webpage or email that records user behaviour, such as whether someone visited a page or opened an email. Used by platforms like Meta and Google for remarketing.
UI (User Interface)
The visual elements of a website or app, including buttons, menus, forms, and layouts. Good UI supports good UX.
Unsubscribe Rate
The percentage of recipients who opt out of your email list after receiving a campaign. A rising unsubscribe rate can signal irrelevant content or too-frequent sending.
URL Slug
The part of a URL that identifies a specific page. For example, in dnmdigital.com.au/our-services/seo, the slug is "seo." Clean, descriptive slugs are better for both SEO and user experience.
User-Generated Content (UGC)
Content created by your customers or followers, such as photos, reviews, or videos, rather than by your brand. UGC is highly trusted and can be repurposed in your marketing.
UX (User Experience)
The overall experience a person has when interacting with your website or product, including ease of navigation, visual clarity, speed, and whether they can find what they need.
Value Proposition
A clear statement that explains what you offer, who it is for, and why it is better or different from alternatives. A strong value proposition answers the question: "Why should I choose you?"
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