Digital Marketing Dictionary in United States

Marketing has its own language. Here we translate it.

More than 150 terms across SEO, advertising, social, data and artificial intelligence — explained clearly, with no fluff and up to date. Search for the one you need or explore by category.

150+

Terms

AIDA

Classic 4-stage model of customer decision-making: Attention, Interest, Desire and Action. Used to structure messages and funnels.

Strategy

A/B Testing

Launching two versions of the same element (subject line, ad, landing page) and measuring which one converts better so you keep the winner.

CRO

AEO (Answer Engine Optimization)

Optimizing your content so that AI search engines (ChatGPT, Perplexity, AI Overviews) cite you as the answer. The evolution of SEO toward answers, not just links.

AI & Search

AI Agent

Software powered by artificial intelligence that can carry out tasks on its own —research, reply, schedule, buy— following a goal, not just answering questions.

AI & Search

AI Overviews / SGE

AI-generated summaries that Google shows above the results. They change SEO: visibility is no longer just about ranking, it's also about being the source of the answer.

AI & Search

Reach

Number of distinct people who saw your content or campaign. It measures breadth, not repetition (that's impressions).

Social

Organic reach

People who see your content without paid promotion: followers, recommendations and the algorithm's natural discovery.

Social

Paid reach

People who see your content thanks to advertising investment.

Advertising

Log analytics

Analyzing the visits Google's bot makes to your server to understand what it crawls, how often, and to optimize your crawl budget.

SEO

Web analytics

The discipline of collecting and analyzing data from your site (GA4, etc.) to make decisions and improve results, not to fill reports.

Data & Analytics

Anchor text

The visible, clickable text of a link. It gives users and Google context about the linked content.

SEO

Web architecture

How a site's pages and categories are organized so users and search engines can navigate and crawl without friction.

SEO

ALT attribute

Alternative text for an image. It tells Google what the image is about and shows up if the image fails to load; it also improves accessibility.

SEO

Attribution

A model that distributes the "credit" for a conversion across the different touchpoints (ad, email, search) to figure out what really drives sales.

Strategy

Domain authority

An indicative metric (not official from Google) that estimates the strength and credibility of a domain against its competitors.

SEO

Page authority

An estimate of an individual page's credibility and strength to rank.

SEO

Automation

Using software to run repetitive processes (emails, follow-ups, reports), cutting costs and freeing your team to focus on what's strategic.

Strategy

ABM (Account-Based Marketing)

A B2B strategy that treats each key account as a market of its own: marketing and sales aligned to win specific high-value companies.

Strategy

Banner

A graphic ad that promotes a product or delivers a message within a site or app.

Advertising

Big Data

Volumes of data so large or complex that they require special tools to process them and turn them into decisions.

Data & Analytics

Blog

A content section that is updated frequently. A cornerstone of SEO and inbound marketing.

Content

Blockchain

A distributed, encrypted ledger technology that lets you transfer data or value in a secure, verifiable way.

Data & Analytics

BOFU (Bottom of the Funnel)

The bottom of the funnel: the stage where the prospect is ready to decide. This is where demos, trials, case studies and offers go.

Strategy

Bounce rate (email)

The percentage of emails that weren't delivered (bounces). A high bounce rate damages your sender reputation.

Branded content

Content created around a brand's values to connect with the audience without selling directly.

Content

Buyer journey

The buyer's path from realizing they have a problem to deciding to purchase: awareness, consideration and decision.

Strategy

Buyer persona

A semi-fictional profile of your ideal customer (goals, pains, objections). The foundation for everything: message, channels and offer.

Strategy

Buzz marketing

A technique that generates conversation and "noise" around a brand so people recommend it by word of mouth.

Social

B2B (Business to Business)

A model where a company sells to other companies, not to the end consumer. Longer cycles and several decision-makers.

Strategy

B2C (Business to Consumer)

A model where the company sells directly to the end consumer. A faster, more emotional decision.

Strategy

CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost)

How much it costs you, on average, to turn a stranger into a customer. The key: your LTV being several times higher than your CAC.

Strategy

Drip campaign

A sequence of automated emails sent based on user actions, "dripping" the right message at the right moment.

CAPI (Conversions API)

Sending conversions server-to-server (Meta, TikTok) without relying on browser cookies. It improves measurement in a world without third-party cookies.

Data & Analytics

CDP (Customer Data Platform)

A platform that unifies a customer's data from all your sources into a single profile, to power personalized campaigns.

Data & Analytics

Chatbot

A program that converses with users to resolve questions, capture leads or complete tasks. Today supercharged with generative AI.

AI & Search

Churn

Cancellation rate: the percentage of customers or subscribers who stop buying in a given period. The silent enemy of growth.

Strategy

Clickbait

A sensationalist headline designed to grab the click. It boosts CTR in the short term, but burns trust if it doesn't deliver what it promises.

Content

Click to call

A button on an ad or site that lets you call with one tap from mobile. It raises conversions in direct-contact businesses.

Advertising

Community manager

The professional who manages the brand-community relationship on social media: conversation, content and day-to-day support.

Social

Content Management System (CMS)

Software to manage a site's content without coding (WordPress, October, Shopify…).

Data & Analytics

Conversion

The valuable action you want the user to complete: purchase, sign-up, lead, download or call.

CRO

Consent Mode

A Google mechanism that adjusts tag behavior based on the user's cookie consent, to measure while respecting privacy.

Data & Analytics

Cookies

Small pieces of data the browser stores to remember preferences and sessions. Third-party ones are disappearing for privacy reasons.

Data & Analytics

Cookieless

The new landscape without third-party cookies. It forces you to lean on first-party data, server-side measurement and modeling.

Data & Analytics

Copy

The words of a piece: headline, phrase or slogan that connects the brand with its customer.

Content

Copywriting

Persuasive, action-oriented writing: text that moves people to buy, sign up or believe in an idea.

Content

Core Web Vitals

Google metrics about page experience: loading speed, interactivity and visual stability. They affect your ranking.

SEO

CPC (Cost Per Click)

A model where you pay each time someone clicks on your ad.

Advertising

CPA (Cost Per Acquisition)

What each conversion (sale or lead) costs you in a campaign. The efficiency metric par excellence in performance.

Advertising

CPL (Cost Per Lead)

How much you pay for each sign-up or prospect captured.

Advertising

CPM (Cost Per Mille)

What you pay for every thousand impressions of your ad. The typical model for reach and branding campaigns.

Advertising

CRM (Customer Relationship Management)

Software that centralizes data and interactions with customers and prospects to sell and follow up in an organized way.

Data & Analytics

CRO (Conversion Rate Optimization)

A set of techniques to get a higher percentage of your visits to convert, without needing more traffic.

CRO

CTA (Call to Action)

A button, link or text that invites a specific action: "Buy", "Schedule", "Download".

CRO

CTR (Click Through Rate)

The percentage of clicks over the number of times an ad or link was shown. It measures how appealing your message is.

Data & Analytics

Content curation

Selecting, filtering and sharing the best content (your own or others') to add value to your audience without creating everything from scratch.

Content

Dark social

Traffic that arrives through private channels (WhatsApp, DM, email) and shows up as "direct" in analytics. Hard to measure, huge in volume.

Social

Dashboard

A visual board that gathers your strategy's key metrics and KPIs in one place to decide fast.

Data & Analytics

Design thinking

An innovation methodology that puts the user's real needs at the center of designing products and campaigns.

Strategy

Structured data (Schema)

Tags in your code that explain to search engines what each thing is (product, FAQ, event). They enable rich snippets and AI citations.

SEO

Discord

A platform for communities organized into servers with text, voice and video channels. Used by brands to build loyalty.

Social

Responsive design

A technique that adapts a site to look and work well on any device: desktop, tablet and mobile.

SEO

E-E-A-T

Google's criteria for evaluating quality: Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trust. A compass for creating content that ranks.

SEO

Ebook

A downloadable digital book used as a lead magnet: you deliver value in exchange for the prospect's email.

Content

Ecommerce

Electronic commerce: selling products or services online, through your own store or in marketplaces.

Ecommerce

Email marketing

A strategy that uses email as a channel to nurture, sell and build loyalty. The channel with the best ROI when done well.

Conversion funnel

The stages a user goes through until they convert. Each step loses people; optimizing it is the CRO's job.

CRO

Engagement

The audience's level of interaction and bond with your brand (likes, comments, shares, time). A sign of real relevance.

Social

Evergreen

Content that stays relevant over time, without expiring. It generates steady traffic for years.

Content

User experience (UX)

How a person feels when interacting with your product or site. Good UX = less friction and more conversion.

CRO

F-Commerce

Electronic commerce carried out within Facebook and its ecosystem.

Ecommerce

Feed

The stream of content a user sees on a social network, ordered by the algorithm or chronologically.

Social

First-party data

Data you collect directly from your customers (web, CRM, purchases). The most valuable asset, resistant to the end of cookies.

Data & Analytics

Footer

The bottom section of a site with navigation, contact, legal and social links.

SEO

Featured snippet

A highlighted block Google shows above the results, answering a query directly. The "zero" position.

SEO

Funnel

A metaphor for the buying journey in phases: acquisition (awareness), conversion (trust→purchase) and retention (repeat purchase and loyalty).

Strategy

Gamification

Applying game mechanics (points, challenges, rewards) to non-game processes to make them more appealing and engage the user.

Strategy

GEO (Generative Engine Optimization)

Optimizing to appear in generative AI answers. AEO's sibling: structure, clarity and authority so LLMs cite you.

AI & Search

Geomarketing

A strategy that uses geographic data and maps to decide where and to whom to direct your marketing.

Strategy

Google Ads

Google's advertising platform (formerly AdWords) to advertise on search, display, YouTube and more, managing the campaigns yourself.

Advertising

Google AdSense

A program that lets a site monetize by showing ads from Google's network.

Advertising

Growth hacking

A growth mindset based on quick, measurable experiments to scale acquisition, activation and retention with few resources.

Strategy

Guest blogging

Publishing as a guest on another blog to gain audience, authority and links.

Content

H1

The main heading of a page in HTML. It should be unique and describe the central topic; it carries weight in SEO.

SEO

Hashtag

A word preceded by # that groups topics and makes content easier to discover on social media.

Social

Headless / Composable Commerce

An architecture where the "front" (what the customer sees) is separated from the ecommerce "engine", giving total freedom of design and speed.

Ecommerce

Hyper-personalization

Adapting message, offer and experience to each individual in real time using data and AI. The next level of personalization.

Strategy

ICP (Ideal Customer Profile)

The profile of the company or person that gets the most value from you and leaves you the most value. It defines who to pursue… and who not to.

Strategy

Inbound marketing

A strategy of attracting instead of interrupting: useful content that resolves doubts and makes the customer come to you.

Strategy

Infographic

A visual piece that summarizes complex data or processes into images that are easy to understand and share.

Content

Influencer

A person with the ability to influence an audience on social media. They are classified by size: nano, micro, macro and mega.

Social

Generative Artificial Intelligence

AI that creates new content —text, image, video, code— from instructions. The technology that is redefining marketing.

AI & Search

Keyword

The term a user types into the search engine. Short-tail: 1–2 words, lots of volume and competition. Long-tail: 3+ words, less volume but more intent.

SEO

KPI (Key Performance Indicator)

A key indicator that measures whether you're achieving a specific goal. Few, clear and actionable.

Data & Analytics

Landing page

A landing page with a single goal (capture a lead or sell), with minimal navigation so as not to distract from the conversion.

CRO

Lead

A prospect: a person who showed interest and left their details. The raw material of the sales process.

Strategy

Lead nurturing

"Warming up" leads with personalized information until they're ready to buy.

Strategy

Qualified lead (MQL / SQL)

MQL: a lead marketing considers ready based on their interest. SQL: a lead sales validates as a real purchase opportunity.

Strategy

Lookalike (Similar audience)

An audience the platforms create by finding people similar to your best customers. It multiplies your reach with quality.

Advertising

LLM (Large Language Model)

A large-scale language model (like Claude or GPT) trained to understand and generate text. The brain behind generative AI.

AI & Search

Live shopping

Live selling over video: a host shows products and the audience buys in real time from the stream.

Ecommerce

LTV (Lifetime Value)

The total value a customer leaves over their entire relationship with you. Comparing it to CAC tells you whether your business is profitable.

Strategy

Affiliate marketing

Promoting third-party products in exchange for a commission on each sale or result generated.

Advertising

Content marketing

Creating and distributing valuable content to attract and retain an audience. The foundation of inbound.

Content

Conversational marketing

Connecting with customers in real time via chat, WhatsApp or bots to resolve and sell within the same conversation.

AI & Search

Martech

The marketing technology "stack": the set of tools (CRM, CDP, email, analytics) that run your strategy.

Data & Analytics

MMM (Marketing Mix Modeling)

A statistical model that measures each channel's impact on sales without relying on cookies. It's making a strong comeback in the privacy era.

Data & Analytics

Micro-moments

Instants when someone reaches for their phone with an immediate intent (I want to know, go, do, buy). Winning that moment is winning the customer.

Strategy

MRR / ARR

Monthly recurring revenue (MRR) and annual (ARR). The vital metrics of any subscription business.

Strategy

MOFU (Middle of the Funnel)

The middle of the funnel: the prospect already knows you and is evaluating options. This is where comparisons, case studies and consideration content go.

Strategy

Native advertising

Advertising that blends with the content and format of the medium where it appears, making it less intrusive.

Advertising

A bulletin you send periodically by email to your base to inform, nurture and drive traffic.

NPS (Net Promoter Score)

A loyalty metric: it measures how likely your customers are to recommend you, on a scale of 0 to 10.

Strategy

Omnichannel

A continuous, consistent experience for the customer regardless of the channel (store, web, app, social). Everything connected, seamlessly.

Strategy

One page

A single-page site with vertical navigation that informs and captures leads within the same scroll.

CRO

Outbound marketing

Marketing that goes out to find the customer proactively (ads, calls, banners). The opposite of inbound.

Advertising

Performance Max (PMax)

An automated Google campaign that distributes your ad across all its channels (search, YouTube, display, Gmail), optimizing with AI toward your goal.

Advertising

Advantage+ (Meta)

A set of automated Meta campaigns that use AI to choose audiences, creatives and placements for you.

Advertising

Pixel

A snippet of code on your site that records visitor behavior to measure conversions and build audiences.

Data & Analytics

PPC (Pay Per Click)

An advertising model where you pay only when someone clicks on your ad.

Advertising

PLG (Product-Led Growth)

A strategy where the product itself drives acquisition and retention (free trials, freemium). The product is the best salesperson.

Strategy

Programmatic

The automated buying and selling of ad space in real time through auctions and algorithms.

Advertising

Prompt

The instruction you give a generative AI to get a result. The better the prompt, the better the answer.

AI & Search

Prompt engineering

The discipline of designing effective instructions to get the most out of AI models.

AI & Search

RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation)

A technique that connects an AI model to your own knowledge base so it answers with current, verified information, not just what it memorized.

AI & Search

Remarketing / Retargeting

Reaching again with ads those who already visited your site or product and didn't buy. One of the most profitable formats.

Advertising

Retail media

Advertising within marketplaces and retailers (Amazon, Mercado Libre, Walmart) where the customer is already ready to buy.

Advertising

RevOps (Revenue Operations)

Aligning marketing, sales and customer success under shared processes and data to grow revenue predictably.

Strategy

ROAS (Return on Ad Spend)

How much revenue each dollar invested in advertising generates. The reigning performance metric: if you spend $1 and sell $5, your ROAS is 5.

Advertising

ROI (Return on Investment)

The profitability of an investment: (profit − investment) / investment. The question every CFO asks of marketing.

Data & Analytics

SEM (Search Engine Marketing)

Marketing on search engines through paid ads (Google Ads) to appear at the top of intent-driven searches.

Advertising

SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

A set of techniques to earn organic traffic and rank your site in search engines without paying for every click.

SEO

Server-side tracking

Measuring conversions from your server instead of the browser. More accurate and resistant to blockers and the end of cookies.

Data & Analytics

Social commerce

Buying without leaving the social network: catalogs, stores and checkout inside Instagram, TikTok or Facebook.

Social

Social selling

Using social media to build relationships and generate sales, especially in B2B (typically via LinkedIn).

Social

Reels / Shorts

Short, vertical video formats (Instagram, TikTok, YouTube) that dominate organic reach today.

Social

Storytelling

Telling stories to connect emotionally with the audience and make the brand memorable.

Content

STDC (See–Think–Do–Care)

Avinash Kaushik's model based on consumer intent: See (broad audience), Think (considers), Do (buys) and Care (recurring customer).

Strategy

Target

The audience you direct your marketing to: your ideal customer or audience.

Strategy

Open rate

The percentage of emails opened over those delivered. It measures how well your subject line and sender are working.

Conversion rate

The percentage of visits that complete the desired action. The thermometer of a page or campaign's effectiveness.

CRO

Top of mind

The first brand that comes to mind when thinking about a category. The holy grail of positioning.

Strategy

TOFU (Top of the Funnel)

The mouth of the funnel: the discovery stage, where you attract a broad audience with educational, awareness content.

Strategy

UGC (User Generated Content)

Content created by users or customers themselves (reviews, videos, photos). It brings authenticity and trust that the brand can't fake.

Social

UTM

Tags you add to a URL to track which campaign, channel or ad each visit comes from in your analytics.

Strategy

Videoblog (Vlog)

A blog in video format, organized chronologically, where content is shared through image and voice.

Content

Voice search

Searching by speaking to an assistant (Siri, Alexa, Google). It demands conversational content and direct answers to capture it.

AI & Search

Webinar

An online seminar or conference, live or recorded, used to educate, generate leads and demonstrate authority.

Content

WhatsApp marketing

A strategy that uses WhatsApp to converse, support and sell in a personalized way. A key channel in United States and Latam.

Social

Zero-party data

Data the customer gives you voluntarily and knowingly (preferences, intentions) via surveys or quizzes. The gold of the privacy era.

Data & Analytics

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