The Dumb Dictionary
Every marketing term, one line each. If someone says one of these in a meeting, look it up here. Nobody has to know.
A
- Advantage+
- Meta’s automated ads, where Meta picks the audience, placements and sometimes edits the ad itself.More on Meta ads
- AEO (Answer engine optimization)
- Getting mentioned when people ask ChatGPT or Google’s AI instead of searching.Read the full note
- AI marketing tools
- Which robots actually save you time.The big picture
- AI Mode
- Google’s chat-style search that answers in full sentences, with fewer links out.More on AEO
- AI Overview
- Google’s AI-written summary at the top of some search results, with links to the pages it used.More on AEO
- Algorithm
- The app’s rules for who sees what. Nobody outside the company knows all of them.More on Social
- Analytics and tracking
- Counting what happened so you stop guessing.Knowing what works
- Attribution
- Deciding which ad, post or email gets credit for a sale. Usually an educated guess.Knowing what works
B
- Backlink
- Another website linking to yours. Google treats it like a recommendation.More on SEO
- Bounce rate
- How many people left after seeing just one page.Turning visitors into money
- Branding
- Why people pick you over the shop next door.The big picture
- Broadcast list
- A WhatsApp message sent to many people at once, arriving as a private chat for each. Only reaches people who saved your number.More on WhatsApp
C
- CAC (Customer acquisition cost)
- What you spent on marketing to get one new paying customer.Knowing what works
- Churn
- Customers who stopped buying from you.Knowing what works
- Content marketing
- Stuff you post once that brings people in for years.More on SEO
- Conversion rate
- Out of everyone who visited, how many did the thing you wanted.Turning visitors into money
- Conversion rate optimization
- Figuring out why people visit but don’t buy.Turning visitors into money
- Copywriting
- Words that make people do something.Turning visitors into money
- Core update
- Google changing how it ranks pages, all at once, a few times a year.More on SEO
- CPC (Cost per click)
- What one click on your ad cost you.More on PPC
- CPM (Cost per mille)
- What it cost to show your ad a thousand times, clicked or not.More on PPC
- CTA (Call to action)
- The button or line that tells people what to do next. “Order now”, “Book a table”.Turning visitors into money
- CTR (Click-through rate)
- Out of everyone who saw it, how many clicked. Shown as a percentage.More on PPC
D
E
- Email and WhatsApp
- Messaging people who said yes to hearing from you.Read the full note
- Engagement
- Likes, comments, shares and saves. People doing something with your post.More on Social
F
- Funnels and pricing
- The steps from “never heard of you” to “paid you.”Turning visitors into money
G
- Google Business Profile
- Your shop’s listing on Google Maps.Read the full note
I
- Impressions
- How many times your ad or post was shown. Not seen, not read. Shown.More on PPC
- Indexing
- Google saving a copy of your page so it can show it in results. Not indexed means invisible.More on SEO
- Influencer marketing
- Paying someone people already trust to mention you.More on PPC
- Intent
- How ready someone is to buy. “AC repair near me now” is high intent.More on PPC
K
- Keyword
- The words people type into Google.More on SEO
- KPI (Key performance indicator)
- The few numbers you agreed to actually watch.Knowing what works
L
- Landing page
- The page someone lands on after clicking your ad.More on PPC
- Lead
- Someone who showed interest and left a way to reach them.Turning visitors into money
- Local pack
- The map and the few businesses Google shows at the top of local searches.More on Local SEO
- Local SEO
- Showing up when people nearby search, like “chai near me”.More on Local SEO
- Long-tail keyword
- A longer, more specific search, like “eggless cake delivery in Pune”. Fewer searches, easier to win.More on SEO
- LTV (Lifetime value)
- What one customer pays you, in total, for as long as they stay.Knowing what works
M
- Marketing metrics
- CAC is what one customer costs you. LTV is what they pay you over time.Read the full note
- Meta description
- The two-line summary under your link in Google results.More on SEO
- Micro-influencer
- A creator with a small but loyal following, often a few thousand people.More on PPC
N
- Negative keyword
- A word you tell Google never to show your ad for, like “free” or “jobs”.More on Google Ads
O
- Omnichannel
- Being in lots of places, like shop, website, Instagram and WhatsApp, and making them feel like one business.The big picture
- Open rate
- How many people opened your email, out of everyone you sent it to.More on Social
- Opt-in
- Someone saying yes to hearing from you. Without it, it’s spam.More on Social
- Organic traffic
- Visitors who found you without you paying for the click.More on SEO
P
- Paid ads
- Paying Google or Instagram to put you in front of people.Read the full note
- Payback period
- How many months until a customer has paid back what they cost you to win.Knowing what works
- Performance Max
- Google’s automated campaigns that run your ads across Search, YouTube, Maps and more at once.More on Google Ads
- Positioning
- What you want people to think of when they hear your name.The big picture
- PPC (Pay per click)
- Ads where you pay each time someone clicks.More on PPC
- PR and reputation
- What people say about you when you’re not in the room.The big picture
Q
- Quality Score
- Google’s 1 to 10 grade for how relevant your ad is. Higher scores pay less per click.More on Google Ads
R
- Reach
- How many different people saw your post.More on Social
- Retargeting
- Showing ads to people who already visited your site. The “why is this shoe following me” ads.More on PPC
- ROAS (Return on ad spend)
- Sales from ads divided by what you paid for the ads. $4 back for every $1 is a ROAS of 4.More on PPC
S
- Search terms report
- The list of what people actually typed before clicking your ad.More on Google Ads
- Sends per reach
- How often people share your post in DMs, out of everyone who saw it. Instagram weighs it heavily.More on Instagram
- SEO
- Showing up when people Google stuff.Read the full note
- SERP (Search engine results page)
- The page of results you see after you Google something.More on SEO
- Spam update
- Google cracking down on sites that cheat, like bought links or junk pages.More on SEO
- Synergy
- Two things working better together. Mostly said in meetings to sound busy.The big picture
T
- Target audience
- The specific people you’re trying to sell to. “Everyone” is not an answer.The big picture
U
- UGC (User-generated content)
- Photos, videos and reviews made by customers, not by you.More on Social
- Unit economics
- Whether you make money on one customer, yes or no.Knowing what works
- Upsell
- Offering something bigger or extra to someone already buying. “Make it a large?”Turning visitors into money
- USP (Unique selling point)
- The one reason to pick you over everyone else, in one line.The big picture
- UTM
- A tag stuck on the end of a link so you can tell which post or ad sent the visitor.Knowing what works
V
- Vanity metric
- A number that feels good but doesn’t pay rent. Followers, views, likes.Knowing what works
Z
- Zero-click search
- A search where the answer shows on Google and nobody clicks through to a website.More on AEO