Glossary
Marketing terms, explained plainly
Every one of these has a page of its own — what it means, why it matters to a local business, and the thing people most often get wrong about it. No jargon defined with more jargon.
Why this exists
Written for owners, not marketers
Most of these terms turn up first in a proposal from someone trying to sell you something, which is the worst possible moment to encounter a new acronym. Each page here defines the term in one sentence, explains what it actually does, says why it matters to a local business specifically, and names the mistake people make with it. Then it links to the work it describes, so the definition goes somewhere.
Every term
All 20 definitions, in one place
Acronyms work — GBP, ROAS, NAP and CPL all find their term.
20 terms
Local searchLocal SEOAlso: Local search engine optimization, Local search marketingLocal SEO is the work of making a business appear in search results for people searching nearby — chiefly in the map results, which are ranked differently from ordinary web results.Read the full definitionLocal searchGoogle Business ProfileAlso: GBP, Google My Business, GMBA Google Business Profile — commonly abbreviated to GBP, and formerly called Google My Business or GMB — is the free listing that controls how a business appears in Google Search and Google Maps.Read the full definitionLocal searchLocal packAlso: Map pack, Three-pack, Snack packThe local pack is the block of three business listings with a map that appears near the top of a local search result, above the ordinary web results.Read the full definitionLocal searchNAP consistencyAlso: NAP, Name, address, phoneNAP consistency means your business name, address and phone number appear in exactly the same form everywhere they are listed online.Read the full definitionLocal searchLocal citationsAlso: Citations, Business listingsA local citation is any online mention of your business name, address and phone number — in a directory, on a review site, in a chamber of commerce listing, or anywhere else.Read the full definitionLocal searchSEOAlso: Search engine optimizationSEO is the practice of improving how a website appears in unpaid search results, through its content, its technical construction and the links pointing at it.Read the full definitionLocal searchSERPAlso: Search engine results pageA SERP is a search engine results page — everything a search engine shows in response to a query, including ads, the map pack, featured answers and the ordinary blue links.Read the full definitionReputationOnline reputation managementAlso: ORM, Review management, Reputation managementOnline reputation management is the ongoing work of monitoring, generating and responding to reviews and other public feedback about a business.Read the full definitionReputationReview velocityReview velocity is the rate at which a business gains new reviews over time — how many arrive per month, rather than how many it has in total.Read the full definitionAdvertisingPPCAlso: Pay-per-click, Paid searchPPC is pay-per-click advertising — you place an ad and pay only when someone clicks it, rather than paying for it to be shown.Read the full definitionAdvertisingCPCAlso: Cost per clickCPC is cost per click — the amount you pay each time someone clicks one of your ads.Read the full definitionAdvertisingLocal Services AdsAlso: LSA, Google Guaranteed, Google ScreenedLocal Services Ads are Google's pay-per-lead ad format for local service businesses, appearing above ordinary search ads and carrying a Google Guaranteed or Google Screened badge.Read the full definitionMeasurementROASAlso: Return on ad spendROAS is return on ad spend — the revenue generated for every dollar spent on advertising, usually expressed as a multiple.Read the full definitionMeasurementCost per leadAlso: CPLCost per lead is the total spend on a channel divided by the number of enquiries it produced — what each new enquiry cost you.Read the full definitionMeasurementConversion rateConversion rate is the percentage of visitors who take the action you wanted — calling, submitting a form, booking, or buying.Read the full definitionMeasurementCTRAlso: Click-through rateCTR is click-through rate — the percentage of people who clicked something after seeing it, whether an ad, a search result or an email.Read the full definitionMeasurementImpressionsAn impression is one instance of your ad, listing or post being displayed to someone — whether or not they noticed it or clicked.Read the full definitionMeasurementBounce rateBounce rate is the percentage of visitors who arrive on a page and leave without interacting further.Read the full definitionTechnicalSchema markupAlso: Structured data, JSON-LDSchema markup is code added to a web page that describes its content to search engines in a standard machine-readable format.Read the full definitionTechnicalBacklinkAlso: Inbound link, Link buildingA backlink is a link from another website to yours, and search engines treat it as a signal that your site is worth referring to.Read the full definition
Rather ask a person
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