Glossary
Marketing terms, in plain English
No jargon, no fluff — just clear definitions of the Google Ads, Meta Ads and SEO terms you'll actually hear from us. Skim it, or use it to decode any agency report.
Glossary
Paid ads metrics
- CPC (Cost Per Click)
- Cost per click is the average amount you pay each time someone clicks your ad. It's set by an auction and varies by industry and keyword — competitive, high-value terms (legal, insurance) cost far more per click than low-competition ones.
- CPL (Cost Per Lead)
- Cost per lead is how much you spend in advertising to generate one lead (a form fill, call or booking). It's calculated as ad spend ÷ leads, and it's a far more useful number than cost per click because it ties spend to actual prospects.
- CAC / CPA (Customer Acquisition Cost)
- Customer acquisition cost (also called cost per acquisition) is what you spend in marketing to win one paying customer — cost per lead ÷ your close rate. It's the number that tells you whether a channel is actually profitable against your average job value.
- ROAS (Return on Ad Spend)
- Return on ad spend is revenue generated ÷ ad spend. A 5x ROAS means $5 of revenue for every $1 spent on ads. It's a quick profitability gauge, though it ignores margin and management fees — which is why we also report cost per booked job.
- CTR (Click-Through Rate)
- Click-through rate is the percentage of people who click your ad after seeing it (clicks ÷ impressions). A higher CTR signals that your ad is relevant to the search, which on Google also improves Quality Score and can lower your cost per click.
- Conversion Rate (CVR)
- Conversion rate is the percentage of clicks (or visitors) that take the action you want — submitting a form, calling, or booking. A strong landing page and offer raise CVR, which lowers your cost per lead without spending another dollar on ads.
- Quality Score
- Quality Score is Google's 1–10 rating of how relevant your keyword, ad and landing page are to a search. Higher scores earn better ad positions at a lower cost per click, so improving relevance is one of the cheapest ways to cut wasted spend.
- MER (Marketing Efficiency Ratio)
- Marketing efficiency ratio is total revenue ÷ total marketing spend across all channels. Unlike platform ROAS, which each channel claims credit for, MER gives a blended, honest view of whether your whole marketing engine is profitable.
Glossary
Paid ads tactics
- Performance Max (PMax)
- Performance Max is a Google campaign type that runs across Search, Display, YouTube, Gmail and Maps from one campaign, using automation to find conversions. It's powerful but needs strong conversion tracking and guardrails so it optimizes to real leads, not cheap clicks.
- Negative Keywords
- Negative keywords are terms you tell Google NOT to show your ads for — like “free,” “jobs,” or “DIY.” A well-maintained negative list is one of the biggest sources of wasted-spend savings, because it stops you paying for searches that never convert.
- Keyword Match Types
- Match types control how closely a search must match your keyword to trigger an ad. Broad match reaches the most searches (and the most waste); phrase and exact match tighten relevance. The right mix balances reach against precision for your budget.
- Smart Bidding (tCPA / tROAS)
- Smart Bidding uses Google's automation to set bids toward a goal — a target cost per acquisition (tCPA) or target return on ad spend (tROAS). It only works as well as the conversion data you feed it, which is why accurate tracking comes first.
- Remarketing / Retargeting
- Remarketing shows ads to people who already visited your site or engaged with you. Because these audiences are warm, retargeting usually converts at a lower cost than cold traffic and is one of the most reliable ways to recover lost leads.
- Lookalike Audience
- A lookalike (or similar) audience is built by asking the ad platform to find new people who resemble your best existing customers or leads. It's a core Meta Ads tactic for scaling beyond your current audience without losing relevance.
- Meta Pixel
- The Meta Pixel is a snippet of code on your website that tells Facebook and Instagram which visitors took actions — viewed, led, purchased. It powers conversion tracking, retargeting and lookalikes, so a correctly-installed Pixel is the foundation of effective Meta Ads.
- Local Services Ads (LSA)
- Local Services Ads are Google's pay-per-lead ads that appear above search results for local service queries, with a Google Guaranteed badge. You pay per lead rather than per click, making them a strong channel for trades and home services.
Glossary
SEO & local search
- SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
- SEO is the practice of improving a website's technical health, content and authority so it ranks higher in unpaid (organic) search results. Unlike ads, the traffic doesn't stop when you stop paying — but it takes months to compound.
- Local SEO & the Map Pack
- Local SEO is optimizing to appear for location-based searches and in the Google “map pack” — the three local listings shown with a map. It relies on a strong Google Business Profile, consistent citations and local reviews, and is essential for service businesses.
- Google Business Profile (GBP)
- Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) is your free business listing on Google Search and Maps. A complete, active profile with reviews, photos and accurate hours is one of the highest-impact local SEO assets a service business can own.
- Citation Building
- Citation building is the process of listing a business with consistent Name, Address and Phone (NAP) details across online directories — Yelp, Yellow Pages, Canada411, the BBB, Google Business Profile and industry-specific listings. Consistent citations are a core local-SEO signal that helps a business rank in the Google map pack.
- Keyword Intent
- Keyword intent is the goal behind a search — informational (“how to fix a furnace”), commercial (“best furnace repair”) or transactional (“furnace repair near me”). Matching content and ads to intent is what turns traffic into leads instead of bounces.
- Core Web Vitals
- Core Web Vitals are Google's metrics for real-world page experience — loading speed, interactivity and visual stability. They're a ranking factor and, more importantly, a conversion factor: slow, janky pages lose leads before they ever convert.
Glossary
Conversion & analytics
- Conversion Tracking
- Conversion tracking records the valuable actions visitors take — calls, forms, bookings — and ties them back to the campaign and keyword that drove them. Without it, you're optimizing blind; it's the first thing we fix on almost every account we inherit.
- Attribution
- Attribution is how credit for a conversion is assigned across the touchpoints a customer had before converting. Different models (last-click, data-driven) tell different stories, which is why a blended view like MER keeps decisions honest.
- Landing Page
- A landing page is the page a visitor arrives on after clicking an ad, built around one offer and one action. A focused, fast, message-matched landing page often improves results more than any bidding change — because it lifts conversion rate.
- A/B Test
- An A/B test compares two versions of a page, ad or element to see which performs better, splitting traffic between them. Structured testing is how conversion rate optimization replaces opinions with data and compounds small wins over time.
- Marketing Funnel
- A funnel is the path from first awareness to becoming a customer — typically awareness, consideration, decision. Mapping spend and content to each stage stops you expecting cold audiences to convert like warm ones, and reveals where leads leak out.
- Lead Magnet
- A lead magnet is something valuable offered in exchange for contact details — a free audit, calculator, guide or checklist. It captures prospects who aren't ready to buy yet, so you can follow up instead of losing them.
- UTM Parameters
- UTM parameters are tags added to a link (source, medium, campaign) so analytics tools can report exactly which campaign drove a visit or lead. Consistent UTMs are what make multi-channel reporting trustworthy instead of guesswork.
- Speed to Lead
- Speed to lead is how fast you respond to a new enquiry. Contacting a lead within minutes dramatically raises the odds of reaching and booking them versus waiting hours — which is why we automate instant follow-up wherever possible.