Whenever you find yourself for the first time in a particular community, you may feel like an alien once you hear people using specific terms or abbreviations that you’ve never heard before. The world of digital marketing is no exception. If you don’t know what the terms CTR, PPC, and SEO mean, then you can easily get lost in conversation. It’s time to catch up, and you can begin with these essential marketing terms you need to know.
1. SEO
Search Engine Optimization – an umbrella term for different tactics (i.e., blogging, acquiring backlinks, on-page optimization) aimed at helping your website rank higher in SERP (search engine results page). If your site ranks higher, then it will generate more traffic, which will further help your company grow, increase brand awareness and bottom line.
2. SERP
Search Engine Result Page – when you make a search query in a search engine, it provides a list of results. If you want to see where your site ranks for a specific keyword, you can find it out by searching for your niche keyword.
3. PPC
Unlike SEO, which includes organic methods, Pay Per Click includes paid ads that run on Google. Pay Per Click provides immediate results and can help your site begin ranking instantly. You’ll need to create ads and, of course, spend some money to run them. PPC and SEO work great separately but can skyrocket your rankings when used together.
4. CPC
Cost Per Click – a pricing model when you are charged for every click that people make on your ad, which leads them to your site or a landing page.
5. CPM
Cost Per Thousand – a pricing model that you pay for the number of times your ad appears per 1,000 impressions. It’s a favorite type of selling ads by publishers as they get paid for the ads displayed (regardless of whether someone clicks on it or not.) For companies, the CPM models only make sense if they’re trying to boost brand awareness.
6. CPI
Cost Per Impression – a metric for determining how many times your ad content was displayed (but not whether users interacted with it).
7. CTR
Click-Through Rate – the percentage of people who click on a link that is located on a website page, in an ad, or email. The higher your CTR, the more people went through.
8. CPA
Cost Per Acquisition – a metric used for determining how much it costs to acquire one customer. It is calculated by dividing the total value of your digital marketing campaign by the number of conversions.
9. Conversion
When a visitor is browsing your site, he or she is a potential customer or a prospect. Once they make a purchase, register for a newsletter, sign up for membership (or take any other desired action) – it’s called a conversion.
10. Organic Traffic
Traffic generated to your website via a Search Engine, like Google, Bing, or Yahoo. It’s the best type of traffic (also known as free traffic).
11. Paid Traffic
Traffic generated from paid advertisements that are built around specific keywords. When a user types in a keyword, these results are shown separately (on the top, bottom, or right side of a SERP.)
12. Keyword
When your target audience uses a word or a phrase to search for relevant topics in Google, these words or phrases are called keywords. If you own a sports gear shop, a relevant keyword could be “buy running shoes.”
13. Keyword Stuffing
The practice of adding too many keywords to a piece of content, all in the hope of boosting its visibility. However, search engines penalize this practice.
14. Landing Page
The page on your site that’s optimized to functions as the entry page to your site. It’s where the visitors are led back when redirected from external links.
15. Social Networking
The practice of using social media platforms to build online communities where people share knowledge about their common interests. Some prominent social networks are Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and YouTube.
These 15 marketing terms are a good starting point for you to learn about digital marketing. There are many more of them, and you’ll get to know them over time. The most important thing is that you won’t feel like you’re listening to another language anymore.
If you think you’re still not able to venture into digital marketing yourself and need a hand with it, you can always reach out to Exceedion. Our team of professionals is always on top of the latest tactics and trends in digital marketing and can help you cover all the areas of digital marketing you need – SEO, social media, content marketing, and inbound marketing.