Internet Marketing Glossary

If you are trying to learn more about Internet Marketing, is important to learn the key terms used in the Internet marketing industry. You will find terms that relate to all aspects of internet marketing such as SEO, PPC, SEM, and Social Media. This glossary will be updated and added to often, so be sure to bookmark it and check back for more!

ALT Tag

The ALT tag, or ALT attribute is utilized in order to tell the search engines what is in an image since the search engine spiders cannot read text contained in an image. The tag is also used to display text when the image cannot be displayed to users.

Click-through-rate (CTR)

The percentage of click-throughs on a link or banner ad. This number is figured by dividing the number of clicks by the number of impressions times 100. For example, if a PPC ad is shown 1000 times and clicked on 135 times, the CTR is 13.5% (135/1000×100).

Conversion Rate

This is the percentage of visitors who converted, or took a desired action such as filling our a lead form or making a purchase. The percentage is figured by dividing the number of conversions by the number of clicks or page views of an offer times 100. For example, in a PPC campaign, if a text ad was clicked-through to a landing page which was viewed 100 times, and there were 8 conversions, this would be a conversion rate of 8% (8/100×100=8%).

Cost Per Action or Cost Per Acquisition (CPA)

This is the cost of a specified action or sale, otherwise called an acquisition typically used in determining the success of online advertising or PPC (pay-per-click) ad models. The number is figured by taking the total ad spend divided by the number of sales, acquisitions, or desired action. For example, if you spent $100 on a Google AdWords campaign, and received 3 actions or acquisitions, the CPA would be $33.33 ($100/3=$33.33).

Cost per Lead (CPL)

This is the cost of a specified action or sale, otherwise called an acquisition typically used in determining the success of online advertising or PPC (pay-per-click) ad models. The number is figured by taking the total ad spend divided by the number of sales, acquisitions, or desired action. For example, if you spent $100 on a Google AdWords campaign, and received 3 actions or acquisitions, the CPA would be $33.33 ($100/3=$33.33).

CPM

The pricing model used to determine cost per 1000 impressions in an online advertising campaign.

Google AdWords

Google’s online PPC advertising program. Advertisers bid for placement on chosen keyword queries, and are placed based on their bid and other campaign quality factors. This is an example of a PPC, or pay-per-click online advertising model.

Impression

The instance of a page of an online ad or organic listing or being displayed. For instance, if, in a Google search, a listing was displayed in either organic or paid search results 1,00 times, this would mean that it received 1,000 impressions.

Organic Listings or Organic Search Engine Results

Web site listings that appear in the search engines “naturally”, meaning the search engines found and indexed the pages by crawling through your code and content, not by a purchased ad campaign.

Pay-Per-Lead (PPL)

An online advertising model in which the advertiser only pays for leads that are received as a result of an online advertising campaign.

Pay-Per-Sale (PPS)

An online advertising model in which the advertiser pays only when a sale is completed. This model is typically used in affiliate programs.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

The practice of improving the friendliness of your Web site or web pages for the search engines in order to achieve higher search engine ranking positions (SERPs). SEO includes ensuring the coding, linking, structure, and content of your site are able to be spidered and indexed by the search engines.

SERPs

The acronym for Search Engine Ranking Positions.

Social Media Marketing (SMM)

An online marketing strategy that includes utilizing Blogs, Forums, Wikis, and Social Networking sites to drive popularity of your Website, and in turn, more visitors through users interacting with your Web site, by bookmarking, adding comments, and forwarding to other community members.