Internet Marketing Glossary

Banner Ad
An advertisement that is displayed on a web page or email. Typically the ad is “clickable” and redirects the respondent to a specific web page. Banner ads are typically priced per impression (cost per impression or CPI), per thousand impressions (CPM) or per click (CPC).

Campaign
A process by which a website owner acquires website visitors, particularly visitors that convert, as well as the conversion and retention processes that follow the acquisition. Campaigns can utilize online ads, links, outbound emails, and even off-line triggers such as direct mail, to acquire targeted visitors.

Canonical URL
A URL that always resolves in the same way. Canonical means “official” or “authoritative” and that is exactly what needs to be done – establish one “official” URL for each of your website pages, especially the Home page. More information can be found in this blog post.

Click Fraud
Any activity which deliberately causes a PPC advertiser to pay for a worthless click. This can take several forms, such as competitors clicking on PPC ads to waste the advertiser’s budget. Another common form of click fraud occurs when website publishers allow search engines to serve PPC ads, and employ paid clickers or software bots to click on ads to boost their revenue.

Click-Through-Rate (CTR)
The percentage of people who see a “clickable” call-to-action, such as an online ad, and actually click on it. Also referred to as “CTR.”

Conversion
The process by which a website visitor completes a process that is desired by the website owner. In B2C (Business-to-Consumer) sites, a conversion is typically an online sale. For B2B (Business-to-Business) sites, a conversion can be the completion of a form providing the website owner with the visitor’s contact information, permission to contact, and other information.

Conversion rate
The percentage of visitors to a website who complete a process designed by the web marketer. For example, if out of 100 visitors who respond to an ad by clicking on it and coming to a landing page, two go on to complete and submit a form, the conversion rate for that program is 2%.

Google AdWords
An advertising management tool developed and maintained by Google for placing online ads. Ads can be triggered by keyword searches or can appear on non-search content websites that are typically contextually related to the ad.

Google Analytics
A website analysis tool that provides information about visitors to your website to help in marketing decisions and campaign performance measurement.

Google Instant
A feature of the Google Search Engine, automatically enabled on most browsers, that attempts to predict the searcher’s query and dynamically displays a list of possible results in real time as the user types. Results are displayed even before the search query has been fully entered. Our blog post, “Google Instant – Good or Bad For PPC?” as the title suggests, discusses some advantages and disadvantages of Google Instant. It also shows how to disable this option if you are looking to do so.

Google Places
Location-based listings provided by Google for businesses to promote themselves, along with some information, on Google Maps and Google Search. This is available at no charge. See our blog post Improve Google Places Ranking With These 5 Optimization Tips for 5 optimization tips to help boost your local listing ranking on Google.

Google Places allows you to add a link to your website, include hours of operation, photos, videos and even add a promotional coupons.

Google Suggest
A feature of the Google search engine that automatically displays recommendations of topics you may be looking for in the Google search bar. The suggestions made are based on the top searches done using the Google search engine out of millions of searches.

Google Suggestor
A tool used to simplify the process of collecting keywords for keyword research. It is quick to download, easy to use, and best of all, it’s free. It is similar to the web version of Google Suggest but allows the list of keywords to be copied into a document so you can continue researching without interruption. You can download the file here. For more information and instructions to use this took go to our blog post “Free Keyword Research Using Google Suggest.”

Google Tags
A way for local businesses that already have a free business listing with Google Places (see above) to add a special coupon for new customers. By adding a Google Tag, you can choose an item you want to promote in Google’s local search results such as your website. A clickable link to your website will appear underneath your local listing. Our blog post “What Are Google Tags And How To Use Them To Enhance Your Local Business Listing” shows you an example along with other information you will need to get started with Google Tags.

Internet marketing
Leveraging the Internet as a means of communicating a company’s messaging, attracting prospects and customers, and conducting market research.

IP Address
Every device browsing the web presents an IP address (for example 71.174.103.42) detectable by the site they are visiting. If you’re at home or work for a small company, your IP address is probably assigned dynamically (changed from time to time) by your Internet Service Provider (ISP). If you work for a medium to large company, your IP address might be a static (unchanging) IP that’s assigned to your company. To find out the IP Address you are currently presenting, go to: http://www.whatismyip.com/.

IP Lookup
A process to resolve an IP address to determine the related website(s) or ISP or determine the IP address of a domain name. There are a number of free online tools for this purpose, including: http://www.networksolutions.com/whois/index.jsp.

Keyword
In the context of Internet marketing, a word or phrase used to perform an online search. The choice of keywords determines the search results outcome.

Keyword Research
A process undertaken to identify and gauge the relative importance of specific keywords as indicators of interest in the content of a website. Typically, certain factors such as search frequency, relevance and level of competition are used to aid in prioritizing keywords to target for a particular project.

Microsoft adCenter
An advertising management tool developed and maintained by Microsoft for placing online ads. Ads can be triggered by keyword searches or can appear on non-search content websites that are typically contextually related to the ad.

Paid Inclusion
A program where the marketer pays for more prompt, frequent or thorough review of a website, however there is no guarantee as to rank or placement. Often used by companies with large websites to enhance indexing of many pages.

Parked Domain
A registered domain name (URL) which the owner has not developed into a website. Typically, parked domains are populated with pay-per-click ads on the root of the domain or via navigational links. Parked domains also often have a keyword search box.  With the inclusion of a search box,  parked domains are classified as syndicated search partners in Google AdWords and Microsoft adCenter. There are literally millions of parked domains in existence on the Internet today.

Impact of Parked Domains on PPC:

1) AdWords and adCenter advertisers are mostly unaware they are paying for their ads to appear here. Ads are displayed on parked domains by default in both Google AdWords and Microsoft adCenter.

2) Click fraud from parked domains through the use of anonymous proxies, clickbots, click exchanges, etc. is a major concern. Research shows the bounce rate from this type of traffic is extremely high.

3) Parked domains typically have a higher cost per conversion associated with them.

Pay-Per-Click (PPC)
Internet advertising where the advertiser pays a pre-agreed price each time someone clicks on an advertisement. Also called “Paid Placement.” The price is typically arranged via an auction, with ad placement determined by the relative size of the bid as well as other factors.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
The art of gaining top rankings in search results for search terms that are likely to be used by audiences that the marketer is interested in. Also called “Organic” or “Pure Search” because the results displayed are based on the relevance and popularity of the site. No money is paid to the search engines for placement or clicks.

Search Results
The listings displayed by a Search Engine after processing a search term.

Search Term
A keyword or keyword phrase entered into a search engine to perform a search on the Web.

Top Ranking
Generally a Search Results ranking within the first page of results displayed. Numerous studies have shown that few people search past the first Search Results page, which typically includes 10 – 20 listings.

Web Analytics
Software tools for measuring and tracking website visitors, including how they got to a website and their behavior on the site. Because so many things on the Web can be tracked and measured, Internet marketing can be a lot more scientific and technical than traditional marketing, advertising and public relations.

Website Audit
A diagnostic analysis of a website’s on-line visibility and effectiveness. A website audit  may also identify problem areas that are costing your website potential traffic from the search engines and examine the effectiveness of the site’s user-experience for its visitors.