Terminology Glossary

This glossary provides definitions for important terms related to Blue Frog Analytics, website audits, SEO, security, compliance, and technical site health.

A

A/A Testing

Splitting traffic between two identical versions to make sure your testing setup is working. If results differ, the problem is with the test, not the idea.

A/B Testing

Comparing two versions of a page, ad, or email to see which one works better. Success is usually measured by clicks, conversions, or engagement.

A/B/n Testing

Testing more than two versions at once. Useful for exploring options, but each version gets less traffic so it takes longer to be confident.

ABAC (Attribute-Based Access Control)

Access rules based on details about the user and the thing they want to use, not just their role. Offers more precise control than simple role-based access.

Abandonment Rate

The share of people who start an action, like checkout or a form, but do not finish. A high rate points to friction in the process.

Abandoned Cart

Items a shopper leaves in the cart without buying. These are chances for reminders or discounts to bring the shopper back.

Abandoned Session

When someone leaves a site partway through a task. It is not always a bounce, but it signals drop-off worth investigating.

Above the Fold

The part of a page you can see without scrolling. Place key messages and calls to action here so visitors notice them.

Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP)

A Google-backed format that removes heavy code so pages load very fast on phones. Speeds up pages but limits design and relies on Google caching.

Accessibility

Designing and building content so people with disabilities can use it. Following WCAG guidelines improves fairness and often usability for everyone.

Accessibility Tree

A structure screen readers and other assistive tools use to understand a page. It comes from the page’s HTML and ARIA labels.

Account-Based Marketing

A B2B approach that targets specific high-value companies with personalized outreach instead of broad audiences.

Account Linking

Connecting accounts across platforms so data, audiences, or conversions line up. Helps keep reporting and targeting consistent.

Acquisition Funnel (TOFU/MOFU/BOFU)

The stages from awareness to consideration to conversion. Knowing the stage helps choose the right message and goal.

Actionable Analytics

Insights that clearly point to what to do next. The data leads to specific steps instead of vague ideas.

Active Users (DAU/WAU/MAU)

Counts of unique users active daily, weekly, or monthly. These numbers show whether people keep coming back.

Adaptive Bitrate Streaming (ABR)

Video delivery that changes quality to match the viewer’s internet speed. It keeps playback smooth by lowering quality when connections slow.

Adaptive Auth

Security that adds or reduces friction based on risk, like asking for MFA only when something looks unusual.

Ad Blocking Rate

The percentage of ad impressions stopped by blockers. It shows how much paid reach you lose before delivery.

Ad Exchange

A marketplace where publishers sell ad space and advertisers buy it automatically. It connects many sellers and buyers at once.

Ad Load

How many ads appear compared to content on a page or in a stream. Too many ads can hurt experience and performance.

Ad Mediation (Mobile)

Tools that send each ad request to multiple networks to get the best fill and price. It improves revenue by reducing empty slots.

Ad Podding

Playing a group of ads back-to-back, common in connected TV or streaming. It mimics a commercial break.

Ad Extensions

Extra information you can add to search ads, like sitelinks, phone numbers, or locations. They make ads more useful and can raise click-through rates.

Ad Fatigue

When people see the same ad too often and stop paying attention. Rotating creative and managing frequency caps can fix it.

Ad Fraud

Fake impressions, clicks, or conversions, often from bots or hijacked devices. It wastes budget and hurts data quality.

Ad Impression

One display of an ad, whether or not it is clicked. It is the base unit for pricing models like CPM.

Ad Inventory

All the ad spaces a site or app can sell, such as display, video, or native placements.

Ad Network

A platform that connects advertisers with publishers’ ad inventory. It bundles supply so advertisers can buy in one place.

Ad Recall Lift

A measure of how many more people remember an ad after seeing it, often gathered through surveys.

Ad Rank

Google Ads’ formula that orders ads: bid multiplied by Quality Score and expected impact of extensions. Higher rank means better placement for the cost.

Ad Retargeting

Showing ads to people who visited before but did not convert. It encourages them to return and finish.

Ad Scheduling (Dayparting)

Choosing which hours or days ads run. Aligning ads with audience behavior can improve performance and control spend.

Ad Sequencing

Showing a planned order of ads to tell a simple story. Each step builds on the last to guide the viewer.

Ad Stack

The collection of ad tech tools a publisher or advertiser uses, from servers to verification. The pieces must work together to serve and measure ads.

Ad Server

Software that stores, targets, and delivers ads while tracking performance. Examples include Google Ad Manager.

Ad Verification

Third-party checks that ads are real, viewable, and brand-safe. It adds an independent layer of trust.

AdChoices

An icon that indicates personalized ads and links to opt-out options. It signals transparency about targeting.

Ad Viewability

Whether an ad was actually seen, based on how much of it appeared on screen for long enough. It matters for judging if impressions had a chance to work.

Adstock

The leftover effect of advertising after a campaign ends, used in media mix modeling to understand delayed impact.

Ads

Paid messages shown online or offline to influence actions. Success often uses metrics like impressions, click-through rate, cost per click, cost per acquisition, and return on ad spend.

Ads Data Hub (ADH)

Google's privacy-safe environment for querying detailed campaign logs. It allows analysis without exporting raw user-level data.

Adobe Analytics

Enterprise analytics platform (formerly Omniture SiteCatalyst) offering deep segmentation, pathing analysis, and integration with Adobe Experience Cloud.

Adobe Commerce

Enterprise e-commerce platform formerly known as Magento. Offers extensive customization for complex B2B and B2C storefronts.

Amazon Advertising

Amazon's advertising platform for sponsored products, brands, and display ads. Reaches shoppers with high purchase intent on and off Amazon.

Amplitude

Product analytics platform focused on user behavior, retention, and conversion funnels. Popular for SaaS and mobile apps.

Apple Search Ads

Apple's advertising platform for promoting apps in App Store search results. Uses Apple's first-party data for targeting.

Add-to-Cart Rate

The share of sessions where someone adds an item to the cart. It shows how often browsers become serious shoppers.

Addressability

The ability to target or measure people or groups while respecting privacy limits. It balances precision with consent.

Addressable TV (CTV)

Advertising on connected TVs with household-level targeting. It combines TV reach with digital-style data.

Admin Hardening

Securing admin areas, logins, and keys. Reduces the risk of unauthorized changes or data theft.

Advanced Matching

Hashing customer data to improve how platforms match conversions to people. It can raise reported performance without sharing raw personal info.

Affinity Audiences

Ready-made audience groups based on long-term interests. They help reach people likely to care about a topic.

Affordance (UX)

Design clues that show users how to interact, like a button that looks clickable. Clear cues reduce confusion.

AIDA

Attention, Interest, Desire, Action: a classic marketing sequence that guides people from noticing to buying.

AI Overviews / Generative SERP

Search results that show AI-written summaries above normal links. They can change how users click and what wins visibility.

Air Gap (Security)

Physically separating critical systems from networks. It keeps sensitive data away from online threats.

Aggregated Event Measurement (AEM)

Meta’s method for tracking conversions with limited data after privacy changes. It reports results while sharing fewer user details.

Algorithmic Bidding

Automated bidding strategies, like target CPA or target ROAS, that let platforms adjust bids to hit goals.

Allowlist

A list of approved domains, apps, or placements. Ads or scripts only run where the list says it is safe.

Always-On

Evergreen campaigns that run continuously to keep steady awareness or lead flow.

AMP Signed Exchange (SXG)

A way to keep AMP speed while serving content from your own domain. It improves load time without losing branding.

Anchor Text

The clickable text of a link. Clear anchor text helps users and search engines understand the destination.

Anonymization

Removing personal identifiers so data cannot be tied back to someone. It protects privacy and reduces risk.

Anomaly Detection

Using statistics or machine learning to flag unusual spikes or drops in metrics. It helps teams react quickly.

Anti-Bot Protection

Filters and challenges that block automated abuse, such as CAPTCHAs or rate limits.

Anti-Flicker Snippet

A small script that hides content briefly while an A/B test variant loads. It prevents layout flashes that distract visitors.

API

A set of rules that lets two systems exchange data or actions. It is how apps talk to each other programmatically.

API Gateway

A single front door that routes and secures API traffic. It handles authentication, throttling, and monitoring for many services.

App Tracking Transparency (ATT)

An iOS prompt that asks users if an app can track them across other apps and sites. Opt-outs reduce cross-app targeting.

App Store Optimization (ASO)

Improving an app’s store listing so more people find and install it. Focus areas include keywords, visuals, ratings, and reviews.

ARIA Attributes

HTML attributes that give extra meaning for assistive technologies. They help screen readers convey roles, labels, and states.

ARPU

Average revenue per user over a set period. It shows how much income each active user typically generates.

Audience Overlap

When two audience segments share many of the same people. Large overlap can lead to wasted spend or mixed results.

Audience Segmentation

Grouping people by traits or behaviors so messages can be tailored. Different groups may need different offers.

Assisted Conversions

Conversions that a channel helped influence but did not win as the final click. They show supporting value across the journey.

Audience

A defined group of people you want to reach with marketing. Audiences can be based on demographics, behavior, interests, or custom criteria.

Audit Trail

A secure log of who changed what and when. It supports accountability and troubleshooting.

AuthN vs AuthZ

Authentication checks who someone is; authorization decides what they are allowed to do. Both are needed for security.

Attribution Modeling

Rules that decide how to credit different touchpoints for a conversion. Models include last-click, first-touch, linear, time decay, and data-driven.

Attribute (Event Analytics)

A property tied to an event, like value or category. It gives context to the action recorded.

Auto-Tagging

Automatically adding tracking parameters, such as GCLID, to URLs. It saves manual tagging work and keeps data consistent.

Average Order Value (AOV)

The average revenue per order. Raising AOV through bundles or add-ons can improve profit without more traffic.

AWS (Amazon Web Services)

Amazon's cloud computing platform offering compute, storage, databases, and machine learning services for web infrastructure.

Azure

Microsoft's cloud platform providing hosting, databases, AI services, and enterprise integrations. Common in Windows-centric environments.

B

B2B

Business-to-Business. Companies selling products or services to other businesses rather than consumers. Often involves longer sales cycles.

B2C

Business-to-Consumer. Companies selling directly to individual consumers. Typically focuses on broader reach and faster purchase decisions.

Backend

The server-side part of a website that handles data processing, databases, and business logic. Users don't see it directly.

Backlink

A link to your site from another site. Strong backlinks can boost search authority.

Bad Bot Traffic

Visits from automated programs that are not real users. They can inflate metrics or attempt attacks.

Bandit Testing (Multi-Armed Bandit)

A testing method that shifts more traffic to winning options while the test runs. It reduces time spent on poor versions.

Bandwidth

The amount of data that can move through a network in a given time. More bandwidth means faster transfers.

Bayesian A/B Testing

Testing that uses prior beliefs and probability updates instead of only p-values. It shows the chance one version is better.

Banner Blindness

When users ignore banner-like content because they see it so often. Clear design and placement can help overcome it.

Baseline

Performance before a change. It is the reference point for measuring improvement.

BCP (Business Continuity Plan)

A plan to keep operations running during disasters or outages. It covers backup systems, communication, and recovery steps.

Behavioral Email

Emails sent based on actions, such as abandoning a cart or finishing onboarding. They aim for timely, relevant follow-ups.

Behavioral Segmentation

Grouping people by what they do,pages viewed, purchases, or app actions. It often predicts intent better than demographics alone.

Benchmarking

Comparing your results to past performance or to peers. It helps set goals and spot gaps.

BERT (Ranking)

A Google language model that helps search understand the meaning and intent of queries. It improves relevance of results.

Bid Shading

A programmatic tactic that bids just above the likely clearing price in auctions. It seeks to save money without losing impressions.

Bid Modifier

Adjustments that raise or lower bids based on device, location, audience, or time. They fine-tune where budget flows.

BigCommerce

E-commerce platform with built-in features for scaling online stores. Offers headless commerce options and extensive marketplace integrations.

BigQuery

Google Cloud's serverless data warehouse for fast SQL queries at scale. Commonly used for GA4 raw data exports and cross-platform analysis.

BigQuery Export (GA4)

Sending raw GA4 event data to BigQuery. It allows custom analysis beyond standard reports.

Black Hat SEO

Tactics that break search engine rules, like keyword stuffing or cloaking. They can bring quick gains but risk penalties.

Blocklist (Brand Safety)

A list of places where ads should not appear. It helps avoid unsafe or off-brand content.

BOPIS (Buy Online, Pick Up In-Store)

Ordering online and collecting in person. It combines e-commerce speed with local convenience.

Botnet

A group of infected devices controlled together, often used for attacks or fraud.

Bounce

A session where someone views one page and leaves without interacting further.

Bounce Rate

The percentage of sessions that bounce. High rates may signal slow pages, poor targeting, or weak first impressions.

Bounce (Email: Hard/Soft)

Hard bounces are permanent delivery failures; soft bounces are temporary problems like a full inbox.

Brand Lift

Measured change in awareness or intent after seeing ads, often through surveys or controlled tests.

Brand Lift Study

A research method using surveys to see if ads changed what people remember or think.

Brand Safety

Keeping ads away from harmful or offensive content. Protects reputation while advertising.

Brand Suitability

Choosing ad placements that match brand values and tone, not just avoiding unsafe areas.

Breadcrumbs

Navigation links that show where a page sits in a site’s structure. They help users move back up levels.

Brotli Compression

A modern way to compress files smaller than gzip. It reduces download sizes and speeds up pages.

Browser

Software used to access websites, such as Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge. Different browsers may render pages slightly differently.

Browser Caching

Saving files on a user’s device so pages load faster on the next visit.

Budget Pacing

Tracking how fast a campaign is spending compared to the plan. Prevents overspending early or underspending late.

Budget Reallocation

Moving spend from weak performers to stronger ones while a campaign runs.

Bundle Splitting

Breaking large JavaScript bundles into smaller chunks that load as needed. This speeds up initial page loads.

Burst Campaign

A short, intense ad push to create quick awareness or support a launch.

C

CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost)

Total cost to gain a new customer, including ads, sales, and incentives. It should be healthy compared to customer lifetime value.

Cache

Temporary storage that saves copies of data for faster access. Browsers cache files locally; servers use caches to speed up responses.

CAC Payback Period

How long it takes to earn back acquisition costs through profit. Shorter payback means faster return on growth spend.

Campaign

A coordinated set of marketing activities with a specific goal, timeframe, and budget. Campaigns are tracked to measure success.

CAC/LTV Ratio

Comparing acquisition cost to lifetime value. A strong ratio shows growth is sustainable.

CBO (Campaign Budget Optimization)

A Meta setting that lets the system distribute budget across ad sets to meet the campaign goal.

CDC (Change Data Capture)

A method that streams database changes in near real time to other systems. It keeps data pipelines up to date.

Cache-Control

An HTTP header that tells browsers and proxies how to store and reuse files.

Cache Busting

Adding version numbers or hashes to file names so browsers fetch the newest file instead of a cached one.

CHIPS (Partitioned Cookies)

Scoped cookies in Chrome that work in embedded contexts with less cross-site tracking risk.

Call Tracking / DNI

Dynamic phone numbers that tie calls back to traffic sources. They link offline calls to online campaigns.

Call-to-Action (CTA)

The clear next step you want someone to take, such as “Buy now” or “Sign up.” Strong CTAs are obvious and easy to click.

Canary Release

Rolling a change to a small group first to watch for issues before a wider launch.

Canonical Tag

A tag that tells search engines the main version of a page when duplicates exist.

CAPTCHA

A challenge that proves a visitor is human. It blocks bots from abusing forms or logins.

CCPA/CPRA

California privacy laws that give residents rights over their data, including the right to opt out of selling or sharing.

CDP

A Customer Data Platform that combines data into unified profiles and lets teams activate audiences across tools.

CDN

A Content Delivery Network of servers around the world that deliver files from locations close to users for speed.

Churn Rate

The share of customers who stop using a product during a period. Lower churn means better retention.

CI/CD

Continuous integration and deployment. Ship small, ship often, sleep better.

Click Map

Visualizes click density on page elements. Heatmaps for fingers.

Click Path

Sequence of pages or events a visitor takes. Footprints in the snow.

Click

A user interaction where someone taps or clicks on a link, button, or ad. Clicks are a fundamental metric in digital marketing.

Clickstream Data

Ordered trail of user events. Breadcrumbs you can query.

Click-Through Rate (CTR)

The percentage of people who click an ad or link after seeing it. It shows how compelling the message is.

Client- vs Server-Side Tracking

Browser tags versus server collection. Front row versus control room.

Client Hints (UA-CH)

Privacy-friendly browser capability signals. Less fingerprinting, more nuance.

CLS

Cumulative Layout Shift; visual stability. Stop jumping, page!

CMP

Consent Management Platform. The cookie bouncer.

Code

Instructions written in a programming language that tell computers what to do. Websites are built with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript code.

CNAME Cloaking

Mask third-party trackers as first-party. ITP’s least favorite magic trick.

Cohort Analysis

Tracking groups of users who share a start date or action to see how their behavior changes over time.

Cohort Retention Curve

Plot % of users returning over time. Stickiness as a silhouette.

Cold Start (Modeling)

When your model has no data yet. Awkward first date for ML.

Compliance Audit

Formal review of policy and control adherence. Clipboards and checklists, but necessary.

Consent Mode (v2)

Google tag behavior that adapts to consent choices while modeling gaps. Measurement with mittens on.

Consent Rate

% of users granting tracking permissions. The KPI your CMP secretly cries about.

Content Decay

When older content loses traffic or relevance. Updating or consolidating it can restore performance.

Content Gap Analysis

Identify topics competitors rank for that you don’t. Map the empty shelves your content should stock.

Content Parity (SEO)

Ensure SSR/CSR show the same content. Bots shouldn’t get a lesser menu.

Content Hubs/Pillars

Topic clusters tied together with internal links. Be the librarian, not the hoarder.

Content Security Policy (CSP)

A security header that tells browsers which sources of scripts, images, and other resources are allowed. It helps stop script injection attacks.

Content Syndication

Republish content on partner sites. Borrowed audiences, responsibly.

Contextual Targeting

Based on page content, not identity. Ads that read the room.

Conversion

When a user completes a desired action, such as making a purchase, signing up, or submitting a form. The primary goal of most marketing.

Conversion API (CAPI)

Server-side method for sending conversion events directly from your server to ad platforms like Meta, bypassing browser limitations.

Conversion Lag

Delay between click and conversion. The patience tax.

Conversion Lift (Geo-Exp)

Holdout/geo tests to prove causality. Science says your ads did it.

Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)

Systematic testing and improvements to raise conversion rates, often by simplifying pages and clarifying CTAs.

Conversion Window

Lookback period for attribution. How long you keep receipts.

Conversion Value Rules (Ads)

Adjust values by geo/audience/device. Context-aware ROAS math.

Cookie

A small text file stored in a user's browser to remember information like login status, preferences, or tracking identifiers.

Cookie Syncing

ID matching among ad platforms. Introduce your cookies to each other.

Core Web Vitals

Google’s key site speed and stability metrics: LCP, FID (being replaced by INP), and CLS. Good scores improve user experience and may help SEO.

Critical CSS

Inline above-the-fold styles to speed paint. Dress the mannequin first.

CrUX (Chrome UX Report)

Field CWV from real Chrome users. RUM, but pre-collected.

CSS

Cascading Style Sheets. The code that controls how a website looks - colors, fonts, spacing, and layout.

CSV

Comma-Separated Values. A simple file format for storing tabular data. Common for exporting and importing data between tools.

CORS

Cross-origin resource sharing policy. Customs for web requests.

Crawl Budget

How many pages search engines will crawl on your site in a given time. Clean site structures help use the budget well.

CRM

Contact and opportunity management. Your sales memory palace.

Cross-Domain Tracking

Linking user sessions across different domains so analytics sees them as one journey.

Criteo

Retargeting and performance marketing platform specializing in dynamic product ads across web and app inventory.

Cross-Device Identity

Match the same user across devices. Same human, different screens.

CSR (Client-Side Rendering)

Browser builds the page from JS. Great for apps, tricky for bots.

CTO/CTOR (Email)

Click-to-open rate. Opens are cheap; clicks are commitment.

Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)

Projected revenue from a customer over the full relationship. Anchors paid media bids, retention efforts, and segmentation.

D

DAG (Directed Acyclic Graph)

Task dependency graph (e.g., Airflow). Your pipeline's family tree.

Dashboard

A visual display of key metrics and data in one place. Dashboards help monitor performance at a glance.

Dark Patterns

Deceptive UX nudges (e.g., forced opt-ins). Growth that ages like milk.

Data Breach

Unauthorized disclosure of sensitive data. The worst kind of “viral.”

Database

An organized collection of data stored electronically. Websites use databases to store user accounts, products, content, and more.

Data Catalog

Searchable inventory of data assets. A library card for your warehouse.

Data Contracts

Agreed-upon schemas and guarantees teams promise not to break. Peace treaties between engineering and analytics.

Data Dictionary

Canonical definitions for metrics/fields. Stop arguing about “users.”

Data Layer

Structured event payload for tags. Your analytics API on-page.

Data Lake / Lakehouse

Raw or hybrid storage for semi-structured data. Bring your mud boots.

Data Lineage

Trace how data is created, transformed, and stored. Family tree for every metric.

Data Mesh

Domain-owned, productized data with shared standards. Federation with rules.

Data Minimization

Collecting and keeping only the data needed for a task. It reduces risk and respects privacy.

DataOps

DevOps for data pipelines. CI/CD for your ETL spaghetti.

Data Retention

How long data is kept. Delete like a pro, not a coward.

Data Stewardship

Accountability for data quality and access. Someone owns the mess.

Data Warehouse

A central store for structured data used for reporting and analysis. Examples include BigQuery and Snowflake.

DDoS

Traffic flood to knock sites offline. Firehose versus teacup.

Dedupe Key / Idempotency

Prevent duplicate events on retry. Once is plenty.

De-duplication

Remove double conversions or IDs. One win ≠ two trophies.

Deal ID (Programmatic)

Unique identifier for private deals/PMP/PG. Secret handshake for inventory.

Deep Link / Deferred Deep Link

URLs that launch users into a specific app screen,immediately if the app’s installed, later after an install. GPS directions even when the app isn’t on the device yet.

Deferred Loading (defer/async)

Non-blocking scripts. Let content go first class.

Differential Privacy

Add statistical noise so individuals stay anonymous in aggregated data sets. Insights with a privacy muffler.

Digital Experience Platform (DXP)

Suite combining CMS, personalization, analytics. The Franken-stack you control.

Dimension

An attribute that describes data, such as country, device type, or page URL. Dimensions are used to segment and filter metrics in reports.

Digital PR (SEO)

Earn links via newsworthy assets/stories. Journalists love charts, give them charts.

Direct Traffic

Visits recorded without a known referral source. It can include true direct entries, bookmarks, or some misattributed traffic.

Demand Gen (Google)

YouTube and Discover upper-funnel campaigns. Window shopping at scale.

Demand Generation

Full-funnel programs that create, nurture, and capture demand,mixing content, ads, email, events, and product experiences to feed pipeline.

Demographic Targeting

Reaching people based on attributes like age, gender, or income. Works best when paired with intent signals.

Disavow File

Ask Google to ignore spammy links. “They don’t even go here.”

Distributed Tracing

Trace a request across services. A storybook for microservices.

Display Advertising

Visual ad placements (banners, rich media, native) across web and apps. Priced via CPM/CPC and optimized for reach, viewability, and post-view conversions.

DMA (EU Digital Markets Act)

EU rules limiting gatekeepers. Antitrust with teeth.

DSP (Demand-Side Platform)

Software that lets advertisers buy ad inventory across exchanges using targeting and bidding rules.

DMP

Cookie-era audience broker. Grandpa CDP.

DNS

The system that translates human-friendly domain names into IP addresses computers use to connect.

DNSSEC

Signed DNS responses. Autograph your answers.

Do Not Track (DNT)

Browser flag few honor. A polite suggestion, mostly ignored.

Do Not Sell/Share

CCPA opt-out for data sales or sharing. "Hands off my data," legally.

Domain

The address of a website, like example.com. Domains are registered and point to servers where websites are hosted.

Domain Authority

Proxy metric for link strength. Not Google’s metric, but handy gossip.

Duplicate Content

Substantially similar content available at multiple URLs. It can confuse search engines and split ranking signals.

E

Edge Functions / Workers

Serverless code at the CDN edge. Latency hates this one weird trick.

Edge Rendering

Compute at the CDN edge. Logic, now closer to users.

Egress Fees

Charges when you move data out of a cloud provider. Hotel minibar pricing for bandwidth.

ePrivacy Directive (“Cookie Law”)

EU rules requiring consent for tracking tech. Consent banners, blame this.

E-E-A-T

Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trust. Credentials meet usefulness.

Error Budget

Allowed time for outages within a service-level target. It guides how much risk can be taken with changes.

Evergreen Content

Content that stays useful over time. It can keep attracting traffic long after publication.

eCommerce Tracking

Product, detail, cart, and checkout events. Follow the money clicks.

Email Deliverability

How often emails reach the inbox instead of spam. It depends on reputation, content quality, and engagement.

Embed

Content from one website displayed inside another, like a YouTube video or social media post placed on a webpage. Uses iframes or embed codes.

Email List Hygiene

Remove bounces/inactives/spam traps. Quality over quantity, inbox edition.

Email Preheader

The copy line that trails your subject line in the inbox preview. Second chance to earn an open.

Engagement Rate (GA4)

Sessions with sustained activity in GA4,bounces grew up and got nuance. More broadly, aggregate interaction metrics (likes, shares, comments, saves, clicks) over total reach gauge resonance for organic and paid social content.

Entity SEO

Optimization built around people, places, and things so search engines understand your brand as an entity. Beyond strings,teach them the who and what.

Embeddings / Semantic Search

Vectorize text for similarity search. Search that understands “meaning.”

Enhanced Conversions

Hashed PII to boost match rates. Conversions with better ID.

ETL/ELT

Move or transform data pipelines. U-Haul for bytes.

Event Taxonomy

Canonical naming and parameters for events. Stop naming everything “click.”

Event Streaming (Kafka/PubSub)

Append-only event pipelines. Everything, everywhere, all at once (ordered).

Event Tracking

Instrumenting analytics platforms to capture on-site actions beyond pageviews,scroll depth, CTA clicks, video plays,for granular attribution and reporting. Because “pageview” isn’t a personality.

ETag

Cache validator header. "Has this changed?" without re-downloading.

Event

A recorded user action like a click, page view, form submission, or purchase. Events are the building blocks of modern analytics.

Exit Intent

Detects when a user is about to bounce (cursor to the chrome, rapid scroll) so you can trigger save-the-sale UX. “Wait, before you go…” in code form.

Exit Rate

The percentage of pageviews that were the last in a session. It highlights where people commonly leave.

Experiment Power Analysis

Calculates required sample size. Math before hype.

Experiments Platform

A/B infrastructure post-Optimize. Bring your own lab coat.

F

Faceted Navigation

Combinatorial filters exploding URLs. SEO’s combinatorial headache.

Feature Flagging

Toggle features on or off without redeploying code. A dimmer switch for product launches.

Federated Learning

Train models across user devices without centralizing raw data. Smarter models, quieter servers.

Feed

A structured data file that provides information to other platforms, like a product feed for shopping ads or an RSS feed for blog posts.

Feed Management

Clean, enrich, and segment product feeds so ads and marketplaces stay accurate. Get your SKUs camera-ready.

Field vs Lab Data

Real user telemetry vs synthetic tests. Truth vs controlled fairy tales.

Five Nines (99.999%)

~5 minutes downtime/month SLO. Perfection’s expensive cousin.

FCP

First Contentful Paint. The first hello from your page.

FID (Deprecated)

Replaced by INP in Core Web Vitals. Retired, but still shows up at reunions.

Fingerprinting

Inferred identity via device signals. CSI: Browser Unit.

Firebase

Google's platform for mobile and web app development, offering analytics, crash reporting, A/B testing, push notifications, and real-time databases.

FullStory

Digital experience analytics platform combining session replay, heatmaps, and product analytics to understand user behavior.

First-Party Data

Information collected directly from your audience, such as site behavior or purchases. It is usually high quality and consented.

Firewall / WAF

Blocks malicious traffic. Your site’s riot shield.

Flat Architecture (SEO)

Shallow click depth improves crawl. No labyrinths for spiders.

Floodlight

Campaign Manager 360 conversion tag. A very specific kind of light.

FOIT/FOUT

Flash of invisible or unstyled text during web font loads. Typography’s jump scare.

Filter

A rule that includes or excludes data based on criteria. Used in analytics to focus reports on specific segments or conditions.

Form

An interactive element on a webpage where users enter information, like contact forms, signup forms, or checkout fields.

Form Abandonment Rate

% who start but don't submit a form. Friction's favorite KPI.

Forward/Reverse Proxy

Client vs server-side intermediaries. Middlemen in both directions.

Frequency Capping

Limit how often an individual sees your ad. Stop shouting at the same person.

Frontend

The part of a website users see and interact with - HTML, CSS, and JavaScript running in the browser. Opposite of backend.

Funnel Analysis

Studying drop-off at each step in a process, such as checkout. It shows where improvements will help most.

Fuzz Testing

Bombard inputs to find crashes/vulns. QA with a sledgehammer.

G

Gated Content

Content that requires an action, like filling out a form, before access. Used to collect leads.

Gatsby

React-based static site generator optimized for performance with GraphQL data layer and plugin ecosystem.

GA4

Google Analytics 4, an event-based analytics platform that replaces Universal Analytics.

GCLID

Google click identifier for auto-tagging. The Rosetta Stone of attribution.

GDPR

General Data Protection Regulation. EU privacy law requiring consent for data collection, right to access, and right to be forgotten.

GPC

Global Privacy Control signal. “Do not sell” on autopilot.

GPC Enforcement

Apply Global Privacy Control signals to opt-outs. Browsers voting with headers.

GSC

Google Search Console. Where Google leaves you cryptic notes.

GTM

Google Tag Manager. Ship tags without shipping code.

Gzip

A common compression method to reduce file sizes sent over the web.

Geo-Fencing

Define precise geographic boundaries for targeting or measurement. Draw a box and spend inside it.

Geo Experimentation / Geo-Lift

Region-level holdout tests for causality. A/B testing with zip codes.

Geo Targeting

Limit delivery by location. Don't sell snow blowers in Miami.

Google Ads

Google's advertising platform for search, display, video, shopping, and app campaigns. Formerly known as Google AdWords.

Google Business Profile

Google’s local listing hub for maps and search. Your digital storefront sign.

Google Cloud Platform (GCP)

Google's suite of cloud computing services including BigQuery, Cloud Storage, Compute Engine, and Kubernetes Engine.

Google Looker Studio

Free data visualization and reporting tool (formerly Data Studio) for creating dashboards from GA4, BigQuery, and other sources.

Google Merchant Center

Central hub for product feeds powering Google Shopping and PMax. SKU air traffic control.

Google Shopping

Product listing ads that appear in Google Search and the Shopping tab. Powered by product feeds from Merchant Center.

Google Publisher Tag (GPT)

Primary tag for Google Ad Manager. The ad slot’s stagehand.

Google Tag (gtag.js)

Direct tagging library for GA/Ads. GTM’s simpler sibling.

Governance (Data/Tag)

Policies for data access, naming, retention. Less chaos, more lineage.

Goal

A specific action you want users to complete, like a purchase or signup. Goals are set up in analytics to measure success.

Graceful Degradation

Keep core features working in older browsers. Lower expectations, happier users.

GraphQL

A query language that lets clients ask for exactly the data they need from an API. It can reduce overfetching.

H

H1–H6 Hierarchy

Structured headings. Give crawlers an outline, not a thesis.

HAR (HTTP Archive) File

Captured network trace for debugging. Network truth serum.

Header Bidding

A technique where multiple ad exchanges bid at once before the ad server chooses a winner. It can raise publisher revenue.

Headless CMS

Content stored in a backend that feeds any front end via APIs. Decouple to move faster.

Head Terms

Short, high-volume keywords. Crowded, expensive, political.

Heap Analytics

Product analytics platform with automatic event capture. Records all user interactions without manual instrumentation.

Heatmap

A visual map showing where users click, scroll, or move on a page. It reveals areas of interest or confusion.

Hotjar

Behavior analytics tool offering heatmaps, session recordings, and feedback surveys to understand user experience.

HubSpot

Marketing, sales, and CRM platform offering email marketing, landing pages, lead tracking, and marketing automation.

Heuristic Evaluation

Expert UX review against known usability principles. A best-practice sniff test without waiting for lab studies.

High Availability (HA)

Redundant infra to avoid downtime. Because servers nap too.

Host

The server or service that stores and delivers a website's files to visitors. Also refers to the domain where something is located.

Hosting

A service that provides server space for websites. Options range from shared hosting to dedicated servers and cloud platforms.

HTML

HyperText Markup Language. The code that structures web content - headings, paragraphs, links, images, and more.

HTTP

HyperText Transfer Protocol. The foundation of web communication that defines how browsers request and receive web pages.

HTTPS

HTTP Secure. Encrypted version of HTTP that protects data in transit. Required for modern websites and indicated by the padlock icon.

HIPAA

U.S. health data rules. PHI is not ad fuel.

HMAC (Webhook Signing)

Hash-based signatures to verify payload integrity. “No, I didn’t send that.”

Honeypot

Fake fields or endpoints meant to catch bots. Free snacks for crawlers you want to block.

HPP (HTTP Parameter Pollution)

Duplicate params to bypass validation. Query string mischief.

Hreflang

Tells search engines which language or regional version of a page to serve. Speak to the right crowd automatically.

HSTS

Force HTTPS. No more “http://” oopsies.

HTML Sitemap

A page listing site sections for users. It complements XML sitemaps used by search engines.

HTTP/2 & HTTP/3

Faster parallel, multiplexed requests. Traffic lanes for packets.

Hydration

Activating server-rendered HTML on the client. Giving your HTML a brain.

I

i18n / l10n

Internationalization/localization shorthand. Make it global, then local.

IAB Categories

Standard content taxonomy. Labels for where your ads hang out.

IAM (Identity & Access Management)

Centralized users/roles/permissions. The keys cabinet.

IDFA / GAID (AAID)

Mobile ad IDs (iOS/Android). IDs users can now easily hide.

iFrame

An HTML element that embeds another page within a page. Useful for widgets but can affect performance and tracking.

Impression

A single instance of an ad or content being displayed to a user. Impressions count views, not clicks or engagement.

Impression Share

Percentage of eligible impressions you won. Your slice of the auction pie.

Incrementality Test

An experiment that measures lift by comparing a treated group to a true control group. It shows what results are caused by the effort.

Index Bloat

Too many low-value URLs indexed. Junk drawer in Google’s index.

Index Coverage

What’s indexed,and why not. The report where problems confess.

Indexability

Whether search engines can crawl and include a page in their index. Blocked pages will not rank.

IndexNow

Push-based indexing protocol supported by Bing and others. Ring the crawler’s doorbell instead of waiting for a visit.

INP

Interaction to Next Paint; responsiveness. How long the page takes to notice you.

In-Market Audiences

Segments of users demonstrating active purchase intent. Prospects already halfway to their wallet.

iOS SKAdNetwork (SKAN)

Privacy-preserving mobile attribution. Attribution with oven mitts.

Information Architecture

Organizing content logically. Floor plan before furniture.

Information Gain

Prioritize content that actually answers user questions and reduces uncertainty. Write what moves someone from “huh?” to “got it.”

Information Scent (UX)

Cues indicating a link's value. Does this smell like the right click?

Integration

A connection between two software systems that allows them to share data or functionality. Common in marketing stacks.

Infrastructure as Code (IaC)

Provision and manage infrastructure through version-controlled files. Servers you can git diff.

Internal Linking Depth

Clicks from homepage to a page. How lost is your content?

IP Anonymization

Mask IP addresses. Blur the license plate.

IP Warmup

Gradually increase email send volume on a new IP to build reputation. Don’t go from whisper to shout overnight.

ISO 27001

Security management standard. Paperwork with actual teeth.

Isomorphic Rendering

Same code runs server and client. Two habitats, one species.

ITP

Safari’s tracking prevention. Cookie crumble, Apple style.

J

Jamstack

Pre-rendered front ends served from a CDN with data fetched via APIs. Static speed, dynamic brains.

JavaScript

The programming language that makes websites interactive. Runs in browsers to handle clicks, animations, form validation, and dynamic content.

Jank

Jittery UI from missed animation frames or layout shifts. Your interface’s hiccups.

JavaScript SEO

Make JS-rendered content crawlable. Don’t hide your words behind a script.

JSON

JavaScript Object Notation. A lightweight data format used to store and exchange data. Common in APIs and configuration files.

JSON-LD

A structured data format often used to mark up pages for search, such as products or FAQ.

JSON Schema

Machine-readable rules that validate JSON payloads. Spellcheck for your API responses.

JWE / JWS

Encrypted/signed JSON tokens. Secrets and signatures for APIs.

JWT

Signed claims for authentication. Passes that can’t be forged (easily).

Journey Analytics

Analyzing how people move across steps, channels, and devices. It uncovers bottlenecks in the experience.

Journey Orchestration

Coordinate channel messaging based on customer stage and behavior. A conductor for your funnel.

K

Kafka (Event Bus)

Distributed log for streams. The conveyor belt for events.

Kanban

Visual work-in-progress management that limits active tasks. Sticky notes with purpose.

k-Anonymity

Privacy guarantee ensuring each person in a dataset is indistinguishable from at least k-1 others. Blend in by design.

k-Factor (Virality)

How many users each user recruits. Growth that invites itself over.

Keyphrase Mapping

Assign specific topics and keywords to dedicated pages. Keeps your own content from cannibalizing itself.

Keyword Cannibalization

When multiple pages target the same keyword and compete with each other. Consolidation can strengthen rankings.

Keyword Difficulty

Relative ranking challenge. How heavy the SEO lift is.

Keyword Intent

Informational vs transactional, etc. What the searcher really wants.

KMS (Key Management Service)

Managed encryption key lifecycle. Don’t store keys under the mat.

Knowledge Graph

Google’s database of facts about people, places, and things. It powers rich results like info panels.

Knowledge Panel

Branded info box in SERPs. Your résumé on the right rail.

KPI

The metric that matters. If you track 50, none are key.

L

LCP

Largest Contentful Paint. The big stuff shows up,finally.

Lighthouse (Web Perf)

Google's audit for speed/SEO/accessibility. Your site's report card,no curve.

LinkedIn Ads

LinkedIn's advertising platform for B2B marketing with targeting by job title, company, industry, and professional attributes.

Landing Page

The webpage where a user arrives after clicking an ad, email link, or search result. Designed to encourage a specific action.

Landing Page Experience

Destination quality score factors. Don't bait-and-switch the click.

Latency

The time it takes for data to travel from source to destination. Lower latency means faster responses.

Layout Thrashing

Reflows triggered by JS reading/writing layout repeatedly. Death by a thousand style recalcs.

Lazy Loading

Defer off-screen images, scripts, or embeds until needed. Don’t cook the whole buffet at once.

Lead

A potential customer who has shown interest, often by providing contact information. Leads are nurtured toward becoming customers.

Lead Magnet

Valuable asset offered in exchange for contact info. A helpful bribe for email addresses.

Lead Scoring

Assigning points to leads based on fit and behavior. Higher scores signal readiness for sales.

Learning Phase (Meta/Alg)

Initial data-hungry period for optimizers. Let the robot find itself.

Least Privilege (PoLP)

Grant minimum access necessary. No admin for interns.

Legal Hold

Suspend data deletion for investigations/litigation. Retention rules, pause button.

Library

Pre-written code that developers can use to add functionality without building from scratch. React and jQuery are JavaScript libraries.

Link

A clickable element that takes users to another page or resource. Links are fundamental to web navigation and SEO.

Link Equity

The value passed from one page to another through links. Strong equity helps pages rank better.

Link Reclamation

Fix or reclaim broken, redirected, or uncredited backlinks. Get credit for the authority you already earned.

Link Velocity

How quickly a site gains backlinks. Sudden spikes can look suspicious, while steady growth appears natural.

Load Balancer

A tool that distributes traffic across multiple servers to keep apps stable and available.

Load Testing

Simulating heavy traffic to see how a system performs under stress. It helps find capacity limits.

Log File Analysis

Reviewing server logs to see how bots and users access a site. It reveals crawl patterns and errors.

Long-Tail Keywords

Specific, longer search phrases with lower volume but often higher intent.

Long Tasks (Web Perf)

50ms main-thread blocks that hurt responsiveness. Stutters you can count.

Lookalike Audience

Users similar to a seed list. Friends of friends who might like you.

Lossless vs Lossy Compression

Exact compression versus approximate savings. Choose between pixel-perfect and tiny-but-fuzzy.

LTV

Lifetime value. What a customer is truly worth.

LTV:CAC Payback

Months until LTV overtakes CAC. Time-to-profit scoreboard.

M

Magento

Open-source e-commerce platform now called Adobe Commerce. Known for flexibility and scalability for complex storefronts.

Malvertising

Malicious ads. Don't boost the bad guys.

Matomo

Open-source analytics platform (formerly Piwik) offering on-premise hosting for full data ownership and privacy compliance.

Meta Ads

Meta's advertising platform spanning Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and Audience Network with detailed targeting options.

Meta Pixel

JavaScript tracking code for Meta Ads that captures website events for conversion tracking, retargeting, and optimization.

Microsoft Advertising

Microsoft's ad platform (formerly Bing Ads) for search, display, and native ads across Bing, Yahoo, and partner sites.

Microsoft Clarity

Free behavior analytics tool from Microsoft offering heatmaps, session recordings, and insights without traffic limits.

Mixpanel

Product analytics platform focused on event tracking, funnel analysis, and user retention for web and mobile apps.

Manual Actions

Google penalties for violations. The wooden spoon of SEO.

Map Pack

Local three-pack results. Prime real estate with directions.

MarTech Stack

All marketing tools working together (hopefully). SaaS Jenga tower.

Match Types

Broad, Phrase, Exact in search. How fuzzy you let Google be.

MDE (Minimum Detectable Effect)

Smallest lift you plan to detect. Set this wrong, regret forever.

Measurement Plan

KPIs tied to business goals. Strategy before spreadsheets.

Metric

A quantitative measurement of performance, such as page views, sessions, or conversion rate. Metrics are analyzed to track success.

Media Mix Modeling (MMM)

Top-down attribution. Attribution for grown-ups (and CFOs).

Media Rating Council (MRC)

Sets viewability standards. The referee for “was it seen?”

Meta Description

SERP snippet hint. Your elevator pitch in ~160 characters.

Meta Robots Tag

Per-page index or crawl directives. Whisper sweet nothings to crawlers.

Microcopy

Short bits of text like button labels or helper text. Good microcopy guides users and reduces errors.

Microdata / RDFa

Older schema syntaxes vs JSON-LD. Not dead, just out of fashion.

Microfrontends

Break large UIs into independently deployable chunks. LEGO bricks for your interface.

Mixed Content

Serving HTTP assets on HTTPS pages. Padlock meets party crasher.

MLOps

Operationalizing ML models (deploy/monitor/iterate). Your model needs DevOps too.

Mobile-First Indexing

Google’s practice of primarily using the mobile version of a site for indexing and ranking.

Mobile Measurement Partner (MMP)

Mobile attribution platforms that reconcile ad spend with in-app outcomes. Who actually drove the install.

Model Drift

When ML models lose accuracy because reality changes. Yesterday’s predictions, today’s mistakes.

MQL / SQL

Marketing- versus Sales-Qualified Lead. Tosses over the wall, but smarter.

MTTD / MTTR

Mean time to detect/resolve incidents. How fast you notice and fix fires.

Multi-CDN

Use multiple CDNs for reliability/perf. Redundancy at the edge.

Multi-Region Failover

Active-active/passive setups across regions. Disaster recovery with a passport.

Multivariate Testing (MVT)

Test multiple element combos at once. A/B testing on caffeine.

Multi-Touch Attribution (MTA)

Credit split across touchpoints. Credit where multiple credits are due.

N

NAP Consistency

Keep business name, address, and phone identical across listings. Local SEO’s spelling test.

Native Advertising

Ads matching the surrounding content form. Disguised, but disclosed.

Navigation Timing API

Browser API exposing detailed load milestones. Flight recorder data for page performance.

Network Error Logging (NEL)

Report client-side network failures to your server. Get the bad news automatically.

New vs Returning Users

First-time vs repeat visitors. Meet vs greet again.

Negative Keywords

Exclude terms in PPC. Tell Google what you’re not.

Neural Matching

Search engine tech that links queries to concepts beyond exact keywords. Helps Google understand the gist.

Next.js

React framework for production websites with server-side rendering, static generation, and built-in routing.

Net Promoter Score (NPS)

A survey score based on how likely customers are to recommend you. It signals overall satisfaction.

“Not Provided” (SEO)

Missing keyword data from HTTPS searches. Google’s witness protection program.

Noindex

Keep a page out of search. Hide the mess from guests.

Noise Reduction (Metrics)

Smoothing/seasonality adjustments for clarity. Less static, cleaner signal.

Noopener/Noreferrer

rel attributes that prevent new tabs from hijacking the opener and strip referrer data. Safer external links with fewer crumbs.

Nofollow/UGC/Sponsored

Link attributes to signal intent. Tell Google why the link exists.

Non-Working Media

Production and fees rather than impressions. Budget that never meets a user.

Normalization

Standardize values across data sets. Make apples behave like apples.

North Star Metric

A single metric that best captures the core value a product delivers to customers.

O

OAuth 2.0

Delegated authorization. Borrowed keys, limited doors.

Observability

Visibility into system state through logs, metrics, and traces. Good observability speeds up debugging.

Off-Page SEO

Signals beyond your site. What the internet says about you.

Offline Conversion Tracking (OCT)

Import CRM/phone sales to ad platforms. Clicks get the credit they deserve.

Omnichannel

Providing a consistent experience across channels like web, mobile, email, and in-store so users can switch smoothly.

On-Page SEO

Optimizing page elements such as titles, headings, content, and images to improve search visibility.

One-Click Unsubscribe (RFC 8058)

Standard header for instant list opt-outs. Mercy for inboxes.

Open Graph

Social sharing meta tags. Choose your preview photo,wisely.

OpenAPI

Standardized way to describe REST APIs. Blueprint docs for your endpoints.

OpenID Connect (OIDC)

Identity layer on top of OAuth 2.0. Log in with an ID card, not just a vibe.

Open Redirect

Parameter that forwards anywhere. Phishers’ favorite party trick.

OpenRTB

Open protocol for real-time ad bidding. Ad auctions with a shared dictionary.

Orphan Pages

No internal links inbound. Lost children of your sitemap.

Organic Search

Unpaid listings. Free like puppies,maintenance required.

Outlier Detection

Identify anomalous data points before they mislead. Because averages are gullible.

Overfetching/Underfetching

Getting too much/too little data from APIs. Goldilocks for payloads.

OTP (One-Time Password)

Short-lived codes for 2FA. Passwords’ chaperone.

OWASP Top 10

Common web vulnerabilities list. The hacker’s shopping list.

P

3-D Secure / SCA

Extra authentication for EU card payments. Fraud prevention meets compliance.

Page

A single document on a website accessed via a URL. Pages contain content like text, images, videos, and forms.

Page Experience

Signals that show how pleasant a page is to use, including Core Web Vitals, mobile-friendliness, and safe browsing.

Page Cache (Full-Page Caching)

Server-side cached HTML for speed. Static when it can be.

Page Speed

How quickly a page loads and becomes usable. Faster pages lead to better user satisfaction and conversions.

Page Weight

Total bytes transferred per page. Every kilobyte counts.

Pageview

A single instance of a page being loaded in a browser. One of the most basic metrics in web analytics.

Pages per Session

Average pages per visit. Bingers versus bounce-and-gone.

Pagination

Dividing lists across pages. Don’t strand page 2 in Narnia.

Paid Search (SEM)

Auction-based ads on search engines. Intent with a price tag.

Paid Social

Ads on social platforms. Virality with a credit card.

Parameter Handling

How a site treats URL parameters for tracking or content changes. Clear rules prevent duplicate content issues.

Parallel Tracking (Ads)

Clicks go straight to site while measurement runs parallel. Faster landings, happier users.

Partial Hydration / Islands

Activate only parts of SSR HTML. Brains where needed, silence elsewhere.

Passkeys (WebAuthn)

Passwordless authentication. Keys you can’t forget or reuse.

Path Analysis

Reviewing the sequences of pages or events users take. It helps identify common routes and dead ends.

Pattern Library (Design System)

Catalog of reusable UI components and guidelines. Fewer one-off buttons, faster builds.

p-Value / Confidence Interval

Frequentist significance basics. Stats, not vibes.

Payment Tokenization

Swap card numbers for tokens during transactions. Secrets stay secret even if intercepted.

PCI DSS

Payment card security standard. Because fines are pricey.

Penetration Test

Ethical hacking to find holes. Break it before they do.

PII

Personally identifiable information. Data lawyers dream of (and about).

Performance Budget

Set limits for page weight or load time to keep a site fast. New features must fit within the budget.

Performance Max (PMax)

Goal-based, inventory-wide Google campaigns. One switch, many pipes.

Pinterest Ads

Pinterest's advertising platform for visual discovery, offering promoted pins and shopping ads to reach users planning purchases.

Plausible Analytics

Lightweight, privacy-focused analytics alternative to Google Analytics. Open-source with simple dashboards and no cookies.

PLG (Product-Led Growth)

Product experience drives acquisition/expansion. Let features do the selling.

Pendo

Product experience platform combining analytics, in-app guides, and feedback collection for SaaS applications.

Pixel

A small piece of code that tracks actions like page views or conversions for analytics or advertising.

PKCE

OAuth extension for public clients. Extra locks on flimsy doors.

Plugin

Software that adds features to an existing application. WordPress plugins, browser extensions, and analytics add-ons are examples.

PWA

Progressive Web App features. App vibes without the app store.

Priority Hints (importance)

Tell the browser what matters most. VIP lane for resources.

Privacy Impact Assessment (DPIA)

Structured risk review for data-processing projects. Paperwork that averts privacy disasters.

Privacy Sandbox

Topics, Protected Audience, and Attribution APIs. Ads on a cookie diet.

Product Feed Optimization (PFO)

Clean titles, GTINs, images for Shopping. SKUs need makeup, too.

Portfolio Bid Strategy

One smart bid policy across many campaigns. Think "index fund" for CPCs.

PostHog

Open-source product analytics platform with session replay, feature flags, A/B testing, and event tracking.

Programmatic Advertising

Automated ad buying. Traders, but with CPMs.

Progressive Enhancement

Build the core experience first, then layer on optional extras when the browser supports them. Graceful degradation’s cooler cousin.

Propensity Modeling

Use statistical models to predict conversion or churn likelihood. Bet smarter with data, not hunches.

Property (GA4)

Container for data streams. Your analytics address.

Proxy Cache

Shared caching layer. Middleman with a good memory.

Prebid.js (Header Bidding)

Open-source wrapper to unify auctions. Auctioneer with a clipboard.

Preconnect / Preload / Prefetch

Resource hints to speed up critical loads. Shortcut coupons for the network.

Predictive Audiences (GA4)

Auto-built GA4 segments like “likely to purchase” or “likely to churn.” Future intent, prepackaged.

Prerendering

Generate HTML ahead of time. Prebake your pages.

Pruning Content

Remove or consolidate low-value pages. Garden your site; weeds happen.

PageRank

Link-based importance signal. Popularity, but with math.

Q

QA Gates

Automated checks that block deploys when critical tests fail. No pass, no production.

QoE (Quality of Experience)

User-perceived streaming/app quality. Not just fast,feels fast.

Queries per Second (QPS)

Throughput metric for services. How busy your API gym is.

QA Tagging

Systematic validation of tags. Trust, but test,then test again.

QDF (Query Deserves Freshness)

Google boost for timely content when a topic is suddenly hot. Fresh beats evergreen when the news breaks.

Qualified Traffic

Visitors who match your target criteria and intent. Not every click is created equal.

Query Parameter Canonicalization

Normalize URL parameters. One product, not twelve URLs.

Query Rewriting

Improving on-site search by normalizing terms and synonyms. Translate typos into answers.

Quality Score

Relevance, CTR, and landing-page experience metric in Google Ads. Google’s vibe check for your ads.

R

RACI Matrix

Who’s Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed. Meetings need owners, too.

Rage Clicks

Rapid repeated clicks on broken UI. Users swearing in metrics.

Rate Card

Publisher’s official pricing. MSRP for impressions.

Reach

Unique people exposed at least once. How many saw the party invite.

React

JavaScript library for building user interfaces with reusable components. Foundation for frameworks like Next.js and Gatsby.

Real-Time Bidding (RTB)

Programmatic auctions that clear in milliseconds. Speed dating for impressions.

Real-User Monitoring (RUM)

Performance measured from actual users. Benchmarks from humans, not labs.

Reddit Ads

Reddit's advertising platform for reaching engaged communities through promoted posts and display ads with interest-based targeting.

Redirect

Automatically sending users from one URL to another. Used when pages move, during site migrations, or for URL shortening.

Redirect Chain

Multiple redirects in a row. Long chains slow users and crawlers; a single hop is better.

Redirect Loop

A set of redirects that point back to each other and never resolve. Loops break page access and crawling.

301/302/307/308

Permanent versus temporary redirects. Tell browsers how serious you are.

Referral Exclusion

Prevent self-referrals in analytics. Stop attributing to… yourself.

Referrer Policy

HTTP header that controls how much referrer information gets shared. Share less, leak less.

Regression

Performance drop after a change. When “deploy” rhymes with “destroy.”

Regression Testing

Retesting features after changes to ensure nothing else broke. It keeps releases stable.

Replatforming

Migrating to a new CMS or stack. New house, same furniture (for now).

Report

A formatted presentation of data and metrics. Reports help stakeholders understand performance and make decisions.

Render-Blocking Resources

Files like CSS or scripts that stop a page from displaying quickly. Minimizing them speeds up rendering.

Responsive Search Ads (RSA)

Auto-mixed headlines and descriptions. Mad-Libs for PPC.

Responsive Design

Layouts that adjust to different screen sizes and devices so pages stay readable and usable.

Responsive Images (srcset/sizes)

Serve the right-sized image per device or viewport. Skip 4K hero files on 3G.

RLSA (Remarketing Lists for Search Ads)

Use audiences to modify search bids. Search, but make it personal.

Retention Rate

Customers who stick around. Loyalty’s scoreboard.

Return on Experience (ROX)

Value from better UX, not just sales. Delight with a denominator.

Robots.txt

A file that tells search engine crawlers which paths they can and cannot access on your site.

Rollback Plan

Defined steps to revert a bad release quickly. Pack the parachute before the jump.

ROI

Return on Investment. The profit gained relative to the cost. A fundamental metric for evaluating marketing and business decisions.

Root Cause Analysis (RCA)

Structured process to find the underlying issue, not just the symptom. Fix the leak, not just mop the puddle.

Rotation (Creative/Placement)

Even/optimized rotation to fight fatigue. Share the spotlight.

RBAC

Role-based access control. Least privilege beats trust falls.

S

SaaS

Software as a Service. Applications accessed online via subscription rather than installed locally. Examples include HubSpot and Shopify.

SafeFrame (IAB)

Sandboxed iframe for safer ad rendering. Give ads a playpen.

Salesforce

Enterprise CRM platform with sales, marketing, service, and commerce clouds. Integrates with most marketing and analytics tools.

SAML 2.0 (SSO)

XML-based federated login standard. Enterprise single sign-on classic.

sGTM / Server-Side Tagging

Proxy tags through your server. Fewer cookies, cleaner data.

SameSite Cookie (Lax/Strict/None)

Controls cross-site cookie behavior. Cookies with boundaries.

Sandbox (iframe)

Lock down embedded content capabilities. Play nice or stay boxed.

Sampling Bias

Non-representative data that skews conclusions. Garbage in, gospel out.

Sankey Diagram

Flow visualization for paths/funnels. A river of clicks.

SCIM (User Provisioning)

Automate account lifecycle across apps. HR flips a switch; accounts appear.

SCCs (Standard Contractual Clauses)

Legal basis for EU→non-EU data transfers. Lawyer-approved suitcases.

Schema.org

Structured data vocabulary for rich results. Speak fluent Google.

Schema Validation

Verify structured data against required specs. Rich results don't like typos.

Script

A piece of code that runs automatically, often in a browser or on a server. Analytics tags and tracking pixels are scripts.

SDK

Software Development Kit. A collection of tools and code that developers use to build applications for a specific platform.

Search Intent

The reason behind a search query, such as informational, navigational, or transactional. Matching intent improves relevance.

Search Quality Rater Guidelines

Human evaluator playbook for SERP quality. Clues to the algorithm’s psyche.

Search Visibility

Share of voice in SERPs. Not just where you rank,how often.

Segment

Customer data platform that collects, cleans, and routes event data to hundreds of analytics and marketing tools.

SEM (Search Engine Marketing)

Using paid ads on search engines to reach users based on keywords and intent.

SEO Split Testing

Controlled changes to sections/templates measured via organic traffic. A/B without paid clicks.

SERP Features

Everything beyond blue links (People Also Ask, snippets, etc.). Real estate that steals your CTR.

Sender Reputation

Mailbox providers' trust in your IP/domain. Santa's list, but for emails.

Server

A computer that stores files and responds to requests from other computers. Websites are hosted on servers that deliver pages to browsers.

Service Worker

Proxy in the browser enabling offline/cache/push. Your site’s local sidekick.

Secure Cookie

HttpOnly and SameSite flags. Cookies with chaperones.

Security Headers

CSP, HSTS, SRI, X-Frame-Options. Seatbelts for HTTP.

Security.txt

Standard file that lists your security contact and policy. “Report bugs here, please.”

Server-Timing Header

Surface backend timings to the browser. Transparency for performance nerds.

Session Affinity

Keep a user pinned to the same server for stateful experiences. Same booth, same waiter.

Session (GA4)

Time-bound group of events. A visit with a clock.

Session Replay

A tool that records user sessions for playback to study behavior and find usability issues.

Session Timeout

Inactivity threshold ending a session. Analytics’ bedtime.

SLA / SLO / SLI

Agreement, objective, and indicator trio for reliability. Promises, goals, and proof.

Share of Voice (SOV)

Share of impressions versus the market. Who's loudest, measurable.

Shopify

E-commerce platform for building online stores with built-in payments, shipping, and app integrations. Powers millions of merchants.

Single Customer View (SCV)

Unified profile stitched across systems and touchpoints. One person, many footprints.

Sitelinks Searchbox

Internal search result surfaced in SERPs. Shortcut to your own search bar.

Sitemap Index

Points to multiple sitemaps. Table of contents for spiders.

Social Proof

Reviews, counts, and logos that lower friction. The herd knows things.

Snapchat Ads

Snapchat's advertising platform for reaching younger audiences through video, AR lenses, and story ads.

Soft 404

A page that looks like an error or has thin content but still returns a 200 status. It can confuse search engines.

SPA vs MPA

Single- versus multi-page apps. One canvas versus many rooms.

Spam Trap

Email addresses used to catch senders who do not follow best practices. Hitting them hurts deliverability.

SPF / DKIM / DMARC

Email auth trio fighting spoofing. Mail’s TSA checks.

SPO (Supply Path Optimization)

Choose cleaner programmatic routes. Fewer middlemen, more margin.

Squarespace

Website builder platform with designer templates, hosting, and e-commerce features for small businesses and portfolios.

SRI (Subresource Integrity)

Verify script or style hashes. Trust, but hash.

Subdomain vs Subdirectory

Site architecture choice with SEO tradeoffs. Folders are friendlier (usually).

SSL/TLS

Encrypts traffic. Whisper, don’t shout, over the wire.

SSG

Static Site Generation. HTML now, JavaScript later.

SSOT (Single Source of Truth)

Canonical dataset everyone trusts. Stop reconciling twelve CSVs.

Status Codes

2xx, 3xx, 4xx, 5xx. HTTP’s mood ring.

SxO

Search plus experience optimization. Rank well, feel great.

Synthetic Monitoring

Automated tests that simulate user actions to check site availability and performance.

T

Tabindex (A11y)

Keyboard navigation order control. Don't trap users in the footer.

Tag

A snippet of code placed on a website to track user behavior, conversions, or other data. Managed through tag management systems.

Tag Management System (TMS)

Orchestrate pixels and events. Air traffic control for tags.

Tag Audit

Inventory and validate tags. Spring cleaning for scripts.

Tag Governance

Rules for ownership, naming, and deployment of tags. Pixels with manners.

Tag Firing Priority

Order of tag execution in a TMS. Who gets to run first.

Target CPA / ROAS

Smart bidding goals. Tell Google the destination, not the route.

Taxonomy (Data)

Controlled naming scheme. Dictionaries beat debates.

Template

A pre-designed layout or structure that can be reused. Website themes, email templates, and report templates save time and ensure consistency.

Technical Debt (Analytics)

Legacy tags and specs that slow work. Interest rates paid in chaos.

Testing Backlog

Prioritized list of experiments/hypotheses. Science needs a queue.

TTFB

Time to First Byte from the server. How fast the server says “hi.”

Threat Modeling

Identify likely attack paths. Paranoia, but constructive.

The Trade Desk

Independent demand-side platform for programmatic advertising across display, video, audio, and connected TV.

Threat Intelligence Feed

Curated indicators of compromise. A watchlist for hackers.

Third-Party Cookies

Cross-site cookies being sunset. The party’s over; grab your coat.

Third-Party Risk Management (TPRM)

Process to vet vendors for security and compliance posture. Trust but verify the supply chain.

Throttling (APIs)

Rate limits on requests. No, you can’t pull everything at once.

TikTok Ads

TikTok's advertising platform for short-form video ads, spark ads, and branded effects reaching Gen Z and millennial audiences.

Time on Page

How long a visitor stays on a page. It hints at engagement but can be skewed if the user leaves the tab open.

Time to Interactive (TTI)

The time it takes for a page to become fully usable without long tasks blocking input.

Title Tag

Primary SEO title. Judge the book by this.

Topical Authority

Depth and signals on a subject. Be the nerd, win the nerd points.

Topical Map

Structured plan for covering a subject with supporting content. Be the authority, systematically.

Topics API (Privacy Sandbox)

Interest signals without cross-site IDs. Context, but anonymized.

Tracking Plan

Specification of events and properties. Measure twice, tag once.

Tracking Protection

Browser features that limit third-party tracking. Safari says, "not today."

Traffic

Visitors to a website. Traffic can come from search engines, ads, social media, direct visits, or referrals from other sites.

Transactional Email

Automated emails triggered by actions, like receipts or password resets. They deliver critical information.

Trailing Slash Canonicalization

/page versus /page/. Pick one and stick with it.

Trust Signals

Badges, reviews, policies, and assurances that reduce buyer anxiety. Proof you’re not sketchy.

Trusted Types

Browser policy to reduce XSS by restricting DOM sinks. Only safe strings may pass.

TTL (Caching)

Cache time-to-live. Expiration dates for bytes.

Turkey Test (Seasonality)

Sanity-check seasonal spikes vs last year’s holidays. Cranberry sauce ≠ campaign genius.

Two-Factor Auth (2FA)

Second factor to log in. Passwords’ responsible adult.

Type I / II Error

False positive vs false negative. Pick your poison wisely.

U

URL

Uniform Resource Locator. The web address used to access a page, like https://example.com/page. URLs are essential for navigation and SEO.

UA-CH (User-Agent Client Hints)

Structured UA replacement. Less lying, more clarity.

UAT (User Acceptance Testing)

Business stakeholders verifying the build meets requirements. Final thumbs-up before launch.

UGC Markup

rel="ugc" on user-generated links. Tell Google the crowd wrote it.

UTM Parameters

Tags like source, medium, and campaign added to URLs to track where traffic comes from.

Unsubscribe Rate

The percentage of recipients who opt out after an email send. Rising rates signal content or frequency problems.

Universal Analytics (UA)

The older version of Google Analytics that sunset in 2023. GA4 is its replacement.

Universal Links (iOS) / App Links (Android)

Links that open directly inside the related mobile app when installed. They create a smoother app experience.

Upsell / Cross-sell Rate

The percentage of orders that include upgrades or related items. It shows success at increasing basket value.

URL Normalization

Making different URL versions point to one standard format. It avoids duplicate content and tracking confusion.

URL Parameters

Values added to a URL to control content or track sources. They should be managed to prevent index clutter.

User

A person who interacts with a website or app. In analytics, users are often tracked across sessions to understand behavior over time.

User Agent

Information a browser sends that identifies the device and software. Useful for troubleshooting and targeting.

User Flow

A visual of the steps users take to complete a task. Mapping flows helps spot friction.

User Journey Mapping

Charting stages, feelings, and touchpoints across the experience. It builds empathy and reveals gaps.

User Properties (GA4)

Attributes like language or subscription status tied to a user in GA4. They add context to events.

User Segmentation

Grouping users into sets for analysis or targeting. Segments can be based on behavior, value, or demographics.

UX Debt

Design issues that pile up and make future work harder, similar to technical debt.

UX Research: Card Sorting / Tree Testing

Methods that let users organize topics or navigate sample menus to validate information architecture.

V

Visitor

A person who views a website. Visitors can be new (first-time) or returning based on whether they've been tracked before.

Vanity Metrics

Numbers that look impressive but do not tie to real outcomes, like raw pageviews without context.

VAST / VPAID / OMID

Standards that govern how video ads are served, interacted with, and measured. They ensure ads play correctly across players.

Vector Database

A database that stores and searches vector embeddings for similarity, common in AI search and recommendations.

VDP (Vulnerability Disclosure Program)

A formal process for reporting security issues to a company so they can fix them safely.

VPAT (Accessibility)

A report that explains how accessible a product is based on standards like WCAG. Often requested in procurement.

Verification Tag

A code snippet used to prove site ownership to tools like Search Console or analytics platforms.

Viewport Meta Tag

An HTML tag that controls how a page scales on mobile devices. Without it, pages can appear tiny or zoomed out.

Viewport Observer (Intersection Observer)

A browser API that tells you when elements enter or leave the viewport. It is useful for lazy loading and animations.

View-Through Conversion

A conversion that happens after someone saw an ad but did not click it. It measures influence beyond clicks.

Visual Regression Testing

Automated screenshot comparisons that catch unintended visual changes after updates.

Visitor Stitching

Combining identifiers to connect visits from the same person across sessions or devices.

Voice Search Optimization

Preparing content to answer spoken, conversational queries. Often focuses on clear questions and concise answers.

Vue.js

Progressive JavaScript framework for building user interfaces. Known for gentle learning curve and component-based architecture.

vCPM

Cost per thousand viewable impressions. You pay only when an ad meets viewability standards.

W

Website

A collection of web pages under a single domain. Websites can be informational, e-commerce, applications, or combinations.

WAF

A Web Application Firewall that filters and monitors traffic to block attacks like SQL injection or XSS.

Walled Garden

A closed advertising ecosystem with its own data and rules, like major social platforms. It offers reach but limited data sharing.

Waterfall (Ad Ops)

Serving ads in a set order where each source gets a chance to fill the slot. Newer methods like header bidding are more competitive.

WAI-ARIA (Spec)

Standards for adding accessibility roles and properties to web content. They help assistive technologies understand interfaces.

WCAG 2.2

The current Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version. Meeting them improves access for users with disabilities.

WebAuthn

A web standard that powers passkeys and hardware-based logins. It provides strong, phishing-resistant authentication.

Web Crawler

A bot that automatically visits and reads pages, often for search indexing.

Web Workers

Browser features that run scripts in the background, keeping the main thread free for user interactions.

Widget

A small, self-contained element that can be embedded in a website, like a chat box, calendar, or social media feed.

WebP / AVIF

Modern image formats that keep quality high while reducing file size compared to older formats like JPEG or PNG.

Web Push

Browser notifications sent after a user opts in. They should be used sparingly to avoid annoyance.

Webhook

An HTTP callback that sends data to another system when an event occurs. It enables real-time integrations.

Webhook Replay Protection

Verify timestamp/signature to block replays. No double-dipping payloads.

Webflow

Visual web design platform with CMS, hosting, and e-commerce. Code-free for designers, export-friendly for developers.

Web-to-Lead

Form submissions that automatically create CRM leads. “Submit” buttons that feed sales.

Weighted Allocation (Experiments)

Split experiment traffic unevenly to protect revenue or risk. Stack the odds, scientifically.

Wix

Drag-and-drop website builder with templates, hosting, and app marketplace. Popular for small businesses and personal sites.

Word of Mouth (WOM)

Organic sharing from people, not paid media. Free marketing, hard mode.

WooCommerce

Open-source e-commerce plugin for WordPress. Flexible and extensible with thousands of plugins and themes.

WordPress

Open-source content management system powering over 40% of websites. Extensible through themes and plugins.

WordPress XML-RPC (Security)

Legacy endpoint often abused; restrict or disable. Open door, meet deadbolt.

Workflow Automation

Connect tools with triggers and actions to eliminate manual steps. Less copy-paste, more coffee.

Workload Identity Federation

A cloud feature that gives services short-lived credentials without storing long-term keys.

WPO

Web Performance Optimization, the practice of making sites load and respond quickly.

WWW Canonicalization

Choosing either the www or non-www version of your domain as the main one and redirecting the other for consistency.

X

X Ads

X's advertising platform (formerly Twitter Ads) for promoted tweets, accounts, and trends with interest and keyword targeting.

X-Content-Type-Options

A response header that stops browsers from guessing file types. It helps prevent certain attacks.

X-DNS-Prefetch-Control

A header that turns DNS prefetching on or off, controlling whether domains are resolved early.

X-Forwarded-For (XFF)

A header that passes along the original client IP address through proxies. Useful for logs and security checks.

XML Sitemap

A machine-readable list of important URLs for search engines to crawl. It helps ensure coverage of key pages.

XML Product Feed

A structured file listing products and details for shopping ads or marketplaces.

X-Robots-Tag

An HTTP header that sets index rules for a URL, similar to meta robots tags in HTML.

XSS

Cross-site scripting, where attackers inject scripts into web pages. Validating input and escaping output prevent it.

Y

YAML Front Matter

A block of YAML at the top of files that stores metadata like title or date. Static site generators read it for page settings.

Year-over-Year (YoY)

Comparing performance to the same period last year. It accounts for seasonal patterns.

YTD / MoM / QoQ

Year-to-date, month-over-month, and quarter-over-quarter comparisons. They show recent trends and momentum.

Yield Curve (Publisher)

The relationship between fill rate and price for ad inventory. Adjusting it helps maximize revenue.

Yield Management

Tactics publishers use to balance price, demand, and fill rate to earn more from ad inventory.

YMYL

“Your Money or Your Life” topics that affect health, finances, or safety. They require high-quality, trustworthy content.

YouTube Masthead

A premium ad placement on YouTube’s home feed that reaches a large audience quickly.

Z

Zero-Click Search

Search results that answer a question directly on the results page, so the user does not need to visit a site.

Zero-Downtime Deployment

Releasing updates without noticeable interruptions to users. Techniques include rolling deployments and blue-green releases.

Zero-Downtime Migration

Moving to new systems or platforms while keeping the service available. It often uses careful cutovers and rollback plans.

Zero-Knowledge Proof

A cryptographic method to prove something is true without sharing the underlying data.

Zero-Party Data

Data that people willingly share with you, such as preferences from a survey. It comes with clear consent.

Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA)

A security approach that always verifies users and devices, assumes breach, and limits access to least privilege.

Zone Apex

The root of a domain without any subdomain, such as example.com. DNS records here control the main domain.

Zombie Cookies

Tracking identifiers that respawn after deletion using multiple storage methods. They raise privacy concerns.

Zombie Pages

Low-value pages that linger on a site. Removing or redirecting them can improve SEO and user experience.

0–9

1P / 2P / 3P Data

Data you collect yourself, data from a partner, or data from outside sources. Ownership affects consent and quality.

12-Factor App

A set of best practices for building cloud-ready services, covering codebase, config, dependencies, and more.

28-Day Click / 7-Day View Window

Common attribution lookbacks for ads. They define how long conversions are tied to earlier clicks or views.

301 Redirect Map

A list mapping old URLs to new ones during migrations. It keeps SEO value and user bookmarks working.

3P Identifier (3P ID)

A privacy-friendly identifier used across properties as third-party cookies fade. It helps with measurement and targeting.

404 vs 410

HTTP status codes: 404 means a page is not found; 410 means the page is gone on purpose.

5xx Error Rate

The share of server errors from responses in the 500 range. High rates show backend instability.

95th Percentile (p95) Latency

A latency measure showing how fast most requests are, excluding the slowest few. It reflects typical worst-case speed.

p99 Latency

The response time for 99% of requests, highlighting the slowest experiences users feel.

99.9% Uptime (“Three Nines”)

An availability target allowing about 43 minutes of downtime per month. Hitting it requires strong reliability practices.