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

Split traffic between two identical variants to validate your experiment setup. If this fails, it’s not the users—it’s you.

A/B Testing

A method of comparing two versions of a webpage, ad, or email to learn which drives better results. Common arenas: CRO, PPC, email. Typical metrics: click-through rate (CTR), conversion rate, bounce rate.

A/B/n Testing

Running more than two variants at once; watch sample dilution. Because two’s company, but n is statistical chaos.

ABAC (Attribute-Based Access Control)

Permissions decided by user/resource attributes, not just roles. RBAC’s more nuanced cousin.

Abandonment Rate

The percentage of users who start but don’t finish a desired action (checkout, form, video, etc.). A core signal for conversion-flow triage.

Abandoned Cart

Items left behind in checkout; prime retargeting fodder. Ghosted at the register.

Abandoned Session

User exits mid-journey; not necessarily a bounce. Irish goodbye, digital edition.

Above the Fold

The portion of a page visible without scrolling. SEO/UX tip: park your primary CTA, value prop, and proof points here.

Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP)

A Google-backed framework that strips bloaty markup for lightning-fast mobile loads. Pros: speed, SERP carousel eligibility. Cons: design limits, Google cache dependency.

Accessibility

Designing content so people with disabilities can use it. Guided by WCAG. Bonus: better UX + potential ranking lift.

Accessibility Tree

The semantic structure assistive tech reads, derived from the DOM. What screen readers actually “see.”

Account-Based Marketing

B2B strategy that targets high-value accounts with hyper-personalized, multi-channel campaigns instead of broad personas.

Account Linking

Connect platform accounts so attribution and audiences sync across ecosystems. APIs holding hands so reporting lines up.

Acquisition Funnel (TOFU/MOFU/BOFU)

Awareness → consideration → conversion stages. Courtship, but with dashboards.

Actionable Analytics

Insights translated directly into clear, measurable actions, no ivory-tower data pontificating allowed.

Active Users (DAU/WAU/MAU)

Unique users active over daily, weekly, or monthly windows. Pulse checks that reveal product stickiness.

Adaptive Bitrate Streaming (ABR)

Video auto-adjusts quality to connection. Netflix but considerate.

Adaptive Auth

Adjust authentication friction based on risk. MFA only when it smells sketchy.

Ad Blocking Rate

Share of impressions suppressed by blockers. Ads that never knew what hit ’em.

Ad Exchange

Marketplace where publishers and advertisers transact programmatically. Wall Street for pixels.

Ad Load

Ratio of ads to content within a page or stream. More spice in the soup—careful not to burn the palate.

Ad Mediation (Mobile)

Routes a request through multiple ad networks to boost fill and CPMs. Yield optimizer with a passport.

Ad Podding

Back-to-back ad slots, especially in CTV/OTT streams. Commercial breaks that travel in packs.

Ad Extensions

Extra bits that expand a Google Ad: sitelinks, calls, locations, snippets, et al. Boost CTR and Quality Score when used well.

Ad Fatigue

Performance decay caused by over-exposure to the same creative. Cure with fresh assets, tightened frequency caps, or new targets.

Ad Fraud

Fake impressions, clicks, or conversions. Bots don’t buy yachts—yet.

Ad Impression

A single display of an ad, click or no click. Fundamental denominator for CPM and view-through math.

Ad Inventory

The total ad real estate a site or app can sell: display, video, native, in-app.

Ad Network

Middle-man platform that matches advertisers with publisher inventory (e.g., Google AdSense, Taboola).

Ad Recall Lift

Incremental memorability measured by surveys. “Oh yeah, that ad.” Now with math.

Ad Rank

Google Ads’ placement algorithm. Formula: Bid × Quality Score × Ext. Impact. High rank means higher position at lower spend.

Ad Retargeting

Serving ads to past visitors who left without converting. Runs on GDN, Meta, LinkedIn, YouTube, et cetera.

Ad Scheduling (Dayparting)

Limiting ads to certain hours or days. Night-owl budgets keep their feathers.

Ad Sequencing

Ordered creatives to tell a story. Soap opera, but with UTM parameters.

Ad Stack

Your end-to-end ad tech setup (SDKs, server, header bidding, verification). Where all your tags go to argue.

Ad Server

Software that stores, targets, serves, and reports on digital ads (e.g., Google Ad Manager).

Ad Verification

Third-party checks for fraud, viewability, and safety. Trust, but verify—then verify again.

AdChoices

Self-reg icon signaling ad personalization and opt-outs. The tiny triangle that says “we’re tracking—politely.”

Ad Viewability

How much of an ad was actually seen by users. Crucial for campaign performance evaluation.

Adstock

Carryover effect of ads in media mix modeling. Ads have a hangover too.

Paid messages delivered through digital or offline channels to influence audience behavior, think search ads, display banners, social promos, video spots, even that podcast mid-roll. Core components: targeting + creative + placement. Key success metrics: impressions, click-through rate (CTR), cost-per-click (CPC), cost-per-acquisition (CPA), and return on ad spend (ROAS).

Ads Data Hub (ADH)

Google’s privacy sandbox for querying campaign logs in a clean room. SQL with mittens on.

Add-to-Cart Rate

Percentage of sessions that add an item. The “maybe” before the “yes.”

Addressability

Target or measure individuals or cohorts within privacy constraints. Precision without the creep.

Addressable TV (CTV)

Household-level targeting on connected TV. Prime time meets first-party data.

Admin Hardening

Locking down dashboards, credentials, and keys. Put a deadbolt on your data.

Advanced Matching

Hashing PII to improve platform match rates. Cupid with encryption.

Affinity Audiences

Prebuilt segments based on long-term interests. Hobbyists with credit cards.

Affordance (UX)

Design cues that hint how to use something. Buttons that look… buttony.

AIDA

Attention → Interest → Desire → Action framework. Ancient, but refuses to die.

AI Overviews / Generative SERP

AI-composed answers above results. Rank zero just moved up a floor.

Air Gap (Security)

Physically isolate critical systems from networks. The ultimate “airplane mode.”

Aggregated Event Measurement (AEM)

Meta’s post-ATT conversion protocol. Conversions through a keyhole.

Algorithmic Bidding

Platform-optimized bids such as tCPA or tROAS. Let Skynet spend your budget—wisely.

Allowlist

Pre-approved domains, apps, or placements that fit your brand’s safety and suitability rules. VIP rope for your ads.

Always-On

Evergreen campaigns for steady demand. Coffee IV drip for your funnel.

AMP Signed Exchange (SXG)

AMP speed without losing origin branding. Fast and still your name tag.

Anchor Text

Clickable link text that signals relevance. Words that point with purpose.

Anonymization

Irreversible removal of identity. Witness protection for data.

Anomaly Detection

Stats/ML that flags metric weirdness automatically. Your panic button with math.

Anti-Bot Protection

Filters and challenges that block automated abuse. A bouncer for your server.

Anti-Flicker Snippet

Briefly hides content while A/B variants load. Because flashing layouts kill trust.

API

Contract for systems to talk. Machines sliding into each other’s DMs.

API Gateway

Single entry point that secures and routes APIs. Traffic cop for microservices.

App Tracking Transparency (ATT)

iOS prompt gating cross-app tracking. “Allow to track?”—the scariest modal in ads.

App Store Optimization (ASO)

Improve app store visibility/conversions. SEO’s mobile cousin.

ARIA Attributes

Accessibility hooks for assistive tech. Semantic subtitles for screen readers.

ARPU

Average revenue per user. What each friend brings to the pizza fund.

Audience Overlap

Shared users across segments. Venn diagrams of wasted spend.

Audience Segmentation

Grouping users by traits and behaviors. Not everyone needs the same pitch.

Assisted Conversions

Non-last-click touches credited for helping. Supporting actors want Oscars too.

Audit Trail

Tamper-proof log of changes. Breadcrumbs for the blame game.

AuthN vs AuthZ

Authentication (who you are) versus authorization (what you can do). Bouncer versus velvet rope.

Attribution Modeling

The framework used to assign conversion credit across marketing touchpoints. Popular models: last-click, first-touch, linear, time decay, data-driven. Critical for budget decisions.

Attribute (Event Analytics)

Parameter attached to an event (e.g., value, category). Adjectives for your verbs.

Auto-Tagging

Platform-appended tracking parameters (e.g., GCLID). Labels your traffic so you don’t have to.

Average Order Value (AOV)

Revenue per order—the cart’s self-esteem score. Lift it with cross-sells, bundles, and free-shipping thresholds to track downstream impact of ad spend on commerce efficiency.

B

Backlink

External link that passes authority. The internet’s word-of-mouth.

Bad Bot Traffic

Non-human hits inflating metrics. Zombies in your analytics.

Bandit Testing (Multi-Armed Bandit)

Algorithms reallocate traffic to winners mid-test. Vegas, but ethical.

Bandwidth

Data transfer capacity. The size of your server’s straw.

Bayesian A/B Testing

Uses priors and posterior probability instead of p-values. Hypotheses with manners.

Habit of ignoring display ads. Camouflage by overuse.

Baseline

Pre-change performance reference. The “before” in your makeover.

BCP (Business Continuity Plan)

Keep operations alive during disasters. Because “wing it” isn’t a strategy.

Behavioral Email

Automated messages triggered by user actions—abandoned cart nudges, onboarding drips, post-purchase love notes. Perfect timing, fewer eye rolls.

Behavioral Segmentation

Grouping by actions taken. You are what you click.

Benchmarking

Compare to peers or your past. Competitive snooping with charts.

BERT (Ranking)

Google’s language model for intent understanding. Search learns to read between lines.

Bid Shading

Programmatic bidding tactic that aims to pay just above the clearing price. Couponing for ad auctions.

Bid Modifier

Adjust bids by device, geo, audience, or time. Your budget’s steering wheel.

BigQuery Export (GA4)

Raw event data piped into BigQuery. GA4 without training wheels.

Black Hat SEO

Tactics against guidelines. Fast wins, faster penalties.

Blocklist (Brand Safety)

Domains or placements to avoid. Places your logo shouldn’t vacation.

BOPIS (Buy Online, Pick Up In-Store)

Click-to-curbside flow. E-commerce with comfy pants.

Botnet

Network of compromised machines used for fraud/DDoS. A zombie army with bandwidth.

Bounce

Single-hit session with no further interaction. Knock-knock, nobody stayed.

Bounce Rate

The percentage of single-page sessions. High bounces flag misaligned traffic, slow loads, or weak first impressions.

Bounce (Email: Hard/Soft)

Permanent vs temporary delivery failure. Mail that moved out vs mail on vacation.

Brand Lift

Measured change in perception or intent after exposure to advertising. Gathered via surveys or controlled experiments to prove upper-funnel impact.

Brand Lift Study

Survey-based ad impact. Did the ad move minds, not just mice?

Brand Safety

Avoid harmful content adjacencies. No ads next to dumpster fires.

Brand Suitability

Tuning placements for brand fit, not just broad safety. Safe, but still on-brand.

Breadcrumbs

Hierarchical navigation links. GPS for deep pages.

Brotli Compression

Modern alternative to gzip. Smaller files, happier phones.

Browser Caching

Store assets locally for speed. Memory is the fastest CDN.

Budget Pacing

Spend rate versus plan—don’t sprint a marathon in mile one. Monitoring spend relative to plan throughout the flight avoids end-of-month fire drills or underspent campaigns.

Budget Reallocation

Shift spend to better performers mid-flight. Stop feeding the underachievers.

Bundle Splitting

Break JavaScript into smaller chunks. Snacks, not a buffet, for the main thread.

Burst Campaign

Short, high-intensity media blitz for awareness spikes or app launches. Sprint, not marathon.

C

CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost)

Total cost to win a new customer across ads, sales, incentives, and tooling—how expensive is hello? Benchmark against Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) to judge viability.

CAC Payback Period

Months needed to recover acquisition cost via contribution margin. The stopwatch on when a customer “breaks even.”

CAC/LTV Ratio

Acquisition cost vs lifetime value. The sanity check on growth.

CBO (Campaign Budget Optimization)

Meta allocates budget across ad sets. Let the algo juggle spend.

CDC (Change Data Capture)

Stream DB changes for near-real-time pipelines. Your warehouse’s “live blog.”

Cache-Control

HTTP header setting caching rules. Traffic signs for browsers.

Cache Busting

Add file hashes or version parameters so browsers pull fresh assets. New outfit, same URL.

CHIPS (Partitioned Cookies)

Chrome’s scoped cookies for embedded contexts. Third-party without the creep.

Call Tracking / DNI

Dynamic numbers map calls to sources. Phone leads with a return address.

Call-to-Action (CTA)

The explicit next step you want the audience to take—click, download, subscribe, buy. Micro-copy, placement, and contrast drive response.

Canary Release

Ship a change to a small slice of users to de-risk rollouts. Test flight before the whole plane boards.

Canonical Tag

Preferred URL among duplicates. “This one’s the real me.”

CAPTCHA

Human verification challenge. Prove you’re not a toaster.

CCPA/CPRA

California privacy laws including “Do Not Sell/Share.” Privacy with teeth and fines.

CDP

Centralized customer profiles with activation. Your marketing brain, now with memory.

CDN

Edge servers speeding content delivery. Teleport for pixels.

Churn Rate

Percentage of customers who leave. The leaky bucket metric.

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.

Clickstream Data

Ordered trail of user events. Breadcrumbs you can query.

Click-Through Rate (CTR)

Clicks divided by impressions. Quick pulse on creative resonance and audience fit across search, social, display, and email.

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.

CNAME Cloaking

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

Cohort Analysis

Tracking a group over time. Follow the class, not the crowd.

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.

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

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

Content Decay

Old content performance drop. SEO has a half-life.

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)

Restricts allowed sources for scripts, styles, and more. Whitelist friends, block chaos.

Content Syndication

Republish content on partner sites. Borrowed audiences, responsibly.

Contextual Targeting

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

Conversion API (CAPI)

Server-side conversion sharing. Skip the browser gossip.

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)

Structured testing to remove friction and boost the percentage of visitors completing a goal. Blends UX research, analytics, and rapid experimentation—fewer leaks, more loot.

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.

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

Core Web Vitals

LCP, CLS, and INP. The three horsemen of UX.

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.

CORS

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

Crawl Budget

How much Googlebot will crawl. Don’t waste it on junk.

CRM

Contact and opportunity management. Your sales memory palace.

Cross-Domain Tracking

Stitch sessions across related sites. Follow the user, not the URL.

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.

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.”

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

Collect only what’s needed. A diet plan for PII.

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

Central analytics store. Where events go to become insights.

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.

Digital PR (SEO)

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

Direct Traffic

Sessions without a referrer—true bookmarks plus the attribution we lost. Mystery guests in your analytics party.

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

Age, gender, parental status, and similar filters. Stereotypes—with consent.

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)

Buys programmatic inventory at scale. Trader’s terminal for CPMs.

DMP

Cookie-era audience broker. Grandpa CDP.

DNS

Domain naming system. The internet’s phonebook.

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 Authority

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

Duplicate Content

Same content across URLs. Twins confuse crawlers.

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.

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 failure quota under an SLO. The speed limit for innovation.

Evergreen Content

Low-decay content that compounds over time. SEO’s index fund.

eCommerce Tracking

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

Email Deliverability

Inbox versus spam outcomes. The gatekeeper you can’t see.

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.

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

Percentage of users leaving from a page. Someone’s last stop has to exist.

Experiment Power Analysis

Calculates required sample size. Math before hype.

Experiments Platform

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

F

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 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.

First-Party Data

Consented data you own. The good stuff lawyers like.

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.

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.

Funnel Analysis

Steps from visit to purchase. Where dreams leak out.

Fuzz Testing

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

G

Gated Content

Requires a form or gate to access. Pay with emails, not dollars.

GA4

Event-based Google Analytics. Fewer sessions, more events, many opinions.

GCLID

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

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

Classic compression. Duct tape for web assets.

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 Business Profile

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

Google Merchant Center

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

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.

Graceful Degradation

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

GraphQL

API query language that lets clients ask for exactly the fields they need. No more overfetched payloads.

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

Parallel SSP auctions before the ad server call. Speed dating for impressions.

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.

Heatmap

Visual click or scroll attention. Where eyeballs actually went.

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.

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

Human-readable sitemap page. Sitemap with training wheels.

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

Embedded window inside a page. Picture-in-picture for the web.

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

Incrementality Test

Causal lift versus baseline. Proof it wasn’t correlation cosplay.

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 a page can be indexed (not just crawled). Crawlable ≠ indexable.

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?

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.

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-LD

Structured data format for schema. Markup that Google actually reads.

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

Stitch events to analyze cross-touchpoint flow. The plot, not just the scenes.

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

Pages competing for the same term. Your pages fighting each other.

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

Database of entities and relationships (think Google’s brain). Helps search engines connect the dots about your brand.

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.

Landing Page Experience

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

Latency

Delay before data transfer. The opposite of snappy.

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 Magnet

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

Lead Scoring

Rank leads by fit and intent. Sales’ cheat sheet.

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.

Link Equity

Authority passed via links. Popularity, but transferable.

Link Reclamation

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

Link Velocity

Pace of link acquisition. Grow fast, not suspiciously fast.

Load Balancer

Distributes traffic across instances. Evenly shared pain.

Load Testing

Simulate heavy traffic to expose performance limits. Stress test before users do.

Log File Analysis

Inspect bot behavior in server logs. What Googlebot actually did.

Long-Tail Keywords

Low volume, high intent queries. Fewer searches, better buyers.

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

Malvertising

Malicious ads. Don’t boost the bad guys.

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.

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

Tiny bits of interface text that steer action. Small words, big conversions.

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 primarily uses mobile content. Shrink it, then rank it.

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.

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.

Net Promoter Score (NPS)

Promoters minus detractors. Would they lend you a lawnmower?

“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

One metric that best reflects delivered customer value. Your compass, not the whole map.

O

OAuth 2.0

Delegated authorization. Borrowed keys, limited doors.

Observability

Logs, metrics, and traces that let you understand production behavior. Seeing the system seeing itself.

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

Deliver consistent experiences across channels and devices. Same story, different stages.

On-Page SEO

Content and HTML optimizations. What you can fix today.

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 Experience

UX signals affecting visibility. Don’t make users suffer for ranking.

Page Cache (Full-Page Caching)

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

Page Speed

How fast content renders. Users are faster than your site—act accordingly.

Page Weight

Total bytes transferred per page. Every kilobyte counts.

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.

Ads on social platforms. Virality with a credit card.

Parameter Handling

Rules for query or tracking parameters. Tame the “?utm” zoo.

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

Flow between events or nodes. Choose-your-own-adventure, measured.

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

Enforced caps on bytes/requests/Timings. Your CI’s speed governor.

Performance Max (PMax)

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

PLG (Product-Led Growth)

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

Pixel

Small tracking script or image. Spy—with permission.

PKCE

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

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.

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.

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.

Redirect Chain

Multiple hops before the final URL. SEO’s version of telephone.

Redirect Loop

A → B → A infinite hops. SEO’s hamster wheel.

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

Ensure new code didn’t break old stuff. Trust, but verify—again.

Replatforming

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

Render-Blocking Resources

Assets that delay first paint. Scripts that need to chill.

Responsive Search Ads (RSA)

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

Responsive Design

Layout adapts to screens. Yoga for CSS.

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

Crawl allow or deny file. A polite “keep out” sign.

Rollback Plan

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

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

SafeFrame (IAB)

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

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.

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.

Search Intent

User goal behind a query. The “why” behind the keyword.

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.

SEM (Search Engine Marketing)

Umbrella for paid search tactics. Money meets 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.

Service Worker

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

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

Visual playback of sessions. CCTV for UX.

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 impressions versus the market. Who’s loudest, measurable.

Single Customer View (SCV)

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

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

Sitemap Index

Points to multiple sitemaps. Table of contents for spiders.

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

Soft 404

Looks like a 404, returns 200. Mixed signals, bad vibes.

SPA vs MPA

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

Spam Trap

Email addresses meant to catch senders with bad lists. Deliverability landmines.

SPF / DKIM / DMARC

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

SPO (Supply Path Optimization)

Choose cleaner programmatic routes. Fewer middlemen, more margin.

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

Scripted transactions that mimic users to watch uptime. Robots doing QA at 3 a.m.

T

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

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.

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.

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.

Time on Page

Duration until the next hit or close. Stopwatch with blind spots.

Time to Interactive (TTI)

When the page becomes usable. Looks done versus is done.

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.”

Transactional Email

Receipts, password resets, and alerts triggered by actions. Boring but indispensable.

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

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

Source, medium, campaign tags. Shipping labels for traffic.

Unsubscribe Rate

% opting out per send. Was the email worth the annoyance?

Universal Analytics (UA)

Legacy Google Analytics sunset in 2023. The old dog retired in ’23.

Universal Links (iOS) / App Links (Android)

Deep links that bypass browsers into apps. Direct flights to screens.

Upsell / Cross-sell Rate

% of orders with add-ons/adjacent items. More cart, same customer.

URL Normalization

Make equivalent URLs consistent and canonical. One path, one page.

URL Parameters

Query strings for content or tracking. Little keys, big messes.

User Agent

Client identifier string. The browser’s business card.

User Flow

Diagram of steps users take to complete a task. Blueprint before you build.

User Journey Mapping

Visualize stages, emotions, and touchpoints across the experience. Empathy on a whiteboard.

User Properties (GA4)

Attributes tied to users. Context that travels with the person.

User Segmentation

Slice users for analysis. Slicing to start seeing.

UX Debt

Accumulated UX compromises that slow future progress. Design interest payments coming due.

UX Research: Card Sorting / Tree Testing

Methods to validate IA. Let users label your shelves.

V

Vanity Metrics

Numbers that look good but don’t move the business. Ego doesn’t pay rent.

VAST / VPAID / OMID

Video ad specs for serving, interactivity, and measurement. Acronyms making CTV work.

Vector Database

Store and query embeddings for similarity. SQL’s artsy cousin.

VDP (Vulnerability Disclosure Program)

Public channel for reporting vulns. Invite friendly hackers in.

VPAT (Accessibility)

Vendor’s accessibility conformance report. “We tested it” paperwork.

Verification Tag

Snippet that proves site ownership to tools like Search Console. Platform secret handshake.

Viewport Meta Tag

Controls mobile viewport scaling. Without it, everything’s microscopic.

Viewport Observer (Intersection Observer)

API to detect element visibility. Lazy loading’s best friend.

View-Through Conversion

Conversion after an impression without a click. Saw it, didn’t click, still bought.

Visual Regression Testing

Automated screenshot diffs to catch unintended UI changes. Spot the difference, programmatically.

Visitor Stitching

Merge IDs across visits or devices. Franken-user, but useful.

Voice Search Optimization

Optimize content for conversational queries and direct answers. Talk like a human, win results.

vCPM

Viewable cost per thousand impressions. Pay only when likely seen.

W

WAF

Web Application Firewall. See “Firewall / WAF” for the full rundown.

Walled Garden

Closed ad ecosystems with limited data portability. Great reach, bring a ladder.

Waterfall (Ad Ops)

Priority-based sequential ad serving. Header bidding’s old-school rival.

WAI-ARIA (Spec)

Accessibility semantics standard. Give UIs a voice.

WCAG 2.2

Latest web accessibility success criteria. Accessibility syllabus, updated.

WebAuthn

Standard behind passkeys. Keys, meet browser.

Web Crawler

Automated page fetcher. Robots reading your site at 3 a.m.

Web Workers

Run JavaScript off the main thread. Background brain for heavy lifting.

WebP / AVIF

Modern image formats. Prettier pixels, fewer bytes.

Web Push

Browser notifications after opt-in. Respectful pings only, please.

Webhook

Event-driven HTTP callbacks. Apps tapping each other’s shoulders.

Webhook Replay Protection

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

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.

Word of Mouth (WOM)

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

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

Short-lived cloud creds without long-lived keys. Keys that expire on purpose.

WPO

Web Performance Optimization. Make fast the default, not a miracle.

WWW Canonicalization

Choose www versus non-www as your canonical hostname. Pick a home, forward the mail.

X

X-Content-Type-Options

Response header that stops MIME-type sniffing. “Don’t guess my filetype.”

X-DNS-Prefetch-Control

Header to enable or disable DNS prefetching. Resolve domains early—or don’t.

X-Forwarded-For (XFF)

Header carrying the client’s real IP through proxies. Who’s really knocking?

XML Sitemap

Machine-readable map of your important URLs. GPS for search spiders.

XML Product Feed

Structured catalog for shopping engines/marketplaces. Your SKUs in machine-readable tuxes.

X-Robots-Tag

HTTP header with index rules. Robots meta, but server-side.

XSS

Cross-site scripting vulnerability. When user input gets snarky—and dangerous.

Y

YAML Front Matter

Metadata block at the top of static files. Tiny headers, big power.

Year-over-Year (YoY)

Compare performance against the same period last year. Seasonality, normalized.

YTD / MoM / QoQ

Common time comparisons. Context for your victory lap.

Yield Curve (Publisher)

Trade-off between fill rate and CPM. Where money meets math.

Yield Management

Publisher tactics to maximize ad revenue via pricing and fill strategies. CPM chess for inventory.

YMYL

“Your Money or Your Life” topics. Delicate subjects need extra receipts.

High-impact takeover of YouTube’s home feed. Times Square for video.

Z

Zero-Click Search

SERP answers that satisfy the query without a site visit. Rank #1, get zero traffic—neat.

Zero-Downtime Deployment

Release updates without user-visible interruption. Surgery while the patient jogs.

Zero-Downtime Migration

Replatform without visible interruption. Walk while you change shoes.

Zero-Knowledge Proof

Cryptographic method to prove a fact without revealing the data itself. “Trust me,” backed by math.

Zero-Party Data

Data users proactively share. They told you—treat it well.

Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA)

Verify explicitly, assume breach, least privilege. Paranoia, operationalized.

Zone Apex

Root domain with no subdomain (example.com). Where your A records live.

Zombie Cookies

Identifiers that respawn after deletion using multiple storage methods. Cookies that won’t die.

Zombie Pages

Low-value pages that linger. Kill or redirect; brains not included.

0–9

1P / 2P / 3P Data

Yours, a partner’s, or everyone else’s. Ownership matters for consent.

12-Factor App

Opinionated best practices for building cloud-native services. Boring in a good, scalable way.

28-Day Click / 7-Day View Window

Common attribution lookbacks. Receipts expire—pick a date.

301 Redirect Map

Bulk list mapping old URLs to new ones during migrations. Moving day checklist for SEO.

3P Identifier (3P ID)

Privacy-conscious, non-cookie identifier used across properties. Cross-site name tag for the cookieless era.

404 vs 410

Not found versus gone. “I can’t find it” versus “It moved out.”

5xx Error Rate

Server-side failures. The smoke alarm of uptime.

95th Percentile (p95) Latency

Tail latency metric that shows how slow the worst typical requests are. What most users feel when things drag.

p99 Latency

99th percentile response time. Where patience truly dies.

99.9% Uptime (“Three Nines”)

Service level target allowing ~43 minutes of downtime per month. Tiny error budget, big expectations.