Jargon. It’s everywhere when it comes to online marketing. From SEO to PPC to CRO, we’re all about three letter abbreviations in this industry. Here’s our guide to deciphering those terms you hear all the time but may not grasp what they mean.
SEO
Search Engine Optimisation. This is the process of improving your website’s visibility in the search results of Google, Bing and any other web based search facility. So when your potential customers are looking for your products or services and they head to Google to do a search, SEO helps make your website come up first ahead of your competitors.
SEO has been around a long time, but in that time it has changed dramatically. It used to be all about keywords and backlinks, but it has evolved as search engines have evolved to be more about content marketing, semantic search and social signals.
PPC
Pay-Per-Click. PPC is used to describe any form of online advertising that works on the pay-per-click model – i.e. you pay when someone clicks on your ad. The most well known PPC platform is probably Google AdWords which is responsible for the ads that show up in Google’s search results as well as banner ads on third party sites and video ads on YouTube. Ads that run on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter are also classed as PPC advertising.
SEM
Search Engine Marketing. This encompasses both SEO and PPC and refers to promoting websites within the search results both organically and paid through Google Ads and Bing Ads.
CRO
Conversion Rate Optimisation. This is the practice of improving your website’s design, functionality and usability in order to increase the number of sales and/or leads generated. CRO should always form part of your digital marketing strategy. Without a strong website, your efforts on SEO, PPC and social media could be wasted.
SMM
Social Media Marketing. As it sounds, SMM is the practice of promoting your brand on social media platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Pinterest. Social media has become a valuable part of digital marketing for lots of businesses, particular those selling products and services to the end consumer.
CTR
Click Through Rate. Often associated with PPC campaigns, CTR is calculated based on the number of clicks your ad receives, divided by the number of impressions (views). So if your ad receives 5000 impressions and 200 clicks, the CTR is 200 divided by 5000 which equals 0.4 or 4%.
Any other three letter abbreviations you’d like to see explained? Leave a comment below and we’ll be sure to include them in a future article.
