In the digital marketing world, there are several popular acronyms that your marketing agency uses or that you may see online.

When it comes to marketers, using these acronyms is second nature, so we may not always explain what they mean. In turn, this leaves you sitting there wondering what we’re talking about.

We don’t want to leave you in the dark anymore, so we’re going to break down 15 popular digital marketing acronyms! Moving forward, use this blog as your guide in case you come across one you don’t know.

Let’s get started!

1. Google My Business (GMB)

Our team talks about Google My Business a lot, so take note of this acronym if you’re a RevLocal client! GMB is a free tool that keeps your business’s online presence organized across Google, including in the Search and Maps sections. Become a GMB expert by checking out this infographic. 

2. Cost Per Click (CPC)

The next few acronyms are all paid advertising related, so bear with me! Cost Per Click (CPC) is the amount that you pay when somebody clicks on your ad. The cost can vary based on your industry, location and quality score.

3. Cost Per Action/Acquisition (CPA)

This paid advertising acronym can either be Cost Per Action or Cost Per Acquisition (CPA). For this model, you pay for a specific action or acquisition, such as a sale, click or when a form is submitted.

4. Cost Per Thousand Impressions (CPM)

For CPM, you will only pay when your ad is seen in increments of one thousand. Typically, this payment model is used for paid advertising campaigns that revolve around social media and brand awareness strategies.

5. Cost Per Lead (CPL)

We’re almost done with paid advertising acronyms. CPL is a different type of payment model in which you pay based on the number of leads that are generated.

6. Click-Through Rate (CTR)

With paid advertising, CTR measures the number of clicks you receive on your ads based on the number of impressions. To put it in layman’s terms, it’s the rate your ads are clicked.

7. Pay Per Click (PPC)

This is the last paid advertising acronym, I promise! Pay Per Click (PPC) is when someone clicks on your ad when you’re running a paid search campaign. In general, this is a common way to describe paid advertising.

8. Return on Investment (ROI)

ROI isn’t a digital marketing specific acronym, but we do use it a lot when talking about analyzing the results of your campaigns and strategies. To sum it up, ROI means much money are you getting back from your digital marketing campaigns.

9. Business to Business (B2B)/Business to Consumer (B2C)

Although these acronyms are straightforward, they’re popular! B2B means that a business is selling to other businesses, while B2C means that businesses are selling to consumers. For example, RevLocal is B2B while Target is B2C.

10. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

You may have heard of this acronym before, so you may already know what it means. SEO is the process of optimizing your website with the goal of receiving organic or local traffic.

Learn more about SEO and how it relates to local search in our TechTalk video:

11. Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

Although it may seem similar to SEO, SEM is a type of online marketing that uses paid advertising along with website optimization to increase your website ranking on the search results page. You can learn even more about SEO and SEM here.

12. Call to Action (CTA)

Simply put, a CTA is something that you want your current or potential customers to do. You encourage them to complete an action by using an enticing statement. You could tell them to schedule an appointment, make a purchase, sign up for their blog and so on. CTAs are used on websites, emails, social media posts, etc.

13. Customer/User Experience (CX/UX)

This acronym combination is a little complicated. Customer Experience (CX) incorporates all interactions someone has with your brand, while User Experience (UX) includes interaction with a product. While they may seem similar, you shouldn’t use the acronyms interchangeably. Think of it like this — UX is a part of CX.

14. Name, Address, Phone Number (NAP)

When someone says NAP, they don’t mean you need to go take one, at least in marketing. The acronym NAP is used to quickly refer to your business Name, Address and Phone number. You’ll commonly hear people say, “Your NAP needs to be consistent across all listings.” It can be a mouthful to spell out or say Name, Address and Phone number every time, so that’s why they use NAP instead. Sometimes it is also referred to as NAPU (the U stands for URL).  

15. Search Engine Results Page (SERP)

When you complete a search in a search engine, such as Google, the page that appears after you do the search is called the Search Engine Results Page (SERP). Similar to the last acronym, it can be a mouthful, so many people refer to it as SERP. Read about the different Google search result types here.

Final Thoughts

I know that was a lot of information to process at once, so make sure you bookmark this blog so you can use it as a guide in the future!

Marketing jargon can be confusing, which is why our team members at RevLocal try to make marketing as easy as possible for you. If you have any questions, please leave us a comment below and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can!