Marketing 101: All the Terms & Acronyms You'll Ever Need

Search acronyms and terms

Not sure what you're looking for? Just start typing below, click on a result, and you'll be taken straight to that entry.

While our Customer Success Managers (CSMs) do a fantastic job of breaking down how things work at Superpath, you might occasionally see acronyms or terms in reports, dashboards, and emails that you want a refresher on. This resource translates all those terms into plain English, grouped by the kinds of services you care about most. You do not need to memorize anything - think of this as your always-on cheat sheet whenever you bump into a term you're not sure about.

Superpath specific terms and concepts

These are terms that are specific to how Superpath runs strategy, reporting, communication, and more. You won't always see them in generic marketing blogs, but you will see them in conversations with our team and inside your reporting tools.

Your main point of contact once your marketing's up and running with Superpath. Your CSM learns your business, walks you through the numbers, brings the right specialists into calls, and helps adjust your campaigns so strategy, spend, and results stay aligned.

Where you'll see it: meeting invites, email signatures, reporting reviews, strategy calls. You can also meet our CSMs here.

ION is Superpath's reporting and decision platform. It pulls data from your ads, SEO, calls, forms, and - when connected - tools like ServiceTitan so you can see what's working in one place. Think of it as your command center for understanding which campaigns are driving real booked jobs, not just clicks.

Where you'll see it: reporting links from your CSM, dashboards showing leads and revenue across all channels.

Search Everywhere is Superpath's approach to making sure your business shows up wherever homeowners are looking - not just on Google. That includes Google Maps, Apple Maps, Bing, Yelp, Angi, and newer tools like ChatGPT and other AI assistants. The goal's simple - when a homeowner asks any platform for a contractor like you, your name is right there.

Where you'll see it: strategy decks, SEO conversations, discussions about visibility beyond Google. It's also a core part of our SEO services.

Search and SEO acronyms

These terms show up in SEO reports, Search Everywhere conversations, and any work tied to ranking in Google, maps, and other search platforms.

Work that helps your business show up correctly and consistently when homeowners ask AI tools for a contractor recommendation. That includes structured data, reviews, brand consistency, and content AI systems can easily understand and trust. It's closely tied to our A.I. Platform Marketing service and our overall Search Everywhere strategy.

You'll see this discussed whenever we talk about generative search, AI-powered recommendations, and how tools like ChatGPT choose which businesses to show.

A newer way of talking about making your content the best possible answer when someone asks a question in Google, Bing, voice assistants, or AI powered search. Answer Engine Optimization focuses on clear questions and answers, strong FAQs, accurate local information, and helpful content that is easy for both people and machines to understand.

In practice, AEO overlaps a lot with good SEO and AI Platform Marketing work. It simply emphasizes being chosen as the answer, not just appearing somewhere on the page.

The percentage of people who saw a link to your site and clicked it. If 100 people see your result and 5 click it, your CTR is 5 percent. CTR helps show how compelling your titles, descriptions, and positions are.

You'll see CTR in SEO reports, Google Search Console exports, and paid ad reports too.

An emerging term for work that helps your brand show up correctly in AI generated answers, overviews, and summaries. Generative Engine Optimization usually includes clear service pages, strong local signals, structured data, reviews, and authoritative content that AI systems can safely incorporate into their responses.

Because generative search is still evolving, GEO is less about gaming a new algorithm and more about giving AI tools clean, trustworthy information to work with.

Your business listing in Google that powers how you show up in Google Maps and the local map pack. It includes your name, address, phone, hours, reviews, photos, and services. Keeping this accurate and optimized is a core part of local SEO and our Google Maps service.

You'll see GBP performance in local map reporting, call tracking, and Search Everywhere work.

The number of times a page, ad, or listing was shown to a user. Impressions don't mean someone clicked or called, just that you appeared in front of them on a screen.

Impressions help you see how much visibility you're getting as SEO and Search Everywhere work compounds.

A type of artificial intelligence system trained on huge amounts of text so it can understand and generate natural language. Tools like ChatGPT and many generative search features are powered by LLMs behind the scenes.

You will hear LLMs mentioned in conversations about AI Platform Marketing, Generative Engine Optimization, and how AI tools decide which businesses to recommend.

The overall strategy and work involved in helping your business show up higher and more often when people search for the services you offer in the areas you serve. That includes on-site SEO, off-site SEO, and local visibility work across Google, maps, and AI platforms.

If you want a deeper dive, check out our SEO service overview and our industry pages like HVAC SEO.

Off-site SEO focuses on signals about your business that live away from your website: backlinks from other sites, business listing distributions, reviews across Google and other platforms, and brand mentions. These signals help search engines and AI platforms decide whether to trust and recommend you.

Off-site SEO ties closely into our review and reputation guidance and our Search Everywhere approach.

On-site SEO is the work done on your website itself to help it show up higher in search results for the services and locations you care about. That includes technical cleanup, on page optimization, internal linking, and content creation that answers real customer questions.

On-site SEO is a big part of how we structure service pages, location pages, and blog content. For more context, see our article on how blog content supports lead generation.

The page of results you see after you search something in Google, Bing, or another search engine. When we talk about SERP position, we're talking about how high or low your pages are on that results page.

Example: ranking in the top three results on the SERP for “AC repair near me”.

Paid advertising acronyms

These are the acronyms you'll see in your paid search, paid social, and YouTube advertising reports.

The average cost to win one paying customer or booked job. This goes a step beyond CPL by looking at which leads actually turn into revenue.

CPA is powerful when you line it up with your average ticket and close rate. It's a number we look at often in our paid search engagements.

The average amount you pay every time someone clicks your ad. If you spent $500 dollars and got 100 clicks, your CPC is $5 dollars. A higher CPC is not always bad if the leads and jobs are strong.

CPC helps you compare efficiency across keywords, audiences, and campaigns inside tools like Google Ads and Meta Ads.

The average cost to generate a lead that is solid enough for your team to actually quote. A quotable lead has enough information and intent that your dispatcher or sales rep can give a real estimate, not just answer a quick question or handle a wrong number.

CPQL is more strict than CPL. It becomes especially useful when your call tracking and CRM are connected to ION so we can see which leads turned into real quoting opportunities.

The average cost to generate one lead, such as a call, form submission, or booked estimate. If you spent $2,000 dollars and got 40 leads, your CPL is $50 dollars.

CPL is one of the key numbers your CSM will help you track and improve across channels like Paid Search and Social Media Management.

The specific action you're asking someone to take, usually written as a button or short line of copy. Examples include “Call Now”, “Schedule Service”, or “Get a Free Estimate”.

Strong CTAs show up in ads, landing pages, and your website navigation. They feature heavily in our website design work.

In paid campaigns, CTR is the percentage of impressions that turned into clicks. It helps you see whether your targeting and ad creative are catching attention.

You'll see CTR on virtually every paid media report from Google, Meta, and YouTube, including the ones we review in our Ads on Google vs. Ads on Meta breakdown.

Google's per lead ad product for local service businesses. These appear at the very top of some search results with your business name, rating, and a call button. You pay per lead instead of per click.

You'll see LSA metrics in your paid search reporting alongside traditional PPC campaigns and inside our Local Service Ads offering.

Meta is the company that owns Facebook and Instagram. When we talk about “Meta Ads”, we're talking about paid campaigns that run across Facebook and Instagram through the same ad platform.

To see how Meta fits alongside Google Ads, read our article on Ads on Google vs. Ads on Meta.

A type of advertising where you pay each time someone clicks your ad. Most Google and Bing search campaigns use PPC pricing. The goal is to turn those clicks into high quality calls and form fills, not just traffic.

PPC is at the core of our Paid Search service and works best when it's aligned with your SEO and website strategy.

How much revenue you generate for every dollar you spend on ads. A ROAS of 4 means you brought in 4 dollars in revenue for every 1 dollar in ad spend.

Higher ROAS usually means healthier campaigns, but it should always be read alongside profit margins, capacity, and long term goals.

Website and branding acronyms

These are terms you'll see when we talk about your site, how it looks, and how well it converts visitors into leads.

A service that sits in front of your website to help it load faster and stay online. Cloudflare caches copies of your site on servers around the world and helps block bad traffic, like bots or DDoS attacks, before it ever reaches your server.

Millions of sites use Cloudflare, including a significant share of the most visited sites on the internet. When Cloudflare has issues, it can briefly affect many popular websites all at once.

The software your website's built on, such as WordPress. It's what you or your team use to add pages, edit content, and manage media.

Most of the sites we build in our Website Design service use WordPress as the CMS so they're fast, flexible, and easy to update.

The process of improving your website so a higher percentage of visitors take action, like calling, filling out a form, or booking online. CRO often involves testing headlines, layouts, CTAs, and forms.

CRO helps you get more leads out of the traffic you're already earning, and it's a vital part of how we design high performance sites through our Website Design Services.

The system that turns easy to remember addresses like superpath.com into the numeric addresses computers use. Think of DNS as the internet’s address book that quietly routes visitors to the right server when they type your domain or click a link.

If DNS settings are wrong or your DNS provider has issues, people may not be able to reach your website even if the site itself is healthy.

The main web address people use to find your business online. For example, superpath.com is our domain. It is the core of your online identity and usually appears on trucks, ads, and business cards.

You can have multiple domains, but most brands choose one primary domain and point others to it.

The security technology that encrypts data between your website and a visitor's browser. Sites with SSL show as https and typically display a padlock icon in the browser bar.

Modern users and search engines both expect SSL as a basic trust signal. It's standard on the sites we launch.

The visual side of your website - colors, fonts, buttons, spacing, and layout. Strong UI design supports your brand and makes your UX feel intuitive instead of confusing.

You'll see UI discussed in website design reviews and branding conversations, especially when we walk through new mockups or redesign options.

How easy and enjoyable it is for a visitor to use your website. Good UX means people can quickly find the services they need, understand why they should choose you, and know exactly what to do next.

UX is a major factor in how well your site converts traffic from all channels. It's a core focus in our Website Design service and in content like showing prices on your website.

An open source content management system (CMS) that powers a huge percentage of sites on the internet. It's flexible, well supported, and ideal for home service companies that want a high performance site they can grow into.

Most websites we build use a heavily-customized and optimized version of WordPress under the hood.

Social, email, and reporting acronyms

These are acronyms you're likely to see in social media reports, email marketing dashboards, and high level performance summaries.

How much you pay for one thousand ad impressions. The acronym looks a little strange at first glance - CPM doesn’t stand for “Cost Per Million,” even though it uses an “M.” It actually comes from the Latin word mille, meaning “thousand,” which is why the industry still uses “M” to represent a thousand impressions today.

CPM’s useful when you’re comparing awareness campaigns across different platforms, especially in conjunction with CTR and engagement.

The percentage of people who clicked a link in your email out of those who opened it. CTOR helps you understand how engaging the content of the email was once someone looked at it.

It's especially helpful when you're comparing different email templates, offers, or audience segments.

The platform used to send and track your email campaigns. Examples include Mailchimp, Klaviyo, or custom tools. Superpath integrates email performance into your overall reporting so you can see how email fits into the bigger picture.

You'll see ESPs show up in conversations about list health, deliverability, and automation.

The specific numbers you and your CSM agree to track as success markers. For home service companies, common KPIs include cost per lead, jobs booked, revenue from marketing, and how full your dispatch board is.

Expect KPIs to show up at the top of reports and in every strategy conversation.

An estimate of how much revenue an average customer brings your business over the full length of your relationship. For home services, this often includes repeat service calls, membership revenue, and referrals.

LTV helps you decide how much you can comfortably spend to acquire a new customer and how aggressively to invest in retention.

A lead your marketing team has flagged as more likely than average to become a customer. These leads have usually taken meaningful actions like visiting key pages multiple times, downloading content, registering for a webinar, or engaging with your ads and emails.

MQLs still need nurturing and sales follow up. In many reporting views, you will see stages like Lead → MQL → SQL → Customer.

The percentage of people who opened an email out of everyone who received it. Open rate's heavily influenced by your subject line, sender name, and how well you've segmented your list.

Good open rates vary by list quality and industry, but your trend over time matters more than any single number.

A lead your sales team has vetted and considers ready for a serious sales conversation or quote. SQLs typically have a clear need, budget, and timeline, and they match the kind of customer you want to work with.

Moving a lead from MQL to SQL usually happens after a call, discovery conversation, or in home estimate confirms the opportunity is real.

Photos, videos, or reviews created by your customers instead of your team. UGC often feels more trustworthy than polished brand creative and can be powerful in social campaigns.

Examples include customers tagging your brand in a post about their new system or leaving a photo with a review. To see how social plays into your overall marketing, see our Social Media Management service and our article on social media benefits for restoration companies.

Using this glossary (and what to do next)

If you see an acronym from a Superpath report that isn't listed here yet, let your CSM know! We're always updating and expanding this glossary so your whole team and our whole team has a shared language for marketing success.

If you're not yet a Superpath client and you want help turning all of these acronyms into real leads, jobs, and revenue, get in touch with our marketing experts here. We'd be happy to walk through your goals and see if we're a good fit.

a man wearing a suit and tie smiling at the camera

Jake EvansMarketing Communications Manager

Marketing 101: All the Terms & Acronyms You’ll Ever Need

Superpath specific terms and concepts

CSM (Customer Success Manager)

ION Platform / ION Dashboard

Search Everywhere

Search and SEO acronyms

AI Platform Marketing

Answer Engine Optimization

CTR (Click Through Rate)

Generative Engine Optimization

GBP (Google Business Profile)

Impressions

LLM (Large Language Model)

SEO (Search Engine Optimization - General)

SEO (Off-site)

SEO (On-site)

SERP (Search Engine Results Page)

Paid advertising acronyms

CPA (Cost Per Acquisition)

CPC (Cost Per Click)

CPQL (Cost Per Quotable Lead)

CPL (Cost Per Lead)

CTA (Call To Action)

CTR (Click Through Rate, Ads)

LSA (Local Service Ads)

Meta (Facebook + Instagram)

PPC (Pay Per Click)

ROAS (Return On Ad Spend)

Website and branding acronyms

Cloudflare

CMS (Content Management System)

CRO (Conversion Rate Optimization)

DNS (Domain Name System)

Domain

SSL (Secure Sockets Layer)

UI (User Interface)

UX (User Experience)

WordPress

Social, email, and reporting acronyms

CPM (Cost Per Thousand Impressions)

CTOR (Click To Open Rate)

ESP (Email Service Provider)

KPI (Key Performance Indicator)

LTV (Customer Lifetime Value)

MQL (Marketing Qualified Lead)

OR (Open Rate)

SQL (Sales Qualified Lead)

UGC (User Generated Content)

Using this glossary (and what to do next)

Recent Posts

Share Post: