Glossary

Digital marketing, website and customer journey terms — explained simply

A practical glossary for business owners who want to understand website diagnostics, SEO, analytics, advertising, functional testing, customer journeys and lead handling without unnecessary technical language.

Plain language For business owners From the first click to LTV
Browse terms

Terms used across marketing, websites and Digital Clarity Diagnostic

These definitions are written for business owners, not technicians. The goal is to make digital information easier to understand, discuss and use when making decisions.

9

90-day action plan

A practical sequence of actions for the next three months, usually divided into the first 30 days, the following 30 days and the final 30 days. It helps separate what should happen first, what should follow and what can wait.

A

Attribution

The attempt to understand which channel, campaign, page or source contributed to an enquiry, customer or sale.

Access hygiene

Safe handling of permissions and system access. The goal is to avoid unnecessary administrator rights, password sharing and access that is broader than the task requires.

AI visibility

How clearly a business, website or piece of content may be understood and referenced by search and answer systems that use artificial intelligence.

B

Bot traffic

Automated or non-human traffic that can distort analytics and make website activity look different from the behaviour of real potential customers.

Bounce rate

A metric related to sessions where visitors do not meaningfully continue. It can sometimes indicate poor traffic fit, weak content or technical friction, but it should not be interpreted without context.

C

Customer journey

The wider path a person takes from first exposure or search through website use, enquiry, response, purchase, service, follow-up and later customer interaction.

Conversion

An important action that moves a visitor toward a business goal, such as submitting a form, clicking WhatsApp, calling, booking, purchasing or completing another meaningful next step.

Conversion rate

The percentage of visitors who complete a defined desired action. A low conversion rate can have many causes, including traffic quality, offer clarity, trust, usability or technical problems.

Content architecture

The way pages, services, articles, categories and internal links are organised so people and search engines can understand how information is connected.

Crawlability

How easily search engines can access and read the pages of a website.

Conversion tracking

Measurement of actions that matter to the business, rather than only visits or page views.

CTA

Call to action. A button, link or instruction telling the visitor what to do next, such as call, send WhatsApp, book, buy or submit a form.

Clarity document

The written result of Digital Clarity Diagnostic. It connects significant findings, facts, hypotheses, possible impact, recommendations, three main priorities and the 30 / 60 / 90-day plan.

Case study

A documented example showing a situation, what was observed, what became clearer and how priorities were understood. A case study is an example, not a guarantee of the same result for another business.

Customer value

The value a customer may create for the business over time, including repeat purchases, retention, referrals and other later interactions.

D

Digital Clarity

A connected understanding of what is known, what remains uncertain, where the digital system may be weakening and what deserves attention first.

Digital Clarity Diagnostic

A personalised written diagnostic connecting the areas relevant to the business, such as marketing, website, UX, SEO, advertising, analytics, functional QA, customer journey and follow-up.

Dashboard

A visual report that summarises metrics and performance information. A dashboard can be useful, but it is only as reliable as the underlying data.

Dirty data

Data that may be unreliable because of bots, internal visits, duplicated events, missing conversions, incorrect tracking or other measurement problems.

F

First click

A measurable action that begins a digital interaction, such as clicking a search result, advertisement, social post, email or referral link.

Follow-up

What happens after a potential customer has already contacted the business. It may include another message, reminder, clarification, repeated contact or later response.

Fit check

The initial review used to determine whether Digital Clarity Diagnostic appears appropriate for the business situation. It is not a free full diagnostic.

Functional QA

Focused testing of customer-facing actions such as forms, buttons, WhatsApp, phone links, booking, checkout and confirmation steps.

G

GA4

Google Analytics 4. A system used to measure website traffic, events, user behaviour and other digital activity.

Google Search Console

A Google tool that provides information about search visibility, indexing, queries, clicks, impressions and some technical search-related issues.

H

Hypothesis

A possible explanation supported by some observations but not confirmed strongly enough to be treated as a fact.

I

Internal linking

Links between pages on the same website. They help visitors navigate and can help search engines understand page relationships.

Indexing

The process by which a search engine adds a page to its searchable database so it may appear in search results.

Implementation

The actual work of changing websites, advertising, tracking, CRM, content, design, code or business processes. Implementation is not part of the Digital Clarity Diagnostic service.

Implementation handoff

Using diagnostic findings as structured direction for the developer, marketer, SEO specialist, advertising specialist, analytics specialist or another professional who will implement the work.

L

LTV

Lifetime value. The estimated value a customer may create for a business across the relationship, not only during the first purchase.

Lead

A person or business that shows interest by contacting the business through a form, WhatsApp, phone, email, social media or another channel.

Lead quality

How relevant and potentially suitable the enquiries are for the actual business. A larger number of leads is not necessarily better when many are irrelevant.

Lead journey

The part of the wider customer journey focused on how a visitor becomes an enquiry and what happens after that contact.

Lead capture

The ways a business receives potential customer enquiries, such as forms, WhatsApp, phone, email, booking systems or other contact points.

Lead leak

A point where an interested person disappears before completing the next important step in the customer journey.

Lead handling

What the business does after an enquiry arrives, including first response, response time, qualification, follow-up and the next step.

M

Measurement gap

An important part of the customer journey that is not measured or cannot be connected to a later outcome, such as an untracked form, WhatsApp conversation, phone call, offline sale or follow-up result.

N

Noindex

A directive telling search engines not to include a page in search results.

O

Organic traffic

Visitors who arrive through unpaid search results or other non-paid visibility sources.

Offer clarity

How clearly a business explains what it offers, who it is for, why it matters and what the potential customer should do next.

Observed finding

Something directly seen, tested or confirmed, such as a broken link, failed form, missing event, indexing issue or visible contradiction.

P

Paid traffic

Visitors who arrive through paid channels such as Google Ads, Meta advertising or other sponsored campaigns.

Priority

The relative importance or urgency of an issue. A useful priority system helps separate what should be addressed first from work that can safely wait.

Q

Qualified lead

An enquiry that appears relevant to the business and reasonably suitable based on factors such as need, location, timing or service fit.

R

Robots.txt

A file containing instructions for search-engine crawlers. Incorrect settings can sometimes interfere with access to important website areas.

Read-only access

Access that allows information to be viewed without permission to change settings, content, users, billing or system configuration.

Root-cause analysis

Looking beyond the first visible symptom to understand what underlying issue may actually be creating or contributing to the problem.

S

Suspicious traffic

Traffic that may not represent real potential customers, such as unusual automated behaviour, irrelevant locations or repeated patterns that distort analytics.

SEO

Search engine optimisation. Work intended to help a website become easier for search engines and users to find, understand and use.

Search intent

What a person is actually trying to accomplish when entering a search query, such as learning, comparing, finding a provider or buying.

Sitemap

A file listing important website pages to help search engines discover and understand the site structure.

Session duration

A measure related to how long visitors spend on a website. The number should be interpreted together with context, not by itself.

Scope

The agreed boundaries of the diagnostic, including which areas, pages, functions, data and business questions will be examined.

T

Traffic quality

How relevant the visitors reaching a website are to the actual business. High traffic can still be low quality when the audience or intent does not match.

Technical health

Customer-facing technical condition of a website, including loading behaviour, broken links, redirects, display problems and other issues that may interrupt normal use.

Technical SEO

Technical website factors that can affect crawling, indexing and search visibility, such as structure, redirects, canonical tags, sitemap, robots directives and mobile behaviour.

Tracking

Measurement setup that records important user actions, such as forms, WhatsApp clicks, phone calls, purchases or bookings.

Tracking blind spot

A part of the customer journey where important activity happens but the business cannot see or connect it to later outcomes.

Trust signals

Elements that can help visitors feel more confident, such as clear business identity, contact information, reviews, case studies, policies and consistent information.

Traffic leak

A point where paid or organic attention is lost before becoming a useful enquiry or another meaningful action.

Next step

Knowing the terminology is useful. Knowing what your business actually needs is more important.

If you can see that something is not working but are still unsure whether the problem is marketing, SEO, the website, analytics or what happens after the enquiry, send the website and briefly describe the situation.