Marketing & AI Search Definitions
Clear, no-fluff definitions of the terms that matter across SEO, AI search, paid media, and growth strategy.
AEO (Answer Engine Optimization)
Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) is the practice of structuring content so AI-powered answer engines — ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews — can extract and cite it directly in their generated responses, rather than optimizing purely for ranking in a list of blue links.
Read Definition PerformanceAttribution Modeling
Attribution modeling is the framework used to assign credit for a conversion across the various marketing touchpoints a customer interacted with before converting, determining how much each channel or campaign contributed to the final result.
Read Definition B2BB2B Lead Generation
B2B lead generation is the process of identifying and attracting potential business customers, then capturing their information so a sales team can engage them — spanning intent data, content marketing, paid campaigns, and outbound outreach.
Read Definition PerformanceCAC (Customer Acquisition Cost)
Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) is the total sales and marketing cost required to acquire one new customer, calculated by dividing total acquisition spend by the number of new customers gained over the same period.
Read Definition PerformanceCRO (Conversion Rate Optimization)
Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) is the systematic process of increasing the percentage of website visitors who complete a desired action — a purchase, signup, or lead form — through testing and data-driven design changes rather than driving more traffic.
Read Definition Paid MediaDSP (Demand-Side Platform)
A Demand-Side Platform (DSP) is the software advertisers and agencies use to buy digital ad inventory programmatically across many publishers and ad exchanges from a single interface, using real-time bidding to target specific audiences.
Read Definition AI SearchE-E-A-T
E-E-A-T stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness — a framework from Google's Search Quality Rater Guidelines used to evaluate content quality, and increasingly relevant to whether AI systems treat a source as citable.
Read Definition StrategyFractional CMO
A Fractional CMO is an experienced marketing executive who works with a company on a part-time or contract basis — providing senior strategic leadership without the cost of a full-time Chief Marketing Officer hire.
Read Definition StrategyFull-Funnel Marketing
Full-funnel marketing is an approach that connects every stage of the customer journey — awareness, consideration, and conversion — into one coordinated strategy, rather than managing each channel or funnel stage in isolation.
Read Definition AI SearchGEO (Generative Engine Optimization)
Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is the discipline of improving how often and how favorably a brand is cited inside AI-generated answers across platforms like Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity — the generative-search equivalent of traditional SEO.
Read Definition PerformanceLTV (Customer Lifetime Value)
Customer Lifetime Value (LTV or CLV) is the total revenue (or profit) a business can expect from a single customer account over the entire duration of their relationship, used to judge how much can sustainably be spent to acquire that customer.
Read Definition Paid MediaPPC (Pay-Per-Click)
Pay-Per-Click (PPC) is a paid advertising model where advertisers pay a fee each time their ad is clicked, most commonly on search engines (Google Ads, Bing Ads) and social platforms, allowing precise targeting and immediate visibility.
Read Definition Paid MediaProgrammatic Advertising
Programmatic advertising is the automated buying and selling of digital ad inventory through real-time bidding (RTB), using software and audience data to place ads in front of the right person at the right moment, rather than manual, negotiated insertion orders.
Read Definition PerformanceROAS (Return on Ad Spend)
Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) is a marketing metric that measures the revenue generated for every dollar spent on advertising, calculated as total revenue from ads divided by total ad spend, typically expressed as a ratio like 4:1 or 4x.
Read Definition SEO & ContentSEO (Search Engine Optimization)
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the practice of improving a website's visibility in organic (unpaid) search engine results through technical optimization, content quality, and authority-building, so it ranks higher for relevant queries.
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