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Marketing & AI glossary
Straight definitions for the terms that come up across our services — no marketing fluff, just what each one actually means.
Quick Answer
The ZAVYANS glossary defines 56 marketing and AI terms in plain English, from SEO, PPC and ROAS to GEO, AEO, llms.txt, AI agents and RAG. Each entry gives a direct definition first, then a real-world example and related terms.
A
ABM (Account-Based Marketing)
ABM is a B2B marketing strategy that targets a defined list of named companies with coordinated advertising, content, and outreach, rather than casting a wide net for individual leads.
AEO (Answer Engine Optimization)
AEO is the practice of structuring content so answer engines — AI assistants and featured-snippet-style search results — can extract and present it as a direct answer.
Agentic AI
Agentic AI describes AI systems that can pursue a goal with some independence, planning steps, using tools and adjusting based on results, instead of producing a single response to a single prompt.
AI Agent
An AI agent is software that uses a large language model to plan and carry out tasks across tools and systems, such as researching, updating records or sending drafts for approval, rather than only answering questions.
AI Calling Agent (AI Voice Agent)
An AI calling agent is software that answers or makes phone calls using a natural-sounding AI voice, handling tasks like answering questions, qualifying leads and booking appointments.
AI Hallucination
An AI hallucination is when an AI model produces information that sounds confident and plausible but is false or not supported by its sources.
AI UGC (AI-Generated UGC-Style Content)
AI UGC is advertising content made with AI tools, such as AI avatars, voices and product imagery, in the casual style of user-generated content from creators and customers.
AIO (AI Optimization)
AIO is the broader discipline of making a business's digital presence discoverable, understandable, and citable across all AI-driven surfaces — search, chat assistants, and AI-powered recommendations.
Attribution Modeling
Attribution modeling is the process of determining which marketing touchpoints get credit for a conversion when a customer interacts with multiple channels before buying.
B
Backlinks
Backlinks are links from other websites to yours. Search engines treat relevant links from trusted sites as a sign that your content is useful and credible.
Brand Identity
A brand identity is the set of visual and verbal elements that make a business recognisable, including its logo, colours, typography, imagery style and tone of voice.
C
CAC (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 customers gained.
Chatbot
A chatbot is a software program that simulates conversation with users, ranging from simple scripted flows to AI-powered systems that understand natural language.
Core Web Vitals
Core Web Vitals are a set of Google metrics measuring real-world page loading speed, interactivity, and visual stability, used as a ranking factor in search results.
CPA (Cost Per Acquisition)
CPA, or cost per acquisition, is the average amount you spend on advertising to get one conversion, such as a sale, booking or lead, calculated as ad spend divided by conversions.
CPC (Cost Per Click)
CPC, or cost per click, is the amount you pay each time someone clicks your online ad, calculated as total ad spend divided by the number of clicks.
CPL (Cost Per Lead)
CPL, or cost per lead, is how much you spend on marketing to get one enquiry, calculated as total campaign cost divided by the number of leads it produced.
CRM (Customer Relationship Management)
A CRM, or customer relationship management system, is software that stores every lead and customer in one place, along with their calls, messages, deals and follow-up tasks.
CRO (Conversion Rate Optimization)
CRO is the systematic process of testing and improving a website or funnel to increase the percentage of visitors who take a desired action.
CTR (Click-Through Rate)
CTR, or click-through rate, is the percentage of people who click a link, ad or search result after seeing it, calculated as clicks divided by impressions.
D
Database Reactivation
Database reactivation is re-engaging past leads and customers already in your CRM or contact lists with relevant messages, to turn old enquiries into new business without new ad spend.
Digital Marketing
Digital marketing is promoting a business through online channels, including search engines, social media, email, websites, online ads and AI search tools, to reach and win customers.
G
GEO (Generative Engine Optimization)
GEO is the practice of structuring a website's content and technical setup so generative AI systems like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews can accurately extract, cite, and recommend it.
Google AI Overviews
Google AI Overviews are AI-generated summaries shown at the top of some Google search results, answering the question directly and linking to the websites the answer draws on.
Google Business Profile (GBP)
A Google Business Profile is the free business listing that appears in Google Search and Google Maps, showing your name, location, hours, reviews, photos and services.
I
ICP (Ideal Customer Profile)
An ICP is a detailed description of the type of company or customer that gets the most value from a product and is most likely to become a profitable, long-term customer.
Intelligent Document Processing (IDP)
Intelligent document processing (IDP) uses AI to read documents such as invoices, forms and statements, extract the important information and send it to business systems, with people checking uncertain cases.
L
Landing Page
A landing page is a web page built for one specific goal, such as getting an enquiry, a booking or a sale, usually as the destination for an ad or campaign.
Lead Generation
Lead generation is the process of attracting people who are interested in your product or service and getting their contact details, so your team can follow up and turn them into customers.
LLM (Large Language Model)
An LLM is an AI model trained on large amounts of text data to understand and generate human-like language, powering tools like ChatGPT and the AI models behind chatbots and calling agents.
llms.txt
llms.txt is a proposed standard for a plain-text Markdown file at the root of a website that gives AI models a short, structured summary of the site and links to its most important pages.
Local SEO
Local SEO is the work of making a business show up when people nearby search for what it offers, in Google Maps, the local map results and searches that include a city or "near me".
M
Marketing Automation
Marketing automation is software that sends messages and performs marketing tasks automatically, triggered by what people do, such as filling in a form, opening an email or abandoning a cart.
Medical Billing
Medical billing is the process of turning patient visits into insurance claims, submitting them to payers, and following up on payments, denials and patient balances so a practice gets paid.
N
NAP Consistency
NAP consistency means your business Name, Address and Phone number are written the same way everywhere they appear online, from your website to directories and social profiles.
Negative Keywords
Negative keywords are words or phrases you tell Google Ads or Microsoft Ads not to show your ads for, so you don't pay for irrelevant searches.
P
Performance Marketing
Performance marketing is online marketing that is planned, measured and paid for based on results, such as leads, sales or bookings, rather than on reach or impressions alone.
Performance Max (PMax)
Performance Max is a Google Ads campaign type that uses automation to show your ads across Search, Shopping, YouTube, Display, Discover, Gmail and Maps from a single campaign, aimed at your conversion goals.
PPC (Pay-Per-Click Advertising)
PPC, or pay-per-click, is a form of online advertising where you pay each time someone clicks your ad, most commonly on Google, Bing and social media platforms.
Programmatic Advertising
Programmatic advertising is the automated buying and placement of digital ads through real-time bidding, rather than manually negotiated placements.
Prompt Engineering
Prompt engineering is the practice of writing clear instructions, context and examples for an AI model so it produces accurate, useful and consistent results.
R
RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation)
RAG is a technique that lets an AI model pull information from a specific, verified knowledge base before generating an answer, reducing incorrect or made-up responses.
Retargeting (Remarketing)
Retargeting, also called remarketing, is showing ads to people who have already visited your website, used your app or engaged with your business, to bring them back to complete an action.
ROAS (Return on Ad Spend)
ROAS measures the revenue generated for every dollar spent on advertising, calculated as revenue divided by ad spend.
S
Schema Markup (Structured Data)
Schema markup is code added to a webpage that explicitly labels its content for search engines and AI systems, using a shared vocabulary defined by schema.org.
SDR (Sales Development Representative)
An SDR is a sales team member focused on outbound prospecting and qualifying leads, typically responsible for booking meetings rather than closing deals directly.
SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
SEO is the practice of improving a website's technical health, content, and authority so it ranks higher in unpaid, organic search engine results.
Speed to Lead
Speed to lead is how quickly a business responds to a new enquiry after it comes in, a key factor in whether that lead becomes a customer.
W
WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines)
WCAG is the international standard defining how to make web content accessible to people with disabilities, covering things like screen reader compatibility, color contrast, and keyboard navigation.
WhatsApp Business API (WhatsApp Business Platform)
The WhatsApp Business API, now called the WhatsApp Business Platform, is Meta's official way for businesses to send and receive WhatsApp messages at scale through software, chatbots and CRMs.
White-Label
White-label describes a product or service made by one company and sold by another under its own brand, so the end customer only sees the seller's name.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between SEO, AEO and GEO?
SEO helps your pages rank in search results. AEO (answer engine optimization) structures content so it can be used in direct answers such as featured snippets and voice results. GEO (generative engine optimization) helps AI assistants like ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews understand, cite and recommend your business.
Can I suggest a term?
Yes. Email info@zavyans.com with the term you'd like explained and we'll consider adding it.
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