The growth & AI marketing glossary.
Plain-English definitions of the terms behind modern growth — from SEO and GEO to CAC and ROAS.
Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)
Optimizing content so AI answer engines like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini cite your brand as a source.
Read definition →Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Improving a website so it ranks higher in organic search results on Google and other engines.
Read definition →Answer Engine
An AI system (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Google AI Overviews) that returns a synthesized answer instead of a list of links.
Read definition →llms.txt
A plain-text file that gives AI crawlers a curated map of your site's most important content.
Read definition →Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)
The total sales and marketing cost to acquire one new customer.
Read definition →Lifetime Value (LTV)
The total revenue a business expects from a customer over the whole relationship.
Read definition →Return on Ad Spend (ROAS)
Revenue generated for every dollar spent on advertising.
Read definition →Inbound Marketing
Attracting customers by creating valuable content and experiences tailored to them.
Read definition →Backlink
A link from another website to yours — a key signal of authority for search engines.
Read definition →Domain Authority
A score predicting how well a domain will rank, based largely on its backlink profile.
Read definition →Pay-Per-Click (PPC)
A paid advertising model where you pay each time someone clicks your ad.
Read definition →Core Web Vitals
Google's metrics for loading speed, interactivity, and visual stability that affect rankings.
Read definition →Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)
CRO is the practice of increasing the percentage of visitors who take a desired action — buy, book, or sign up — through testing and design.
Read definition →Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL)
An MQL is a lead whose engagement and fit signal they are more likely to become a customer, but who is not yet ready for direct sales contact.
Read definition →Sales Qualified Lead (SQL)
An SQL is a lead that has been vetted by both marketing and sales as ready for a direct sales conversation and likely to buy.
Read definition →Lead Scoring
Lead scoring assigns points to leads based on fit and behavior so teams can prioritize the prospects most likely to convert.
Read definition →Marketing Funnel
The marketing funnel is the staged journey a prospect takes from first awareness to purchase and beyond, used to map and optimize growth.
Read definition →Keyword Research
Keyword research is the process of finding the words and questions your audience searches so you can create content that ranks and converts.
Read definition →Search Engine Results Page (SERP)
A SERP is the page a search engine returns for a query, now filled with ads, snippets, AI overviews, and other features beyond plain links.
Read definition →Featured Snippet
A featured snippet is the boxed answer Google pulls to the top of results to directly answer a query, often read aloud by voice assistants.
Read definition →Google AI Overviews
Google AI Overviews are AI-generated summaries at the top of search results that answer a query directly by synthesizing multiple sources.
Read definition →Schema Markup
Schema markup is structured code added to a page that tells search engines what its content means, enabling rich results and AI understanding.
Read definition →Structured Data
Structured data is information organized in a standardized, machine-readable format so search engines and AI can interpret a page accurately.
Read definition →E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness)
E-E-A-T is Google's framework for judging content quality based on real experience, expertise, authority, and trust signals.
Read definition →Topical Authority
Topical authority is the depth and breadth of trustworthy coverage a site has on a subject, which earns higher rankings across that topic.
Read definition →Content Cluster
A content cluster is a group of related pages — one pillar plus supporting articles — interlinked to build topical authority on a subject.
Read definition →Pillar Page
A pillar page is a comprehensive page covering a broad topic that links out to detailed subtopic pages, anchoring a content cluster.
Read definition →Organic Traffic
Organic traffic is visitors who reach your site through unpaid search results rather than ads, the most durable and cost-efficient channel.
Read definition →Click-Through Rate (CTR)
Click-through rate is the percentage of people who click a link, ad, or result out of everyone who saw it, measuring relevance and appeal.
Read definition →Attribution Modeling
Attribution modeling is the method of assigning credit for a conversion across the marketing touchpoints a buyer interacted with before buying.
Read definition →Retargeting
Retargeting shows ads to people who already visited your site or engaged with your brand, bringing warm prospects back to convert.
Read definition →Lifecycle Marketing
Lifecycle marketing delivers the right message at each stage of the customer journey, from first touch through retention and advocacy.
Read definition →Churn Rate
Churn rate is the percentage of customers or revenue lost over a period, the key metric for retention and recurring-revenue health.
Read definition →Product-Led Growth (PLG)
Product-led growth is a strategy where the product itself drives acquisition, conversion, and expansion, often via free or freemium access.
Read definition →Demand Generation
Demand generation is the full-funnel marketing discipline of creating awareness and interest that turns into qualified pipeline and revenue.
Read definition →Account-Based Marketing (ABM)
ABM is a B2B strategy that targets specific high-value accounts with personalized campaigns, aligning marketing and sales on the same list.
Read definition →User-Generated Content (UGC)
User-generated content is any content — reviews, photos, videos, posts — created by customers or fans rather than the brand itself.
Read definition →Programmatic SEO
Programmatic SEO is generating many targeted pages at scale from structured data and templates to capture large sets of long-tail queries.
Read definition →Entity SEO
Entity SEO optimizes content around clearly defined people, places, brands, and concepts that search engines recognize, not just keywords.
Read definition →Knowledge Graph
A knowledge graph is a structured network of entities and their relationships that search engines and AI use to understand and answer queries.
Read definition →Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing is partnering with trusted creators who recommend your product to their audience, turning their credibility into demand for your brand.
Read definition →Micro-Influencer
A micro-influencer is a creator with roughly 10,000 to 100,000 followers whose smaller, highly engaged niche audience often converts better than a celebrity's.
Read definition →Nano-Influencer
A nano-influencer is a creator with under 10,000 followers whose tight-knit, highly trusting audience delivers outsized engagement and authenticity.
Read definition →Creator Economy
The creator economy is the ecosystem of individuals who earn a living by building audiences and monetizing content, and the brands and tools that support them.
Read definition →Engagement Rate
Engagement rate is the percentage of an audience that actively interacts with content — likes, comments, shares, saves — and a key signal of an influencer's real influence.
Read definition →Brand Ambassador
A brand ambassador is a creator or customer in an ongoing relationship with a brand, repeatedly promoting it over time rather than in a single one-off post.
Read definition →Affiliate Influencer
An affiliate influencer promotes a product using a trackable link or code and earns a commission on the sales they drive, aligning their incentive with your revenue.
Read definition →Influencer Whitelisting
Influencer whitelisting is when a creator grants a brand permission to run paid ads from the creator's own social account, combining authenticity with paid scale.
Read definition →Influencer Seeding
Influencer seeding is sending your product free to relevant creators with no obligation to post, earning authentic, unpaid coverage when they genuinely like it.
Read definition →Sponsored Content
Sponsored content is creator content a brand pays for and that is disclosed as an ad, blending the creator's voice with the brand's message.
Read definition →Social Commerce
Social commerce is buying and selling directly inside social platforms — shoppable posts, in-app checkout, and live shopping — collapsing discovery and purchase.
Read definition →Share of Voice (SOV)
Share of voice is your brand's portion of total conversation or visibility in a market versus competitors — across social, search, or AI answers.
Read definition →Creator Brief
A creator brief is the document that tells an influencer the campaign goal, must-say points, dos and don'ts, and deliverables — while leaving room for their voice.
Read definition →Sponsored Post
A sponsored post is a single paid, disclosed social post in which a creator features a brand — the most common unit of an influencer campaign.
Read definition →Macro-Influencer
A creator with roughly 100,000 to 1 million followers, offering broad reach with reasonably targeted audiences.
Read definition →Mega-Influencer
A creator or public figure with over 1 million followers, used for mass-reach awareness campaigns.
Read definition →Celebrity Endorsement
A paid arrangement where a well-known public figure publicly promotes or aligns with a brand.
Read definition →Key Opinion Leader (KOL)
A trusted expert whose specialized authority shapes purchase decisions within a specific field or community.
Read definition →Content Creator
A person who produces and publishes original media — video, photo, audio, or writing — for an online audience.
Read definition →UGC Creator
A creator paid to produce authentic-style brand content that the brand owns and runs as ads or organic posts.
Read definition →Brand Deal
A paid agreement in which a creator promotes a brand to their audience under defined terms.
Read definition →Paid Partnership
A disclosed, compensated collaboration between a brand and creator, often tagged via platform partnership tools.
Read definition →Product Gifting
Sending free products to creators with no payment, hoping for organic, authentic coverage.
Read definition →Unboxing Video
A video capturing the first-time experience of opening and revealing a product's packaging and contents.
Read definition →Haul Video
A video where a creator showcases and reviews a batch of recently purchased or gifted products.
Read definition →Instagram Reels
Instagram's short-form vertical video format, built for discovery, reach, and creator-led marketing.
Read definition →YouTube Shorts
YouTube's short-form vertical video format for quick discovery and channel growth.
Read definition →TikTok Shop
TikTok's native in-app commerce feature that lets users buy products directly from videos and livestreams.
Read definition →Live Shopping
Real-time livestream selling where hosts demo products and viewers buy during the broadcast.
Read definition →Story Ad
A full-screen vertical ad placed between users' Stories on Instagram, Facebook, or similar platforms.
Read definition →Link in Bio
A single clickable link in a social profile that routes followers to products, content, or landing pages.
Read definition →Influencer Collaboration
A partnership where a brand and creator co-create content or products, sharing audiences and credibility.
Read definition →Influencer Reach
The total number of unique people who saw an influencer's content, counted once per person regardless of repeat views.
Read definition →Influencer Impressions
The total number of times an influencer's content was displayed, including repeat views by the same person.
Read definition →Cost Per Mille (CPM)
The cost an advertiser pays per one thousand impressions of influencer or media content.
Read definition →Cost Per Engagement (CPE)
The amount an advertiser pays for each like, comment, share, or save on influencer content.
Read definition →Earned Media Value (EMV)
An estimated dollar value of organic influencer exposure, calculated as if it had been bought as paid media.
Read definition →Influencer Marketing ROI
The net return generated by influencer spend, measured as revenue or value relative to total campaign cost.
Read definition →Follower Growth Rate
The percentage rate at which an account gains followers over a set period, signaling momentum or stagnation.
Read definition →Audience Quality Score
A composite metric rating how real, relevant, and engaged an influencer's audience is.
Read definition →Fake Followers
Bot, inactive, or purchased accounts that inflate an influencer's follower count without adding real audience.
Read definition →Influencer Fraud
Deceptive practices like fake followers, bought engagement, or misrepresented metrics that mislead brands paying for influence.
Read definition →FTC Disclosure
A clear, conspicuous statement that influencer content is paid or sponsored, required by US advertising rules.
Read definition →Content Usage Rights
The contractual terms defining how, where, and how long a brand may reuse an influencer's content.
Read definition →Exclusivity Clause
A contract term barring an influencer from working with competing brands for a defined period and category.
Read definition →Influencer Rate Card
A creator's published pricing for content deliverables across formats, platforms, and usage terms.
Read definition →Influencer Marketing Platform
Software for discovering, vetting, managing, and measuring influencer campaigns from one system.
Read definition →Conversion Tracking
Measuring which clicks, codes, or links drive desired actions like leads or sales back to a campaign.
Read definition →Influencer Campaign KPI
A measurable goal, such as reach, engagement, or conversions, used to judge influencer campaign success.
Read definition →Dark Social
Sharing that happens through private channels like DMs and messaging apps, invisible to standard analytics.
Read definition →Answer Engine Optimization (AEO)
Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) is the practice of structuring content so answer engines like AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity, and voice assistants can extract and present it directly as the answer to a query.
Read definition →AI SDR (AI Sales Development Representative)
An AI SDR is software that automates sales development tasks, researching prospects, personalizing outreach, and running multi-channel sequences across email, LinkedIn, and calls, so teams can start more qualified conversations without proportionally more headcount.
Read definition →First-Party Data
First-party data is information a business collects directly from its own audience, such as website behavior, form submissions, purchases, email engagement, and CRM records, with consent, making it accurate, privacy-resilient, and owned by the company.
Read definition →Fractional CMO
A fractional CMO is an experienced marketing executive who leads a company's marketing strategy on a part-time or contract basis, giving startups and growing businesses senior-level direction without the cost of a full-time chief marketing officer.
Read definition →Retainer (Agency Pricing Model)
A retainer is an agency pricing model where a client pays a recurring fee, usually monthly, for an ongoing scope of marketing work, providing predictable cost and continuous service rather than paying per project or per hour.
Read definition →Growth Marketing
Growth marketing is a data-driven, experiment-led approach that optimizes the entire customer lifecycle, acquisition, activation, retention, and revenue, through continuous testing and iteration, rather than focusing only on top-of-funnel awareness.
Read definition →Performance Marketing
Performance marketing is a results-driven approach where spend is tied to measurable outcomes, clicks, leads, sales, or specific actions, allowing advertisers to track ROI precisely and optimize campaigns toward profit rather than impressions or reach.
Read definition →AI Search Optimization
AI search optimization is the practice of making content discoverable and citable within AI-powered search experiences, like Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Copilot, so a brand appears in AI-generated answers rather than only in traditional link results.
Read definition →Speak the language of modern growth
Growth has its own vocabulary — and in 2026 it spans both classic search and AI answer engines. This glossary defines the terms that decide whether you rank, get cited, and convert: from SEO and GEO to CAC, LTV, and ROAS. Each definition is written answer-first so AI engines can cite it — and so you can put it to work.
Glossary FAQs
What is the difference between SEO and GEO?
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) wins ranking positions in classic search results; GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) wins citations inside AI answers from ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google AI Overviews. Modern growth needs both, from one content strategy.
Why does a marketing glossary matter for AI search?
Clear, well-structured definitions are exactly what AI answer engines extract and cite. A glossary with DefinedTerm schema helps your brand become the quoted source for category terms — a core GEO tactic.
How does Gigde use these concepts to drive growth?
Gigde turns these fundamentals — SEO, GEO, CAC, LTV, ROAS, inbound, backlinks, Core Web Vitals — into a done-for-you growth engine that lowers cost per lead while compounding traffic, citations, and pipeline.
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