The Complete List of Online Business Acronyms and Terms, that became an entire book.
As an ecommerce expert, I must say that You could view this as the complete list or wordbook of acronyms and terms related to running an online business.
In this page we list all the most commonly used acronyms, explain the meaning in short but valuable and easy to understand explanation.
The goal is to provide one source of information that you always can turn to in order to make sure that you are using the right terms and understand their full meaning.
If you like to download the full list to your computer to be right at your fingertips at all time, click on this button to let us know, and we will send it to you in a print ready format
As the planet is spinning and the world is evolving, there will always be new acronyms and terms that we can further develop this list with. If you have found or wonder about one that you can’t find here, please contact us to include it and get the answer to your questions.
1
· 1XX – Informational responses
The server is thinking through the request.
2
· 2XX – Success
The request was successfully completed, and the server gave the browser the expected response.
· 200 – HTTP Status Code 200
Website responds correctly
3
· 3XX – Redirection
The visitor will get redirected somewhere else. The request was received by the web server, but there’s a redirect of some kind.
· 301 – HTTP Status Code 301 - Permanent Redirect
The webpage you are trying to visit has been permanently moved to a new location. A 301 redirect means that visitors and bots that land on that page will be passed to the new URL. Any current link equity (link value) will be transmitted to the new page.
· 302 – HTTP Status Code 302 - Temporary Redirect
A 302 redirect is similar to a 301 where the visitors and bots are passed to the new page, but link equity may not be passed along. The search engines will know that its a temporary change and will thus not update the value of this page.
4
· 4XX – Client errors - Page not found
The site or page couldn’t be reached. (The request was made, but the page isn’t valid — this is an error on the website’s side of the conversation and often appears when a page doesn’t exist on the site).
· 404 – HTTP Status Code 404 - Not Found
This means the file or page that the browser is requesting wasn’t found by the webserver.
It could be because of a server error or that the link is dead but most often that a page has been removed or a product been discontinued. You should always aim at having no 404 error pages in your website. I always suggest that you create a custom 404 error page with a conversion goal in mind.
5
· 5XX – Server errors
Failure. A valid request was made by the client, but the server failed to complete the request.
· 500 - HTTP Status Code 500
This status code indicates a Internal Server Error, a classic server error. If you have this type of problem your link equity will very soon be damaged. You will want to fix any 500 error codes straight away.
· 500 - HTTP Status Code 503 - Service Unavailable
503 response means that the server is unavailable. The visitor is basically asked to come back later due to the server being temporarily overloaded or that you are conducting maintenance on the server. A 503 status code ensures search engines to come back soon because the page or site is only down for a short time.
A
· AJAX – Asynchronous JavaScript and XML
Allows web applications to send and receive data asynchronously.
· ALT – Alternative Text Attribute
An ALT keyword is used within the HTML coding to describe an image in text format.
· AOV – Average order value
Average amount spent by customers making purchases on site.
· AMP – Accelerated Mobile Page
Open source software created by Google and other companies to allow a separate page for mobile devices that load quickly.
· ASCII – American Standard Code for Information Interchange
A character encoding standard to communication electronically. You average keyboard displays the letters and symbols ASCII uses to standardize information across the internet.
· API – Application Program Interface
An interface that communicates between multiple software applications. It can define calls/requests, formats and conventions to follow.
· ASP – Application service provider
Delivers commercial software applications and other services for businesses online.
· AOV – Average order value
Average amount spent by customers making purchases on site.
· AYOR - At Your Own Risk
If you don’t want to be held accountable for risky business.
· AP: Accounts Payable
Defines the debts that must be paid off within a given period to the account
· AR – Accounts Receivable
The acronym refers to the outstanding invoices a company has or the money clients owe the company.
· AWOL – Absent Without Leave
A non-pay status and means any absence from duty which has not been approved by the concerned officers on the basis of applicable regulations and policies.
· ACCT – Account
The records of the values of a company's or an individual’s liabilities and assets. Moreover, they include data on the owner's equity.
· AM – Affiliate Market
A marketing arrangement where a company pays a commission to a third-party (affiliate) whenever that third-party’s effort generates a sale.
· AMS – Amazon Marketing Service
AMS includes all built-in, platform-specific marketing programs available to various sellers, such as Sponsored Product campaigns.
· ATC Rate – Add to Cart Rate
This metric is a percentage, showing how many visitors or customers place a specific item in their cart.
· ATV – Average Transaction Value
It’s a dollar amount that shows the average amount a customer spends in a single purchase.
B
· B2B – Business to Business
One business that makes a commercial transaction with another business.
· B2C – Business to Consumer
Businesses that sell directly to a consumer, bypassing any 3rd party.
· BH – Black Hat
Performing online actions with the intent to manipulate search engine rankings – also referred to as “gaming the algorithm”.
· BHW – Black Hat World
Most commonly referred to as an online forum devoted to methods of gaming the current search engine algorithms.
· BL – Backlink
A link from one website pointing to another. Still one of the most powerful ranking factors in modern SEO, if done right. Read about turning affiliate partners into valuable backlinks.
· BR – Bounce Rate
The percentage of readers who visit any one page on your site that don’t interact with anything on site, such as clicking a link.
· B2G – Business to Government
Businesses that sell to the government firms directly
· BAU – Business As Usual
It is used when there is nothing new to report.
· BR – Bounce Rate
The percentage of readers who visit any one page on your site that don’t interact with anything on site, such as clicking a link.
· BS – Balance Sheet
A balance sheet is the book of a financial reports of a company's assets, liabilities, and shareholders' equity.
· BD – Business Development
In easy terms, business development is defined as the ideas, initiatives, and activities that help make a business better including increment in revenues, growth in terms of business enhancement, expanding profitability by building strategic partnerships and making strategic business decisions
· BOM – Bill Of Material
A bill of materials (BOM) is a centralized source of information used to manufacture a product
· BFCM – Black Friday Cyber Monday
It is used in conversations surrounding those major selling events.
· BNPL – Buy Now Pay Later
With a BNPL arrangement, the customer receives the item immediately, but doesn’t have to start paying for it on the purchase day. So, can pay later.
· BOGO – Buy One Get One
It’s a promotional deal that allows customers to get access to a deal or discount after the pay for an item at full price.
· BOPIS – Buy Online, Pick up in-Store
It’s a fulfillment that allows customers to make an online purchase but get the item from a brick-and-mortar store.
· BOTF – Bottom of The Funnel
The bottom of the funnel is a position in the sales funnel. It’s the phase where the customer is in the final part of the process, usually at the actual transaction or purchase phase.
· BLG – Bottom Line Growth
A company’s bottom-line is a reference to its net income, as it is usually the “bottom” number on income statements. Bottom-line growth discusses increases in net income.
· BM – Brand Management
The act of actively taking steps to impact consumer perception of a brand, increasing the odds that consumers will view the brand’s value or position in a desired manner.
· BM – Brand Marketing
A marketing approach focused on the brand as a whole and not individual items.
· BAM – Brick and Motor
A descriptor used when talking about physical stores.
· Bunding
The process of grouping a set of products together as a sales technique. Usually, it involves giving customers a discount. Instead of charging the full, total retail rate based on the items in the group, the customer pays less.
· BB – Buy Box
The spot on the Amazon product page where customers can add an item to their cart.
C
· ccTLD – Country Code Top Level Domain
Always two letters long, a country code top-level domain are reserved for countries and territories. For example, .can for Canada, .au for Australia.
· CAPTCHA – Completely Automated Public Turing Test to Tell Computers and Humans Apart
A form many sites sites use to help restrict bots from completing an action – such as using a contact form.
· CDN – Content Delivery Network
A group of proxy servers that are geographically spread across the world. Using a CDN allows you content to be sent to a user from their closest server.
· CGI – Common Gateway Interface
A standard way of running an application from an online server. CGI is known to use up a lot of processing time.
· CLS – Cumulative Layout Shift
The unexpected shifting of elements on a webpage as it loads into a browser. It is a major factor in Google’s Web Core Vitals test.
· CLV – Customer Lifetime Value
How much net profit a customer is predicted to generate over the entire relationship with a business.
· CMS – Content Management System
Computer software to organize and manage the creation and modification of digital content. WordPress, Shopify and Wix are all types of CMS.
· COA – Cost Of Acquisition
How much it costs a business to have a customer purchase a product or service.
· CPA – Cost Per Acquisition
The aggregate cost of acquiring a customer for a product of service.
· CPC – Cost Per Click
Used in online advertising, the aggregate cost of a potential customer clicking from your advertisement to website landing page.
· CPI – Cost Per Impression
The aggregate cost of 1,000 people viewing an online advertisement. Commonly used in internet advertising and marketing.
· CPL – Cost Per Lead
The aggregate cost of a sign up form, a common advertising pricing model. Also known as online lead generation.
· CPM – Cost Per Mile
Similar to CPI, a marketing term to show the aggregate cost of 1,000 impressions on an advertisement.
· CPO – Cost Per Order
The average cost for a business to have a customer complete an order.
· CPV – Cost Per View
The average cost for a single view, it is calculated by total advertising costs by number of views.
· CR – Conversion Rate
The percentage of people that view an order, offer or form, in relation to the number of conversions.
· CRM – Customer Relationship Management
How a business analyses its relationship with past, present and future customers. It helps define areas of the business to be improved in relation to its clients.
· CRO – Conversion Rate Optimization
The process in optimizing a website or landing page to increase the number of conversions.
· CSE – Custom Search Engine
Google Programmable Search Engine is a platform provided by Google that allows web developers to create customized search engines, based on Google Search.
· CSS – Cascading Style Sheet
A style sheet language used to describe the presentation of a document that is written with a mark up language, such as HTML.
· CTA – Call To Action
A common element of a website landing page, often directing a visitor to perform a specific actions. Order Now, Buy Now and Sign Up are 3 examples of a CTA.
· CTR – Click Through Rate
The percentage of people that click through to your website after viewing a result, or impression.
· CX – Customer Experience
In online marketing, it is the experience of a customer or client that interacts with your online business. A poor customer experience can lead to a bad conversion rate.
· CSC – Card Security Code
The card security code is typically the last three or four digits printed, not embossed like the card number, on the signature strip on the back of the card.
· CSS – Cascading Style Sheets
CSS is a computer language for laying out and structuring web pages (HTML or XML).
· CA - Cart Abandonment
The term for the act of adding items to an online cart, but instead of going through with the purchase, choosing the exit the site instead.
· CP - Category Page
A landing page on a website that list the available product categories instead of products.
· Chargeback
The reversal of a credit card transaction where the customer receives their money back. Usually, chargebacks are caused by customer’s disputing a purchase, causing the merchant to refund the amount.
· CR - Churn Rate
Also called attrition rate, it’s a percentage of customers who stop doing business with a company. It’s commonly used when discussing subscription models, allowing sellers to analyze the number of customers who cancel in comparison to the total number of subscribers during a specific period.
· CLM - Closed-Loop Marketing
An approach for assessing the effectiveness of marketing campaigns. The method is highly data-driven, and usually involves multi-channel analysis, including data from a seller’s website, blog traffic, SEO efforts, email marketing, and more.
· COGS – Cost Of Good Sold
A metric that showcases the total costs associated with a particularly product. It can include manufacturing, packaging, shipping, taxes, listing fees, and a range of other associated expenses.
· CA - Cohort Analysis
The process of analyzing the behavior of a specific customer subset, usually based on a specific attribute or attribute set.
· CI - Consumer Insights
Information about a seller’s current or prospective customers, usually generated by gathering data from a range of sources.
· CT - Consumer Touchpoints
Tools that allow consumers to engage with a company, such as websites, smartphone apps, physical stores, messengers, chatbots, phone numbers, and more.
· Content
Text, images, videos, and audio that visitors encounter when on a website.
· CM - Content Marketing
A marketing approach that focuses on sharing text, images, video, or audio that doesn’t promote the brand or a product specifically, but instead drives interests or develops the brand’s identity.
· CC - Conversational Commerce
An e-commerce approach where transactions are conducted or information is shared through dialogs, usually facilitated by live reps, chatbots, or AI assistant technology.
· CF - Conversion Funnel
The process that has to be followed to take to reach a specific goal, like the checkout pages a customer must navigate to make a purchase.
· CP - Conversion Path
The steps required to get shift an anonymous potential buyer into a qualified lead, typically those between the visitor arriving at a site and ultimately making or abandoning a purchase.
· CPG – Consumer Packaged Goods
CPG stands for “consumer packaged goods,” a term that covers products that the typical consumer uses daily or frequently, and requires regular replenishment or replacement.
· CPL – Cost per Lead
CPL stands for “cost per lead,” a pricing model for digital marketing that involves a set price for every lead generation.
· CRAP – Can’t Realize A Profit
CRAP stands for “can’t realize a profit,” referencing an item that isn’t generating profit for a reason.
· CRM – Customer Relationship Management
CRM stands for “customer relationship management” and refers to software designed to enhance and track customer interactions with the goal of improving processes and driving profitability.
· CS - Cross-sells
Presenting customers with similar or aligned items – based on their current cart or past purchases – to drive sales.
· CJ - Customer Journey
A term that covers the phases a customer moves through, starting with initial awareness of a product or business and ending with a purchase.
· CL - Customer Loyalty
A reflection of how likely a customer is to return to your business and make additional purchases.
D
· DA – Domain Authority
A metrics developed by Moz, gives a rough guide to how your website compares to competitors in relation to your backlink profile
· DF – Do Follow (Backlinks)
The most sought after form of backlink to a site. A Do-Follow backlinks passes a small amount of authority, also known as “link juice” from one page to another.
· DFO – Data Feed Optimization
The process of improving your product feeds to increase your online sales through your business.
· DKI – Dynamic Keyword Insertion
Automatically inserts the most relevant keyword for your advertisement.
· DLP – Directory Listings Page
A directory listing is a page where customers search for business contact information. Yelp, Yellow Pages and Google My Business are all forms of directories.
· DLR – Deep Link Ratio
The ratio of internal links compared to the total of links on a page.
· DMP – Data Management Platform
A software platform used to collect and organize data. Helps businesses target specific users during a marketing campaign.
· DNS – Domain Name System
A hierarchical naming system for computers or resources connected to the internet. Various information is associated to each domain name.
· DR – Direct Response
A marketing tactic used to encourage a reader to perform an action quickly, such as a purchase or opt-in.
· DR – Domain Rating
A metric from 1 to 100 used by Ahrefs to determine the strength of a backlink profile of a website.
· DRPs – Directory Submissions
A website page where a link to a website is placed. Directory submissions hold little value in modern SEO, but can still be beneficial when done right.
· DR – Direct Response
A marketing tactic used to encourage a reader to perform an action quickly, such as a purchase or opt-in.
· DDU- Delivered Duty Unpaid
An international trade term indicating that the seller is responsible for making a safe delivery of goods to a named destination.
· DMA- Designated Market Area
The geographic areas in the globe to research for selling a product. The DMA data are essential for any marketer, researcher or organization seeking to use standardized geographic areas within their business
· DSP- Demand Side Platform
A demand-side platform (DSP) is a type of software used in business that allows an advertiser to buy advertising with the help of automation
· DR – Debit
A debit is an accounting entry that results in either an increase in assets or a decrease in liabilities on a company's balance sheet.
· DILO – Day In the Life Of
Analysis to track and note down what’s actually being done each day.
· DA - Digital Assets
Anything used to represent your company online, like logos, product photographs, custom fonts, brand guides, mission statements, value statements, landing page content, and more.
· Digital Shelf
The location of a product listing on a retail website, shopping app, third-party marketplace, etc., specifically in reference to the customer browsing experience.
· DT - Direct Traffic
Website traffic generated by the visitor typing your site’s URL into the browser, or accessing your store’s website link through a saved bookmark.
· DA - Display Advertising
Clickable paid online ads that display on websites, such as banner ads, usually featuring an image and text.
· DC - Distributed Commerce
An e-commerce mechanism that allows customers to make purchases from another source without having the leave the website or platform they are viewing, such as shoppable social media ads.
· Drop shipping
Drop shipping is an e-commerce seller approach where the seller doesn’t maintain any physical inventory, instead partnering with a supplier who handles product storage and shipping to customers.
E
· ECPC – Enhanced Cost Per Click
Adjusting your manual advertising bids in effort to increase conversion rate by more aggressively targeting profitable keywords.
· EMD – Exact Match Domain
Including the keywords your trying to rank for in the domain name itself. Google have confirmed this tactic doesn’t work.
· EPC – Earnings per click
Average money earnt per click in a paid advertising campaign.
· EMP – Earnings per thousand
Revenue earned for every 1,000 impressions.
· ESP – Email Service Provider
A company providing email accounts to people and businesses.
· eCP(x)- Effective Cost
· ERP- Enterprise Resource Planning
A process used by companies to integrate the main functional areas of their businesses processes into a unified system
· EPS – Earnings Per Share
EPS indicates how much money a company makes for each share of its stock and is a widely used metric for estimating corporate value.
· EOD – End of Day
End of day means the end of the trading day in financial markets or the point when trading ceases.
· EAI – Enterprise Application Integration
Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) represents a new paradigm in the use of technologies and services. Small, medium and large companies.
· ECP - E-commerce Platform
A software solution that provides sellers with critical e-commerce tools, such as shopping cart functionality, as well as operation management benefits.
· ER - Engagement Rate
A metric reflecting the number or percentage of visitors, ad viewers, or other groups interacting with digital content or an ad.
· ETE – Event Triggered Email
When email list subscribers receive a message in conjunction with a particular event, like a birthday, anniversary, or similar moment.
F
· FBML – Facebook Markup Language
Html code that allows Facebook page owners to create custom tabs on their business page.
· FCP – Frequently Cached Page
Pages that are often cached by Google in their index.
· FCP – First Contentful Paint
Occurs when the first piece of content is downloaded on the browser. This metric is part of the Web Core Vitals test by Google.
· FTP – File Transfer Protocol
Standard network protocol for transferring files between a client and server on a computer network.
· FBA - Fulfillment by Amazon
An e-commerce fulfillment center option for selling products on Amazon, typically giving sellers the ability to make their items Prime eligible.
· FS - Flash Sale
A promotion or discount that’s only available for a very short period, such as one day or only several hours.
· FMCG - Fast-Moving Consumer Goods
A reference to products that sell quickly, typically at lower price points.
· Fulfillment
The process of getting an online order to a customer, usually involving processing, picking, packing, and shipping.
G
· G+ – Google Plus
A social platform created by Google. It was shut down in April 2019.
· GA – Google Analytics
The most accurate way to collect data on visitors coming to your site. You can see demographics, geographical locations, device used and plenty more about your audience.
· GAP – Google Advertising Professional
A Pay Per Click advertising professional that has completed the Google PPC exam and is qualified to create paid ads.
· GIS – Google Image Search
The search results page that turners up images as results, rather than text links.
· GRD – Government referring domains
Government owned websites that link to your site. These can be quite powerful as they are seen as authoritative.
· GSC – Google Search Console
Google Search Console, or simply Search Console, is used to keep track of rankings for specific keywords and landing pages in search results. You can also find manual actions, security issues, and more directly from the Google team here.
· GTM – Google Tag Manager
A tag manager system to easily add and edit tracking code snippets on a website.
· GWT – Google Webmaster Tools
Now known as Google Search Console, displays the rankings and clicks from Google Search Results, as well as messages directly from Google.
· GUI – Graphical User Interface
An interface that allows a user to interact with graphics and icons rather than text.
· GT - Geo-targeting
An advertising approach that displays specific ads to people in a particular geographic region, such as a country, state, or city.
· GH - Growth Hacking
An approach to marketing that aims to spur fast growth, either by spurring a large number of sales or significantly boosting visibility. This method usually involves the use of several data sources and marketing techniques.
· GWP – Gift With Purchase
Referencing any transaction where the buyer gets something extra in conjunction with a purchase. Usually, the triggering purchase involves are larger or higher-priced item, and the GWP is typically small and low-cost, such as the product samples usually given out in the beauty or food industries.
H
· H1 – Level 1 Heading Markup
The most important heading, carries the most weight. This is usually the title of the post. Here is the html code you’ll find wrapped around the title <h1>Heading level 1</h1>.
· H2 – Level 2 Heading Markup
The 2nd highest tier heading tag. Here is the html code you’ll find wrapped around the title <h2>Heading level 2</h2>.
· H3 – Level 3 Heading Markup
The 3rd highest tier heading tag. Here is the html code you’ll find wrapped around the title <h3>Heading level 3</h3>.
· H4 – Level 4 Heading Markup
The 3rd highest tier heading tag. Here is the html code you’ll find wrapped around the title <h4>Heading level 4</h4>.
· H5 – Level 5 Heading Markup
The 3rd highest tier heading tag. Here is the html code you’ll find wrapped around the title <h5>Heading level 5</h5>.
· H6 – Level 6 Heading Markup
The 3rd highest tier heading tag. Here is the html code you’ll find wrapped around the title <h6>Heading level 6</h6>
· HREF – Hypertext Reference
A HTML attribute used to link to a different website, or link to a different area of the same page.
· HTML – Hypertext Markup Language
The standard markup language for documents built to display in a web browser.
· HTTP – Hypertext Transfer Protocol
Communicates between web browsers and web servers, it is used to transmit hypermedia documents.
· HTTPS – Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure
Similar to HTTP, but with an extra layer of security. It enables secure communication over a computer.
· HIPPO- Highest Paid Person’s Opinion
It means decisions made by deferring to the opinion of the person with the highest pay grade
· HR – Human Resources
Human resources experts are accountable for recruitment, screening, interviewing and placing workers.
I
· IBL – Inbound Link
A link from one website pointing to your website. Also known as external links.
· IFTTT – If This Than That
Helps connect different apps and devices together.
· IM – Internet Marketing
Also known as online marketing, it is the process of promoting a business products and/or services over the internet.
· IP – Internet Protocol
The method in which data is passed from one computer to another over the internet. Each computer has a specific IP address.
· ISP – Internet Service Providers
Companies that provide internet access to customers.
· IPO – Initial Public Offering
IPO means the listing the shares on a stock exchange, making them available for public purchase.
· Impressions
A metric noting the number of times an ad, image, or post has been presented to a website visitor, social media app user, etc.
· IL - Inbound Link
Links on a third-party website that point to your site.
· IM - Inbound Marketing
A content and social media marketing approach that aims to boost credibility by getting the seller’s website links posted on other sites.
· IM - Influencer Marketing
A marketing strategy that involves partnering with an “influencer” – a person with clout in a particular, relevant niche – to reach a target audience, boost visibility, and/or generate sales.
J
· JGI – Just Google It
A common term in modern times, telling someone to “Google it” means look it up online on a search engine, like Google.
· JS – JavaScript
A lightweight programming language used both on client and server side that allows pages to become interactive.
· JSON LD – JavaScript Object Notation – Linked Data
This information request is commonly used to encode schema data into a web page. This gives search engines more information when reading a webpage that isn’t usually visible to a reader.
K
· KPI – Key Performance Indicator
Metrics that are crucial to the success of a business, these indicators are important to understanding the level of success in business operations.
· Kitting
Bringing together several products or items to be sold as a group or set, ensuring that the bundle is ready-to-ship, reducing the packing burden when the kit is purchased and expediting fulfillment.
L
· LB – Link Building
The process of collecting links pointing from 3rd party sites to your own website.
· LCP – Largest Contentful Paint
How long it takes for the largest resource on a web page to render and be visible to a user.
· LPO – Landing Page Optimization
The process of optimizing a landing page, usually for increase in conversion rate. Optimizing a web page can vary from loading time to the right call to action visible on a apge that gets a user to perform an action.
· LSA – Latent Semantic Analysis
Used to determine the accuracy of a program’s statements and how data types are used.
· LSEO – Local SEO
Local business serving a specific area or location to have a strong local search presence. Optimizing Google My Business accounts, Yelp reviews, social platforms and other online mentions specific to the local area.
· LSI – Latent Semantic Indexing
A computer program to understand the context of text and learn synonyms based on this information.
· LTKW – Long Tail keyword
A longer keyword, or phrase that webmasters target to get more specific traffic to a webpage.
· LTV – Lifetime Value
The estimated value of a person for the entire time they are a customer of your business.
· LWOP – Leave Without Pay
LWOP is an approved temporary absence from duty in a non-pay status re-quested by an
employee.
· LIFO – Last In, First Out
LIFO is a method for account inventory. Under LIFO, the costs of the most recent products purchased (or produced) are the first to be expensed.
M
· MQL – Marketing Qualified Lead
A lead that has more potential to become a client or customer.
· MTO – Meta Tags Optimization
Meta tags provide information about a webpage in the HTML. The process of optimizing helps Google understand and rank the content better.
· MOM – Month over Month
Month over Month way to measure relative business.
· MBO – Management by Objectives
Defines the management consultants based on a need to manage business based on its needs and goals.
· Margin
A metric – usually written as a percentage – that compares the cost of product acquisition to the sales price.
· MA - Marketing Automation
Using software to automate marketing functions, like displaying posts on social media, sending emails to newsletter members, or launching an online ad campaign.
· Merchant
The company or individual selling a product or service.
· MF - Micro-Fulfillment
A fulfillment approach that focuses on expediting the speed of delivery to customers, relying on small-scale warehouses that are usually placed near to population centers.
· MC- Mobile Commerce
E-commerce approach that supports customers buying from a site using a mobile device, such as a smartphone.
· MM - Mobile Marketing
An advertising method that focuses on ad delivery to mobile devices.
· MoR - Minimum order Requirement
The minimum a person or business must purchase for the order to go through.
· MRR – Monthly Recurring Revenue
A metric that represents the dollar amount a company can expect to have come in each month, usually in relation to a subscription service model.
N
· NAP – Name, Address, Phone Number
The Name, Address, and Phone Number of a local business is crucial in Google understand more detailed information. You need the NAP of a business to be identical and correct over all social media and directory outlets.
· NF – No Follow (Backlinks)
No Follow backlinks are the opposite of Do Follow links. They pass little to no link authority and search engine spiders won’t follow a link to the second page.
· NSEO – Negative SEO
A black hat SEO method a competitor may use to hurt your website standing with Google. This can include hacking your website and building spammy links to your site to get penalized.
· NM- Niche Marketing
Niche marketing defines the channeling all marketing efforts towards one well-defined segment of the population.
· NAV – Net Assets Value
The net asset value (NAV) represents the net value of an entity and is calculated as the total value of the entity's assets minus the total value of its liabilities.
· NPS - Net Promoter Score
A customer loyalty metric that denotes a customer’s willingness to recommend a product or business, as well as a gauge for their overall satisfaction.
· NTB - New To Brand
It is usually accompanied by a number noting the amount of first-time orders of a product during a specific period, such as one year.
O
· OBL – Outbound Link
Links pointing from one website to another site. Also called external links.
· ORM – Online Reputation Management
Actively monitor website or brand mentions on social media, other sites and reviews to address false or negative comments.
· OS – Operating System
The operating system of your computer manages all the hardware and software.
· OSE – Open Site Explorer
A tool developed by Moz to identify and track the links pointing to your website.
· OWBL – One Way Back Link
A one-way link is when a link is placed to a site, without that site linking back.
· OCM- Omni channel Marketing
Omni channel marketing focuses on delivering a consistent, personalized experience for shoppers across all channels and devices.
· OOS- Out of Stock
A stock out is an event, preventing an item from being purchased or shipped.
· OOO – Out Of Office
Out of office defines that you are not at your usual work place.
· OOH - Out-Of-Home
It is references advertising that reaches consumers when they are away from their dwelling, such as billboards or bench ads.
· OF - Order Fulfillment
The steps involved in getting a product to a customer once it has been ordered, starting with the point of sale and ending once delivery occurs.
· OS - Organic Search
The process of inputting a keyword or term into a search engine and choosing a non-paid/non-promoted link.
· OT - Organic Traffic
Website traffic that comes from unpaid sources, such as organic search results through a search engine.
· OM - Owned media
Digital marketing resources or materials that are fully owned by the company or seller, such as the company’s website.
P
· PAA – People Also Ask
An example of a Google featured snippet, People Also Ask boxes appear in search results and give related questions readers are searching for that may be helpful. This is a great tool for keyword research.
· PBN – Private Blog Network
An outdated and potentially harmful link building technique. It is a network of sites used to pass link authority to a single site.
· PDF – Portable Document Format
A file format that captures all document elements as an electronic image. Adobe Acrobat is a common program used to create PDFs.
· PFI – Pay For Inclusion
Websites pay to be included in a directory or database.
· PFL – Pay For Listings
Pay for your website to be listed around the internet, also known as paid placement or pay per click.
· PFP – Pay For Performance
Incentive for an employee or business is rewarded for completing objectives.
· PHP – Hypertext Preprocessor
This server side HTML scripting language manages dynamic content, databases and e-commerce sites.
· PPC – Pay Per Click
Spending money to have a website page show up in the advertising section of search results, or on other websites.
· PPCSE – Pay Per Click Search Engine
Search engines that provide a PPC service, such as Google.
· PPL – Pay Per Lead
Pay a determined price per lead to your website or business.
· PPS – Pay Per Sale
Pay a determined price per sale to your website or business.
· PR – Page Rank
Developed by the founders of Google, Page Rankis a system for how websites rank in search results.
· PR – Press Release
A press release aims to interest a journalist or publication in a subject. It’s usually a short news story sent to targeted members of the media.
· PV – Pageviews
The count of individual pages viewed on your website
· P4P – Paid For Placement
An open auction where marketers bid for advertisement placement for specific search terms.
· P/E – Price to Earnings
The P/E ratio shows what the market is willing to pay today for a stock based on its past or future earnings.
· PFP – Pay For Performance
Incentive for an employee or business is rewarded for completing objectives.
· PPC – Pay Per Click
Spending money to have a website page show up in the advertising section of search results, or on other websites.
· PTO – Paid Time Off
Paid time off is an employee leave policy under which the company sanctions a pool of leaves for its employees, for which there will be no loss of pay.
· PPL – Pay Per Lead
Pay a determined price per lead to your website or business.
· PPS – Pay Per Sale
Pay a determined price per sale to your website or business.
· PIM- Product Information Management
A Product Information Management (PIM) solution defines a single place to collect, manage, and enrich your product information, create a product catalog, and distribute it to your sales.
· POD- Proof of Delivery
A Proof of Delivery (POD) is a document that as written evidence of the proper delivery of a shipment.
· POS- Point of Sale
The place where a transaction actually occurs between seller and buyer.
· PA - Product Assortment
Also known as “merchandise mix,” refers to the range of items that are stocked and sold by a retailer.
· PL - Product Launches
A pre-planned and coordinate project for debuting new items and making them available for purchase for the first time.
· PA - Programmatic Advertising
An advertising approach that automates the purchase/sale of ad inventory in real-time through a bidding system.
· PT - Propensity Targeting
A data-driven marketing approach that identifies consumers who are most likely to engage with your brand or make a purchase.
· PO - Purchase Order
Also referred to as “PO,” a purchase order is a document/agreement between a supplier/manufacturer and a buyer, where the buyer agrees to acquire a specific number of products or a particular service for a specific price. Typically used by sellers to acquire inventory from manufacturers, or other kinds of B2B sales, including bulk purchases.
· PVR - Product View Rate
Usually comparing the number of times a product page was viewed in comparison to non-product pages on the site.
Q
· QA – Quality Assurance
Identifies potential mistakes and issues with a product or service, intended to uncover an issue before any damage happens.
· QS – Quality Score
An overall judgment of how Google Adwords finds your Pay Per Click ad both relevant and it’s quality. It helps in determining the cost of clicks.
· QOQ
A way to compare financial results, data or statistics compared to the same time period during the quarter calendar year.
R
· RD – Referring Domains
A referring domain is a website, or domain, that links to a website. Multiple links from the same domain count as one referring domain.
· RFI – Request For Information
A document used to gather information to create a list of potential suppliers or vendors.
· ROI – Return on Investment
A formula for calculating the efficiency of an investment. Profit/Investment x 100 will give you a percentage of ROI.
· ROS – Run of Site
An advertising term that means advertisers give ad placement control to publishers, usually leading to lower advertising costs.
· ROAS – Return On Ad Spend
How much revenue was generated by spending money on ad placement. Return from ads – amount spend on ads will show how much revenue was generated after cost of ads has been factored in.
· RSS – Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary
Allows users and applications to get updates from websites in a readable and standardized format.
· RTD – Real-Time Data
Data that is immediately delivered after it has been collected. Often used for tracking or navigation, as there is no delay in the provided information.
· ROA – Return On Assets
ROA is a measure of how efficiently a company uses the assets it owns to generate profits. Managers, analysts and investors use ROA to evaluate a company's financial conditions.
· ROE – Return On Equity
ROE measures the profitability of a corporation in relation to stockholders' equity.
· RTD – Real-Time Data
Data that is immediately delivered after it has been collected. Often used for tracking or navigation, as there is no delay in the provided information.
· RPU- Revenue per User
A ratio used to express the amount of revenue your ecommerce business generates on a per-user basis.
S
· SaaS – Software as a Service
A software distribution model that allows customers to access the program over the internet.
· SE – Search Engine
A website that allows users to search queries and get relevant information in return. Google, Bing, and Yahoo are three examples.
· SEM – Search Engine Marketing
A marketing tactic where a business uses paid advertisements on search engines to sell products, services or get more brand awareness to increase their revenue.
· SEO – Search Engine Optimization
The process of improving a website and the signals pointing to it with the hopes of improving keyword rankings and targeted traffic.
· SEOs – Search Engine Optimization Performance
The process of measuring search engine performance of a website over time. Taking into account a number of factors and techniques to develop a strategy to increase organic visibility on search engines.
· SEP – Search Engine Positioning
The practice of optimizing web pages in order to get higher rankings on search engines.
· SERM – Search Engine Results Management
Constantly managing the online reputation of a company and influencing the public impression of a business.
· SERP – Search Engine Results Page
The page that is returned after making a search query on a search engine.
· SES – Search Engine Strategies
The process of planning, outlining and implementing strategies designed to improve your rankings on search engines.
· SEW – Search Engine Watch
A well known website keeping an eye on changes in SEO, algorithms and much more.
· SI – Speed Index
How long it takes in milliseconds for visible resources of a website to be displayed.
· SLA – Service Level Agreement
An agreement that defines the level of service expected from a vendor, and key performance indicators and important metrics to be measured.
· SMO – Social Media Optimization
Optimizing social media listings for a business to improve it’s standing across different outlets relating to your business.
· SMP – Social Media Platform
Websites and apps that allow people to interact with other users. Facebook, Youtube and Instagram are three well known social media platforms.
· SNS – Social Networking Service
An online website or app where users create an account and interact with others who share similar interests and activities.
· SQL – Sales Qualified Lead
A prospective client or customer that has a high chance of converting and has expressed interest in your product or service.
· SRC – Server Response Codes
A variety of status codes issued by a server in response to a request made by a client.
· SRM – Search Reputation Management
The continuous act of managing an online business reputation over search engines.
· SSI – Server Side Includes
Directives placed in HTML pages that allow you to add dynamically generated content to an existing page.
· SSL – Secure Sockets Layer
A protocol for establishing authenticated and encrypted links between a client and a server.
· SWL – Site-Wide Link
A link that appears on most or all of a website’s pages.
T
· TBT – Total Blocking Time
The amount of time that a page is blocked from respondign to actions of a user, such as a link click.
· TF – Trust Flow
Determining how trustworthy a page is based on the types and authority of sites linked to.
· TLD – Top Level Domain
Part of a domain that comes after the dot, for example, com, org or net.
· TLP – Top Level Page
A page on a website that is the top of the hierarchical page structure.
· TOP – Time On Page
How long customers spend on a certain page, usually displayed as an average.
· TOS – Terms Of Service
Legal agreements between a service provider and user who wants to use that particular service.
· TR – Trust Rank
An algorithm that analyzes a link profile to separate spam from useful sites in the search engine rankings.
· TTF – Topical Trust Flow
The relevancy of inbound links compared to the content on your page and the website the link is coming from.
· TTFB – Time To First Byte
A measurement of time to determine how responsive a web server or other resource is. Measures the duration from the user making a HTTP request to the first byte being loaded in a users browser.
· TTI – Time To Interactive
How long it takes for a website page to become interactive when loading in a browser.
· SFS - Ship-from-Store
A fulfillment process where the product a customer buys online is shipped from the retailer’s brick-and-mortar store instead of a warehouse or fulfillment center.
· STS - Ship-to-Store
A fulfillment approach where the item a customer purchases online is made available for pick-up at a retailer’s brick-and-mortar store.
· SM - Shopper Marketing
A marketing approach that concentrates on targeting active shoppers as a means of driving supplemental sales. Often, it involves upselling at the point-of-purchase as a last-minute appeal to boost the value of a shopper’s cart.
· SM - Site Merchandising
The process of ensuring the ideal products are presented in the proper fashion at the right time to encourage online shoppers to buy.
· SRP - Suggested Retail Price
Also referred to as SRP or recommended retail price (RRP), the price that a manufacturer recommends a retailer charges for an item.
· SCM - Supply Chain Management
Overseeing, controlling, and optimizing the flow of goods.
· SD - Syndicated Data
Marketing data that isn’t company- or product-specific, usually aggregated by large-scale market research firms.
U
· UI – User Interface
The point in which a user interacts with a computer. A screen where a user interacts with an application, a desktop computer and a keyboard are all versions of a UI.
· URI – Uniform Resource Identifier
A section of a web address, a string of characters that identifies a particular resource. It combines the URL and URN of a web address.
· URL – Uniform Resource Locator
A section of a web address, a string of characters that identifies a particular resource location.
· URN – Uniform Resource Name
A section of a web address, a string of characters that identifies a particular resource name.
· USP – Unique Selling Point
Combining what a customer wants and what your brand does well, ignoring what your competition does well. Identifying a USP is a solid way to get more market share.
· UTM – Urchin Tracking Module
A way to add tags into a URL so when a link is clicked, those tags are sent to Google Analytics and tracker. UTM’s are used to track a campaigns effectiveness and identify ways to drive more traffic and sale to a website.
· UV – Unique Visitor
An individual visitor to your website during a certain reporting period. Any users visiting your site with the same IP address count as 1 unique visitor.
· UX – User Experience
The overall experience a user has when visiting your website. This includes page speed, how things load and appear, as well how engaging the content is. UX is a major ranking factor, as it sends a number of important signals to Google.
· Upselling
The process of encouraging a shopper to increase the value of their purchase, usually by recommending a more expensive version or promoting add-ons.
· UGC – User Generated Content
Content – such as posts, reviews, images, or videos – that are created by individuals who are not a part of the business.
V
· VA – Virtual Assistant
An assistant that can help with a range of online activities. A form of outsourcing things to do for a business.
· VIPS – Visual-block Page Segmentation
Vision-based Page Segmentation uses an algorithm (VIPS) to extract the blocks structure by using some visual cues and tag properties of the nodes, commonly used on Python coding platforms.
· VOD – Video On Demand
Video that is always accessible to a user which can either be downloaded or streamed on a device.
· Vendor
In relation to e-commerce, a vendor is generally a manufacturer or other B2B company that provides sellers with products or services.
· VC - Vendor Central
The Amazon interface used by distributors and manufacturers who supply Amazon with products that are them sold directly by Amazon.
· VLT - Vendor Lead Time
A metric noting how long it takes for a vendor to supply a company/buyer with a product once it receives an order from said company/buyer.
· VC - Voice Commerce
A shopping approach that relies on voice recognition technology, where a customer can interact – usually with a digital assistant – by speaking to initiate or handle a purchase.
W
· W3C – World Wide Web Consortium
An international community that develops and sets the standards of the internet to ensure long-term growth.
· WH – White Hat
Often referred to as ‘safe’ link building techniques. White Hat techniques are those that don’t break any Terms of Service of Google and other search engines.
· WMT – Webmaster Tools
Webmaster Tools refers to either Google Search Console (once known as Google Webmaster Tools) or Bing Webmaster Tools. A interface to display data from search engines.
· WMW – Webmaster World
A well known site helping webmasters, or website owners, understand and implement SEO and best internet practices for their websites.
· WP – WordPress
The most popular CMS or Content Management System in the world. Around 35% of all websites in the world are powered by WordPress, an estimated 455 million.
· WWW – World Wide Web
Commonly known as the Web, where documents and other resources are transferred by URL’s and interlinked by hypertexts.
· WA - Web Analytics
The process of collecting, analyzing, and reviewing website data to explore the behavior of site visitors.
· WB - Win-back
An email campaign focused on re-engaging past customers who haven’t interacted with your brand for a period.
· WISMO - Where Is My Order
A reference to customer contacts who are looking for information about an item they have purchased that they are yet to receive.
· WMS - Warehouse Management System
A reference to enterprise-level software that assist with inventory management, distribution flows, order tracking, etc.
X
· XHTML – Extensible HyperText Markup Language
A markup language used to create webpages across the internet. Similar to HTML but uses a XML-based syntax that is more strict.
· XML – Extensible Markup Language
A simple yet flexible text format language. Plays an important role the exchange of data across the internet.
Y
· Y! – Yahoo
One of the largest search engines in the world and a large news website.
· YOY – Year Over Year
A way to compare financial results, data or statistics compared to the same time period during the last calendar year.
· YTD – Year To Date
Refers to the first day of the current year up to the current date. Is a way of measuring financial trends or success, or interpreting data and statics for the current year.