Glossary of Terms
Below is a list of terms you will see throughout this resource center, and will often be used by our team as you work with them. If you have any questions about what these terms mean specifically for your business, please contact us. We’re happy to help.
Organic – Refers to all non-paid placements of links to posts and pages on search engines, websites, etc… These links get placed not because they are paid for, but because the search engine and/or other website feels it’s in their own, or their audience’s, best interest to share the link. This is why providing very helpful and non-sales content online is a great organic strategy in internet marketing.
Organic Reach: The amount of people who have seen your website content through non-paid placements of links on search engines, websites, etc.
Landing Page: The destination page or post that a campaign directs to. For example, a text ad on Google will go to a landing page where the user will learn more about the products or service and typically be directed to take action in the form of a sale, download, form submission, or phone call.
Domain Authority (DA): A ranking score that predicts how likely a website is to rank in search engine result pages (SERPs). Domain Authority scores range from one to 100, with higher scores corresponding to greater likelihood of ranking.
Domain: Simply put, a domain name (or just ‘domain’) is the name of a website. It’s what comes after “@” in an email address, or after “www.” in a web address. If someone asks how to find you online, what you tell them is usually your domain name. Examples of domain names are: google.com, wikipedia.org, youtube.com.
Domain Registrar: A domain name registrar is a company that manages the reservation of Internet domain names. Popular registrar services include, but are not limited to: GoDaddy, Google Domains, Network Solutions, and Shopify. Lemonade Stand does not manage your domains. Consider a domain your property and therefore make sure you have control of it.
Web Host or Host: A web hosting service is a type of Internet hosting service that hosts websites for clients, i.e. it offers the facilities required for them to create and maintain a site and makes it accessible on the World Wide Web. Companies providing web hosting services are sometimes called web hosts. A web host is required for a site to be accessible to internet users. Not all hosts are created equal. Some websites need hosts with greater resources for better performance, uptime and ultimately a better user experience. Lemonade Stand provides Managed WordPress hosting for its clients, which means the host is optimized specifically for WordPress.
Directory: An online business directory that provides specific information about businesses including name, address, contact information, and services and products offered. A Google Business Profile is an example of a popular directory.
Content: Posts and pages that live on a website. These can be blogs/articles, service pages, location pages, case studies, and more.
Measure Dashboard: Located at www.measuredashboard.com, it is our analytics dashboard that pulls in all the performance data from the campaigns we are managing for you, as well as many other analytics related to your website. The data is real-time and can be viewed on demand. Our team will custom build the dashboard based on the services you are utilizing. We can also customize the dashboard based on specific metrics you’re wanting to see.
Account Manager: The Lemonade Stand team member that manages your account and is your main point of contact. They can be reached at team@lemonadestand.org. Your Account Manager is responsible for keeping a pulse on your account performance and making sure our departments are delivering results for you.
Metrics: Specific pieces of data related to the performance of your internet marketing campaigns. Examples of metrics include: impressions, clicks, site visits, conversions, and keyword rankings.
Algorithm: An algorithm is a set of rules and signals that a software makes to provide a result. Search engines and social platforms use algorithms to decide what content to show their users at any given moment. At scale, these platforms need to use algorithms instead of human curators. In order for these platforms to show your content (as opposed to someone else’s), their algorithms need to collect data on your content and the users who are viewing the content. This data collection is not instantaneous and the time it takes to collect sufficient data for the optimized result is dependent on the frequency of users who interact with your content and how they interact with it.
Backlink: A link to a page or post on your website from another website. You can think of a backlink as a “vote” for your page or post. The more “votes” you get, the more likely that page or post is to be shown in search results to the people searching for it.
Toxic Backlink: A type of backlink that is unnatural and harms the search rankings of a website. These are typically from spammy or link farm type websites. Google’s Penguin update, for example, focuses on penalizing the websites that have bad backlinks.
Keywords: The words or phrases that your current and potential customers use to find your products and services. We’ll track rankings for a list of relevant, high-value keywords within your Measure Dashboard. Consider utilizing our SEO, Content Marketing and Backlink Outreach services to increase these rankings.
Keyword Rankings: Refers to your page or post’s specific spot on the search results pages for a particular search query. When people enter search terms into Google that relate to your page or post’s subject matter, whichever spot your URL is shown in is your keyword ranking. We’ll track rankings for a list of relevant, high-value keywords within your Measure Dashboard. Consider utilizing our SEO, Content Marketing and Backlink Outreach Services to increase these rankings.
Data: Information that algorithmically run software platforms (like search engines and social platforms) collect on users. We, along with the software, use this data to optimize campaigns for peak performance and efficiency of money spent.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO): The process of improving a website, page or post to increase visibility on search engines.
Ad Spend: The budget you set aside (typically monthly) for advertising on platforms like Google, Bing, Facebook/Instagram, LinkedIn, and retargeting ad networks.
Long-Term Strategy: Internet marketing is an investment rather than a sales and lead generation switch that we can turn on and off (An exception to this rule would be Paid Search Marketing and Social Media Marketing in specific cases). Many strategies, including SEO and Social, can take months or even years to convert into ROI. From the beginning we will likely be able to show you growth in your online presence (You’ll likely see increases in domain authority, clicks and impressions), however this may not immediately turn into new leads and sales. This timeline is affected by a business’s current domain authority, years in business, reputation, type of product and services, among other factors.
Online Presence: Also known as “internet presence” or “web presence,” this is about how “present” your business is online. It’s brand awareness for your business online. Growing your internet presence means doing everything that we do – from running ads and creating blog content, to optimizing your website and managing your directories. It’s the “big picture” of all the things you’re doing to have more people find you online. The greater and more positive an online presence is, the more sales opportunities that business might have.
KPI: Short for “Key Performance Indicator,” a KPI is an important metric that is key in measuring the success of your internet marketing over a period of time.
SEM (Search Engine Marketing): A digital marketing strategy that aims to increase the online visibility of websites on the search engine results page (SERP).
Mention: You and/or your brand name included in content online. Typically we refer to mentions as a short feature of an executive or business within articles on well-known publications. These mentions usually take the form of a quote.
Feature: A complete article written about you or your business.