Digital marketing & AI glossary

All terms

AEO — Answer Engine Optimization

Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) is the practice of structuring content and brand information so that answer engines — Google AI Overviews, featured snippets, voice assistants, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Claude — use it to answer questions and mention or cite your brand in the answer.

AI Agent

An AI agent is software that uses a large language model to understand a goal, decide on steps, use tools — such as a CRM, calendar, database or search — and take actions to complete a task, within limits set by its designers. Business examples include lead-qualification, support and scheduling agents.

CPL — Cost per Lead

Cost per lead (CPL) is the average amount spent on marketing to generate one lead. It’s calculated as total campaign spend divided by the number of leads. It is most useful when “lead” means a qualified enquiry, because cheap leads that never convert can make a campaign look better than it is.

CRO — Conversion Rate Optimization

Conversion rate optimization (CRO) is the systematic process of increasing the percentage of website visitors who complete a desired action — such as submitting a form, booking a call or buying — by researching user behaviour and testing changes to pages, forms and checkout.

GEO — Generative Engine Optimization

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is the practice of improving how often and how accurately generative AI systems such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude and Google AI Overviews mention and cite a brand or webpage when they compose answers to users’ questions.

llms.txt

llms.txt is a proposed standard: a Markdown file placed at the root of a website (/llms.txt) that gives large language models a concise summary of the site and links to its most important pages, making the content easier for AI systems to understand at inference time.

PMax — Performance Max

Performance Max (PMax) is a goal-based Google Ads campaign type that uses Google’s AI to serve ads across Search, YouTube, Display, Discover, Gmail and Maps from a single campaign, optimising bids, placements and creative combinations towards your conversion goal.

ROAS — Return on Ad Spend

Return on ad spend (ROAS) is the revenue generated for every rupee spent on advertising, calculated as revenue from ads divided by ad spend. A ROAS of 4 means ₹4 of revenue for every ₹1 spent. Whether a ROAS is profitable depends on your margins.

Schema Markup

Schema markup is structured data, usually in JSON-LD format, added to a web page to describe its content in a standard vocabulary from Schema.org — such as an Organization, Service, FAQ, Article or Product — so search engines and AI systems can understand it reliably and show rich results.

Server-side Tracking

Server-side tracking is a method of sending website and conversion data to analytics and ad platforms from a server you control, rather than directly from the visitor’s browser. It reduces data lost to ad blockers and browser restrictions and gives more control over what data is shared.