Small Business Marketing Glossary

Plain-English definitions of the social media, video, website, SEO, AI search, advertising and automation terms you'll hear.

A/B testing

Comparing two versions of an ad, page or email to see which performs better.

AI Overviews

Google's AI-generated summaries at the top of some search results, citing web pages as sources.

AI search optimization

Making a business easy for AI assistants to understand, trust and recommend. Also called GEO or AEO.

Answer engine optimization (AEO)

Structuring content to directly answer questions so search engines and AI assistants quote it.

B-roll

Supplementary footage (work, space, details) cut over interviews or voiceover.

Brand film

A 60–180 second story-driven video about who a business is and why it exists.

CRM

Customer relationship management software that stores leads, customers and interactions.

CTV (connected TV)

Streaming television advertising on apps and smart TVs, targetable by location and audience.

Call tracking

Unique phone numbers that record which marketing source produced a call.

Carousel post

A multi-image or multi-slide social post, often used for education and saves.

Citation (local SEO)

A listing of a business's name, address and phone on another website or directory.

Content calendar

A schedule of what will be posted, where and when.

Conversion

A valuable action such as a call, form fill, booking or purchase.

Conversions API

Meta's server-side tracking that sends conversion events directly, improving ad optimization.

Core Web Vitals

Google's speed and stability metrics: LCP, INP and CLS.

Cost per lead (CPL)

Ad spend divided by the number of leads generated.

Drone videography

Aerial video captured by a licensed (FAA Part 107) pilot.

Entity (SEO)

A clearly defined thing, like a business, that search engines and AI understand through consistent facts across the web.

Generative engine optimization (GEO)

Optimizing for AI systems that generate answers, such as ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini.

Google Business Profile

Google's free business listing that appears in Maps and local search.

Hook

The first 1–3 seconds of a video designed to stop the scroll.

Landing page

A focused page built for one offer and one action, usually for ad traffic.

Local Services Ads

Google's pay-per-lead ads with a Google Guaranteed or Screened badge.

MVP

Minimum viable product: the smallest version of a product that delivers its core value.

Map Pack

The three business listings shown with a map in Google local results.

Missed-call text-back

Automation that instantly texts callers whose call went unanswered.

NAP consistency

Matching business name, address and phone number everywhere online.

Performance Max

Google's AI-driven campaign type spanning Search, YouTube, Display, Maps and Gmail.

Pixel

Tracking code that reports website actions back to an ad platform.

Reels

Instagram's short-form vertical video format.

Retargeting

Showing ads to people who already visited your site or engaged with your content.

Schema markup

Structured data code that tells search engines and AI what a page means.

Service-area business

A business that serves customers at their location and hides its address on Google.

Short-form video

Vertical videos under about 60 seconds: Reels, TikToks and YouTube Shorts.

Spark Ads

TikTok ads that promote existing organic posts, keeping their engagement.

Speed to lead

The time between a new inquiry and the first response.

Talking-head video

Video of a person speaking to camera, usually an owner or expert.

UGC

User-generated content: authentic customer or creator-style content.

Video podcast

A recorded conversation published as video on YouTube plus audio platforms, cut into social clips.

llms.txt

A text file summarizing a website for AI systems, placed at the site root.

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