Glossary
The words behind AI, search and ads, in plain English
Short, honest definitions of the terms agencies use, from AEO and LLMs to Quality Score and CPM. Each one says what it means, why it matters to your business and what to do about it.
AI and automation
- AI agentAn AI agent is a language model given a goal and access to tools, such as a calendar or CRM, so it can take steps and finish a task.
- AI hallucinationAn AI hallucination is when an AI model gives an answer that sounds confident and plausible but is false, made up or not supported by its sources.
- ChatbotA chatbot is software that holds a text conversation with customers, on a website or WhatsApp, answering questions from menus or from information you give it.
- Large language model (LLM)A large language model (LLM) is AI software trained on huge amounts of text to predict the next words, which lets it write, summarise and answer questions.
- Retrieval-augmented generation (RAG)Retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) is a method where an AI first looks up relevant passages in your own documents, then writes its answer from them.
- WhatsApp Business APIThe WhatsApp Business API is Meta's connection that lets your own software, such as a chatbot or CRM, send and receive WhatsApp messages for your business.
- Workflow automationWorkflow automation is software that runs a fixed set of business steps for you whenever a trigger happens, such as a new form, payment or message.
Search and AEO
- Answer engine optimisation (AEO)Answer engine optimisation (AEO) is shaping a page so search engines, voice assistants and AI tools can lift one clear, correct answer from it.
- Core Web VitalsCore Web Vitals are three Google metrics, LCP, INP and CLS, that measure how fast a page loads, how quickly it responds and how steady it stays for real visitors.
- Generative engine optimisation (GEO)Generative engine optimisation (GEO) is the work of helping AI tools such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity describe your business accurately and cite you as a source.
- llms.txtllms.txt is a proposed Markdown file, placed at a site's root, that gives AI tools a short summary of the site and links to its most useful pages.
- Schema markupSchema markup is code added to a web page, using the schema.org vocabulary, that labels facts such as your business name, address, products or reviews for search engines.
- Search engine optimisation (SEO)Search engine optimisation (SEO) is improving your website and reputation so search engines understand your pages and show them to people searching for what you offer.
Advertising
- Ad RankAd Rank is the score Google Ads calculates in every auction to decide whether your ad can show, where it appears, and how much each click costs.
- Click-through rate (CTR)Click-through rate (CTR) is the share of people who click your ad after seeing it: clicks divided by impressions, shown as a percentage.
- Cost per click (CPC)Cost per click (CPC) is the amount you pay each time someone clicks your ad; in Google Ads it is often less than the maximum you bid.
- Cost per mille (CPM)CPM, or cost per mille, is what you pay for every 1,000 times your ad is shown, whether or not anyone clicks it.
- Meta Conversions APIThe Meta Conversions API sends customer actions, such as purchases and leads, from your server or CRM directly to Meta, so ads can be measured and optimised.
- Performance MaxPerformance Max is a Google Ads campaign type that uses Google's AI to run one set of ads across Search, YouTube, Display, Discover, Gmail and Maps toward your conversion goal.
- Quality ScoreQuality Score is Google Ads' 1 to 10 rating for each keyword, showing how your ads and landing page compare with other advertisers for the same searches.
- Return on ad spend (ROAS)Return on ad spend (ROAS) is the revenue your ads bring in divided by what you spent on them, often written as a ratio like 4:1 or 400%.
Building products
- Minimum viable product (MVP)A minimum viable product (MVP) is the simplest working version of a new product that real customers can use, built to learn what they value before investing more.
- WebhookA webhook is an automatic message that one app sends to a web address you choose the moment an event happens, such as a payment, booking or new message.
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