Plain English for local businesses

Jargon Buster: website and marketing terms explained

Jargon shouldn’t stop you running your business online. Browse the terms below for a quick answer, a Jersey example and a practical next step. For help putting it all together, see our website and marketing services.

1535 terms · 111 detailed explanations · 1424 quick definitions

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Put the terms into practice: guides for Jersey businesses

Search terms and abbreviations

1535 terms

Detailed explanations

The 111 terms Jersey business owners ask about most, each with a full page, a Jersey example and a practical next step.

Domains & email
.je domain

A .je domain is a web address ending in .je, the domain ending associated with Jersey.
Domains & email
A record

An A record is a DNS record that associates a name with an IPv4 address.
Analytics
A/B testing

A/B testing compares two versions through a planned experiment, commonly assigning visitors to different experiences and measuring a defined outcome.
AI & new tech
AI hallucination

An AI hallucination is generated information that sounds plausible but is false or unsupported.
SEO
Alt text

Alt text is a text alternative for an image, chosen according to its purpose on the page.
AI & new tech
API

An API is a set of rules that lets software use another system’s features or information.
Analytics
Attribution

Marketing attribution assigns credit for a measured outcome to interactions using a chosen rule or model.
Websites & hosting
Backend

Backend development builds the supporting application work behind a website, such as processing requests, accessing records and enforcing permissions.
SEO
Backlinks

Backlinks are links from other websites to yours.
Websites & hosting
Backups

Website backups are recovery copies of the files, databases and other information needed to rebuild a site after a problem.
Websites & hosting
Bandwidth

Bandwidth describes the data-transfer capacity of a communication link, commonly expressed in bits per second.
Marketing & social
Brand identity

Brand identity is the set of choices a business uses to present its character and offer consistently, including its name, visual design and language.
Design & content
Breadcrumbs

Breadcrumbs are navigation links showing a page’s place within a website hierarchy, such as Home, Services and the current service.
Domains & email
Business email

Business email is an email service used for work, often with an address at the business's own domain, such as hello@example.je.
Google & local
Business Profile ownership

Business Profile ownership is the access role used to control a Google Business Profile, including managing its users.
Google & local
business.site

business.site was the address Google gave to the free, basic websites it once let businesses make from a Google Business Profile.
Websites & hosting
Cache

A cache stores information for reuse so a system can avoid fetching or computing it again unnecessarily.
Marketing & social
Call to action

A call to action, often shortened to CTA, is a clear invitation for someone to take the next step on a page or advert.
SEO
Canonical URL

A canonical URL is the preferred address for a page among duplicate or very similar versions.
Websites & hosting
CDN

A CDN, or content delivery network, uses distributed servers to deliver website content closer to visitors.
Online selling
Checkout

Checkout is the process that turns a shopping selection into an order, including the relevant customer, delivery and payment steps.
Websites & hosting
CMS

A CMS, or content management system, is software that helps people create, edit and organise website content without changing each page's code by hand.
Websites & hosting
Contact form

A contact form lets a visitor send an enquiry through fields on a website to a receiving system.
Design & content
Content design

Content design starts with what a person needs to know or do and chooses information, structure and presentation that help them.
Marketing & social
Content marketing

Content marketing creates useful material to help and attract the people a business wants to serve.
Marketing & social
Conversion rate

A conversion rate is the proportion of a defined audience or activity that completes a chosen action, such as an enquiry or purchase.
Analytics
Conversion tracking

Conversion tracking records selected actions that a business considers useful, such as a completed enquiry or purchase.
Security & legal
Cookie consent

Cookie consent is a person’s informed choice about cookies or similar device technologies where consent is required for the intended use.
Marketing & social
Copywriting

Copywriting is writing intended to explain an offer and encourage a relevant action, such as making an enquiry or booking a service.
Websites & hosting
Core Web Vitals

Core Web Vitals are measurements of important parts of a web page’s user experience: loading, response to interaction and visual stability.
Marketing & social
CPC

CPC means cost per click in advertising.
Marketing & social
CPM

CPM means cost per thousand advertising impressions.
SEO
Crawling

Crawling is the process of fetching web content with automated software, often after discovering addresses through links or sitemaps.
Marketing & social
CRM

CRM means customer relationship management and often refers to software that organises customer information, enquiries and follow-ups.
Design & content
CSS

CSS is the language used to describe how webpage content is presented.
Domains & email
DNS

DNS, the Domain Name System, helps devices find services connected to a domain name.
Domains & email
Domain name

A domain name is the address people use to reach an online service, such as example.je.
Domains & email
Domain renewal

Domain renewal maintains a registered domain under the applicable registry and registrar arrangements, commonly through payment for a further period.
Online selling
Ecommerce

Ecommerce means buying and selling goods or services online.
Domains & email
Email forwarding

Email forwarding sends relevant incoming messages onwards to another address according to a configured rule.
Marketing & social
Email marketing

Email marketing sends planned business communications to an appropriate mailing audience, such as useful updates or offers.
Websites & hosting
Frontend

Frontend development builds the website presentation and interaction people use in their browser, including content structure, styling and controls.
Analytics
Google Analytics

Google Analytics is a tool that collects information about visits and actions on a website or app, then organises it into reports.
Google & local
Google Business Profile

A Google Business Profile is a free listing that an eligible business can claim and manage on Google Search and Maps.
Google & local
Google Business Profile category

A Google Business Profile category describes the kind of business represented by a profile.
Google & local
Google reviews

Google reviews are public ratings and written feedback associated with a business or place on Google.
SEO
Google Search Console

Google Search Console is a Google tool for monitoring how a website appears in Google Search and investigating crawling, indexing and related issues.
Online selling
Guest checkout

Guest checkout allows a customer to place an order without being required to sign in to a customer account.
Design & content
H1 heading

An H1 heading is the top-level heading in HTML, commonly used for a page’s main title.
Websites & hosting
HTML

HTML is the markup language that describes the structure and meaning of a webpage.
Websites & hosting
HTTP status code

An HTTP status code is a server response value describing the handling of a request.
Security & legal
HTTPS

HTTPS is HTTP carried over a connection protected by TLS.
Design & content
Image compression

Image compression reduces the data needed to store or deliver an image.
SEO
Indexing

Indexing is the process by which a search engine analyses content and may store information for use in search results.
SEO
Internal links

Internal links connect one page of a website to another page on the same website.
Online selling
Inventory tracking

Inventory tracking records quantities and relevant stock movements for products, variants and locations.
Websites & hosting
JavaScript

JavaScript is a programming language used to add behaviour to websites and other software.
Security & legal
Jersey data protection

The Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2018 sets rules for how organisations use personal information and gives people rights over it.
Design & content
Keyboard navigation

Keyboard navigation lets a person move through and operate a website using a keyboard interface.
SEO
Keywords

Keywords are words or phrases used to describe a topic and the searches people make about it.
Marketing & social
Landing page

A landing page is the page someone reaches after clicking an advert, email link, search result or other campaign link.
Google & local
Local citations

Local citations are online mentions of a business’s identifying details, such as its name, address and phone number.
SEO
Local SEO

Local SEO is work that helps a business appear for searches connected to a place or a nearby need.
Websites & hosting
Managed hosting

Managed hosting includes agreed operational work alongside the hosting service, performed by a provider or administrator.
SEO
Meta description

A meta description is a short summary placed in a web page's HTML to describe that page.
SEO
Meta title

A meta title is the common SEO name for a page’s HTML title.
Websites & hosting
Monitoring

Website monitoring observes selected signals, such as availability, response times or errors, to detect relevant changes and problems.
Domains & email
MX records

MX records are DNS records that identify the mail servers responsible for receiving email for a domain.
Domains & email
Nameservers

Nameservers are servers that answer DNS queries.
SEO
Noindex

Noindex is an instruction telling a supporting search engine not to include a page or resource in its index.
AI & new tech
Open source

Open source software is supplied under terms that allow its source code to be used, modified and shared in ways defined by the licence.
Online selling
Order fulfilment

Order fulfilment is the work required to supply an accepted customer order.
Websites & hosting
Page speed

Page speed describes how quickly a web page becomes useful to someone after they open it.
Security & legal
Passkeys

Passkeys are a way to sign in using cryptographic credentials rather than typing a reusable password.
Security & legal
Password manager

A password manager stores login credentials in a protected vault and can help create strong unique passwords.
Online selling
Payment gateway

A payment gateway is part of the payment system that securely passes payment information between a checkout and payment services.
Security & legal
Phishing

Phishing is a deceptive attempt to make someone reveal information, transfer money or take another harmful action by impersonating a trusted person or service.
Security & legal
Privacy policy

A privacy policy or notice explains how an organisation handles personal information, including its purposes, relevant sharing, retention and individual rights.
Online selling
Product feed

A product feed supplies structured information about products to another system, such as a merchant or shopping service.
Online selling
Product variant

A product variant is a specific sellable version of a product, formed from relevant choices such as size and colour.
SEO
Redirect

A redirect sends a request for one website address to another address.
Design & content
Responsive design

Responsive design is a way of building a website so its layout adapts to different screen sizes while keeping the same content and address.
Analytics
ROAS

ROAS means return on advertising spend.
SEO
Robots.txt

Robots.txt is a public file that gives cooperating crawlers instructions about which website paths they may request.
SEO
Schema markup

Schema markup is structured information added to a web page to describe things such as a business, article, product or definition using a recognised vocabulary.
Design & content
Screen reader

A screen reader is assistive technology that presents interface information through speech or braille.
SEO
Search intent

Search intent is the purpose behind a person’s search, such as learning what something means, finding a business or comparing options before buying.
SEO
SEO

SEO means search engine optimisation: work that helps search engines understand your website and helps relevant people find it in unpaid search results.
Google & local
Service-area business

A service-area business visits or delivers to customers rather than serving them at its business address.
Online selling
Shipping profile

A shipping profile groups shipping rules for particular products and fulfilment locations in a shop platform that supports this arrangement.
Online selling
Shopping cart

A shopping cart or basket holds the products and quantities a customer intends to buy before checkout.
SEO
Sitemap

An XML sitemap is a file that helps search engines discover the important public URLs on a website.
Online selling
SKU

An SKU, or stock keeping unit, is an internal identifier a business uses to distinguish items in its stock and order processes.
Google & local
Special opening hours

Special opening hours are date-specific changes to a Google Business Profile’s schedule for occasions such as holidays or events.
Domains & email
SPF, DKIM and DMARC

SPF, DKIM and DMARC are email authentication mechanisms with different jobs.
Security & legal
SSL certificate

An SSL certificate is the common name for a digital certificate that helps a browser confirm it has reached the right website and establish an encrypted HTTPS connection.
Websites & hosting
Staging site

A staging site is a separate environment used to review and test website changes before they reach the live site.
Security & legal
Two-factor authentication

Two-factor authentication checks two different types of evidence when someone signs in, such as a password and a supported device-based confirmation.
Domains & email
URL

A URL is an address identifying where a resource such as a page, image or video can be found.
SEO
URL slug

A URL slug is a readable identifier commonly used for a page within a website address, such as a service name in the path.
Design & content
Usability testing

Usability testing observes people attempting realistic tasks with a product or service so a team can identify difficulties.
Design & content
User experience

User experience, or UX, describes how someone experiences a product or service, including whether it helps them complete their task.
Design & content
User interface

A user interface, or UI, is the part of a system through which a person interacts with it.
Analytics
UTM tags

UTM tags are campaign parameters added to a link so analytics software can describe where a visit came from.
Design & content
Video captions

Video captions are synchronised text for speech and other audio information needed to understand a video.
Security & legal
VPN

A VPN, or virtual private network, provides a configured connection between devices or networks over another network.
Design & content
WCAG

WCAG stands for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, a W3C standard for making web content accessible to people with disabilities.
Websites & hosting
Web hosting

Web hosting is the service that keeps your website's files available on the internet.
Security & legal
Website accessibility

Website accessibility means designing and building web content so people with different disabilities can perceive, understand and use it.
Websites & hosting
Website builder

A website builder is a service or tool that lets you create web pages using ready-made layouts and visual editing, usually without writing code.
Websites & hosting
WordPress

WordPress is a content management system used to create and update websites.