Reviewed October 29, 2026

Contractor Marketing Glossary

100 terms a contractor hears from agencies, software vendors and Google itself, each defined in one plain sentence and then explained in two short paragraphs with what to skip. Written by the team that does the work, for the owner who signs the invoice.

0-9

301 redirect(Permanent redirect, Redirect map): A 301 redirect permanently sends visitors and search engines from an old web address to a new one and passes most of the old page's ranking value along with them.

A

A2P 10DLC(10DLC registration, Business texting registration): A2P 10DLC is the registration US carriers require before a business can send automated texts from a normal ten-digit phone number, and unregistered messages get filtered or blocked.
Above the fold(Hero section, First screen): Above the fold is the part of a page visible before scrolling, and on a contractor site it should carry the service, the area, a phone number and a button.
Ad spend vs management fee(Media spend, Ad budget): Ad spend is the money paid to Google or Meta for the ads themselves, and the management fee is what an agency charges to run them; a quote that blends the two hides what the ads actually cost.
AI citation(Cited source, AI mention): An AI citation is a link or named source inside an AI assistant's answer, and it is the AI-search equivalent of ranking on page one.
AI crawler(GPTBot, ClaudeBot): An AI crawler is a bot such as GPTBot, ClaudeBot or PerplexityBot that reads web pages so an AI assistant can learn from them or quote them, and a site allows or blocks each one in its robots.txt file.
AI mention rate(AI visibility, AI share of voice): AI mention rate is the share of AI assistant answers to a set of buyer questions that name a specific business, measured by asking the same questions repeatedly over time.
AI Mode(Google AI Mode): AI Mode is Google's chat-style search tab that answers in full sentences with cited sources, drawing on the same index and the same Business Profile data as regular Google search.
AI Overviews(Google AI Overview, SGE): AI Overviews are the AI-written summaries Google shows at the top of some search results, with links to the pages it drew the answer from.
AI receptionist(AI phone agent, AI answering service): An AI receptionist is software that answers the business phone in a natural voice, asks the caller what they need, captures their details and books or routes them, at any hour.
AI search(Conversational search, LLM search): AI search is any search where an assistant such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini or Google's AI Mode writes the answer and names a few businesses or sources, instead of returning ten links.
Answer engine optimization(AEO): Answer engine optimization means writing pages so that a direct question gets a direct, quotable answer in the first sentence, which is what AI assistants and featured snippets lift.
Answering service(Live answering, Call center): An answering service is a staffed call center that picks up a business's phone when the office cannot, takes a message or books an appointment, and bills by the minute or by the call.
Average ticket(Average job value, AOV): Average ticket is the average revenue per completed job, and it is the number that decides how much a business can afford to pay for a lead.

B

Backlink(Inbound link, Referring domain): A backlink is a link from another website to yours, and Google treats each one from a real, relevant site as a vote of confidence in the page it points at.
Booking rate(Set rate, Appointment rate): Booking rate is the share of leads that turn into a scheduled appointment or estimate, and it is the first place to look when leads are up but revenue is not.

C

Call to action(CTA): A call to action is the button or line that tells the visitor what to do next, such as Call now, Get a quote or Book online, and every page needs one visible without scrolling.
Call tracking(Dynamic number insertion, DNI): Call tracking assigns a different phone number to each marketing source, or swaps the number shown on the website per visitor, so every call can be tied to the ad, search or page that produced it.
Canonical URL(Canonical tag, rel=canonical): A canonical URL is the tag that tells Google which version of a page is the original when the same content can be reached at more than one address.
Citations(Local citations, Directory listings): A citation is any mention of a business's name, address and phone number on another website, such as Yelp, the BBB, a chamber of commerce or a trade association directory.
Click-through rate(CTR): Click-through rate is clicks divided by impressions, and in search it rises steeply with position: a first-place result earns many times the clicks of a tenth-place one.
Close rate(Win rate, Conversion rate on estimates): Close rate is the share of estimates or quotes that become paid jobs.
CMS(Content management system, WordPress): A CMS, content management system, is the software that lets someone edit pages and publish posts without touching code, and WordPress is the best known.
Conversion rate(Website conversion rate): Conversion rate is the share of visitors who take the action a page exists for, such as calling or submitting a form, and doubling it is worth as much as doubling traffic at a fraction of the cost.
Conversion rate optimization(CRO): Conversion rate optimization is changing a page's layout, copy, forms and buttons, then measuring, so a larger share of the same visitors call or book.
Conversion tracking(Goal tracking, Conversion events): Conversion tracking is the setup that tells an ad platform or analytics tool when a visitor did the thing that matters, such as calling, submitting a form or booking, so spend can be judged by results instead of clicks.
Core Web Vitals(CWV, LCP): Core Web Vitals are Google's three page-experience measurements taken from real Chrome users: Largest Contentful Paint for load speed, Interaction to Next Paint for responsiveness, and Cumulative Layout Shift for visual stability.
Cost per acquisition(CPA, Cost per booked job): Cost per acquisition is what it costs in marketing to win one paying customer, which for a contractor means a booked and completed job, not a lead.
Cost per click(CPC): Cost per click is what an advertiser pays each time someone clicks an ad, set by an auction, so it varies by trade, by city and by how many competitors are bidding on the same term.
Cost per lead(CPL): Cost per lead is total marketing spend on a channel divided by the number of calls, forms or chats it produced, and it is the number to judge a campaign on rather than cost per click.
CRM(Customer relationship management): A CRM, customer relationship management system, is the software that stores every lead and customer with their calls, texts, quotes and jobs, so nothing is lost in a text thread or a notebook.
Custom website(Custom-coded site, Bespoke website): A custom website is built from code for one business, with its own design, pages and tools, rather than assembled from a theme or page builder shared with thousands of other sites.
Customer acquisition cost(CAC): Customer acquisition cost is total sales and marketing spend over a period divided by the number of new customers won in it.
Customer lifetime value(CLV, LTV): Customer lifetime value is the total revenue, or profit, one customer brings over every job they book, which is why a maintenance plan customer is worth far more than a one-time repair.

D

Domain name(Domain, Web address): A domain name is the address people type to reach a website, such as skillmammoth.com, and it should be registered in the business owner's own account, never the agency's.
Domain Rating(DR, Domain Authority): Domain Rating is Ahrefs' 0 to 100 score of how strong a website's backlink profile is, and Domain Authority is Moz's version of the same idea; Google uses neither.

E

E-E-A-T(Experience, expertise, authoritativeness, trustworthiness): E-E-A-T stands for experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness, the qualities Google's human quality raters look for in a page and in the person or business behind it.
Entity(Knowledge graph entity): An entity is a thing Google and AI models recognize as one distinct object, such as a specific business, person or place, with facts attached to it rather than just a string of words.

F

Field service management software(FSM, Field service software): Field service management software runs a trade business's daily operations: scheduling, dispatch, estimates, invoices and payments, with Jobber, Housecall Pro and ServiceTitan the common choices.

G

Generative engine optimization(GEO, AI SEO): Generative engine optimization is the work of getting a business named or cited in answers written by AI assistants, through clear facts on its own site, structured data, and mentions on sites the assistants trust.
Geo grid rank tracking(Grid rank, Map grid): Geo grid rank tracking checks where a business ranks in the map pack from dozens of points across its service area instead of from one spot, and shows the result as a colored grid.
Google Analytics 4(GA4, Google Analytics): Google Analytics 4 is Google's free website analytics tool, which reports visitors, where they came from, which pages they viewed and which actions they took.
Google Business Profile(GBP, Google My Business): Google Business Profile is the free listing that puts a business on Google Maps and in the map pack, with its hours, phone number, reviews, photos and service area.
Google Posts(GBP posts, Business Profile updates): Google Posts are short updates with a photo and a link that a business publishes on its Google Business Profile, where they show on the listing itself.
Google Search Console(GSC, Search Console): Google Search Console is Google's free report of how a site performs in search: which queries show it, how many clicks and impressions it earns, which pages are indexed and what errors Google found.
Google Verified and Google Screened(Google Guaranteed, Google Verified badge): Google Verified, formerly Google Guaranteed, is the badge on Local Services Ads for home service businesses that passed Google's background, license and insurance checks, and Google Screened is the equivalent for professional services such as law and real estate.

H

Hosting(Web hosting): Hosting is the server space where a website's files live and are served to visitors, paid monthly or yearly, and it is separate from the domain name.

I

Impressions(Search impressions): An impression is one appearance of a page or ad in search results or on a screen, counted whether or not anyone clicked it.
Indexing(Indexed, Crawled, currently not indexed): Indexing is Google adding a page to its database so it can appear in search results, and a page that has been crawled but not indexed cannot rank for anything.
Instant estimate tool(Online estimator, Instant quote tool): An instant estimate tool is a form on a website that gives a homeowner a price range on the spot in exchange for their contact details, turning a browser into a lead before they call anyone else.
Integration(Sync, Connector): An integration is a connection between two pieces of software that moves data automatically, such as a website form sending leads into the CRM or the CRM syncing invoices into QuickBooks.

K

Keyword difficulty(KD): Keyword difficulty is a tool's estimate, usually from 0 to 100, of how hard it is to rank on the first page for a search term, based mostly on the links pointing at the pages already there.

L

Landing page(Campaign page): A landing page is a page built for one campaign and one action, usually without the main navigation, with a single offer, so visitors from an ad do what the ad promised.
Lead(Inquiry, Contact): A lead is a person who contacted the business about work by phone, form, text, chat or booking, before anyone has checked whether the job is real.
Lead marketplace(Pay-per-lead site, Angi): A lead marketplace is a site such as Angi, HomeAdvisor, Thumbtack or Networx that collects homeowner requests and sells each one to one or more contractors for a fee.
Lead nurture(Follow-up sequence, Drip campaign): Lead nurture is the automated series of texts and emails sent to a lead who has not booked yet, spaced over days or weeks, so the business stays in front of them until they are ready.
llms.txt(LLMs text file): llms.txt is a plain text file at the root of a website, like robots.txt, that gives AI crawlers a summary of the business and a list of its important pages with one-line descriptions.
Local SEO(Local search optimization): Local SEO is the work of getting a business to appear in Google's map pack and local results for searches in the area it serves.
Local Services Ads(LSA, LSAs): Local Services Ads are the pay-per-lead ads at the very top of Google for home service searches, shown with a Google Verified or Google Screened badge after a background, license and insurance check.
Location page(City page, Service area page): A location page is a page on a business website built for one city or neighborhood it serves, with content specific to that place rather than a copy of another city's page with the name swapped.
Long-tail keyword(Long tail): A long-tail keyword is a longer, more specific search such as tankless water heater installation cost Plymouth MN that few people type but that converts far better than the short head term.

M

Map pack(Local 3-pack, Local pack): The map pack is the block of three business listings with a map that Google shows above the regular results for local searches such as plumber near me.
Marketing attribution(Lead attribution, Source tracking): Marketing attribution is working out which ad, search, referral or page produced each lead and each job, so money moves toward what works.
Meta lead form(Facebook lead ads, Instant forms): A Meta lead form is an ad on Facebook or Instagram that opens a form inside the app, pre-filled with the person's name and phone, so the lead arrives without a website visit.
Missed call text back(Missed call automation): Missed call text back automatically sends a text to any caller the business did not answer, within seconds, so the lead has a way to reply instead of calling the next company.
Mobile-first(Mobile-first indexing, Responsive design): Mobile-first means a site is designed for the phone screen before the desktop, because most home service searches happen on a phone and Google indexes the mobile version of every page.

N

NAP consistency(NAP, Name, address, phone): NAP stands for name, address and phone number, and NAP consistency means those three match exactly everywhere the business is listed online.
Negative keywords(Negatives, Exclusion keywords): Negative keywords are search terms an advertiser tells Google Ads never to show ads for, such as jobs, salary, DIY, free or school, so the budget is not spent on people who will never hire.
Non-brand search(Non-branded traffic, Branded vs non-branded): Non-brand search is any query that does not include the business's own name, so non-brand clicks are the clearest measure of whether marketing, rather than reputation, is bringing in new customers.

P

Page speed(Site speed, Load time): Page speed is how quickly a page becomes usable for a visitor, measured on a phone over a cellular connection, and Google reports it through Core Web Vitals.
PPC(Pay per click, Google Ads): PPC, pay per click, is advertising where the business pays only when someone clicks the ad, and Google Ads search campaigns are the main form of it for contractors.
Primary category(GBP category): The primary category is the one business type on a Google Business Profile that Google weighs most when deciding which searches the listing should appear for.

Q

Qualified lead(SQL, Real lead): A qualified lead is a lead that has been checked and fits: the right service, inside the service area, a real person with a real job and a budget in range.
Quality Score(Ad quality): Quality Score is Google Ads' 1 to 10 rating of how well a keyword, its ad and its landing page match each other, and a higher score lowers the price paid per click.

R

Rank tracker(Rank tracking, Position tracking): A rank tracker records where a site ranks for a list of keywords every day or week, from a chosen location, so movement shows up before it shows in revenue.
Reputation management(Review management, Online reputation): Reputation management is the ongoing work of earning reviews, responding to them, fixing listing errors and handling the occasional bad one, across Google and the other sites customers check.
Retargeting(Remarketing): Retargeting shows ads to people who already visited a website, called, or submitted a form, which is cheap because the audience is small and already interested.
Review gating(Review filtering): Review gating is asking customers how they feel first and sending only the happy ones to Google, which Google's policies forbid and which can get reviews removed.
Review response(Owner response, Reply to reviews): A review response is the public reply a business posts under a review, and replying to every one, including the bad ones, is read by both future customers and Google.
Review velocity(Review rate, Review frequency): Review velocity is how many new reviews a business earns each month, and a steady flow of recent reviews outweighs a large total that stopped growing two years ago.
ROAS(Return on ad spend): Return on ad spend is revenue from ads divided by the money spent on them; a ROAS of 5 means five dollars of revenue for every dollar of ads, before the cost of doing the work.

S

Sales funnel(Contractor funnel, Pipeline): A sales funnel is the sequence from stranger to paying customer: searches, visits, leads, booked estimates, closed jobs, with a conversion rate at each step.
Schema markup(Structured data, JSON-LD): Schema markup is code added to a web page that labels facts such as business name, services, prices, reviews and questions in a format search engines and AI assistants read directly.
Search intent(Keyword intent, Commercial intent): Search intent is what the person typing a query actually wants: to hire, to compare, to learn, or to reach one specific site, and the page that matches that want is the one that ranks.
Search volume(Monthly searches): Search volume is the estimated number of times a term is searched per month in a given country, averaged over the last twelve months.
SERP(Search engine results page): SERP stands for search engine results page, the page Google returns after a search, including ads, Local Services Ads, the map pack, an AI Overview, regular links and other features.
Server-side rendering(SSR, Static rendering): Server-side rendering means the server sends a finished HTML page instead of a blank shell that JavaScript fills in later, so search engines and AI crawlers see the content on the first request.
Service area business(SAB): A service area business is a Google Business Profile type for companies that travel to customers, such as plumbers and landscapers, and it shows a service area instead of a street address.
Service page(Money page): A service page is a page dedicated to one service a business sells, such as furnace repair, with its own title, pricing information, photos, reviews and call to action.
Sessions and engaged sessions(Visits, Engagement rate): A session is one visit to a website, and an engaged session is one that lasted more than ten seconds, included a conversion, or viewed at least two pages; bounce rate is the share of sessions that were not engaged.
Shared lead vs exclusive lead(Exclusive leads, Shared leads): A shared lead is sold to several contractors at once, so each is racing the others to the phone; an exclusive lead goes to one business, which is why a lead from your own website is worth several marketplace leads.
Speed to lead(Lead response time, Response time): Speed to lead is the time between a lead arriving and the business responding, and the first contractor to respond wins a large share of the jobs.

U

UTM parameters(UTM tags, Tracking parameters): UTM parameters are tags added to the end of a link, such as utm_source=google and utm_campaign=spring-tuneup, that tell analytics where a visitor came from.

W

Website chatbot(AI chat, Live chat): A website chatbot is a chat window that answers visitor questions and collects their details at any hour, and the current ones run on AI models rather than scripted menus.
Website migration(Platform migration, Site move): A website migration moves a site to a new platform, host or domain, and the checklist that protects rankings is a page inventory, a one-to-one redirect map and a Search Console check after launch.
Website ownership(Owned vs rented website, Site ownership): Website ownership means the business holds the domain, the code and the content and can take all three to any host or agency; a rented site lives on a provider's platform and goes dark when the subscription stops.
Website redesign(Site rebuild, Website refresh): A website redesign rebuilds the look and structure of an existing site, and done carelessly it loses rankings because old page addresses disappear without redirects.
Workflow automation(Automation, Marketing automation): Workflow automation is a rule that runs on its own when something happens, such as a new form submission sending a text to the customer and an alert to the office.

X

XML sitemap(Sitemap): An XML sitemap is a file, usually at /sitemap.xml, that lists every page a site wants search engines to crawl along with the date each one last changed.

Z

Zero-click search(No-click search): A zero-click search is one where the person gets what they need on the results page, from the map pack, an AI Overview or a snippet, and never visits a website.

How this glossary is kept

Every definition is one sentence a contractor can repeat back to an agency. The paragraphs under it say how the thing works in a trade business and what to skip. Terms are reviewed when Google or the platforms change something, and the date at the top is the last pass.

Missing a term, or think one is wrong? Email alex@skillmammoth.com and it gets fixed on the next pass. The full text is also published in llms.txt for AI assistants.

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