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Local SEO and marketing terms, explained in plain language
Vicin connects data from Google Maps, Google Search Console, Google Analytics 4, Google Ads, reviews and public market sources. This glossary explains the terms used across those records, including what each measurement can and cannot establish.
- Attribution model
- The rule Google Analytics 4 or Google Ads uses to assign credit when more than one interaction precedes a key event or conversion. Vicin reports each connected source's credited results. The two services may assign credit differently, and Vicin does not force them into one total.
- Average position
- Google Search Console's average of the topmost position held by your site for the impressions it recorded. It is not a live rank check, and it does not include Google Maps positions.
- Average star rating
- The rating Google currently publishes for a Business Profile, based on the Google reviews included in its calculation. Vicin reports Google's rating and review count. The figure does not represent every customer's opinion or verify the authenticity of each review.
- Backlink
- A link from another website to your website. Vicin keeps backlinks separate from citations because a page can link to a business without publishing its business details.
- Baseline
- The earlier measurement used as the starting point for a comparison. An experiment needs a real capture or completed time window before the change. Vicin does not estimate a missing baseline.
- Benchmark
- A reference value used to compare a result. The reference may come from your previous period, your other locations or a supported local comparison group. The source and basis determine what the comparison means.
- Bounce rate
- In Google Analytics 4, the percentage of sessions that were not engaged. It is the inverse of engagement rate. Universal Analytics used a different bounce-rate definition, so an older report may not be directly comparable.
- Business Profile
- A Google Business Profile is the business listing managed in Google Search and Google Maps. Vicin reads its visibility, customer actions and available search terms when the customer connects the correct profile.
- Call button click
- An action recorded when someone taps the call control on a Google Business Profile. It records the tap, not whether a call connected, how long it lasted or whether it became a lead.
- Citation
- A business name, address and phone record published by a directory or another outside source. Vicin distinguishes a confirmed citation from a possible listing that has not been verified.
- Click-through rate (CTR)
- Clicks divided by impressions, expressed as a percentage. The meaning depends on the source, so a Search Console CTR and a Google Ads CTR should not be treated as the same measurement.
- Cohort
- A group used for comparison. A valid cohort needs a stated basis and enough eligible members. Vicin does not turn a thin or mixed group into a market benchmark.
- Competitor
- A public business included in one of Vicin's defined comparison groups. Nearby competitors come from businesses in the same Google category and area. Ranking competitors come from businesses observed in ranking-grid results. These groups answer different questions and remain separate. Each is a sample, not a complete list of every competitor.
- Connected source
- An account a customer has authorized Vicin to read, such as Google Analytics 4, Google Search Console, Google Ads or Google Business Profile. A connection does not guarantee every metric or historical period is available.
- Conversion
- An event marked as valuable in Google Analytics 4 or Google Ads. The account owner defines it. A conversion count is an event count, not proof of a unique lead, sale or completed job.
- Conversion funnel
- A view of how website activity moves through defined stages, such as arriving, viewing an offer and trying to contact the business. It shows where measured activity falls, not why people stopped.
- Cost per click (CPC)
- Google Ads spend divided by ad clicks for the same scope and period. A campaign CPC describes paid advertising activity. It does not measure what a lead or sale cost.
- Cost per outcome
- Measured spend divided by a named action, such as an ad conversion or Google Business Profile call button click. Vicin states the exact basis because this is not revenue, return on ad spend or profit.
- Direct traffic
- Traffic that Google Analytics 4 records as (direct) / (none) because it has no clear referral source. It can include typed URLs, bookmarks, links in documents, missing campaign tags, redirects, blockers or other cases where source information was lost. Vicin reports GA4's category instead of assigning a source it cannot prove.
- Direction request
- An action recorded when someone selects directions from a Google Business Profile. Vicin reports Google's action count. The action indicates travel intent, not a confirmed visit, purchase or completed route.
- Engagement rate
- The percentage of Google Analytics 4 sessions that count as engaged. GA4 treats a session as engaged when it lasts longer than 10 seconds, records a key event or includes at least two page or screen views. Vicin uses the value reported by GA4.
- Forecast
- An estimate of a future measured value based on that metric's own history. Vicin compares trend and seasonal models against unseen historical periods and publishes no forecast with less than 12 months of history.
- Forecast confidence
- A label based on history length, out-of-sample error and performance against basic forecasts. High confidence requires at least 24 months of history and stronger performance than repeating the last observed value.
- Google Ads
- Google's advertising service. Vicin reads campaign, keyword, device and geographic activity from the ad account the customer connects, including spend, clicks and the conversions configured in that account.
- Google Analytics 4 (GA4)
- Google's analytics service for website and app activity. Vicin reads aggregate measures such as sessions, acquisition, engagement, pages, events and geography from the GA4 property the customer connects.
- Google Business Profile category
- A label in Google Business Profile that describes what the business does. Vicin reads the profile's category, uses it with location to build the nearby-competitor sample and can record a category update as an experiment. A category change does not prove a ranking result.
- Google Business Profile photo
- An image published on a Google Business Profile by the business or a customer. Vicin can record a photo upload as an experiment change. It does not analyze the image or claim that the upload caused a ranking movement.
- Google Business Profile post
- A dated update, offer or event published on a Google Business Profile. Vicin can record a post as an experiment change and compare measurements around that date. The comparison is observational and does not prove that the post caused the result.
- Google Maps visibility
- How often and where a Google Business Profile appears in local map results for a chosen search term and measured area. Visibility changes by search term and location, so one grid does not represent every search.
- Google Search Console
- Google's record of how a verified site appeared in Google Search. Vicin reads clicks, impressions, click-through rate and average position. Google withholds anonymized queries, so query lists are a floor rather than every search term.
- Grid capture
- One completed local ranking measurement across the configured grid points for one search term. Each measured point records a position or an explicitly unmeasured state. A capture is one moment, not a trend.
- Hyperlocal
- Measurement focused on a small geographic area, such as a neighborhood or several nearby blocks. A Vicin ranking grid can use closely spaced points to show local variation. The grid samples defined points rather than every possible search location.
- Impression
- A recorded display of a search result, ad or business listing. An impression does not prove a person noticed the result, visited the website or contacted the business.
- Known spend
- The spending Vicin can verify from connected records for the stated period. The label appears when other spending may exist but is unavailable. A budget is not counted as money spent.
- Lead action
- An event the business has chosen to count as a lead, such as a qualified form submission. It counts recorded events, not unique people or completed sales. Vicin does not provide phone call tracking.
- Local landing page
- A website page created for a location or service area. Vicin can report Google Analytics 4 activity when the URL appears as a landing page and can associate the URL with an experiment. It does not judge the page's writing or optimization.
- Local link building
- The practice of earning backlinks from locally relevant websites, such as community organizations, chambers or local publications. Vicin reports observed backlinks and competitor link gaps. It does not prove that a specific link changed rankings.
- Local pack
- The group of business listings and map results Google shows for a search with local intent. It is separate from paid ads and the organic website results below it.
- Local ranking grid
- A set of search points arranged around a business location. Vicin measures the same local search term from each point to show how Google Maps position changes across the area.
- Local search
- A search where location affects the results, such as a service near the searcher or a named service area. Google Maps listings and organic website results can both appear for local searches.
- Local SEO
- Work intended to improve a business's visibility in location-based Google Search and Google Maps results. Vicin measures visibility, website search activity, reviews, citations and competitors as separate evidence areas.
- Location
- One business place saved in Vicin. Each location keeps its own address, market, connected records and measurements so a local result does not lose the place where it was observed.
- Market
- The geographic context attached to a location in Vicin. A market label may organize locations, while area records may describe aggregate local conditions. A market is not automatically a competitor cohort, statistical benchmark or customer audience.
- NAP
- Short for name, address and phone number, the core business details published across profiles, directories and a business's own website. Vicin's current links and citations record can show that a source is present, but it does not prove that every NAP field is accurate or consistent.
- NAP consistency
- The degree to which a business's name, address and phone number match across published sources. Vicin's current links and citations record does not audit these fields. Citation presence should not be read as proof that the listing details match.
- Organic search
- Unpaid website results in a search engine. Vicin reads Google Search Console to report recorded queries, clicks, impressions, click-through rate and average position. Google Maps rankings are measured separately.
- Page traffic movement
- A change in landing-page traffic between two equal periods. Vicin can label a measured page as declining, growing, new or gone. It does not read the page content or establish why the traffic changed.
- Paid search
- Advertising placed in search results, measured through the connected Google Ads account. Vicin reports activity such as spend, clicks, conversions, keywords, devices and geography without treating it as organic performance.
- Potential citation
- A directory or listing source that may contain or accept the business record but has not been verified as a current citation. Vicin keeps this lead separate from confirmed evidence.
- Prominence
- How well known a business is, one of Google's published factors for local results. Google says links, articles, directories, review count and ratings can contribute. Vicin reports several of those signals separately and does not create a single prominence score.
- Proximity
- The distance between a search location and a business, one of Google's published factors for local results. Vicin measures ranking positions from grid points with known coordinates. It cannot show how Google weighted distance for an individual search.
- Quality Score
- Google Ads' 1-to-10 diagnostic score for a keyword, based on expected click-through rate, ad relevance and landing-page experience. Vicin reports the current score and its three components. The value is a snapshot, not a trend or the auction-time Ad Rank calculation.
- Referral traffic
- Website sessions attributed to an outside site. Some visits have no referral header and appear as direct traffic, so a referral report cannot identify every site that sent a visitor.
- Relevance
- How well a Business Profile matches what someone is searching for, one of Google's published factors for local results. Vicin reports measured queries, categories and ranking results separately. It does not calculate one relevance score or predict the effect of a content change.
- Return on ad spend (ROAS)
- Revenue attributed to advertising divided by advertising spend. Vicin does not calculate ROAS because the current paid-advertising record does not include revenue. Cost per outcome measures spend relative to recorded actions and should not be interpreted as a return on revenue.
- Review pace
- The rate at which a Google Business Profile receives new reviews over a stated period. Vicin can compare this rate with supported local references, but the result does not establish why customers post reviews.
- Review sentiment
- The positive, negative or mixed meaning expressed in review text. Vicin presents review themes and separate rule-based text checks instead of one sentiment score. A star rating and the written review may communicate different judgments.
- Search query
- The words someone entered into Google. Search Console and Google Business Profile can report different query records, and both can withhold low-volume or anonymized searches.
- Seasonal pattern
- A recurring difference between parts of the year in a metric's own history. A seasonal view describes past movement. It does not prove a cause, and one observation for each month provides limited support.
- Service area
- The geographic area a business serves. It may differ from the business address, city boundary or ranking-grid radius. Each Vicin measurement states the geographic basis it actually uses.
- Session
- A group of website or app interactions recorded by Google Analytics 4 within its session rules. Sessions are aggregate activity records, not a count of known people.
- Statistical significance
- A test of whether an observed difference is unlikely to result from random variation under stated assumptions. Vicin's experiment comparisons are directional observations. They do not run a significance test for every result and do not establish causation.
- Top-3 coverage
- The percentage of measured local ranking-grid points where the business appeared in positions one through three for the selected search term. Unmeasured points are reported separately rather than counted as failures.
- Unmeasured
- A value Vicin could not obtain for the stated source, place or period. Unmeasured is not zero. It remains separate from a measured zero and from a metric that does not apply.
- UTM parameter
- A URL parameter used to label a campaign's source, medium, name, term or content before Google Analytics 4 processes a visit. Vicin reports the attribution returned by GA4. It does not reconstruct a missing tag or assign a source when GA4 reports direct traffic.
- Website click from Business Profile
- An action recorded when someone selects the website link on a Google Business Profile. Vicin reports Google's action count. The click does not confirm that the page loaded, that the visitor stayed or that the visit produced a lead.
- Year-over-year comparison
- A comparison between a period and the same period one year earlier. It can reduce seasonal mismatch, but it does not adjust for seasonality or explain what caused the change.
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