Glossary: 42 terms about smart links
What's a UTM parameter? How does Bounce Booster work? Why is GDPR-compliant tracking important? Find clear explanations of every key term in online marketing.
45
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Tracking & Analytics
6 terms
Links & Shorteners
7 terms
QR Codes
5 terms
Marketing & Conversion
13 terms
Privacy & Compliance
6 terms
A–Z
All terms from A to Z
Affiliate Link
A link with your personal tracking ID — you earn a commission when someone buys through it.
Audience (Ad Targeting)
A saved group of people inside an ad platform that you can serve targeted ads to.
Bio Page (Link in Bio)
A mini landing page that gathers your important links — perfect for Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.
Bounce Booster
When a visitor hits the back button, they don't return to the referrer — they land on a rescue page you chose.
Branded Link
A short link on your own domain — not bit.ly, but yourbrand.com.
Campaign Tracking
Giving every channel its own tagged link so you can measure performance source by source.
CCPA / CPRA
California's privacy law, expanded by CPRA — the US benchmark for consumer data rights.
Click Tracking
Logs every click on a short link — including device, source, and timestamp.
Click-Through Rate (CTR)
Share of recipients who actually click a link — the #1 engagement KPI.
Conversion Pixel
Invisible tracking snippet that measures whether a click turned into a sale or lead.
Conversion Rate
Share of clicks that lead to a defined goal — a purchase, a lead, a signup.
Cookie Banner / Consent
Consent prompt for tracking cookies — required by GDPR in the EU and CCPA/CPRA in California.
Custom Domain
Using your own domain as the base for short links — maximum brand control.
Data Processing Agreement (DPA)
A contract between you and any vendor that processes personal data on your behalf.
Deep Link
A link that opens a specific page inside an app or website, not the homepage.
Digital Business Card
An online profile with all your contact info — scannable by QR, save-to-contacts via vCard.
DNS CNAME
A DNS record that points one hostname to another hostname.
Dynamic QR Code
A QR code whose destination URL you can change anytime — no reprint needed.
Engagement
Umbrella term for any interaction with your content — clicks, likes, shares, dwell time.
EU Data Hosting
Servers physically located in the EU — important for GDPR-sensitive customers and avoiding US transfer risk.
GDPR
The EU's General Data Protection Regulation — in force since May 2018, with global reach.
Geo-Targeting
One short link routes visitors to different destinations based on their country.
Intelligent Deep Linking
Clicking a short link automatically opens the native app instead of the mobile browser — much higher conversion.
IP Anonymization
Truncating the last octet of an IP address or hashing it — strips its status as personal data.
Lead
A person who has shown qualified interest — typically by submitting their email or requesting a demo.
Lead Magnet
A free, high-value offer (PDF, checklist, mini-course) in exchange for an email address.
Link Cloaking
Hiding an ugly affiliate URL behind a clean short link — for branding and protection.
Meta Pixel (Facebook Pixel)
Meta's tracking snippet that measures what happens after someone clicks your Facebook or Instagram ad.
Meta Tags
HTML tags in the <head> that browsers and crawlers read — for SEO, social media, and beyond.
Open Graph (OG)
Meta tags that control how a link looks when shared on social media.
Printing QR Codes
Printing QR codes on posters, business cards, and packaging — specific sizes and contrast rules apply.
QR Code
A 2D barcode you scan with your phone camera — usually opens a URL.
Redirect
The HTTP mechanism that bounces a visitor from one URL to another.
Retargeting
Serving ads specifically to people who have already engaged with your brand.
Robots Tag
Controls whether search engines may index a page and follow its links.
SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
Everything you do to rank higher in organic search results.
Short Link
The output of a URL shortener — a compact link that redirects to your real destination.
Sitemap (XML)
A list of all indexable pages — helps search engines crawl your site efficiently.
Split Test (A/B Test)
One short link routes visitors randomly to two or more destinations — you see which performs better.
SSL / TLS Certificate
Encrypts the connection between browser and server — visible as the padlock icon and https://.
Static QR Code
A QR code with a hardcoded destination — not editable after printing.
URL Shortener
A tool that turns long, messy URLs into short, clean, shareable links.
UTM Parameters
URL tags that tell Google Analytics, GA4, and HubSpot exactly where a visitor came from.
vCard
Digital business card format — imports directly into a phone's address book.
X / Twitter Card
X's counterpart to Open Graph — controls how a link previews on X.
Theory understood — now put it into practice
Short links, QR codes, bio pages, digital business cards — all in one tool. GDPR-compliant, EU hosting, from $0.