Data Dictionery

Get to know your numbers

Last updated 20th June 2026

A plain-English glossary for small business owners. No jargon, just clarity.

The Data Dictionary

General/Cross Platform terms

Session — A single visit to your website. One person could have multiple sessions if they leave and come back later the same day.

Conversion — Any action you've decided matters — usually a sale, but could be a sign-up, a form submission, or a booking.

Conversion rate — The percentage of visitors who complete that action. (Conversions ÷ total visitors × 100)

Bounce rate — The percentage of people who land on a page and leave without clicking anything else. Not always bad — someone might land, get their answer, and leave happy.

Engagement rate — How actively people interact with your content (likes, comments, shares, saves) relative to how many people saw it.

Impressions — How many times something was shown, regardless of whether anyone clicked or engaged.

Reach — How many different people saw something (as opposed to impressions, which can count the same person multiple times).

Click-through rate (CTR) — The percentage of people who saw something and actually clicked it. (Clicks ÷ impressions × 100)

Website Traffic (Google analytics)

Users — The number of distinct people who visited your site in a given period.

Sessions — See above. Multiple sessions per user are normal.

Engaged sessions — A session where someone did something meaningful — stayed for a decent amount of time, viewed multiple pages, or completed a conversion.

Average engagement time — How long, on average, people actively spend on your site (not just having a tab open in the background).

Traffic source / channel — Where a visit came from: organic search, paid search, social, direct, referral, or email.

Direct traffic — Someone typed your URL straight in, or used a bookmark. Usually means they already know your brand.

Organic traffic — Visitors who found you through an unpaid search engine result.

Referral traffic — Visitors who clicked a link to your site from another website.

Landing page — The first page someone sees when they arrive on your site.

Exit page — The last page someone views before leaving your site.

Search Visibility (google search console)

Impressions — How many times your site appeared in search results for a given query.

Clicks — How many times someone actually clicked through from search results to your site.

Average position — Roughly where your site tends to rank in search results for a given term (position 1 = top of page one).

Query — The actual words someone typed into Google before finding you.

Index / Indexing — Google's process of "reading" and storing your pages so they can appear in search results. A page that isn't indexed can't be found via Google, however good it is.

Sitemap — A file that lists all your site's pages, helping Google find and understand your site's structure.

Social Media

Reach — See above; unique accounts that saw your content.

Impressions — See above; total views, including repeats.

Engagement — Likes, comments, shares, and saves combined.

Saves — Someone bookmarked your post to come back to later — a strong signal of genuine value.

Profile visits — How many people clicked through to view your profile after seeing a post.

Follower growth — Net change in followers over a period (new follows minus unfollows).

Story completion rate — The percentage of people who watched a Story all the way through rather than skipping or exiting.

Email Marketing

Open rate — The percentage of people who opened your email. (Opens ÷ emails delivered × 100)

Click rate (or CTR) — The percentage of recipients who clicked a link inside your email.

Unsubscribe rate — The percentage of recipients who opted out after a given email.

Deliverability — Whether your emails are actually reaching inboxes rather than being filtered to spam.

List growth rate — How quickly your subscriber list is growing (new subscribers minus unsubscribes, over time).

Segment — A specific group within your list, sorted by behaviour or characteristics (e.g. "customers who bought in the last 30 days").

Sales and ecommerce

Revenue — Total money taken in from sales, before any costs are deducted.

Average order value (AOV) — The average amount spent per order. (Revenue ÷ number of orders)

Customer acquisition cost (CAC) — How much it costs, on average, to gain one new customer (usually marketing spend ÷ new customers).

Customer lifetime value (LTV) — The total amount a customer is likely to spend with you over the whole time they're a customer, not just their first order.

Repeat customer rate — The percentage of customers who buy from you more than once.

Cart abandonment rate — The percentage of people who added something to their cart but didn't complete the purchase.

Gross profit — Revenue minus the direct cost of producing what you sold (materials, manufacturing, etc.) — not the same as revenue, and not the same as final profit either.

Google business profile

Profile views — How many people viewed your business listing.

Discovery search — Someone found your listing by searching a category or need (e.g. "florist near me") rather than your business name directly. A strong signal of new customer reach.

Direct search — Someone searched your business name or address specifically — they already knew about you.

Customer actions — Specific things people did after finding your profile: visited your website, requested directions, called you.