# Lead generation glossary

> Plain-English definitions of 34 lead generation, Google Ads, Meta Ads and tracking terms for service businesses, from cost per lead to Consent Mode.

URL: https://leadwisemarketing.com/glossary/
Publisher: LeadWise Marketing (Cape Town, South Africa; serving the United States and Europe)

Agencies love jargon. We do not. Here are plain-English definitions of the terms you will meet when you buy Google Ads, Meta Ads and lead generation, from cost per lead to Consent Mode.

34 terms · Updated September 21, 2026

- [Leads and funnels](#leads-and-funnels)
- [Metrics](#metrics)
- [Google Ads and PPC](#google-ads-and-ppc)
- [Meta Ads](#meta-ads)
- [Tracking and data](#tracking-and-data)
- [Working with an agency](#working-with-an-agency)

## Leads and funnels

**Lead**:

A person or business that has shown interest in your service by sharing contact details, calling or sending a message. A lead is an opportunity, not yet a customer.

[Lead generation funnel](https://leadwisemarketing.com/blog/lead-generation-funnel/)

**Qualified lead**:

A lead that meets criteria agreed in advance, typically the right service, inside your service area, a realistic timeframe and a reachable decision-maker. The definition decides what campaigns are optimized for.

[What makes a lead qualified](https://leadwisemarketing.com/services/lead-generation/)

**Lead generation**:

The process of attracting potential customers and turning their interest into enquiries a sales team can follow up. For service businesses it usually combines paid ads, landing pages, lead capture and tracking.

[Lead generation services](https://leadwisemarketing.com/services/)

**Lead generation system**:

The connected parts that turn a stranger into an enquiry: traffic source, landing page, capture method, qualification step, tracking and lead routing. A weak part limits the whole system.

[Lead generation systems](https://leadwisemarketing.com/services/lead-generation/)

**Lead generation funnel**:

The sequence of stages between first contact and a paying customer. For a service business running ads: ad, landing page, lead capture, qualification, sales follow-up and customer.

[Lead generation funnel guide](https://leadwisemarketing.com/blog/lead-generation-funnel/)

**Landing page**:

A web page built for one audience and one action, usually to receive paid traffic. Unlike a homepage, it focuses on a single service and makes the next step obvious.

[Why landing pages underperform](https://leadwisemarketing.com/blog/landing-page-not-generating-leads/)

**Speed to lead**:

The time between an enquiry arriving and your team’s first response. For urgent services and considered purchases alike, slow responses lose leads to competitors who call first.

## Metrics

**Conversion**:

A completed action you have defined as valuable, such as a form submission, a tracked phone call or a booking. Conversions are what ad platforms optimize toward, so they must reflect real enquiries.

**Conversion rate**:

The share of visitors or clicks that become conversions. For a landing page: leads divided by landing page visits.

**Cost per click (CPC)**:

The amount paid for one ad click. In Google Ads you set a maximum bid, and Google says you will often pay less than that maximum.

[How much Google Ads costs](https://leadwisemarketing.com/blog/google-ads-cost-service-business/) · Source: [Choose your bid and budget (Google Ads Help)](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/2375454?hl=en)

**Cost per lead (CPL)**:

Ad spend divided by the number of leads it produced. Useful for day-to-day management, but misleading on its own because it treats every lead as equal.

[Cost per lead vs cost per customer](https://leadwisemarketing.com/blog/cost-per-lead-vs-cost-per-customer/)

**Customer acquisition cost (CAC)**:

The total cost of marketing, including fees and tools, divided by the number of new customers it produced. Also called cost per customer.

[Cost per lead vs cost per customer](https://leadwisemarketing.com/blog/cost-per-lead-vs-cost-per-customer/)

**Return on ad spend (ROAS)**:

Revenue attributed to advertising divided by the ad spend that produced it. For service businesses, gross profit gives a more honest picture than revenue.

**Customer lifetime value (LTV)**:

The gross profit you can expect from a customer over the whole relationship, including repeat work and maintenance plans. It sets how much you can afford to pay to win a customer.

**Booked opportunity**:

A lead that has turned into a scheduled quote, estimate, inspection or consultation. It sits between a qualified lead and a closed job.

## Google Ads and PPC

**PPC (pay-per-click)**:

An advertising model where you pay when someone clicks your ad rather than when it is shown. Google Ads search campaigns are the most common form of PPC for service businesses.

[PPC management](https://leadwisemarketing.com/services/ppc/)

**Search intent**:

What a searcher wants to achieve. For service businesses, searches are broadly urgent (help now), commercial (comparing options) or informational (learning or DIY).

[Google Ads for service businesses](https://leadwisemarketing.com/blog/google-ads-for-service-businesses/)

**Keyword match types**:

Settings that control which searches can trigger an ad. Google defines broad, phrase and exact match; exact match shows ads on searches with the same meaning or intent as the keyword.

Source: [About keyword matching options (Google Ads Help)](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/7478529?hl=en)

**Negative keyword**:

A word or phrase that stops ads from showing on searches that contain it, such as “jobs”, “salary” or “DIY”. One of the simplest ways to cut wasted spend.

**Search terms report**:

A Google Ads report listing the actual searches that triggered your ads. Reviewing it shows where money is going and which negative keywords to add.

Source: [About the search terms report (Google Ads Help)](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/2472708?hl=en)

**Ad Rank**:

The value Google uses to decide whether and where an ad appears. It considers your bid, ad and landing page quality, Ad Rank thresholds, auction competitiveness, search context and the expected impact of ad assets.

Source: [About Ad Rank (Google Ads Help)](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/1722122?hl=en)

**Quality Score**:

A diagnostic from 1 to 10, available at keyword level, based on expected clickthrough rate, ad relevance and landing page experience. Google states it is not an input in the ad auction.

Source: [About Quality Score for Search campaigns (Google Ads Help)](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/6167118?hl=en)

**Remarketing**:

Showing ads to people who have already visited your website or engaged with your ads. It keeps a business visible while prospects compare options.

## Meta Ads

**Instant form**:

A Meta lead form that opens inside Facebook or Instagram, often pre-filled with the person’s details. It lowers friction, so qualifying questions matter more.

[Meta Ads for service businesses](https://leadwisemarketing.com/services/meta-ads/) · Source: [About Instant Form Types (Meta Business Help Center)](https://www.facebook.com/business/help/252352181957512/)

**Special Ad Category**:

A Meta classification required for certain ads, such as those about credit or financial products, employment or housing. It limits targeting options, so campaigns must be planned around it.

Source: [How to choose a Special Ad Category (Meta Business Help Center)](https://www.facebook.com/business/help/298000447747885)

**Meta Pixel**:

A piece of code on your website that sends browser events, such as page views and leads, to Meta so ads can be measured and optimized.

**Conversions API**:

A server-side connection that sends events, such as qualified leads, directly to Meta. It complements the Meta Pixel and helps Meta learn which leads matter.

Source: [About Conversions API (Meta Business Help Center)](https://www.facebook.com/business/help/AboutConversionsAPI)

## Tracking and data

**Call tracking**:

Measuring phone calls by the ad, keyword or page that produced them, usually with tracking numbers or Google forwarding numbers. Essential for trades where most enquiries are calls.

Source: [About phone call conversion tracking (Google Ads Help)](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/6100664?hl=en)

**UTM parameters**:

Tags added to a link, such as utm\_source and utm\_campaign, that tell analytics tools where a visit came from.

Source: [URL builders: Collect campaign data with custom URLs (Analytics Help)](https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/10917952?hl=en)

**GCLID**:

The Google Click Identifier, a parameter Google Ads adds to your landing page URLs when auto-tagging is on. Storing it with each lead lets you send outcomes back to Google Ads later.

Source: [About auto-tagging (Google Ads Help)](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/3095550?hl=en)

**Offline conversion import**:

Sending results that happen after the click, such as qualified leads or closed jobs, back to an ad platform so bidding can optimize for real business outcomes.

Source: [About offline conversion imports (Google Ads Help)](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/2998031?hl=en)

**Consent Mode**:

A Google mechanism that lets a website communicate visitors’ cookie consent choices to Google tags, which then adjust their behavior. Needed for visitors in the EU and UK.

Source: [About consent mode (Google Ads Help)](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/10000067?hl=en)

## Working with an agency

**Monthly retainer**:

A fixed monthly fee for an agreed scope of work, such as strategy, campaign management, landing pages and reporting. Ad spend is typically paid to the ad platform, not included in the fee.

[How LeadWise works with clients](https://leadwisemarketing.com/services/#model-title)

**Performance-based pricing**:

An arrangement where part of an agency’s fee depends on results, such as qualified leads. It only works with reliable tracking and a clear, agreed definition of a qualified lead.

[Services and commercial model](https://leadwisemarketing.com/services/)

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LeadWise Marketing · ogs@leadwisemarketing.com · WhatsApp +27 81 458 5909 · Free lead generation audit: https://leadwisemarketing.com/contact/