Ever nodded along while someone said “we need better schema and more backlinks for the Map Pack” and quietly wondered what any of that meant? You are not alone, and it is not your fault. Marketing has a jargon problem, and small business owners pay the price for it — in confusing sales calls, in invoices for services they can’t evaluate, and in decisions made on faith instead of understanding.
So we fixed it. Today we’re launching the Chicago Small-Business Marketing Glossary — 22 plain-English definitions of the terms agencies throw around, written for owners, not marketers.
What’s inside
Every entry answers the same three questions: what is this thing, why should a business owner care, and what should you actually do about it. You’ll find the classics — SEO, backlinks, citations, search intent, conversion rate — alongside the new vocabulary that AI search has forced on all of us: GEO (Generative Engine Optimization), AEO (Answer Engine Optimization), and llms.txt, the small file that tells AI assistants what your business actually does.
If you’ve watched our Ferris & The Professor video series, the glossary will feel familiar — it’s the reference companion to the show. Ferris asks the questions every owner is thinking; the Professor answers without the jargon. The glossary is where those answers live in writing.
Who it’s for
Restaurant owners comparing quotes from marketing agencies. HVAC contractors wondering whether “local SEO” is different from “SEO.” Law firm partners who keep hearing about AI Overviews eating their traffic. Staffing firm operators trying to understand why their website doesn’t show up when someone searches for recruiters. If that’s you, start with the glossary, then dig into the guide built for your industry: restaurant marketing, HVAC marketing, law firm marketing, or IT staffing and recruiting.
Use it, share it, link to it
Teachers, chambers of commerce, business librarians, newsletter writers: the glossary is free to reference and cite. If you link to a definition with attribution, we’ll happily return the favor by pointing our readers at your resource. Terminology should be a public good.
We’ll keep growing it — every new Ferris & The Professor episode adds its term to the list. Bookmark it, send it to the person on your team who nods along in meetings, and if you’d rather have a human translate the jargon for your specific business, grab a free growth plan — no glossary required to read it.