The Truth About Vague, Fancy Terminology

The truth about vague, fancy terminology is that it almost always hides one of three things: a simple idea dressed up to justify a bigger invoice, a supplier who does not fully understand what they are selling, or an offer with nothing measurable inside it. Plain English survives scrutiny; jargon avoids it. We first published this rant in 2012, back when the villains were “gurus” and “synergy”. In 2026 the costumes have changed: everything is “AI-powered”, every marketer is a “growth hacker”, and every proposal promises “full-funnel omnichannel synergy”. This updated version names the new offenders, translates them into plain words, and shows you how to buy web and SEO services without being baffled.

What the 2012 original said, and what has changed

The first version of this article went up in September 2012, back when our founder Mo Rafi was teaching WordPress at Google Campus London and had grown tired of hearing phrases like “creating a sense of urgency through calls to action” said out loud in meetings, apparently with a straight face. The original took aim at “call to action”, “increase conversion”, “sense of urgency”, “passionate”, “unique” and, above all, “guru”. You can read more about where we started on our story page.

Being honest about our own archive matters, so here is the update:

• “Call to action” and “conversion” turned out to be useful. With numbers attached, they are precise terms. A conversion is a visitor doing the thing you wanted. A call to action is the button that invites them to do it. The 2012 complaint really applied to people saying the words as filler, without a page, a button or a number in sight. That complaint stands.
• “Guru” died, as predicted. Almost nobody self-describes as a guru any more. Unfortunately the vacancy was filled by “thought leader”, then “growth hacker”, and now “AI strategist”. The costume changed; the act is identical.
• The thin content problem got worse, not better. The original mocked search results stuffed with “25 ways to increase conversion” pages that were recycled promises with hidden charges at the bottom. Google spent years fighting that sort of content, and then generative AI arrived and made it possible to produce it far faster than any content farm ever managed. Vague articles and vague sales talk now come out of the same machine.

So the targets have changed, but the diagnosis from 2012 holds: when someone reaches for a fancy phrase where a plain one would do, they are usually protecting the gap between what they charge and what they deliver.

The 2026 jargon hall of shame

Synergy-speak. “We leverage cross-channel synergies to elevate your brand storytelling.” Translation: we will run some ads and post on your social accounts. Synergy-speak survives because it sounds like strategy while committing to nothing. If a sentence would still be true with the company name swapped for any other company on earth, it is not a strategy. It is wallpaper.

AI-washing. The 2026 champion. “AI-powered”, “proprietary AI algorithm”, “machine learning insights engine”. Sometimes this describes genuine capability. More often it means staff paste your brief into the same chatbot you already have on your phone, then charge you for the privilege. We use AI ourselves, openly, for efficiency work, so this is not a complaint about the technology. It is a complaint about the label. “AI-powered” on a proposal tells you precisely nothing. Ask what the tool does, what data goes into it, and what a human checks before anything ships.

Growth hacking. Marketing with a hoodie on. Occasionally it describes genuinely clever, fast experimentation. More often it describes spam with better branding: scraped email lists, automated LinkedIn messages and mass-produced pages. When someone offers you growth hacking, ask what they will actually do in month one. The answer is usually either “marketing” or something you would not want done in your name.

Ranking violence. “Dominate the SERPs.” “Explode your traffic.” “Skyrocket your rankings.” Rankings do not respond to aggression, and a number one position for a phrase nobody searches is worth exactly nothing. Ask which keywords, how many people search for them, and what a visitor from each one is worth to your business.

Our own back yard: GEO. We sell generative engine optimisation, so we owe you the plain version. GEO means making sure that when someone asks ChatGPT or another AI assistant to recommend a business like yours, the assistant can find you, read your site and cite you. That is the whole idea. It is real work with real mechanics, but the term is already being abused by suppliers who cannot explain what they would actually change on your website. If you want to see the problem for yourself, start with our guide to whether ChatGPT recommends your business.

Translate the proposal before you sign it

Here is a working translation table for the proposals currently landing in small business inboxes:

What the proposal says	What it usually means	What to ask instead
”We leverage cross-channel synergies”	They will run ads and post on your social accounts	Which channels, what budget, and what did this achieve for your last client?
”AI-powered proprietary platform”	They use tools anyone can buy, plus a chatbot	Which tools exactly? Would I recognise the names?
”Growth hacking sprints”	Marketing, done quickly and sometimes recklessly	What will you actually do in month one?
”Holistic omnichannel strategy”	A plan, hopefully written down	Can I see a sample plan you produced for someone else?
”We will dominate the SERPs”	Rank higher for some keywords, possibly worthless ones	Which keywords, and what is a visitor from each worth to me?
”Full-funnel conversion optimisation”	Fix pages so more visitors enquire or buy	Which pages will change, and how will we measure the difference?

The right hand column is the entire method. You do not need to know what a canonical tag is to buy SEO well. You need to keep asking plain questions until the answers are plain too.

Why suppliers talk like this

It is worth understanding the incentive, because jargon is not an accident. It does three jobs.

First, it inflates price. Two quotes for “five new pages, keyword research and a monthly report” can be compared in thirty seconds. Two quotes for “holistic digital enablement” cannot be compared at all, and confusion always favours the seller.

Second, it avoids accountability. You cannot fail at something that was never defined. “Improve brand visibility” is unfalsifiable by design. “More enquiries from your contact form” is a promise someone can be held to.

Third, it filters for the wrong clients. Jargon works best on buyers who feel unsure and do not want to look ignorant by asking. The fix is to ask anyway. In our experience the most sophisticated buyers ask the simplest questions.

The alternative is boringly straightforward: report in the client’s own units. When we talk about our work we say that Circa London saw 40% more enquiries, RakLAW, a law firm, saw 60% more leads, and TWF Roller Garage Doors saw 44% more revenue. Enquiries, leads, revenue. No synergies were harmed, or indeed mentioned.

How to buy web and SEO services without being baffled

A numbered routine you can run on any proposal, from any supplier, including us:

1. Write your goal in one plain sentence. “More enquiries from local homeowners” beats “brand elevation”. Every question that follows flows from this sentence.
2. Make them explain the proposal with zero jargon. A supplier who understands their own service can always describe it simply. One who cannot is reselling a mystery, and you should walk.
3. Demand named deliverables with dates. Pages built, keywords targeted, reports sent. If the proposal contains verbs like “enable”, “empower” and “elevate” but no nouns you can count, send it back.
4. Ask which tools they use, then look the tools up. Most of this industry runs on the same handful of platforms, and none of them are secret. Our SEO tools hub reviews the main ones in plain English, and a surprising amount of the job can be done with the best free SEO tools alone.
5. Ask for results in your units. Enquiries, bookings, sales. Not impressions, not reach, not “visibility uplift”. If they have case studies, the numbers should be in those units too.
6. Verify what you can from your own chair. Rankings are checkable by anyone; our guide on how to check your Google rankings shows you how without buying anything. And if you want to understand the mechanics before you spend a penny, the DIY SEO guide exists precisely so that buyers know what they are paying for.
7. Keep ownership of everything. Domain name, hosting account, website files, analytics. All registered in your name, not the agency’s. Plenty of jargon exists specifically to blur this point.

Run all seven and you become the buyer that jargon-heavy agencies quietly avoid, which is exactly the reputation you want.

Frequently asked questions

Is marketing jargon ever legitimate?

Yes. Shorthand between specialists is normal and efficient; “canonical”, “crawl budget” and “conversion rate” all mean specific things. The test is whether the speaker can translate on demand. A genuine expert can always drop down a level and explain the same idea to a twelve year old. Someone who gets irritated when you ask, or who answers one buzzword with three more, is hiding something, even if it is only their own confusion.

What is AI-washing and how do I spot it?

AI-washing is sticking “AI-powered” onto a service to make it sound more advanced than it is, in the same way “eco-friendly” once got stuck onto everything with a green label. Spot it with three questions: which tool or model is used, what data goes into it, and what does a human check before the work ships. Confident, specific answers suggest real capability. Vague answers to all three mean the AI is in the branding, not the service.

What does generative engine optimisation mean in plain English?

It means making your business findable and citable by AI assistants. When someone asks ChatGPT, Gemini or a similar tool to recommend a company like yours, GEO work makes it more likely the assistant knows you exist, understands what you do and mentions you in the answer. It overlaps heavily with good SEO: clear pages, honest information, structured facts. Anyone selling it as a dark art separate from all of that is selling the fog, not the lighthouse.

How do I check whether an SEO agency is any good?

Look for three things: public reviews you can read yourself, case studies with named clients and results in business units, and plain answers to plain questions. For what it is worth, we hold a 4.7 star Google rating from 60 reviews, and we would genuinely rather you go and read those than take this article’s word for anything. An agency that discourages checking is answering the question for you.

Do I need expensive tools to hold an agency to account?

No. You can verify rankings, indexing and the basics of your own visibility with free tools, and we keep a maintained list of the best free SEO tools for exactly this purpose. The point is not to do the agency’s job yourself. The point is that a supplier who knows you can check their claims writes more careful proposals.

Should I refuse to work with anyone who uses buzzwords?

No, that would rule out the entire industry, ourselves included on a bad day. Everyone slips into shorthand. The rule is narrower: refuse to sign with anyone who cannot, or will not, translate the buzzwords into deliverables and numbers when asked. Translation on demand is the dividing line between shorthand and smokescreen.

If you would like the no-jargon version of what we would do for your website, ask us. We are a London based agency, we build fast static websites, we run SEO, GEO and Google Ads, and every line of a Luckywebs proposal comes in plain English, because if it cannot survive translation it does not belong in the plan.

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