The marketing glossary, 2026 edition

In 2023, then in 2024, we demystified 28 marketing jargon terms, from brief to retargeting. These two articles were among the most-read on our old website. Since then, AI has settled into agencies, Google now answers people’s questions itself, and accessibility has become mandatory for part of the private sector. It was time for a new edition.

The two parts are now combined in a single marketing and digital glossary, rewritten and kept up to date: the definition first, then an example, and a wink to finish. Here are the 15 terms joining it in 2026.

AI becomes part of everyday work

Generative AI

Since ChatGPT arrived in late 2022, generative AI writes, draws, translates and summarizes on demand. In agencies, it speeds up first drafts and adaptations; it replaces neither strategy nor an art director’s eye.

It writes a poem in ten seconds. Knowing whether it’s any good is still your job.

LLM

An LLM, or large language model, is the engine behind these tools: the GPT models behind ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or those from France’s Mistral AI. It predicts the most likely continuation of a text, which makes it brilliant at writing, and capable of getting things wrong.

It has read a good chunk of the internet. Which explains a few things.

Hallucination

When a model gets it wrong, it does so with confidence: an invented figure, an imaginary source. That’s hallucination, and the reason any content produced with AI must be reviewed by a human before it goes out.

AI doesn’t lie: it improvises.

AI agent

The next step: an AI agent doesn’t just answer, it acts. It searches, fills in a spreadsheet, drafts a follow-up, drawing on your tools: that’s the role of MCP, which we wrote about in 2025.

It doesn’t get a license to kill, just access rights. Choose them carefully.

Google answers for you

AI Overviews and AI Mode

Google’s AI Overviews, followed by its conversational AI Mode, answer directly at the top of the results. According to the Pew Research Center, people click on a result in 8% of visits when an overview appears, versus 15% without one.

Like a friend who tells you how the movie ends.

Zero-click search

Hence zero-click search: the answer appears, and nobody visits the site. For a local business, an up-to-date business profile (hours, address, reviews) now matters as much as a beautiful web page.

If you’re reading this, thanks for clicking.

GEO

GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) aims to get you cited by these AIs. A study published in 2023 measured up to 40% more visibility when a text cites its sources and figures. In practice, it’s good SEO: clear, accurate, dated answers.

We used to make eyes at Google. Now we have to win over its assistant too.

llms.txt

llms.txt, a file that summarizes a website for AIs, has generated a lot of buzz. Yet Google says that, to its knowledge, no AI service uses it: add one if you like, but don’t expect miracles.

The file everyone talks about and almost no one reads.

Data: the end of tracking

Third-party cookie

The third-party cookie, which followed users from site to site, is on the way out: Safari blocks it, Firefox partitions it, and in Europe it requires the user’s consent.

The cousin who followed you from party to party is no longer invited everywhere.

CMP

A CMP, or consent management platform, is the tool behind the cookie banner. The CNIL, France’s data protection authority, requires refusing to be as easy as accepting: every refusal removes visits from your analytics, which you need to know to read them correctly.

That banner everyone closes without reading? It has a real job.

First-party data

That leaves the best source: your first-party data, collected yourself (website, forms, loyalty card), with clear consent. We go through the method in our article on data collection.

Homemade, like punch: you know what’s in it.

The responsible web becomes the rule

EAA

Since June 28, 2025, the EAA (European Accessibility Act) has made accessibility mandatory for many private services: e-commerce, banking, passenger transport. Only service microenterprises are exempt.

It’s not an airline, but there are now rules for getting everyone on board.

Eco-design

Eco-design reduces the impact of a digital service from the design stage. Its French framework, the RGESN, has 78 criteria in its May 2024 version. A lighter website is also faster, which matters on a slow connection.

A well-packed suitcase: everything you need, nothing extra.

Greenwashing

The European rules against greenwashing (Directive 2024/825) have applied since September 27, 2026: no more “eco-friendly” or “environmentally friendly” products without proof, and no more products called “carbon neutral” on the strength of offsetting alone.

Painting a pickup truck green doesn’t make it electric.

And a word close to home

Transcreation

Finally, a word that speaks to our territories: transcreation, the art of adapting a message to another language and culture without losing its impact. From Guadeloupean Creole to Martinican Creole, from French to the Portuguese of neighboring Brazil, translation alone isn’t enough.

Translate “ça va le faire” (roughly, “it’ll work out”) word for word, and you can be sure it won’t.

What doesn’t change

The 28 terms from 2023 and 2024 are still there, updated. The definition of AI has been completely rewritten. “Analytics” now covers GA4, SEO makes room for GEO, and influencer marketing cites France’s law of June 9, 2023. As for the brief, it’s still not underwear.

To sum up…

• The glossary brings together 45 definitions, from A for AI agent to W for Wording.
• Each definition fits in one sentence, followed by an example and a wink.
• Regulatory terms cite their official source.
• The glossary will keep growing over the coming months.

Missing a term? Write to us: it may make it into the next edition of the glossary.