At the top of this page are:
- "Ask Question"
- "Questions", "Tags", "Users", "Badges", "Answers"
(1) directly proposes an action "Ask a Question!" (using imperative language). From what I've read Googling a "Call To Action", the Internet seems to agree that this kind of thing is a "call to action" in every example.
In contrast, the elements (2) do not propose an action, but only insofar as they don't do so explicitly in the text, which only suggests what can be found after clicking the element. They do however clearly invite the user to perform the following actions "View Questions", "View Tags", "View Users", "View Badges", "View Answers". Most of my reading suggests that (2) is not a "Call To Action".
However, the difference to me seems to be splitting hairs since both sets of elements do in fact call the user to perform an action.
So, what is, and what's the importance of a "Call To Action" in UX terms? Is it just terminology fluff of is there some good reasoning behind the use of the terms? (e.g. imperative language in a "Call To Action" is known to increase engagement and is supported by research)?