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PPC Glossary

Understanding Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising terms is essential for any marketer, entrepreneur, or business owner to craft a marketing strategy. Looking to drive instant traffic, measurable results, and lead generation. Dive into our comprehensive Pay-Per-Click (PPC)  glossary, packed with terms. Gain knowledge, insights, and ideas to simplify ad campaigns and achieve better results.  These terms are useful for engagement, bidding, and optimization of the sales strategy. Whether you’re launching your first ad, scaling campaigns, or analyzing ROI, these glossary terms are helpful to make smarter decisions. Explore, learn, and leverage your PPC knowledge to optimize campaigns and drive better performance.

A

Active CPM refers to the pricing model where advertisers pay a set amount for every 1,000 impressions their ad receives. These are often used in campaigns aimed at increasing brand visibility and awareness, expanding brand outreach, and focusing on conversions.
A metric showing impressions where at least 50% of the ad was visible for 1 second (display) or 2 seconds (video).
An ad campaign refers to ads organized for a common objective, audience, and budget. In platforms like Google Ads or Meta Ads, campaigns are the container that controls settings like:

Ad copy refers to the textual element of a digital ad that communicates a message, highlights a value proposition, and encourages user action or click. Strong ad copy connects with the audience’s needs and enhances performance through improved Quality Score and CTR.

Ad delivery refers to how and when your ads are shown to users. It depends on the ad campaign’s budget, bidding strategy, and platform settings. Delivery types include:
Ad extensions refer to the additional pieces of information used to expand a standard text ad for users to interact with. Examples of ad extensions include:

An ad group is a collection of ads, keywords, and targeting settings organized around a specific theme or product/service within an ad campaign. Each ad group shares the same targeting and budget rules from its parent ad campaign. An Ad Group organizes related ads and targeting settings within an Ad campaign.

A platform or system that connects advertisers with publishers to display ads on the screen. Common ad networks include the Google Display Network, Meta Audience Network, and Microsoft Audience Network.

Ad position refers to the position where your ad appears on a search engine results page (SERP). It’s influenced by Ad Rank, which includes your bid, ad quality, relevance, expected CTR, and use of ad extensions. Higher positions typically result in more visibility, clicks, and conversions of the ads.

Ad Rank is a score used by ad platforms (like Google Ads) to determine ad position and ad quality. It is calculated based on bid amount, ad quality, relevance, impact of extensions, and context of the search.

Ad rotation determines how multiple ads within an ad group are served in auctions. It controls whether ads are shown evenly or optimized for performance. Settings that control how multiple ads in an ad group are served.

Google AdSense is an ad program that allows publishers to display pay-per-click (PPC) ads on their websites. It allows users to earn revenue when users view or click on them.

Ad Spend refers to the total amount of money a business invests in advertising across various channels such as search engines, social media, display networks, and more. Ad Spend is a metric in digital marketing that directly influences campaign strategy, budgeting, and ROI evaluation.

Ad Scheduling allows advertisers to control the specific days and times when their ads are eligible to run on the platform. Ad scheduling helps align ad delivery with user behavior and business hours to improve efficiency and ROI.

Ad status indicates the current operational state or status of an ad within a platform like Google Ads. It helps advertisers understand whether an ad is running, paused, disapproved, or undergoing review.

Amazon’s pay-per-click (PPC) advertising platform allows sellers. Brands also promote products directly on Amazon’s search results and product pages.

An assisted conversion is a conversion in which a marketing channel has contributed to the user journey. This channel assisted, but that wasn’t the final channel to convert the user.

Automated extensions refer to the additional snippets of information (e.g., calls, sitelinks, ratings) that are automatically generated by ad platforms. These extensions enhance your ad’s visibility and performance.

An attribution model is a framework that is used in digital marketing to determine how credit for a conversion is to be distributed across various touchpoints in a customer’s journey. These points include interactions like ad clicks, impressions, email engagements, or social media actions.

Automated bidding is a Google Ads feature that uses machine learning to automatically set bids for your ads based on the likelihood of achieving your campaign goals.

B

Bid adjustment is a feature of digital advertising platforms that allows advertisers to increase or decrease their bids. This is based on specific targeting criteria like device, location, time, audience, and demographics.

A bidding strategy is the method or strategy that helps you decide how much you’re willing to pay for ad placements in your ad campaign, ensuring your budget is spent efficiently. This strategy aligns with specific ad campaign objectives. These can be aiming for maximum clicks, higher impressions, or better conversions.  

Business-to-Consumer (B2C) PPC is a form of paid digital advertising where companies target individual consumers directly. The B2C focuses on driving quick actions like purchases, sign-ups, or downloads, often connects with customers’ preferences, choices, which connect customers with your business, and visually engaging ads on platforms like Google, Meta.
A bid in PPC refers to the maximum amount an advertiser is willing to pay for a user to click their ad. It acts as a signal in the auction system, helping determine whether your ad will show, in what position, and how much you’ll ultimately pay. These are based on competition and quality factors.
Bidding types refer to the strategies advertisers use to control how they pay for ad placement, either manually or through automated algorithms. Bidding types are the marketers’ choice of how their PPC bids are set in the ad campaign.

The process of adjusting bids for better ROAS( Return on Advertising Spend)
Bid management is the ongoing process of setting, adjusting, and optimizing bids for PPC campaigns to achieve better results. It involves using performance data, automation tools, and strategic adjustments to maximize RO. Aim to minimize wasted spend and stay competitive in the ad auction.

A bounce happens when a visitor clicks on your ad, lands on your website, and exits without engaging, like clicking another page or filling out a form. In PPC, bounces often indicate a disconnection of customers between your ad message and landing page experience.

Bounce rate is a metric showing the percentage of visitors who leave your website after viewing only one page, without taking any further action. A high bounce rate in PPC campaigns can signal poor user experience, irrelevant traffic, or a weak landing page.
Broad match type for keywords that is used while crafting Google Ads. Broad match type shows the relation of the ad searches related to your keywords. This match type offers the widest reach, requires the default keyword match type in Google Ads, which shows your ads for searches that are related to your keyword, even if they don’t contain the exact terms.
A budget cap refers to the maximum amount an advertiser is willing to spend for the ad campaign within a specific time (daily, weekly, or monthly). Budget cap acts as a barrier for cost control, prevents overspending, and aligns ad campaign spending with strategic marketing objectives and goals. A budget cap is essential, especially for small or performance-sensitive businesses.
Branded keywords refer to the search terms that include your company’s name, products, or brand-specific phrases (e.g., “ Nike shoes” or “Parle offers”). These types of keywords are called branded keywords. Bidding on or using branded keywords helps enhance your brand presence in search results, improve CTR, and get the branded traffic towards your website.

C

Call extensions are one of the Google Ads features that allow advertisers to include a phone number directly within text ads. This feature enables users to call a business with a single tap on mobile devices. Thus, it increases direct engagement, traffic, and drives more leads from phone calls.

Callout Extensions refer to the additional snippets of text in a Google Ads ad that highlight unique selling points of the business or its benefits. For example, “Free Shipping” or “24/7 Support.” This callout extension is not clickable but appears with your ad copy to make it more informative. 

A campaign budget refers to the predefined financial limit that is set by an advertiser for a specific ad campaign. This campaign budget determines how much marketers are willing to spend over a selected time frame. It can vary based on the requirements, whether daily, weekly, or monthly. It helps manage costs, optimize performance, and align spending with overall marketing objectives.
A Call-To-Action (CTA) is a phrase that directs users toward a specific action, such as “Buy Now,” “Learn More,” or “Sign Up Today.” CTAs are essential in guiding user behavior and action-driven phrases used in landing pages, digital marketing, and PPC campaigns.

Change History refers to having a record of all modifications made to a digital asset, such as a website, ad campaign, or content management system. Change history is used to track changes over time. This history includes who made the change and when it occurred.

When there are Illegitimate clicks intended to waste ad spend. Click fraud is the malicious practice the intentionally clicking on ads, depleting an advertiser’s budget. Without a genuine interest in the product or service. This can be carried out by competitors, publishers, or automated bots.

Click-through rate (CTR) refers to the percentage of users who click on a link, ad, or search result after seeing it. Click-through rate (CTR) measures the effectiveness of an ad or link in encouraging user interaction. It is calculated by dividing the number of clicks by the number of impressions, providing insights into how compelling and relevant the content is to the audience. 

Client ID refers to the client identifier, these are the unique identifier that is assigned to each user by Google Analytics. This identifier is stored in a browser cookie and helps track individual activity and user interactions across sessions.

Conversion Optimizer refers to a Google Ads bidding strategy that automatically sets bids to help marketers get conversions within the given budget. Conversion optimizer eliminates guesswork in bidding and proposes an effective strategy. By using machine learning to analyze performance and real-time signals, drive more qualified lead sales.

Conversion Rate refers to the percentage of users who have completed the desired action, like making a purchase or filling out a form, after clicking on an ad or visiting a site. A higher conversion rate means your website or landing page is effectively engaging visitors to take action, directly impacting the profitability and ROI of the business.

Cookies are small data files stored in a user’s browser, These files are used to track behavior, preferences, and conversions on websites. Cookies help advertisers or marketers to measure performance, retarget users, understand user preferences, purchasing patterns, a nd personalize the ad experience. These insights make them vital for campaign optimization.

Cost-per-click (CPC) is an advertising metric where advertisers pay a fee each time the user clicks on their ad. It helps businesses track how much they are paying for user engagement. By measuring the clicks, advertisers can gauge the effectiveness of their ads, control costs, and improve campaign strategies.

Cost-per-Lead (CPL) is a digital advertising pricing model where advertisers pay for each lead generated through their ads. A lead can be a potential customer who submits a form, signs up for a newsletter, or expresses interest in a product.

Cost-per-acquisition (CPA) is a digital advertising metric that measures what is the cost incurred to acquire a customer or conversion (such as a sale, sign-up, or download). CPA is an essential performance indicator in pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns. These metrics offer valuable insights to advertisers to assess ROI and budget efficiently.

CPM, or Cost-Per-Mille, is a digital advertising metric that represents the cost of 1,000 ad impressions. This metric is used in display and video advertising to measure how much an advertiser pays for every 1,000 times their ad is shown. CPM is ideal for brand awareness campaigns where visibility matters more than clicks or conversions.

CPV, or Cost-Per-View, is a video advertising metric that measures how much an advertiser pays each time a viewer watches a video ad. CPV is commonly used by ad campaigns on different platforms like YouTube, where charges apply after a user watches a set duration or engages with the video.

Customer lifetime value (CLV) refers to an estimate or metric that is used by marketers to calculate the total revenue a business can expect from a single customer throughout the customer journey. It business insight to understand the long-term value of customers and is a key metric used for customer retention strategies.

D

Daily Budget is the maximum amount of money an advertiser is willing to spend on an ad campaign per day. This setting helps manage advertising costs and control pacing across the campaign’s lifetime.

The Destination URL is the final destination or landing page where the user lands after clicking on the advertisement. It’s often different from the Display URL shown in the ad.

Display ads are visual-based advertisements (images, banners, videos, or rich media) shown across websites, apps, and social platforms within a display network like Google Display Network (GDN). They aim to capture attention and promote brand awareness, products, or services.

Demographic Targeting allows advertisers or marketers to tailor ads based on user attributes. These attributes are selected based on age, gender, household income, education level, occupation, purchasing patterns, and more.

Device targeting allows advertisers to serve ads based on the type of device users are using, like desktop, mobile, or tablet. This ensures the ad experience is optimized for screen size, user behavior, and context, improving engagement and conversion rates.

The Display Network refers to a group of websites, apps, and videos where ads can appear, typically in visual formats like banners, images, or rich media. It enables advertisers to reach a broad or highly targeted audience across millions of digital properties. Driving brand awareness, retargeting, and engagement at scale.

The Display URL is the website address shown in the ad to the users. It can differ from the actual destination URL to provide a clean, user-friendly preview.

Dynamic Search Ads (DSAs) automatically generate headlines and target relevant searches using content from your website. It helps to capture long-tail search traffic, reduces manual keyword research, a nd keeps ad content up-to-date.

Dynamic Keyword Insertion (DKI) is a feature that automatically replaces a placeholder in your ad with a user’s search term. Example: Headline: Buy {Keyword: Running Shoes} — If the user searched “trail shoes,” the ad would display: “Buy Trail Shoes.”

E

Enhanced Cost-Per-Click (ECPC) is a semi-automated bidding strategy that adjusts your manual bids based on the likelihood that a click will lead to a conversion. It combines manual control with smart automation. This bidding strategy is Ideal for campaigns with moderate conversion data. It also improves ROI without full reliance on automation.

A static screen displayed at the end of a video ad, this end card is created to prompt a user action, such as clicking a link, installing an app, or visiting a website. Common in mobile and video advertising, the end card is used after a video. A static screen sis shown at the end of a video ad to encourage user action (e.g., click or sign up, visit a landing page, download an app or buy the product, or book a demo).

Engagement campaigns are ad campaigns specifically designed to increase user interactions, such as likes, shares, comments, or clicks, typically on social media platforms. These are used on the platform .

The “ETAs Sunset” refers to Expanded Text Ads (ETAs), which are the Google Ads’ discontinuation. This informs the advertiser that they are transitioning advertisers to Responsive Search Ads (RSAs) as the primary format for the ads.

Event tracking is a method of collecting data on specific user interactions (e.g., clicks, downloads, form submissions) to assess ad and website performance.

An engagement rate is a metric that measures the percentage of people who interact with an ad or piece of content out of the total viewers. High engagement rates indicate compelling content and strong audience relevance. Engagement Rate is the percentage of users who interact with your ad or content out of total views. It indicates how compelling or relevant your message is.

Expanded Text Ads were a legacy Google Ads format with longer headlines and descriptions. Though it has now been replaced by Responsive Search Ads (RSAs). As they offered better visibility and message clarity. Legacy format with extended ad headline and description.

Exact Match is a keyword match type where ads appear only when the search query matches the keyword exactly or includes close variants. It ensures targeting for higher-intent traffic. Ads show only when the search exactly matches the keyword.

F

Facebook Ads are advertisements placed within Facebook’s platform and its affiliated network (e.g., Instagram, Audience Network). These ads allow businesses to reach targeted audiences with various ad formats such as carousel, video, and image ads.

Facebook Dynamic Ads are personalized advertisements based on users’ purchasing patterns, behavior, such as the products they’ve viewed or added to their cart. It automatically shows those relevant products to each individual.

Free clicks refer to interactions, such as clicks or engagements, that don’t incur any advertising costs. For example, certain organic interactions on platforms like Facebook or YouTube, where users click on content without triggering ad charges or fees.

Frequency Capping is a feature in digital advertising that limits the number of times an ad is shown to a particular user within a specified period. This helps reduce ad fatigue, avoid overexposure, and maintain a positive user experience.

Funnel Optimization refers to the process of improving each stage of the marketing funnel. Right from awareness to conversion, to increase efficiency and effectiveness in converting leads into customers.

G

Geofencing

Geofencing refers to the location-based service in PPC that uses GPS or RFID to define virtual perimeters around a geographic area. Marketers can easily target users within these boundaries with relevant ads based on their location. Geofencing is when we need to target the user within the virtual parameters in an ad campaign.

Geotargeting

Geotargeting is a PPC strategy that shows ads to users based on their specific geographic location, such as country, city, or even a custom radius around a location. Showing ads to users in specific locations.

Google Ads is Google’s powerful pay-per-click (PPC) advertising platform that enables businesses to bid on keywords and display ads in search results, YouTube, Gmail, and across the Google Display Network. It offers multiple campaign types, including Search, Display, Shopping, and Video. This platform helps drive targeted traffic, leads, and conversions through real-time bidding and smart targeting.

The Google Ads API is a powerful tool that enables developers to manage Google Ads accounts programmatically. It automates essential PPC tasks like campaign setup, reporting, and optimization.

Google Ad Grants provides free advertising for qualified nonprofits, allowing them to run PPC campaigns on Google Ads with a budget of up to $10,000 per month.

Google Tag Manager

Google Tag Manager is a free tool by Google that allows businesses to quickly and easily update and manage tags on their website without editing code, streamlining the process of tracking and analytics.

Google Optimize

Google Optimize is a free A/B testing and personalization tool by Google that allows marketers to experiment with different versions of their website or landing pages to determine which performs best. It integrates seamlessly with Google Analytics, helping businesses improve user experiences and boost conversions based on real user behavior and data insights.

Google Analytics

Google Analytics is a free web analytics tool by Google that helps businesses and marketers track and analyze website traffic and user behavior. It shows how visitors find, interact with, and navigate a website, helping users measure performance and track conversions.

Google Merchant Center

Google Merchant Center is a tool that enables businesses to upload and manage product information. Thus making it eligible for Google Shopping ads, free listings, and other Google services. It connects product feeds with Google Ads, ensuring accurate, up-to-date product data appears in search results, enhancing visibility and driving traffic to online or local stores.

H

Headline

The headline is the primary, clickable text that grabs user attention in search results or display ads, often appearing in bold. It plays a crucial role in determining whether users will click on the ad, making it essential for driving traffic and conversions.

Head Terms

Head Terms are short, broad keywords that consist of one or two words and attract high search volume. These terms often represent general keywords or search queries (e.g., “grocery” and “marketing”). They are highly competitive in paid search advertising due to their wide reach and potential for driving significant traffic. Head terms are broad, high-volume search keywords typically consisting of one or two words.

Hits

Hits (in web analytics) refer to interactions or requests made to a web server. This includes page views, images, scripts, impressions, or files being loaded. Each element on a webpage can generate a separate hit. Thus making it a broad measure of server activity, not necessarily of unique visitors or meaningful engagement.

I

ICP ( Ideal Customer Profile )

An Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) is a detailed description of the type of company or individual that would benefit most from your product or service. It includes firmographic, demographic, and behavioral characteristics of your most valuable customers.

Image Ads

Visual banners or graphic-based ads across websites, apps, or social media platforms are termed visual or Image Ads. They are designed to grab attention, convey brand messaging visually, and drive user engagement or clicks through compelling imagery.

Impression

Impression refers to the number of times your ad appears on a user’s screen, whether or not it is clicked. It’s a key metric that measures visibility and reach, helping advertisers understand how often their ad is displayed to potential audiences.

Impression Share (IS)

Impression Share is the percentage of times your ad was shown out of the total eligible impressions for your targeting settings. It reflects how often your ads are visible compared to the competition in the auction space.

Instagram Ads

Instagram Ads are pay-per-click (PPC) advertisements that appear across various sections of Instagram, including users’ feeds, stories, and reels. These ads enable businesses to reach audiences at different locations, engage them with the product ads in visually appealing formats, enhancing brand visibility and user interaction.

Interest Categories

Interest categories allow advertisers to target users based on their online behavior, interests, and browsing history. This targeting method helps reach users who are more likely to engage with relevant ads, improving campaign efficiency and increasing conversion potential.

Invalid Clicks

Invalid Clicks refer to interactions with an ad that are deemed illegitimate or non-genuine. These include invalid clicks generated by bots, accidental taps, repeated clicks by the same user, or malicious activity intended to inflate ad costs without real user interest.

In-Market Audience

In-Market Audience refers to a targeting segment used in PPC advertising that includes users who are actively researching or comparing specific products or services. It is the segment that shows high purchase intent based on their recent online behavior. Targeting them helps advertisers reach potential buyers closer to making a conversion.

J

JSON Feed (Dynamic Ads & Remarketing)

A JSON Feed is a structured data format (JavaScript Object Notation) used in dynamic remarketing to supply real-time product or service information. This information, such as prices, images, and availability, is used to ad platforms like Google Ads or Facebook Ads. These insights are useful for the advertiser to frame the ad campaign.

K

KPI (Key Performance Indicator)

KPIs ( Key Performance Indicators) refer to the quantifiable metrics used to evaluate the success of a campaign in achieving business objectives. They help advertisers or marketers to measure performance and guide data-driven decisions in PPC strategies.

Keywords

Keywords are the search terms or phrases that trigger your ads when users type into search engines. They are central to targeting relevant audiences and ensuring ad visibility. Keywords are the words or phrases that users type into a search engine’s search bar. In PPC, they trigger the display of ads when matched.

Keyword Matching Options

Keyword matching options define how closely a user’s search query must align with your selected keywords for your ads to show. These include broad, phrase, exact, and negative matches to control targeting precision.

Keyword Research

Keyword research involves identifying and analyzing search terms that potential customers use online. Keyword research can be done for the specific business niche, product promotion, product information, and more. It is essential for building effective PPC campaigns that align with user intent and market demand.

Keyword Planner

Google’s keyword research tool. Keyword Planner is a free Google Ads tool that helps advertisers discover new keywords and predict performance. It provides insights like search volume, competition level, and bid estimates for planning PPC campaigns. 

L

Landing Page

A landing page is a standalone web page that users are taken to after clicking an ad. It’s designed with a single focused objective to convert visitors into leads or customers. This page typically contains persuasive content, detailed product features, effective call-to-action (CTA), and minimal distractions. These landing pages are designed in such a way that they attract users and give answers to their questions, so they can convert easily.

Lead

A lead refers to the individuals or firms that have shown interest in your product or service by submitting contact details or engaging with your content. Leads are vital to sales funnels, helping marketers identify potential customers and move them toward conversion. A person showing interest in your product/service later buys the product or service.

LinkedIn Ads

LinkedIn Ads are paid advertisements shown on the LinkedIn platform that allow targeting based on professional criteria like job title, industry, and company size. These ads are ideal for B2B marketers looking to reach decision-makers and professionals in specific industries. PPC platform for B2B and professional targeting.

Location Extensions

Location extensions let you add your business’s address, phone number, and a map to your ad. This feature helps local customers easily find your physical store and is particularly effective for driving in-person visits and boosting local trust. Adds a business address to your ads.

Location Targeting

Location targeting enables you to show ads to users in specific geographic areas, such as cities, countries, or within a defined radius. This strategy ensures your budget is spent on audiences who are most likely to convert based on their physical location. Serving ads based on geographic location.

Long-Tail Keywords

Long-tail keywords are specific, often multi-word search phrases that typically have lower competition but higher conversion intent. These keywords are effective for reaching niche audiences and matching user queries more precisely, especially in content-rich or targeted campaigns. Long-tail keywords are niche-specific and less competitive.

Low Search Volume

Keywords with low search volume are terms that don’t receive frequent queries on search engines. While they may have limited traffic, they can still provide value for targeting niche audiences or testing. These keywords can emerge as search trends without high competition. Keywords with too little traffic to trigger ads.

Lookalike Audience

A lookalike audience is a group of users who share characteristics with your existing customers, allowing you to reach new prospects likely to convert. Social media platforms use this model to expand your ad reach to new potential customers who are statistically more likely to convert.

M

Manual Bidding

Manual bidding, also called Manual CPC, is a Google Ads strategy where advertisers set maximum cost-per-click (CPC) bids on their own. Unlike automated bidding, this method gives complete control over bid amounts for each keyword, allowing precise budget allocation for the ads. Manual CPC or manual bidding is best for experienced advertisers who want to optimize performance based on manual insights and analytics.

Manual Tagging

Manual tagging is the process of adding custom UTM parameters to URLs for tracking traffic sources in analytics tools. It’s used when automatic tagging isn’t available, it ensures detailed data collection. This helps advertisers evaluate marketing performance across non-Google platforms like social media, email campaigns, or affiliate links.

Marketing Metrics

Marketing metrics refer to the measurable data points used to assess the effectiveness of marketing campaigns. These metrics include impressions, clicks, conversions, and ROI. Marketers analyze these metrics to optimize campaigns, allocate budget, and achieve business objectives.

Match Type

Match types in PPC define how a keyword must match a user’s search query to trigger an ad. Google Ads offers broad, phrase, and exact match types. Choosing the right type balances reach and relevance, impacting click-through rates, costs, and overall campaign performance and targeting accuracy.

Message Extensions

Message extensions are Google Ads features that allow users to contact a business via text message directly from the ad. As these expansions are easily accessible on mobile, they improve customer engagement and convenience.

My Client Center (MCC)

My Client Center (MCC) is a master account in Google Ads that enables agencies or advertisers to manage multiple client accounts from a single dashboard. My client center streamlines campaign management, reporting, and billing, and other tasks efficiently. It simplifies access, offering efficiency, organization, and control for large-scale or multi-client advertising operations.

Mobile Optimization

Mobile optimization ensures that your ads and landing pages perform effectively on mobile devices and give a better user experience. This includes responsive design, fast loading speeds, and ui interfaces. With the majority of traffic now coming from smartphones, mobile optimization is essential for user experience, lower bounce rates, and improved PPC campaign performance.

Monthly Ad Budget

A monthly ad budget is the total amount allocated for advertising spend in a given month. This ad budget acts as a guide for the marketers to plan the ad spend accordingly to get maximum results with the same budget.

N

Negative Keywords

Negative keywords are terms that you add to your ad campaign to prevent your ads from appearing for those keywords, as they are irrelevant or unqualified searches. By excluding these negative keywords, you avoid wasting budget on traffic that is unlikely to convert. Ensuring your ads are only shown to relevant, high-intent audiences searching for your offerings.

Negative Placement

Negative placement allows advertisers to exclude specific websites, apps, or YouTube channels where they don’t want their ads to appear. This ensures brand safety, prevents showing on low-quality or irrelevant content. Negative placement gives advertisers more control over where their ads are displayed within the Google Display Network or YouTube.

New Visitor

A new visitor is a user who lands on your website for the first time, as tracked by browser cookies. This metric helps differentiate between fresh traffic and returning users. This metric provides insights into audience growth, acquisition efforts, and user behavior that influence campaign performance and website engagement strategies.

Native Ads

ANative ads are referred to as paid advertisements that seamlessly blend into the look and feel of the surrounding content. These ads often appear in social media feeds, news articles, or recommended content, making them effective for content-driven marketing. 

Network (Search vs Display)

Google Ads offers two main ad networks: Search and Display for ads. The Search Network shows text ads on Google search results, targeting user intent through keywords. The Display Network places visual ads across websites, apps, and YouTube. Focusing on brand awareness and retargeting through audience-based targeting rather than direct search queries.

O

On-pportunities Tab

The Opportunities Tab in Google Ads provides automated suggestions to improve your campaign performance. Based on account history, industry data, and machine learning. It recommends actions like bid adjustments, budget increases, or keyword additions to enhance optimization score, reach, and efficiency.

Organic Search Results

Organic search results are unpaid listings that appear on search engine results pages (SERPs) based on relevance to the user’s content and query. These results are determined by SEO factors such as keyword use, content quality, relevance, intent, and backlinks. They are distinct from paid ads and represent authentic search engine rankings. To get organic search results with the help of SEO ( search engine optimization ) tactics like On-page SEO, Off-Page SEO, and Technical SEO. These tactic helps to improve organic search rankings.

Optimization Score

Optimization Score is a Google Ads metric that evaluates how well your account is set up to perform. Optimization is expressed as a percentage, it shows how closely your campaign aligns with Google’s best practices and offers tailored recommendations to improve results. A higher optimization score indicates better setup, management, and ad performance potential.
Organic search refers to users finding your website through unpaid search engine listings. Your website is visible on the search engine result page (SERP). The search is driven by relevance and SEO tactics.

Outbound Click

An outbound click happens when a user clicks a link on your site that leads to a different domain. It’s a key engagement metric that reveals user intent and referral behavior.

P

Programmatic Advertising

Programmatic advertising is the automated buying and selling of online ads using AI and real-time bidding. It streamlines the ad process by targeting the right audience at the right time, maximizing efficiency and scale. This method uses data and algorithms to serve ads across platforms without manual input.

PPC Audit

A PPC audit is a detailed analysis of your pay-per-click account and the ad campaign to identify areas of improvement. It reviews campaign structure, keyword performance, ad copy, landing pages, and conversion. These are tracked to ensure alignment with business goals. Regular audits enhance ROI and prevent wasted ad spend.

Pay-Per-Action (PPA)

Pay-Per-Action (PPA) is a performance-based ad model where advertisers pay only when a specific action is taken by the user, like a purchase, form submission, or download, after an ad occurs. Unlike PPC, it focuses on outcomes rather than clicks, making it a cost-effective option for conversion-driven campaigns with clear, trackable goals.

Pay-Per-Click (PPC)

Pay-Per-Click (PPC) is an advertising model where advertisers pay each time a user clicks their ad. Common on platforms like Google Ads or Bing, PPC helps businesses drive targeted traffic to landing pages. Offering measurable ROI, flexible budgeting, and real-time performance optimization.

Phrase Match

Phrase match is a Google Ads keyword setting that triggers ads when a user’s query includes your keyword phrase in the same order. It offers a balance between broad reach and targeted relevance, helping control who sees your ads.

Placement Targeting

Placement targeting lets advertisers choose specific websites, apps, or video channels on the Google Display Network where their ads will appear. It gives a choice to the advertiser where they want their website to appear. This manual selection ensures your ads are shown in relevant, high-performing platforms, enhancing targeting accuracy and maximizing ad effectiveness.

Price Extension

Price extensions are extensions available on Google Ads to display your products or services with pricing details beneath your text ad. They allow users to compare offerings before clicking, enhancing transparency and click quality.

Primary Metric

A primary metric is the main performance goal or KPI of a campaign, such as conversions, leads, sales, or ROAS. It guides marketers to make strategic decisions and determines success. Focusing on one primary metric helps marketers optimize campaigns toward the most aligned with business objectives.

Product Listing Ads (PLA)

Product Listing Ads (PLAs), now known as Shopping Ads, these ads display product images, prices, and titles directly on Google search results. Powered by Google Merchant Center, PLAs target high-intent buyers and appear for product-specific searches, driving qualified traffic to e-commerce sites with visual appeal.

Promotion Extensions

Promotion extensions in Google Ads highlight special offers, discounts, or limited-time deals directly in your search ads. Displayed with a price tag icon, they help attract attention and encourage clicks by showcasing compelling incentives. This is increasing CTR and driving action from deal-seeking users.

Q

Qualified Web Traffic

Qualified web traffic refers to visitors or traffic leads who are most likely to take desired actions on your website, such as making a purchase, signing up, or filling out a form. These users match your target audience, show intent, and contribute to higher conversion rates, making them more valuable than general traffic.

Quality Score

Quality Score is Google Ads’ rating (on a scale of 1–10) that measures the relevance and quality of your ads, keywords, and landing pages. A higher quality score defines better ad positions and lower costs per click, rewarding advertisers for providing a relevant, user-friendly experience.

R

Reach

Reach refers to the total number of unique users or audiences who see or have gone through your ad or content at least once during an ad campaign. It measures how widely your message spreads, regardless of how many times each person views it. It is the metric that helps to gauge brand awareness and potential market exposure.

Remarketing

Remarketing is a digital advertising strategy that targets high-performing content with refinement or users who have previously visited your website or interacted with your app or product, or services earlier. It helps re-engage these visitors by showing the most high-performing content or relevant ads across the web. Encouraging them to return and complete desired actions like purchases or sign-ups.

RLSA (Remarketing Lists for Search Ads)

RLSA ( Remarketing List of Search Ads ) gives valuable insight to the advertisers and allows them to customize search ad campaigns. These ad campaigns are customized specifically for users who have previously visited or interacted with a website or product, or service.

Returning Visitor

A returning visitor refers to the user who comes back to your website after their initial visit. Tracking returning visitors helps measure loyalty, engagement, and the effectiveness of remarketing and retention efforts.

Responsive Search Ads

Responsive Search Ads automatically test multiple headlines and descriptions, dynamically combining them to show the best-performing ad combinations. This flexibility helps improve ad relevance and campaign performance.

ROAS (Return on Ad Spend)

ROAS ( Return on Ad Spend) measures the revenue generated for every dollar spent on advertising. It helps to evaluate ad campaign profitability by comparing sales income attributed to ads against the total amount spent. 

ROI (Return on Investment)

ROI measures the overall profitability of your advertising campaigns by comparing net profit to total costs (including ads, tools, and overhead). It provides a holistic view of campaign success beyond just ad spend.

S

Search Ads

Search Ads refer to the paid text-based advertisements that appear on search engine results pages (SERPs). These search ads appear when users search for keywords relevant to your offerings. They enable advertisers to connect with high-intent users, driving traffic, leads, and sales. Search ads are targeted through keyword targeting and performance-based bidding on platforms like Google Ads.

Search Impression Share

The Search Impression Share metric measures how often your ad appears compared to the total number of times it was eligible to show on the search network. It’s a competitive metric that indicates that your ad campaign’s visibility and highlights ad budget or rank limitations that are preventing maximum reach.

Search Terms Report

The Search Terms Report in Google Ads reveals the actual queries users typed that triggered your ads. It helps refine keyword targeting by identifying high-performing or irrelevant searches from the insights. You can use the search term report to discover new keyword opportunities or add negative keywords to avoid wasted spend.

Smart Campaigns

Smart Campaigns are Google Ads’ automated advertising solution tailored for small businesses or time-strapped marketers. They streamline ad creation, keyword targeting, and bidding, using machine learning to deliver results while requiring minimal setup or management from the advertiser.

Sales Funnel

Sales Funnel maps the stages a prospect goes through before making a purchase. These stages are awareness, interest, consideration, and decision. It guides to craft and refinement of marketing strategies by aligning content and messaging with the customer’s stage or preferences. Increasing the chances of conversion at each point in the buyer’s journey. A sales funnel is the user journey from awareness to purchase.

SEM (Search Engine Marketing)

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) involves using paid advertising on search engines to increase a website’s visibility on search engine results pages (SERPs). Through keyword bidding, ad creation, and targeting strategies. SEM drives high-intent traffic and measurable conversions from users actively seeking products or services.

SERP (Search Engine Results Page)

The Search Engine Results Page (SERP) is the page displayed by a search engine in response to a user’s query or keyword typed by the user on the search engine search bar. Search engine result pages ( SERP) include paid ads, organic listings, featured snippets, local packs, and more. As a result, the SERP is a crucial space for achieving visibility and driving click-through rates in digital marketing.

Search Network

The Search Network is a group of websites and apps, including Google Search and partner sites, where your ads can appear when users search with relevant terms. It allows advertisers to reach audiences actively looking for specific information, services, or products through intent-driven queries.

Search Partners

Search Partners are non-Google websites like other search engines, directories, or shopping sites. These sites partner with Google to show search ads to users. These ads appear when users search using relevant keywords, helping you reach more people beyond Google itself.

Search Query Report (SQR)

The Search Query Report (SQR) shows the actual search queries that triggered your paid ads. It enables advertisers to evaluate keyword relevance. It enables to identification and addition of high-performing queries as keywords, while excluding low-quality or irrelevant searches using negative keywords to enhance campaign efficiency.

Smart Bidding

Smart Bidding is Google Ads’ automated bidding strategy that uses machine learning to optimize bids in real time. This optimizes bids based on user behavior and contextual signals like device, location, and time. It aims to maximize conversions or conversion value within your budget and campaign goals.

Sitelink Extensions are additional clickable links shown below your main search ad, directing users to specific pages on your website. They improve ad visibility and provide users with more options, increasing the chances of interaction and enhancing the value of a single ad impression.

Split Test

A Split Test (A/B Test) compares two or more ad variations to see which performs better. By changing one element—like the headline, CTA, or image- you can identify quality score. This way, you can identify what resonates most with your audience and make data-driven decisions for optimizing future campaigns.

T

Target CPA

Target CPA stands for target cost per acquisition. It is a smart bidding strategy in Google Ads where you set a specific price that you’re willing to pay for a conversion. Google’s algorithm automatically adjusts bids to help you get as many conversions as possible within that targeted cost. Therefore, optimizing campaign performance over time.

Target ROAS

Target ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) is a Google Ads Smart Bidding strategy that sets bids to achieve a specific return on ad spend. You define the revenue you want from every rupee spent. With this information, Google uses machine learning to adjust bids in real time to hit that revenue goal efficiently.

Topic Targeting

Topic Targeting lets you display your ads on websites and content focusing on specific subjects. Instead of targeting users by keywords or interests, this strategy focuses on the type of content the user is viewing. This ensures contextual alignment with your ads on the Google Display Network.

Tracking Code

A Tracking Code is a piece of JavaScript code added to your website header. This tracking code is used to collect data on user behavior and ad performance. It enables advertisers to monitor conversions, site actions, and campaign success, providing essential insights for optimizing marketing strategies across digital platforms.

Traffic Estimator

Traffic Estimator is a tool in Google Ads that predicts potential campaign performance, such as clicks, impressions, CPC, and conversions. Traffic estimator based on your targeting, bids, and budgets. It helps advertisers forecast outcomes before launching campaigns, aiding in planning and budgeting decisions.

TrueView Video Ads

TrueView Ads are skippable video ads on YouTube and across the Google Display Network. You only pay when users actively choose to watch (30 seconds or full video) or interact with your ad. These ads are designed to drive deeper engagement through user choice.

Text Ads

Text Ads are the most basic format of ads in search advertising, typically consisting of a headline, description, and URL. Shown on SERPs, these ads focus on relevant keywords to attract clicks from users searching for products, services, or answers.

Tracking Template

A Tracking Template is a URL structure in paid ads used to append tracking parameters for analytics. It allows advertisers to gather detailed information like campaign, ad group, keyword, and device data in the final URL, without changing the actual destination page.

U

URL Parameters

URL Parameters are tags added to the end of a web address to pass data about the user’s click behavior or campaign source. Appended to URLs using “? Or &” Symbols. Commonly used for tracking, targeting, or content customization, these parameters help marketers analyze performance across traffic sources and user interactions.

Unique Selling Proposition (USP)

A Unique Selling Proposition (USP) is the distinctive value or benefit that sets a brand, product, or service apart from competitors. It answers the customer’s question: “Why should I choose you?” and is central to marketing positioning and messaging across platforms. This sets the product and the services apart from those available in the market. Your brand USB will be the reason for the sales.

Unique Visitor

A Unique Visitor refers to an individual who visits your website at least once during a defined time frame (e.g., day, week, or month), regardless of how many times they return. It’s tracked via cookies, distinguishing one user from another for accurate reach metrics.

User ID

A User ID is a unique identifier assigned to each user, allowing tracking across devices and sessions. Common in CRM, analytics, and advertising platforms, it provides a unified view of the customer journey and supports personalization and accurate reporting.

User Intent

User Intent refers to the purpose behind a user’s search or action online. Whether it’s to find information, make a purchase, or compare options. Understanding user intent helps marketers tailor content and campaigns to meet user expectations and improve conversions.

UTM Parameters

UTM Parameters stands for Urchin Tracking Module parameters. They are tags added to URLs to track the effectiveness of online marketing campaigns across traffic sources and publishing media. They identify the traffic source, medium, campaign name, and more. These URL parameters help marketers analyze user behavior across different channels in tools like Google Analytics.

V

Vendor Central

Vendor Central is Amazon’s platform for first-party (1P) sellers who sell their products directly to Amazon in bulk. Amazon then takes over pricing, listing, and fulfillment. Vendors receive purchase orders and typically have access to enhanced marketing tools like A+ content and Amazon Advertising.

View-Through Conversion

A View-Through Conversion occurs when a user sees the ads but does not click on them. An ad, then later completes a conversion on the advertiser’s site. It helps advertisers measure the influence of display or video impressions that may have indirectly contributed to the user’s decision.

View-Through-Rate (VTR)

View-Through Rate (VTR) measures how often users view a video ad compared to how many times it’s shown (impressions). It’s calculated by dividing the number of completed views (or minimum threshold views, like 30 seconds) by total impressions. This metric is vital for video ad performance.

W

Website Optimizer

A website optimizer is a tool or process used to improve a website’s performance, user experience, and conversion rates. It analyzes elements like speed, design, content, and user behavior to suggest or implement enhancements. Website optimizers help ensure that visitors engage more effectively, leading to higher satisfaction, better SEO rankings, and increased business outcomes.

Website Traffic

Website Traffic refers to the total number of users visiting a website, especially those coming from paid advertising channels like PPC. It includes page views, sessions, and unique visitors—key indicators of campaign reach and online visibility.

Website Call Conversions

Website Call Conversions track phone calls made by users who clicked on an ad campaign and organically called the business via a number on the website. It connects online behavior to offline actions and helps measure the true impact of your ad spend.

Winning Ad Variation

A Winning Ad Variation is the version of an ad in an A/B test or split test that delivers the best performance, usually based on metrics like CTR, conversions, or ROI. It becomes the preferred creative for scaling or future iterations.

X

XML Feed (Shopping Campaigns)

An XML feed stands for Extensible Markup Language feed. It refers to a structured data format used to distribute and share content or product information across systems. These systems such as in RSS feeds, product listings, or data integrations for advertising platforms like Google Merchant Center. It ensures accurate and up-to-date listings across search results.

Y

YouTube Ads: Video PPC ads on YouTube.

YouTube Ads are pay-per-click (PPC) video advertisements that appear on YouTube and across the Google Display Network. Advertisers pay when users view or interact with the video ad. These ads help drive brand awareness, traffic, and conversions using targeted video content tailored to audience behavior and interests.

Z

Zip Code Targeting

A Zero-Click Search occurs when a user’s query is answered directly on top of the search results page and through featured snippets, knowledge panels, or maps. In this zero-click search, without clicking on any organic or paid links, the user can read the content and make it relevant information. In PPC, it affects CTR and highlights the need for more compelling, click-worthy ad copy and value propositions.
Zip Code Targeting in PPC allows advertisers to focus their campaigns on specific geographic areas by targeting users within designated ZIP codes. This ensures highly localized reach, improved ad relevance, and better control over budget allocation by focusing only on high-performing or strategically valuable locations.