It sometimes becomes difficult to keep track of all the pay-per-click lingo and acronyms. This glossary of PPC terms and phrases will help you when you need to look up the meaning of a pay-per-click terminology; providing a definition and an explanation.
Acronym/Term: |
Glossary Definition & Explanation: |
| A | Top of Glossary |
| Account | This is a part of the organisational structure of the account: Account > Campaign > AdGroup > Keyword |
|---|---|
| Ad Scheduling | This allows you to choose periods of time to show your ads and not show your ads within a day or a week |
| AdCopy | This is the text that is used in ads and usually includes the headline, description and display URL – all elements that a searcher would see |
| AdGroup | This is a part of the organisational structure of the account: Account > Campaign > Adgroup > Keyword |
| AdWords | This is an online interface for managing paid advertising on Google |
| Average Position (Av Pos) |
This is an aggregate of all the positions that the ad will appear and gives a general idea of where on the results page it will be shown and therefore potential performance |
| B | Top of Glossary |
| Bid | This is how much you are willing to pay for your ad to be shown, should it be clicked |
| Bing Adcenter | The former name of Bing Ads, the interface used to manage paid advertising on Bing |
| Bing Ads | The current interface used to manage paid advertising on Bing |
| Broad Match | This keyword match type will render ads for any search query that contains the keywords in any order, or synonyms of the keywords |
| C | Top of Glossary |
| Campaign | This is a part of the organisational structure of the account: Account > Campaign > AdGroup > Keyword |
| Clicks | A click occurs each time someone follows (clicks) on your ad within the search engine results page |
| Content (Display) Network | This form of targeting allows ads to appear on third party webpages largely these are image or video ads although text ads can be displayed. This form of advertising focuses more heavily on brand awareness |
| Conversion (Conv) |
This a term used for a used that completes a specific desired action and has the same meaning to a goal |
| Conversion Rate | This is the ratio between the number of people who arrived on a site compared to the number of people who complete a desired action |
| Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) |
This is how much spend is required on average for a visitor to complete a desired action |
| Cost Per Click (CPC) |
This has dual meaning. Firstly it is the same as pay-per-click as legacy terminology. Secondly it refers to the amount it costs each time someone clicks on an add |
| Cost Per Impression (CPM) |
This is again a term for paid advertising where the costing is determined by the number of times an ad is shown, or the number of impressions made |
| Click Through Rate (CTR) |
This measures the number of clicks that are received relative to the number of impressions and is represented as a percentage |
| D | Top of Glossary |
| Daily Budget | This is the amount that you allocate to be able to be spent in relation to a campaign. AdWords uses daily budgets whilst Bing Ads can use daily or monthly budgets. The campaigns are able to spend up to 10% over the set budget. |
| E | Top of Glossary |
| Enquiry | This is when someone submits some contact details which can then be used to follow up the sale. This is the same as an Lead |
| Exact Match | This is a match type that restricts keyword matching to only exact user search queries |
| F | Top of Glossary |
| First Page Bid | This is an estimated amount that would be needed as a bid for an ad to appear on the first page of results |
| Frequency Capping | This is the limit of how often you will show display network ads to a single person |
| G | Top of Glossary |
| Geo (location) Targeting | This is when you choose to display an ad only within a certain region or country. Negative targeting (exclusions) can also be displayed |
| Goal | This a term used for a used that completes a specific desired action and has the same meaning to a conversion |
| I | Top of Glossary |
| Image Ad | An image ad appears on the content (display) network and usually comprises of several transitions containing text |
| Impression (M / Impr) |
This is a measure of how many times your ad is shown |
| K | Top of Glossary |
| Keyword | These are the words or phrases that you choose to show your ad in relation to. The match type determines the required correlation of the search to the keyword |
| L | Top of Glossary |
| Lead | This is when someone submits some contact details which can then be used to follow up the sale. This is the same as an enquiry |
| M | Top of Glossary |
| Match Type | This determines the precision of keyword and key-phrase targeting. The different match types determine to what extent the keywords can be part of a longer query |
| Maximum Cost Per Click (Max CPC) |
This is the largest amount that you would be willing to pay for your ad to be displayed |
| Modified Broad Match | Will render ads for any search query that contains the keywords in any order but not for synonyms |
| My Client Center (MCC) |
This is a management structure for AdWords that can contain multiple accounts simultaneously |
| N | Top of Glossary |
| Negative Keywords | These are terms that cannot be matched to your keywords and are largely used with the more diverse match types such as broad match |
| P | Top of Glossary |
| Pay Per Click (PPC) |
This is a form of paid advertising where the cost is determined by the number of people who click the ad |
| Phrase Match | Phrase match keywords will render ads when a user searches for the exact phrase but it can have additional keywords before or after it |
| Q | Top of Glossary |
| Quality Score | This is a measure of how good a keyword is based on performance and relevancy and affects the required bid |
| R | Top of Glossary |
| Reach | This is the number of unique people who are shown your display network ads over a specified period of time |
| Remarketing Campaign | Code is placed on your website that tracks when users visit your site. Ads will then display ads to visitors who have visited pages that you choose |
| Return on Investment (ROI) |
This is a measure of potential gains that can be made from an action minus the cost involved in completing that work |
| S | Top of Glossary |
| Search Engine | Google and Bing are both search engines. They use a ranking algorithm to decide in which order to show results that they have previously found |
| Search Engine Results Page (SERP) |
This is the page you see after conducting a search using a search engine such as Google or Bing |
| Search Network | This targeting allows ads to appear on a results page such as Google after the user has searched on there. The ads are related to the users query |
| Shared Budget | These are a form of daily budgets within AdWords. The shared budgets can be applied over multiple campaigns within an account |
| T | Top of Glossary |
| Top of the Page Bid | This is an estimated required bid that is needed to appear at the top of the search engine results page – in the top three positions |