A

AdCenter

AdCenter now known as Bing Ads is the Microsoft pay-per-click (PPC) ad network that includes PPC traffic from the Bing and Yahoo search engines.

Adwords Editor

A software application by Google to make account changes without posting live until you’re ready. Adwords editor is free and allows you to add new campaigns /ad groups / keywords or to make bid changes and more.

Ad Extensions

An ad feature that allows extra information to be added, for example contact details, reviews, site links, photos of products.

Ad Group

A subset of a PPC campaign comprising an ad or group of advertisements that target a specific set of keywords. An Ad Group typically represents specific areas, themes or products being advertised.

Ad Placement

These are locations online where a specific ad can appear. They are determined by target keywords and relevancy to the ad. This might be on a single page of a website or across the entire site.

Ad Preview Tool

A tool in your Google Adwords account that helps identify why your ad might not be appearing. The tool also shows a preview of a Google search result page for a specific term. This helps you see which ads are appearing for your keyword without affecting your results and data.

Ad Position

The order in which your ad appears on a page in relation to other paid ads. An ad position of “1” means that your ad is the first ad on a page.

Ad Rank

Not to be confused with Ad Position, Ad Rank is a value that’s used to determine your ad position behind-the-scenes. This is calculated as the product of your bid and Quality Score.

Ad Rotation

A preference that determines which ad in your ad group should show when you have multiple ads active. Rotation settings include Optimise for Clicks, Optimise for Conversions, Rotate Evenly (90 days) and Rotate Indefinitely. This setting is important to check to ensure that you have a proper balance between testing of your messaging and performance of your account.

Ad Scheduling

Setting campaigns to target specific times and days in which your ads are to be shown.

AdSense

A system provided by Google that pays website owners to display relevant AdWords ads on their site.

Adwords

Google’s advertising platform, which allows advertisers to target their ad’s audiences in various ad formats both on the Google Search Network and the Google Display Network.

Analytics

The measurement, collection and analysis of web data with a view to tracking progress, gaining insight and improving performance.

Application Program Interface (API)

An API is a set of functions and procedures that allow the creation of applications which access the features or data of an operating system, application, or other service. The Google Adwords program allows developers to use applications that interact directly with the AdWords server. With these applications, advertisers can more efficiently manage large AdWords accounts.

Audience

The audience is essentially the market or group of people that you want to target with your advertising.

Average Position

The average position an advert appears in with #1 meaning it came first, #2 second and so on.

B

Bid

The maximum price an advertiser is willing to pay for someone clicking on an advert for a given keyword.

Bidding Types

There are several ways to bid on your keywords, depending on what matters most to you and your business. There are three main bidding types available: focus on clicks (CPC), impressions (CPM), or conversions (CPA).

Bing Ads

Formerly known as adCenter, Bing Ads is a service that provides pay-per-click advertising on Bing and Yahoo! search properties.

Bounce Rate

The number of people who visit a site and then leave straight away without visiting any other pages on the site. Expressed as a percentage.

Broad Match

A keyword matching option that will show an ad for a wide variety of related terms to the original term.

Broad Match Modifier (BMM)

This is a type of keyword match that employs a plus symbol around certain key phrase words to target searches for any near variations entered by a web user.

C

Call To Action (CTA)

This is a marketing term used for the action you want the website visitor to take.

Call Extensions

Feature that enables users to display a Google forwarding or business phone number along with their PPC ad.

Campaign

A series of typically related AdGroups (adverts and associated keywords) with a shared budget on a PPC network.

Clicks

Literally when a web user ‘clicks’ on a pay-per-click ad.

Client ID

Client ID is a 10-digit string of numbers that help distinguish one account from another in the Google system. Also known as an XID in Bing Ads.

Content Network

Websites that have agreed to show PPC ads on their site, served by an ad network, in exchange for a share of the revenue generated by those ads.

Contextual Targeting

A system of ad targeting that will match ads that use keyword targeting to relevant and related sites on the Display Network.

Conversion

A conversion occurs when a web visitor takes an action that the advertiser judges to be valuable (usually a purchase, but it can also mean a visitor signing up to a newsletter or completing an enquiry form).

Conversion Rate

The percentage of visitors who “convert” (i.e. make a purchase, register, request information, etc.).

Cookies

Not to be confused with snack-food, this is a small file saved on people’s computers to help store preferences and other information regarding previous search history. They are often used to track conversions and build audiences for remarketing lists.

Cost Per Conversion

The average cost required to achieve a conversion on a website.

Cost per Acquisition (CPA)

An alternative pricing model that based fees on conversions rather than clicks.

Cost Per Click (CPC)

The cost paid by an advertiser when someone clicks onto an advert on a PPC network.

Cost Per Mille (CPM)

An alternative online advertising payment model that charges per impressions (the number of times an ad is shown) rather than per click. CPM is the cost per 1,000 impressions.

Click Through Rate (CTR)

The number of clicks on an ad divided by the number of times the ad is shown, expressed as a percentage.

E

Exact Match

A Keyword matching type used within PPC advertising. Exact match is the most targeted match type. Exact match will only show your ad to people who search for exactly how you entered the keyword.

G

Geotargeting

A method of targeting visitors based upon their location, such as country, region / county, city, post code etc.

Google AdWords

Online advertising platform that offers pay-per-click advertising and site-targeted advertising for text, banner, and rich-media ads and more.

Google Analytics

A system of metrics and reporting that Google provides as a free program to show website owners how the site is being used. This includes the ability to see what people do after they click on an advertiser’s ads.

Google Forwarding Phone Number

This is a number that Google provides that can be used in AdWords to track phone calls that are made to a business.

H

Headline

This is the first line of a search ad and it can be up to 25 characters long. It is the first thing that potential customers are likely to notice.

I

Image Ads

Formatted for the Google Display Network, these are ads that include graphics to help promote your business. Ads of this type support a variety of sizes and formats, such as static, animated or flash.

Impressions

The number of times an advert is shown by a PPC network within a given period.

Impression Share

The number of impressions that ads have received divided by the estimated number of impressions that the advertiser was eligible to receive.

K

Keyword

Words or phrases commonly used by people to search for information via a search engine. Keyword selection is an essential part of any PPC campaign.

Keyword Insertion

A tactic that enables the dynamic insertion of the actual keyword searched for into either the headline or description of your ad text. This will place the keyword in bold which can increase click through rates but which needs with care.

Keyword Matching

These are the different ways of matching search terms that are entered by web users to the keywords associated with adverts. These may be Broad Match, Broad Match Modifier, Phrase Match, Exact Match, Negative Match or Content Match (Bing).

Keyword Planner

Provided free by Google, this is a way of identifying relevant keywords & phrases to target. Formerly known as the Keyword Tool.

Key Performance Indicators (KPI)

These are essentially the metrics that a business uses to set out and measure its progress toward certain goals.

L

Landing Page

The web page you direct people to when they click onto your advert. Generally the more tailored a Landing Page is to a specific query, the better the results.

Lead

When a user / customer completes a sale, a form, submits an email or downloads a white paper, etc. A lead is typically what every advertiser is trying to increase.

LinkedIn Ads

Allows advertisers to place text ads on prominent pages across LinkedIn’s professional network using robust targeting options and more.

Location Extensions

Type of extension that includes a business address and phone number into text ads. These can be a great way to help attract more customers to local businesses.

Location Targeting

An AdWords setting that will help an advertiser’s ads appear to customers in specified geographic locations.

Longtail Keywords

Two or more words making up a specific keyword phrase. These are often used to target users who are either near or at the buying stage.

M

Managed Placement

One of the choices on the Display Network. This is where ads are placed in locations that an advertiser specifies.

Match types

Match types allow an advertiser to control when their ad shows for a particular search query that may or may not contain a keyword listed in their ad group.

My Client Center (MCC)

A way of handling multiple AdWords accounts. Often used by large advertisers or PPC specialists with more than one account.

N

Negative Keyword

A word or phrase added to your campaign that will stop your advert being shown if it is included in a search term.

O

Organic Search Results

The standard (non paid for) search results compiled by a search engine using complex algorithms to rank sites.

P

Pay Per Click (PPC)

An Internet advertising model used to direct traffic to websites, where advertisers only pay when someone actually clicks on an advert.

Phrase Match

A keyword matching type that is more targeted than broad match but more forgivingthan exact match. This option requires specific words to be included in the same order within a search term for your advert to show.

Placement Tool

This tool is part of AdWords. It helps advertisers to find websites and other placements to help target a particular audience.

Position

Where your advert appears in the list of adverts shown to someone performing a search.

Prospect

Prospect is a potential user who can buy a product / service being advertised.

Q

Quality Score

A numerical score assigned by Google AdWords which essentially measures how relevant a keyword is to its associated advert and the page you direct people to. When you set up a new keyword Google provides an estimate of its quality score which is later refined via real world click through data.

R

Reach

The total number of people exposed to an ad.

Remarketing

This is a feature that allows users who have previously visited a website to be advertised to, with specific adverts or content.

Return On Ad Spend (ROAS)

Ratio of money gained or lost on an investment relative to the amount of advertising (PPC) money invested.

Return On Investment (ROI)

A performance measure used to evaluate the efficiency of an investment or to compare the efficiency of a number of different investments; calculated by dividing the benefit (return) of an investment by the cost of the investment; the result is expressed as a percentage or a ratio.

S

Search Engine

A program typically available via a website such as Google or Yahoo, that enables you to search for information on the web. Search engines use complex algorithms to determine the ranking of websites within search results.

Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

Often used to refer specifically to PPC activities. This is activity that uses search engines to generate business.

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

An acronym for search engine optimisation – a series of strategies and tactics designed to improve your search engine ranking position in standard or organic search results.

Search Engine Result Page (SERP)

The page that lists the results returned by the search engine in response to a user query.

Search Network

A network of search engines that advertisers can opt in to advertise on through the Google AdWords platform.

Search Partners

Websites partnered with Google to show PPC advertisements on the Search Network. They can be opted out of in the Google interface, but advertisers don’t have the ability to bid exclusively on search partners.

Search Query

In its most basic form this is a keyword or a keyword phrase entered by someone using a search engine to look for information.

Sitelinks Extensions

Feature that displays links to different pages of a website beneath the ad text. Sitelinks can appear in ads at the top and bottom of the SERPs and for some search partners. Sitelinks need to direct users to a different destination URL than what your main ad points to.

Social Extensions

Type of AdWords extension that displays public brand endorsements (+1’s). However, you must have a Google+ page to be considered eligible.

Split Testing

It is a classic method of testing an ad to determine the effectiveness of a PPC ad. It compares two versions of an ad that are identical except for one specific difference of a word or an image.

Sponsored Results

PPC Adverts that are triggered as a result of a search for a specific keyword or search phrase.

T

Text Ad

Where an ad contains only text to convey its message. This is the main type of ad for Google, Bing & Yahoo search activity.

Text Placeholders

Placeholder variables, such as {param2} and {param3}, allow users to simultaneously update multiple ads in your campaign all at once. One or more placeholders can be added to the ad title, ad text, display URL, or destination URL of multiple ads.

Tracking Code

Small snippet of code added to a website page that helps advertising platforms such as Google Adwords to track visits and conversions.

U

Unique Visitor

A statistic that counts each individual visitor to a site only once within a given time frame.an estimate of its quality score which is later refined via real world click through data.

V

Visitor

An individual visit to a website. Visitor numbers are typically higher than unique visitor numbers as often people will visit a site more than once within a given time frame.