200+ PPC Terms You Should Know About

No one likes confusing marketing jargon.

Unfortunately, it’s a necessary evil for marketers, especially when it comes to PPC.

When it comes to understanding all the different PPC terms and definitions, it is easy if you work with paid search and are in and out of PPC tools every day.

However many clients, businesses and even SEO consultants who are new to PPC can quickly get overwhelmed and confused.

So here at Loganix, we’ve created this massive PPC Glossary to help you understand all the jargon you need to know for your business.

Sounds good? Read the full glossary of terms below:

PPC Glossary: 200+ PPC Terms Explained

Here’s the complete list of commonly used PPC terminology and industry definitions you need to know about paid ads:

A

Active View Cost-Per-Thousand Impressions (Active View CPM): A bidding option that enables advertisers to pay for every 1,000 viewable (or at least 50% viewable) impressions.

Ad Campaign: The entirety of ads sharing the same resources and targeting the same location, segment, etc.

Ad Copy: The content, text or message of an advertisement that informs or influences an audience into doing a specific action, e.g. buy a product, click a link.

Ad Delivery: A setting that allows you to determine the frequency and time your ad appears within a single day.

Ad Extensions: Extra information shown alongside the ad. May include the contact number and website of your business.

Ad Group: A set of ads that target a specific group of related keywords. An ad campaign may consist of one or more ad groups.

Ad Network: A platform that distributes available ad space from publishers to advertisers through an auction system.

Ad Position: The order in which an ad appears alongside other ads that compete for the same keywords.

Ad Rank: A measure used to determine ad position. The higher the ad rank, the closer an ad gets to the top position in the search results.

Ad Rotation: A system in which individual ads “take turns” appearing on the location  in both the Search Network and Display Network.

Ad Scheduling: Assigning specific times or hours of the day and specific days of the week for running a set of ads.

Ad Status: An ad’s current state indicating if it can be run or if there are any restrictions over how and when it can be run.

AdSense: A platform run by Google enabling publishers to generate revenue by offering ad space in their websites to advertisers.

Advertising Policies: A set of rules that prescribe the lawful distribution of ads and promote better and fairer browsing experience for all users.

AdWords Campaign Experiments (ACE): A feature that allows you to test bid configurations, keywords, and other elements and determine the optimal settings for running your ads.

AdWords Editor: An application that allows you to make detailed changes to your Google Ads campaigns offline and save these changes in bulk.

AdWords Labels: Used to organize ad groups based on theme, campaign type, location, and other attributes for easier ads management.

Amazon Advertising: A platform on the Amazon website that shows sponsored listings or ads, providing advertisers with better brand visibility.

Amazon Marketing Services (AMS): A PPC platform that allows sellers to promote their products and lead the right customers towards more information about the same products.

Analytics Content Experiments: A tool within Google Analytics which lets you run A/B testing  for determining effectiveness of different pages.

Application Program Interface (API): An interface that facilitates the interaction between two different applications. Programmers use API when creating software solutions for specific purposes.

Assisted Conversion: A metric indicating a series of actions occurring prior to a conversion. It is crucial for measuring the effectiveness of multi-channel marketing campaigns.

Audience: Specific groups of people with distinct interests, preferences, and attitudes that your PPC campaign is targeting.

Auto Tagging: A feature that helps you track conversions by attaching the Google Click Identifier.

Automated Extensions: Ad extensions automatically created by Google. These feature snippets that include relevant information about your business and links to your website.

Automated Rules: A feature that allows you to run ads on different schedules and optimize your bids for greater ad exposure.

Automatic Bidding: A feature that automatically and optimally sets bids based on an ad’s potential to convert.

Automatic Placements: A feature that automatically determines the best places for ads to appear within a single network.

Average Cost-Per-Click (Avg. CPC): A metric calculated by dividing the total value of ad clicks by the total clicks the ad generates.

Average Position: A metric that shows how your ad competes with other ads and how visible it is to your audience.

B

Bid: A bid you place for your ads which determines its position relative to other ads run by your competitors.

Bid Management: The process of setting and adjusting bids in order to get optimal results and returns on ad spend.

Bidding Software: A platform that helps you keep track of the performance of your ad campaigns and adjust your bid strategy.

Bidding Types: Ways for setting bids based on your overall PPC strategy, namely conversions, impressions, and clicks.

Bing Ads: A PPC platform (much like Google Ads) run by Bing which allows advertising on the Yahoo! and Bing networks.

Bing Ads Editor: A platform for managing your PPC campaigns on the Bing search network. Much like other PPC platforms, you can create, adjust, and track several ad groups or campaigns.

Bing Campaign Analytics: A tool for tracking and measuring the performance of your PPC campaigns on the Bing network.

Bounce: Happens when a user stays enters your website and exits without interacting or exploring other pages.

Bounce Rate: A metric showing the percentage of single-page sessions against the total number of sessions your website generates within a single period.

Broad Match: An option that matches your ad with broad search results relative to the keywords you are targeting.

Broad Match Modifier (BMM): An option that shows your ad based on specific words. Using Google Ads, you can set your BMM by adding the plus sign (“+”) before every keyword on your list.

C

Call Extensions: Show the phone number of your business alongside your ads so potential customers may contact you directly.

Call-To-Action (CTA): A text that aims to entice an audience to perform an action that results into a conversion.

Callout Extensions: Text shown alongside ads containing the benefits, features, and other relevant information about your offers.

Campaign: A set of ad groups organized into specific targets, audience segments, location and other pertinent demographic information.

Change History: A feature that lets you track previous adjustments you made to your PPC campaign.

Click: An instance in which a user engages an ad by clicking and is directed to a landing page or a destination.

Click Fraud: An illicit act in which a website publisher or owner clicks on an ad repeatedly in order to profit from their advertisers.

Click-Through Rate (CTR): A measure indicating the amount of clicks generated against the total number of visitors that enter the site.

Click-to-Call: A feature that lets users communicate directly with a business by phone, voice-over-internet protocol, or text.

Client ID: An eight-digit or nine-digit identifier assigned for each user that visits your website and tracks their actions.

Contextual Targeting: A type of targeting option which enables you to publish and show ads that are relevant to the content of the displaying page.

Conversion: A process in which performs an action that results in a goal, such as checking out a product or subscribing to a newsletter.

Conversion Optimizer: A system that helps a website generate more conversions by bidding aggressively on broader keywords

Conversion Rate: A metric showing the number of users that converted versus the total number of visitors that enter your website.

Cookies: Small pieces of data containing the past web searches of users. These track conversions and other interactions that provide insight about your market.

Cost-Per-Acquisition (CPA): Used to measure the cost of acquiring and converting users into paying customers.

Cost-Per-Click (CPC): Used to measure the cost for each user interaction or click. The cost translates to the revenue a publisher generates.

Cost-Per-Conversion: Used to measure the cost of every successful conversion or action users perform.

Cost-Per-Engagement: A PPC option that lets advertisers pay only for every engagement or action users perform on an ad.

Cost-Per-Impression (CPI): A PPC option that lets advertisers pay a set fee for every set amount of views an ad generates.

Cost-Per-Lead (CPL): A PPC option that determines the cost of generating leads or interested consumers who are very likely to buy an offer.

Cost-Per-Phone Call (CPP): If you have call extensions alongside your ads, this is the amount of money you pay every time a user places a call by clicking a link.

Cost-Per-Thousand (CPM): A bid set for every one thousand impressions an ad generates through the Google Display Network.

Cost-Per-View (CPV): The amount of money spent every time users watch a TrueView video on an ad published in the Display Network.

Customer Lifetime Value (CLV): The estimated amount of value or profit generated from the entirety of the relationship a customer has with a business.

D

Daily Budget: The amount an advertiser opts to spend for an ad campaign per day.

Data Filters: An option that lets you display the most relevant information from a large volume of data to your users.

Day Parting: An option that optimizes your ads to appear on certain times of the day that generates the most opportunities for attracting and converting users.

Default Max. CPC: A default bid that sets the maximum amount you will pay for every click your ad generates.

Destination URL: The web page to which users are taken after clicking an ad.

Devices: Any piece of technology (PCs, mobile phones, and tablets) capable of showing PPC ads to users.

Dimensions Tab: A section that allows advertisers to view the performance of their ad campaigns using a set of criteria.

Display Campaign Optimizer (DCO): A feature that automates the bids for ads to be published on the Display Network.

Display URL: The address of the destination page as shown alongside your ads, often appearing in a shorter form.

Display/Content Bid: The amount you aim to pay for every click an ad generates through the Display Network.

Display/Content Network: A network of websites, apps and videos in which ads appear in certain forms of media such as videos, images, etc. Also known as Content Network on Bing.

Dynamic Ad Targeting: A targeting option that lets you match relevant keywords with specific ads on your website.

Dynamic Keyword Insertion (DKI): A Google Ads feature that lets you customize your ad for specific search queries shown to users.

E

Editorial Review: A process by which an ad is analyzed to see if it conforms to specific guidelines before it is published.

Effective Cost-Per-Click (eCPC): A metric used to measure the cost of a campaign after its completion or termination.

Embedded Negatives: A method by which ads are matched with variations of a keyword and not the keyword itself.

Enhanced Cost-Per-Click (ECPC): A bidding option that lets you optimize your ROI by automatically adjusting your bids to align with predictions with a keyword’s performance.

Exact Match: An option that lets you target exact keywords as they are typed by users on a search bar.

Expanded Text Ad: Similar to standard text ads, these are ads that have three headline fields, a 90-character limit to text descriptions, and are optimized for mobile devices.

F

Facebook Ads: Facebook’s ad service that lets you publish ads that appear to target individuals from among the social media network’s 2.7 billion active users.

Facebook Dynamic Ads: An option that lets you adjust how your ads appear to potential customers.

Free Clicks: Clicks on interactive ads that trigger an action but are not billed compared to clicks that converts users.

Frequency Capping: An option that limits the number of times an ad appears to individual users across websites belonging to the same ad network.

G

Geofencing: A service that lets you show ads to individuals or users within a certain location or area only.

Geotargeting: An option that lets you set the area (i.e. the city, country, town) where your ads can appear.

Google Ads: A platform that lets you publish ads or run PPC campaigns across Google’s Search Network and Display Network.

Google Ads Application Programming Interface (API): A feature that allows you to use applications and link them up with the Google Ads main platform.

Google AdWords: (see Google Ads)

Google Analytics: A platform that lets you track and measure the performance of your PPC campaign and gives you insights on audience interactions and behaviors.

Google Checkout: Discontinued in 2013, it is a platform that processes online payments for e-commerce sites.

Google Forwarding Number: A phone number generated by Google and used to track calls that were directed from your ads to your business.

Google Merchant Center: A feature that lets you show details about your store or products to consumers across Google’s network.

Google Optimize: A feature that lets you run A/B testing and determines the best way to deliver content to your audience.

H

Head terms: Keywords or phrases that drive the most search traffic and thus provide the most competition.

Headline: The part of a text ad that is supposed to catch the attention of users who are searching for a specific product.

Hits: The number of results generated by a single keyword or phrase users enter into the search bar.

I

Image Ads: Ads that consist of images or graphics providing information about your business and the services or products you are offering.

Impression: An instant in which an ad appears on a webpage or results page. Users do not need to view or interact with the ad itself in order to trigger an impression.

Impression Share: A metric used to determine the impressions your ads get against the number of impressions it could generate.

Instagram Ads: Instagram’s advertising platform that lets you create and publish sponsored posts or stories for attracting potential customers on the social media network.

Interest Categories: A feature that lets you show ads to groups of people who have the same interests.

Invalid Clicks: Clicks that are generated either accidentally or automated systems such as bots.

K

Key Performance Indicator (KPI): A performance metric you want your ad campaign to focus on. It also helps you set your campaign goals and give you insight on how you can reach these goals.

Keyword: A term of phrase users enter in order to search for a product, service, or information they need.

Keyword Matching Options: A range of options that enable you to optimize your keyword strategy by focusing on either broad or specific keyword matches.

Keyword Planner: A tool that helps you research keywords to use for your PPC campaign based on relevance, number of clicks, ranking, etc.

Keyword Research: The process of finding terms and phrases that optimizes your ads for greater visibility.

Keyword Tool: A platform used for researching and assessing keywords. Also known as a keyword planner.

L

Landing Page: A web page to which users are redirected after interacting or clicking an ad. This is built solely for converting users.

Lead: Individual users who match your preferred client profile or indicate a strong interest in your product or service.

LinkedIN Ads: LinkedIn’s ad platform that lets you create and publish sponsored posts for the intent of promoting your brand on the social networking site.

Location Extensions: Information that appears alongside ads showing the address and contact details of your business.

Location Targeting: An option that allows you to show your ads for people in specific areas.

Long-tail Keyword: A term or phrase that has more than two words and are therefore more specific with a higher conversion value.

Low Search Volume: Pertain to keywords that are not frequently searched for by users.

M

Managed Placements: An option that lets you choose the sites or placements for showing your ads.

Manual Bidding: A bidding option that lets you manually set bids for certain keywords and other targeting options.

Manual Tagging: A feature that lets you set UTM parameters manually for third-party analytics platforms to track.

Marketing Metrics: Values and figures used to track the performance of PPC campaigns.

Match Type: A set of options that help you determine the types of search terms or queries you want your ads to match with.

Message Extensions: Extensions shown alongside your ads that allow users to send a direct message by clicking.

Modified Broad Match: A feature that lets you determine certain parts of a broad match keyword that must be more or less exact with a user’s search query.

My Client Center (MCC): Also known as a Manager Account, it is a platform that lets you link and control numerous Google Ads accounts together.

N

Negative Keywords: Keywords or keyword variations you would not want your ads to match for.

Negative Placement: Locations or webpages you would not want your ads to appear in.

New Visitor: A unique visitor who has not visited your website or landing page before.

O

Opportunities Tab: A feature in the Google Ads platform that lets you optimize your PPC campaign by suggesting specific actions with regards the keywords you want to rank for and your budget.

Organic Search Results: Search engine results that more or less match a user’s search query.

P

Pay-Per-Action (PPA): An option that lets you pay only when users perform a specific action, such as buying an offer or downloading an eBook.

Pay-Per-Click (PPC): An option that lets you pay only when users click on your ad that is published in a specific network like Google, Bing, or even social media platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn.

Pay-Per-Click Management: The process of setting bids, tracking the performance, and adjusting your PPC campaign in a way that realizes specific advertising goals.

Phrase Match: An option that lets you match your ads with the specific phrases users search for.

Pinterest Ads: An advertising platform that lets you create and publish sponsored posts (or “pins”) on Pinterest.

Placement Exclusions: An option that allows you to prevent your ads from being published on specific websites.

Placement targeting: An option that lets you choose where your ads will be published.

Placement Tool: A feature that lets you choose where and how your ads will appear in the Google Display Network.

Price Extensions: Extensions that appear alongside your text ads and provide information about the price of your products and services.

Primary Metric: The benchmark or goal that ensures optimal results for a PPC campaign.

Product Listing Ads (PLA): Types of ads that provide more details about a product than a regular text ad.

Promotion Extensions: Extensions that provide users with details about special offers and how they can avail them.

Prospect: A person who is very likely to purchase a product from you.

Q

Qualified Web Traffic: Refers to users who have already engaged your brand through your PPC ads.

Quality Score: Used by search engines to determine the rank and position of PPC ads.

R

Reach: A metric used to determine the volume of users will engage within a single period.

Remarketing: The process of reaching out to users who have had prior contact with your campaign.

Remarketing Lists for Search Ads (RLSA): A feature that lets you customize your ads to users who had engaged your campaign before.

Return on Ad Spend (ROAS): A formula used to determine the amount of revenue of a specific PPC campaign against your total spending for that campaign.

Return on Investment (ROI): A formula for calculating overall business costs and income attributed to a PPC campaign.

Returning Visitor: A unique visitor who re-entered  your website or landing page.

S

Sales Funnel: An illustrated process or flowchart showing how consumers are attracted, nurtured and converted into paying customers.

Search Engine: A piece of software or a program that helps users search for websites and digital content using key terms or phrases. Examples are Google, Bing and Yahoo.

Search Engine Marketing (SEM): An approach to digital marketing that involves optimizing websites for greater searchability. Used for improving a brand’s position in the results pages of Google, Bing, Yahoo and other search engines.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO): A process that involves improving a website’s searchability in such a way that generates more visitors.

Search Engine Results Page (SERP): A list of results generated by a search engine when users type a key phrase or keyword.

Search Network: A collection of web pages that provide results to search queries. This is also where text ads are placed.

Search Partners: Websites that display text ads published through the Search Network.

Search Query: A specific term or phrase users enter into a search engine to find the information they need.

Search Query Report (SQR): A report that lets you determine how your campaign is performing in terms of competing for specific keywords or phrases.

Search Volume: The amount of queries users make for a certain keyword or phrase.

Seller Central: A platform that allows Amazon users to sell and ship their products directly to consumers.

Seller Central Placement Ads: Ads that are displayed on Amazon’s Seller Central platform.

Seller Central Sponsored Product Ads: Ads that promote individual products. These often appear alongside shopping results pages and product descriptions on the Seller Central platform.

Seller Ratings Extension: An extension that appears alongside text ads and shows a business’s overall rating from current and past clients.

Shared Budgets: Daily budget allocations shared by multiple Google Ads campaigns within a single account.

Sitelinks Extensions: Extensions that redirect users to specific web pages within your website.

Smart Bidding: An option that automatically sets bids for maximum conversions.

Snapchat Ads: A platform that lets you display vertical video ads on Snapchat.

Split Test: A process that lets you test different variations of ad content and determine the best ones to use for your campaign.

Sponsored Results: Listings of promoted ads that are displayed alongside other results for a specific search query.

Structured Snippet Extensions: Extensions that highlight the specific features and other details of your products.

T

Text Ad: A type of ad that appears on the Google Search Network consisting only of a headline, extensions, and links.

Text Placeholders: A tool that lets you add text and test out ad variations.

Topic Targeting: An option that lets you show ads to web pages across the Google Display Network that have content relevant to your products or services.

Tracking Code: A type of code that helps you track the interactions and activities of users in your website.

Traffic Estimator: A tool that lets you measure the volume of website traffic you get from your PPC campaign and other performance metrics.

TrueView Video Ads: An advertising platform which embeds ads on videos published on YouTube.

U

Unique Visitor: A user who visits a web page through your PPC ads at least once.

User: A person who actively browses for products or services and engages any type of digital content.

User ID: A piece of data used to identify a unique user.

V

Vendor Central: A platform that lets suppliers sell their products (usually in bulk) directly to Amazon.

View-Through Conversion: Occurs when users convert on your website without clicking your ad when they first saw it.

View-Through-Rate (VTR): A metric used to measure the volume of user interactions that resulted from impressions or “view throughs”.

Visitor: A user who enters a website as part of the volume of PPC, organic search, or social media traffic the website generates.

W

Website Optimizer: A tool that was used to help advertisers improve their websites by testing out different content. It has been retired since 2012.

Summary

With so many PPC terms to understand, it can get difficult for businesses to fully utilise pay-per-click ads as a promotion channel.

Hopefully, this glossary of the most essential words and phrases has helped demystify things a bit.

Do you think we missed any PPC terms? If so, we’d love to hear all about it.