The Google Ads Glossary
Welcome to your comprehensive Google Ads glossary, covering essential terminology from basic concepts to advanced settings, tools, and features. Use this guide as your go-to reference for all things related to CPC, PPC, and key components of your Google Ads account.
Account
A Google Ads account consolidates everything an organization needs for online advertising in one location. Billing details, account access, tools, and more are available at the account level. The account also contains one or more campaigns for creating a top-level account structure. Multiple accounts can be managed under a single Manager Account.
Ad Customizers
Ad customizers enable you to upload data that can be automatically incorporated into the final text ad displayed. For example, you can upload different product prices and have them automatically inserted into your ads as users search. Ad customizers function similarly to Dynamic Keyword Insertion.
Ad Extensions
Ad Group
Ad groups are used to organize ads, keywords (for search campaigns), and targeting (for display campaigns) within a campaign. Each campaign can contain multiple ad groups. For search campaigns, it's best practice to create small groups of related keywords within each ad group, allowing you to create compelling ads that are displayed with those keywords. See also campaign.
Ad Preview and Diagnosis Tool
This tool enables you to preview Google Search results to see displayed ads without accruing impressions. If your ads aren't displayed for a specific search query, you'll see details explaining why. The tool also allows you to modify language, location, and device details to preview search results.
Ad Rank
Ad Rank determines each ad's position on a search engine results page. The advertiser with the highest ad rank occupies the top position, followed by the ad with the second-highest ad rank, and so on. Ad Rank is calculated based on bid amount, Quality Score, and ad extensions for each eligible ad.
Ad Rotation
Since only one ad from an advertiser is shown at a time, ad rotation decides which ad to display when multiple ads are in an ad group.
OPTIMIZE
Automatically displays the ad most likely to receive a click or conversion. This ad rotation setting uses Google's machine learning to determine which ad to show if multiple ads are in an ad group.
DO NOT OPTIMIZE
Shows ads evenly. For instance, if there are two ads in an ad group, each ad will be shown approximately 50% of the time. The 'Do Not Optimize' setting only applies if manual CPC bidding is selected.
Ad Schedule
The ad schedule controls when ads are displayed based on the time of day and day of the week. In addition to enabling or disabling ads, the ad schedule can adjust final bid amounts at specific times. For example, if conversion rates are higher in the afternoon, you could increase bids by +10%, resulting in a default bid of $1 becoming $1.10 during those times.
Ad Assets
Formerly known as 'Ad Extensions,' ad assets enable you to incorporate supplementary details with your advertisements to enhance their relevance and appeal. Ad assets are also a component in determining Ad Rank. Various manual ad assets can be set up, and Google can include automatic ad assets when a manual one isn't available. Ad assets encompass:
AFFILIATE LOCATION
Guides users to nearby retail stores carrying specific products. Designed for consumer product manufacturers to direct customers to stores such as Walmart, Target, and Staples.
APP
Includes a link to your app on Google Play and the Apple App Store in your ad. The ad's headline will still link to your website.
BUSINESS NAME
Incorporates your business name into your ads. If not manually added, a business name can be automatically included.
BUSINESS LOGO
Integrates your business logo into your ads. If not manually added, a business logo can be automatically included.
CALL
Adds a phone number to your ad, displayed across mobile, tablet, and desktop devices. You can either include your own phone number or use a Google forwarding number (available in certain countries) for integrated call reporting. See also Google forwarding number.
CALL-OUT
Displays brief snippets of extra text alongside your ad. Ideally, call-outs should highlight additional features, benefits, and selling points not covered in the main ad text.
IMAGE
Enables you to select images for display with your ads.
LEAD FORM
Incorporates a form into your ads to collect information from interested users. You can customize the lead form questions, and submissions can be downloaded from Google Ads or connected to third-party platforms.
LOCATION
Integrates location information into your ad, helping users find your business location. Details are sourced from a linked Google Business Profile, which includes your locations listed on Google Maps.
PRICE
Incorporates individual products or services and their prices into your ads. Each item is clickable, directing users to the relevant page on your website.
PROMOTION
Displays a discount with your ads, which can be a percentage or amount off a product or service's regular price.
SITELINK
Showcases additional links within your ad, providing more opportunities for users to click through to your website. Two to six sitelinks can be displayed with your ad, and each sitelink must direct users to a different page on your website.
STRUCTURED SNIPPET
Enables you to emphasize details about your products and services. After choosing a broad category (referred to as a 'header'), you then enter a list of items for that category. For instance, you could select 'Courses' as a header and list 'Data Analysis,' 'Reporting,' 'Data Visualization,' and so on, which would then be displayed alongside the header.
AdMob
AdMob is Google's platform that enables mobile app owners to monetize their apps. Advertisers' ads are displayed within apps, allocating space for ads. AdMob functions similarly to Google AdSense, which is used to monetize websites.
Ad Relevance
Ad Relevance measures how closely your ad relates to the targeted keywords and users' search queries. The more relevant your ad, the higher your Quality Score and the more likely it will be to be displayed. Ad relevance is an important factor in improving ad performance and lowering cost per click.
Ad Strength
Ad Strength is an automated metric that evaluates the relevance, quality, and uniqueness of your ad's headlines, descriptions, and other elements. It provides feedback on your ad variations, rating them from 'Poor' to 'Excellent.'
All Conversions
All Conversions is a metric that counts all conversions resulting from your conversion tracking, as well as estimated conversions for actions like phone calls, cross-device conversions, and store visits. See also 'Conversion'.
App Install Conversion
App Install Conversion is a metric that tracks the number of times users install your app from Google Play or the Apple App Store as a result of your ad campaign.
Assisted Conversion
An Assisted Conversion occurs when a user clicks on one of your ads and later converts after clicking on another ad. In this case, the first click is considered an assisting conversion in Google Ads.
Attribution
Attribution in Google Ads is the process of assigning credit for a conversion to different elements of your campaign, such as keywords, match types, and devices. Google Ads offers several attribution models to choose from, including Data-Driven, First Click, Last Click, Linear, Time Decay, and Position-Based models.
Auction Insights
Auction Insights is a report that compares your ad performance to that of other advertisers whose ads were shown at the same time as yours. The report provides insight into competitors' impression share, average position, and other metrics, helping you make informed decisions about bids and budgets.
Audiences
Audiences in Google Ads allow you to target users based on their previous behaviour. You can create audience lists for remarketing purposes, including website visitors, mobile app users, customer emails, and YouTube users. Additionally, Google Ads offers affinity and in-market audiences based on its understanding of user behaviour.
Automated Rules
Automated Rules in Google Ads let you define conditions to automatically make changes to your campaigns, ad groups, keywords, and ads. For example, you can create a rule to pause keywords with fewer than 100 clicks and zero conversions.
Automatic Placement
Automatic Placement in Google Ads is the default setting for displaying your ads on the Google Display Network. With this setting enabled, Google automatically places your ads based on your selected targeting methods. To have more control over ad placement, you can use Managed Placements.
Auto-tagging
Auto-tagging in Google Ads automatically appends a query parameter to your landing page URLs, which Google Analytics uses to collect data about the click and other attributes. This feature is particularly useful for tracking campaign performance in Google Analytics. See also 'GCLID'.
Average Position
Average Position is a metric that provides general insights about the placement of your ads on a search engine results page. It is calculated by dividing the total positions of your ad by the number of impressions. For example, if your ad appeared in positions 1 and 2 for two impressions, your Average Position would be 1.5.
Bid Adjustment
Bid Adjustment is a feature in Google Ads that allows you to modify your final bid by a percentage, based on factors such as device, ad schedule, or location. If multiple bid adjustments apply, they are combined to calculate the final bid. For example, a mobile bid adjustment of +20% and a location bid adjustment of +10% would result in a default bid of $1 becoming $1.32 as the final bid.
Bid Strategy
Lets you choose how you want to pay for people engaging with your ads. Bid strategies for search campaigns include maximize clicks, maximize conversions, maximize conversion value, target impression share, viewable CPM, and manual CPC.
Broad Match
A keyword match type that will display your ads for the keywords you’re bidding on, along with other related terms. Keywords using broad match will provide the greatest reach, but will likely include some less relevant search queries. When using broad match, it’s important to also use negative match.
Broad Match Modifier
This keyword matching option has been removed from Google Ads. It was more precise than broad match and provided greater reach than phrase match.
Budget
Lets you specify the amount you want a campaign to spend each day. On any given day, the budget might overspend by twice the amount set for the campaign, this is to account for changes in impressions and clicks on your ads. If you don’t change the budget in a calendar month, you won’t be charged more than 30.4 times your budget amount.
Bulk Actions
Bulk Actions are a set of tools in Google Ads that allow you to automate specific actions in your account, such as applying rules, running scripts, or uploading changes. These tools can save time and effort when managing large accounts or making widespread adjustments.
Bumper Ad
A Bumper Ad is a short, non-skippable video ad format on YouTube and the Google Display Network. Bumper Ads are typically 6 seconds long and are designed to capture attention quickly. They are often used to complement longer ad formats, such as TrueView ads, to improve brand reach and frequency.
Call-only Ad
An ad format that includes the phone number as the headline and is shown to people on mobile devices. When people click on the ad, they can call you directly rather than clicking through to your website.
Campaign
The top-level structure in Google Ads, you can think of campaigns as folders within your account. You can create one or more campaigns inside your account based on your advertising objectives. There are multiple ways to structure your campaigns, for example, you can use campaigns for different targeting (search vs. display), structuring keywords, allocating budget, and more. Search and display campaigns can contain one or more ad groups, providing a more granular structure inside your campaign. See also ad group.
Change History
A tool that allows you to view changes made by users inside the account.
Click
When a user clicks on an ad they are taken to the ad’s landing page (or final URL). This is when the advertiser is charged for campaigns using CPC bidding.
Close Variant
Phrase match and exact match keywords will automatically show ads to people searching with misspellings, singular, plural, and other close variations of the keyword you are bidding on.
Columns
You can modify the columns of data (metrics) that are shown for your campaigns. There is a wide range of metrics to choose from relating to interactions with your ads, conversions, cost, and more.
Content Exclusions
Lets you exclude your ads from being displayed on particular types of content on the Google Display Network. For example, you can choose to prevent your display ads from being displayed on error pages.
Content Suitability
Also called ‘Inventory Type’, this account-level setting lets you choose if you want your display ads to be shown with sensitive content or not. For example, you can prevent your ads from showing on content that includes profanity and other sensitive content. You can choose from ‘Limited Inventory’, ‘Standard Inventory’ or ‘Expanded Inventory’.
Contextual Targeting
See display keywords.
Conversion
Any action that is valuable to your organization. Conversion tracking allows you to measure the number of people viewing important pages on your website (such as thank you pages), making phone calls using a Google forwarding number, downloading apps, actions within an app, and offline conversions. Google Ads allows you to use dedicated conversion tracking or import conversion data from Google Analytics.
Conversion Optimization
The process of improving your campaigns and landing pages with the aim of increasing conversions. You can use Google Ads conversion tracking and other tools like A/B testing platforms to measure performance and optimize your campaigns.
Conversion Rate
The percentage of clicks (or interactions) that result in a conversion.
Conversion Tracking
A feature in Google Ads that allows you to track and measure actions users take after clicking on your ad, such as making a purchase, filling out a form, or signing up for a newsletter. This helps you understand the effectiveness of your campaigns and optimize them for better results.
Conversion Value
The amount a conversion is worth. This value can be defined when configuring the conversion, inside the tracking code (when using Google Ads conversions tracking) or from the transaction amount (when imported from Google Analytics).
Conversion Window
The amount of time after a user clicks that they have to complete a conversion on the advertiser's website for the conversion to be attributed to that click. The default conversion window is 30 days.
Cost
The amount of money spent for the desired actions. For example, clicks for search campaigns, views for video campaigns, and impressions for display campaigns.
Countdown
An ad customizer that allows you to include the number of days until a predefined date and time. To use a countdown, start typing {=COUNTDOWN into your text ad and an editor will allow you to customize your countdown.
CPA
Cost-per-acquisition or CPA is the average amount you are willing to pay for a conversion action. CPA is calculated by dividing the total cost by the number of conversions. Our Google Shopping Autopilot app uses this model where we charge 12% for orders we generate.
CPC
Cost-per-click or CPC is the amount you are willing to spend (or are charged) for each click. If you set a manual CPC bid, you’ll never pay more than this amount (unless you are using bid adjustments) since Google Ads uses an auction to display ads, and you are only charged the amount necessary for the click.
CPM
Cost-per-thousand-impressions or CPM is a bidding option where an advertiser pays for 1,000 impressions of their ad regardless of the number of clicks. CPM bidding is designed for advertisers wanting to increase brand awareness rather than drive conversions. Google Ads uses viewable CPM bidding.
CPV
Cost-per-view or CPV is a bidding option where you pay for each video view.
Cross-Device Conversion
A conversion that happens after someone clicks on your ad using one device and then later converts using another device. Cross-device conversions are estimated by Google using aggregated and anonymized user data.
CTR
Click-through rate or CTR is the percentage of impressions that result in a click on your ad. For example, an ad with 100 clicks and 1,000 impressions would have a click-through rate of 10%.
Customer Match
Allows you to upload email addresses for your existing contacts as a remarketing list inside Google Ads. You’ll need a large enough list for ads to be displayed since the email addresses are matched to Google Accounts, and it’s likely that only a portion of your list will have a Google Account associated with their email address.
Default Bid
The bid specified for the ad group that will be used by Google in an ad auction. For a campaign that uses manual bidding, you can override the default bid by entering a specific bid for the individual keyword (or display placement). Individual bids can be higher or lower than the default and will be used instead of the default bid amount. Bids can also be modified using a bid adjustment.
Delivery Method
A setting that has been removed from Google Ads. It allows you to specify how the budget should be spent each day. You could choose from ‘accelerated delivery’ to spend the daily budget as quickly as possible or ‘standard delivery’.
Display Planner
A tool that is no longer available in Google Ads. It was designed to research display targeting options (like placements, keywords, and audiences) for display campaigns, as well as provide estimates and demographic data.
Display Targeting
Once you’ve created a display campaign, you can apply one or more of the display targeting options to each of the ad groups within the campaign.
DISPLAY KEYWORDS
Allows you to choose keywords that are matched to the content on pages within the Google Display Network. For example, selecting the display keyword ‘holiday’ will automatically find content relating to that theme on sites within the Google Display Network.
PLACEMENTS
Placements can be managed or automatic. Managed placements are where you choose where you ads will be displayed. While automatic placements use the other targeting methods to automatically show your ads on the Google Display Network.
TOPICS
Similar to display keywords, but you select from a predefined list of topics. For example, you could choose to display your ads on content classified by Google as being related to ‘travel’.
INTERESTS
Allow you to target people who have expressed a particular interest based on their browsing behavior. For example, you could target people interested in ‘concert and music festival tickets’. It’s important to understand that you are targeting the individual, not the content, so once they’ve expressed interest, you can target them regardless of the sites they’re browsing on the Google Display Network.
Interests can be selected based on ‘Affinity Audiences’ which are general areas of interest, ‘In-market Audiences’ which are for people looking to purchase, or a ‘Custom Audiences’ which you build based on interests and websites.
REMARKETING
Allows you to target people based on previous interactions with your organization. See also remarketing list.
DEMOGRAPHICS
Allows you to target people based on age, gender, and parental status. Demographics can be actual or inferred based on browsing behavior. It's also important to know that Google can't determine demographics for all users, so there will be a portion of 'unknown'.
Display URL
The URL that's seen by people in your ads. While the display URL needs to accurately reflect the domain of your website, it doesn't need to be the same as the URL of the landing page you send people to. See also final URL.
Dynamic Ad
For a search campaign, you can create dynamic search ads that automatically select a landing page, create a headline, and display URL. These are suited to large-scale websites with products that regularly change. For a display campaign, you can create dynamic ads that are updated based on a feed (data that you upload to Google Ads) to include products and services within the ad variation.
Dynamic Keyword Insertion
Allows you to automatically include the matched keywords from the ad group into the text ad so that it appears relevant to what someone is searching. Dynamic keyword insertion is particularly useful for larger sets of keywords that are very similar, for example, products with different product codes.
Dynamic Remarketing
Remarketing that automatically changes the products or services included in the ad based on what someone viewed on your website.
Dynamic Search Ad
A text ad format where Google automatically matches the search query to a landing page on your website, removing the need to manage keywords.
Earned View
Organic (or free) additional views of your videos on YouTube after someone first watches one of your video ads.
Goal Category
Allows you to classify conversions which can then be used when reporting on performance or segmenting your data inside Google Ads. Categories include 'Purchase', 'Subscribe', 'Contact', 'Submit Lead Form', and more.
Google Ads Editor
A desktop application from Google that allows you to manage your Google Ads account. Campaigns can be downloaded and then managed offline before being uploaded back into the live account. Editor is useful for making changes at scale.
Google Tag
Code that you add to your website to track specific actions and events, such as page views, clicks, form submissions, and conversions. The Google Tag can be used with Google Ads and Google Analytics. Apart from the Google Tag, you can also use Google Tag Manager to add tracking code to your website.
Enhanced CPC
Enhanced cost-per-click or ECPC is a bidding option that will automatically increase the final bid if Google predicts that a click is likely to convert. Google looks at a range of signals and uses machine learning to determine if a click is more (or less) likely to result in a conversion.
Effective CPM
Effective CPM or ECPM (not to be confused with ECPC) is where Google converts a CPC bid to an equivalent CPM bid for ads competing on the Google Display Network.
Exact Match
A keyword match type that shows your ads when the keyword you are bidding on is the same as the search query someone is using. Exact match keywords also include close variants and different ordering of words. Learn more about keyword match types.
Exact Match Impression Share
Impression share calculated as if all keywords were set to exact match.
Experiment
A feature that allows you to test changes to campaigns, ad groups, and more. To create an experiment, you begin by creating a draft, you then apply the changes to the draft and launch the experiment. You will then be able to report on the difference between the experiment and your original version (the control).
Filter
Allows you to temporarily narrow your focus inside your account. For example, you could create a filter for campaigns that include 'Canada' in their name or conversions that have a value of at least $100.
Final URL
The URL of the landing page that people are sent to when they click on your ad.
Frequency Cap
Sets the maximum number of impressions for your ad, allowing you to control the number of times someone sees your ad on the Google Display Network. The frequency cap is based on viewable impressions of your ads and can be set at the campaign, ad group, or ad level and by the day, week, or month.
GCLID
Google Click Identifier or GCLID is a parameter added to the URL of your landing page when auto-tagging is enabled within Google Ads. Each click has a unique identifier. See also auto-tagging.
Geotargeting
Allows you to target your ads based on the location of the user. You can choose to target specific countries, regions, cities, or even postal codes. This can be useful if your products or services are only available in certain areas or if you want to tailor your message to specific locations.
Gmail Ads
An ad format that appears within the Gmail inbox of users. Gmail ads can be targeted using similar methods as display campaigns, such as keywords, topics, and audiences.
Google Ads API
An application programming interface that allows developers to build applications that interact with the Google Ads platform. This can be used to automate tasks, build custom reports, and more.
Google AdSense
Google's program that enables publishers to monetize their website content. By creating a display campaign, you target placements that publishers have allocated to display ads on their websites through Google AdSense.
Google Ads Editor
A free desktop application that allows you to manage and make bulk changes to your Google Ads campaigns offline. It's particularly useful for making large-scale edits, copying campaigns, or sharing campaign data with team members.
Google Analytics
A web analytics service from Google that provides insights into website traffic and user behavior. Google Analytics can be integrated with Google Ads to provide additional data on the performance of your campaigns and help you optimize your ads and landing pages.
Google Comparison Shopping Service
Google Comparison Shopping Service (CSS) is a platform that allows comparison shopping engines to display product listings from various online retailers. These services enable users to compare product prices, features, and reviews from multiple retailers, helping them make informed purchasing decisions. Retailers can participate in Google CSS through partnerships with comparison shopping engines, which may lead to increased visibility and potential clicks for their product listings. To learn more check out our Google Comparison Shopping Services Comprehensive Guide.
Google Display Network (GDN)
A network of websites, apps, and YouTube videos where your display ads can be shown. The GDN includes millions of websites and reaches over 90% of internet users worldwide.
Google Forwarding Number
A feature that uses one of Google's phone numbers in your ads, which then forwards calls to your own phone number. Using a Google Forwarding Number provides automatic call reporting and can be used to track conversions, such as call duration. This allows you to view performance down to the keyword level within your account. Calls are charged the same amount as a click on your ad.
Google Listing Ads
Google Listing Ads, also known as Google Shopping Ads or Product Listing Ads (PLAs), are a type of advertisement that features products, images, prices, and retailer information directly within Google search results. These ads are displayed alongside regular search results and are generated based on the user's search query. They provide a visually appealing and informative way for users to compare products and make purchasing decisions. To create Google Listing Ads, advertisers need to set up a Google Shopping campaign and link it to their Google Merchant Center account, where product data is managed and submitted.
Google Merchant Center
Google's platform for submitting product inventory from your website for use in campaigns. Inventory is provided to Google Merchant Center as a feed, which is then used to manage campaigns within Google Ads. See also shopping campaign.
Google My Business
A free tool that allows businesses to manage their online presence across Google, including Search and Maps. By verifying and editing your business information, you can help customers find you and tell them the story of your business.
Google Search Network
A group of search-related websites where your search ads can be shown. This includes Google search results pages, as well as other Google sites like Maps and Shopping, and non-Google search sites that partner with Google to show ads.
Google Search Partners
This includes third-party websites that offer search services, such as Ask.com, and other Google-owned properties like Google Maps.
Google Shopping Ads
Also known as Product Listing Ads, these are ads that appear in Google Shopping and sometimes in search results. Shopping ads include an image, title, price, and store name and are created using a product data feed that you submit to Google Merchant Center.
Google Shopping Carousel
The Google Shopping Carousel is a visual feature that appears at the top of Google search results when users search for products. It displays a horizontal row of product images, prices, and retailer information, allowing users to quickly compare offerings from different online merchants. The carousel is part of Google's advertising system and can drive traffic to retailers' websites when users click on the products. Retailers can have their products featured in the carousel by setting up Google Shopping campaigns and linking them with their Google Merchant Center accounts.
Google Tag Manager
A free tool that allows you to manage and deploy marketing tags (snippets of code or tracking pixels) on your website (or mobile app) without having to modify the code. This can be used to easily add Google Ads conversion tracking, Google Analytics tracking, and more to your site.
Image Ad
An ad format that consists of a static or animated image.
Impression
An instance of your ad being shown on a search result page, website, or app. Impressions are used to measure the reach and visibility of your ads.
Impression Share
The percentage of impressions your ads received compared to the total number of impressions your ads were eligible to receive. Impression share can be used to understand how well your ads are performing in the auction and whether there are opportunities to increase visibility by adjusting bids, budgets, or targeting.
In-Market Audiences
A type of audience targeting that allows you to reach users who are actively researching and comparing products or services similar to yours. In-market audiences are based on users' recent search and browsing behavior and can help you find potential customers who are more likely to convert.
Interactions
These are the primary actions people take with your ads, such as clicks on a text ad, views of a video ad, or calls for a call-only ad. You are typically charged for an interaction with your ad.
Interaction Rate
The total number of interactions divided by impressions, for example, video views divided by impressions. The interaction rate is similar to click-through-rate but is based on any primary interaction. See also click-through rate.
In-app Conversion
A valuable action tracked inside a mobile app, such as completing an in-app purchase, creating an account, or completing an important task.
Invalid Clicks
Clicks that Google determines are either automated or unintentional, such as clicks made by a bot. Invalid clicks can be added as a column at the campaign level within your account. These clicks are not billed.
Keyword
A word or phrase that advertisers bid on in order to show their ads when users search for those terms on Google. Keywords are used to target your ads to users who are searching for information, products, or services related to your business. The selection of relevant keywords is an essential part of setting up a successful Google Ads campaign.
Keyword Planner
A tool provided by Google to help you research keywords for search campaigns. Keyword Planner offers suggestions, ad group ideas, and estimates for search volume, clicks, and costs. The tool provides more accurate data for accounts with active campaigns.
Label
Brief descriptions that can be attached to campaigns, ad groups, ads, and more to help you interpret and report on your campaigns.
Language Targeting
Enables you to select the language for your campaign. In search campaigns, language targeting matches the Google domain someone is searching on (e.g., google.co.uk in the UK compared to google.co.jp in Japan) and considers the user's settings and search language. In display campaigns, language targeting matches the content on the placement.
Location Targeting
Allows you to choose where your ad will be displayed. By default, location targeting shows ads to people in the specified geographic location or people interested in the location. For instance, targeting Canada means your ads will show to people physically in Canada or people who search terms related to the location.
Lost Impression Share
The percentage of impressions where your ads could have been displayed but were not due to insufficient budget or low ad rank. See also impression share.
Match Type
Enables you to control how your keywords match with user search queries. Match types include broad match, phrase match, exact match, and negative match. Learn more about keyword match types.
Manager Account
An overarching account used to manage multiple Google Ads accounts, primarily for agencies managing multiple clients and large organizations with multiple accounts. Previously known as MCC or My Client Center accounts.
Maximize Conversions
An automated bidding strategy aiming to drive as many conversions as possible for your campaign. Maximize Conversions uses Google's machine learning and conversion data. See also smart bidding.
Mobile Bid Adjustment
Optional setting to adjust the final bid amount for mobile device users. For example, a +20% mobile bid adjustment combined with a default bid of $1 results in a $1.20 final bid for mobile device users. You can also adjust bids downward. A -100% mobile bid adjustment prevents your ads from being shown to mobile device users. See also bid adjustment.
Mobile Speed Score
Evaluates your landing pages' performance for mobile device users. Pages receive a score out of 10, with higher scores indicating better performance.
Narrow Targeting
Audience segments can be added as 'Targeting' or 'Observation' in a display campaign. Selecting 'Targeting' requires all targets to match for the ad to display. For example, if remarketing and a topic are applied as a target, someone must be on your remarketing list and viewing content about the topic target for the ad to display. See also observation targeting.
Negative Match
A match type that prevents your ads from showing. For example, '-free' used with a broad match of 'chocolate gifts' would prevent ads from displaying when people search for 'free chocolate gifts'. Negative match can also be combined with other match types:
NEGATIVE BROAD MATCH
Ads won't display if the search query contains all specified words in any order. For example, '-free baskets' would prevent ads from showing for search queries containing 'free', 'baskets', or both.
NEGATIVE EXACT MATCH
Ads won't display if the search query matches the negative keyword exactly. For example, '-[apple ipad]' will prevent ads from showing for 'apple iPad' but not 'apple iPad cover'.
NEGATIVE PHRASE MATCH
Ads won't display if the search query contains all specified words in the same order. For example, '-"recipe ideas"' will prevent ads from showing for 'recipe ideas' and 'cake recipe ideas'.
Network
In Google Ads, you can target your ads to various networks, such as the Google Search Network, Google Search Partners, and the Google Display Network. Refer to the campaign for more details.
Observation Targeting
A display targeting method that offers reporting metrics without affecting who sees your ads or where they appear. For instance, adding a topic as an observation provides metrics for that topic but does not limit the ad targeting. See also narrow targeting.
Offline Conversion
A conversion that takes place offline can be imported into Google Ads if you possess information about the click that led to the offline conversion or the call that converted the prospect. Refer to conversion and GCLID for more information.
Optimized Targeting
Also known as 'Targeting Expansion,' this feature is available for campaigns targeting the Google Display Network. It aims to increase conversions by displaying ads to people outside your existing audience targeting. This option is enabled by default but can be disabled.
Parental Status
A display campaign targeting and bidding option that uses behavioral data to identify people with or without children.
Performance Max Campaign (PMAX)
A campaign type that automatically displays your ads across all Google advertising networks, including search and display placements. Performance Max campaigns utilize machine learning to adjust targeting, create final ads, and manage bids. We recommend that your store is able to generate atleast 50 orders consistently with the Google Ads platform before you consider turning on PMAX campaigns.
Phrase Match
A keyword match type that displays your ads when a user's search query includes the keyword you are bidding on. For example, the phrase match keyword "gym membership" will match 'gym membership,' 'Chicago gym membership,' and 'cheap gym membership.' Phrase match keywords also cover close variants of the keyword. Learn more about keyword match types.
Physical Location
An audience member's geographic location, determined by various signals such as IP address, internet connection details, GPS, and more.
Placement
A location on the Google Display Network where an ad is displayed. Placements can include websites, sections of websites, mobile apps, or videos.
PPC
Pay-per-click, also known as CPC.
Product Group
A set of products grouped within a shopping campaign. Refer to the shopping campaign for more information.
Quality Score
Google's assessment of an advertiser's ad relevance to a user's interests, based on factors like click-through rate, relevance, and landing page experience. The Quality Score displayed in your account differs from the real-time auction calculation used to show ads to users.
Quartile
A metric that reveals the percentage of your video ad watched by users. Quartiles are reported based on users viewing 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% of your video content.
Radius Targeting
A location targeting option that enables you to set a radius around an address or another map location.
Recommendations
Automatic suggestions for enhancing your account's performance, including budget changes, new keywords, and more.
Remarketing List
Enables you to target users based on previous interactions with your organization. Remarketing lists can be created within Google Ads or imported from Google Analytics. These lists can then be used to display ads to specific users or adjust bids.
APP USERS
Add users to a remarketing list based on their use of your mobile app or specific actions taken within the app.
CUSTOMER LIST
Add users to a remarketing list by uploading their email addresses to Google Ads and matching them to Google Accounts.
LEAD FORM SEGMENT
Add users to a remarketing list who have already provided their details through a lead form asset displayed with your ads.
WEBSITE VISITORS
Add users to a remarketing list based on their visits to specific pages (or groups of pages) on your website.
YOUTUBE USERS
Add users to a remarketing list based on their interactions with your YouTube videos and channel.
Remarketing Lists for Search Ads (RLSA)
RLSA enables you to adjust bids, display specific ads, or target certain keywords in your search campaigns when a user is included in one of your remarketing lists.
Responsive Display Ad
The standard ad format for display campaigns, Responsive Display Ads combine multiple assets such as headlines, descriptions, images, and logos to automatically generate ads based on the assets provided.
Responsive Search Ad
This ad format allows you to incorporate numerous headlines and descriptions, with up to 15 headlines and four descriptions. Google Ads then automatically displays a combination of three headlines and two description lines.
ROAS (Return on Advertising Spend)
ROAS is a metric that calculates the ratio of total revenue to total advertising expenditure. For instance, if you earned $10,000 from Google Ads and spent $5,000 on ads, your ROAS would be 200%. To learn more about ROAS check out our "Everything you need to know about ROAS" blog post.
Script
Scripts enable account management using JavaScript, allowing you to use data from external systems to modify your bids, for example.
Search Query
The specific text a user enters when performing a search. Note that the search query may differ from the keyword you're bidding on due to keyword match types.
Segment
Segments provide a detailed breakdown of metrics within your account, allowing you to analyze data by factors like time, conversions, click type, devices, and more.
Shared Budget
A daily budget applied to multiple campaigns.
Shared Library
A collection of features that can be utilized across various campaigns, such as remarketing lists, shared budgets, and negative keywords.
Shopping Campaign
This campaign type displays products from your linked Google Merchant Center account. You can prioritize bids and filter products within your shopping campaign, and products are automatically shown for relevant search queries.
Skippable Ads
Formerly called 'TrueView' ads, Skippable Ads are a video ad format that charges you when users watch or engage with your video ads on YouTube.
IN-STREAM ADS
These video ads appear before, during, or after a video on YouTube, embedded on a website, or on the Google Display Network. You aren't charged if a viewer skips your ad. Views are counted after 30 seconds, when the video is completed if it's shorter than 30 seconds, or if a user engages with the video.
IN-FEED ADS
In-feed ads promote your video content in YouTube search results and as related videos. Views are counted when a user clicks to watch your video. Previously known as 'Video Discovery Ads'.
Smart Bidding
This term encompasses all automated bidding strategies in Google Ads, including Maximize Conversions, Target CPA, Target ROAS, and Enhanced CPC. Smart Bidding strategies leverage Google's machine learning to automatically adjust bids.
Status
The status column in Google Ads indicates if your ads are approved for display. 'Eligible' or 'Approved' signifies your ads can be shown, while 'Disapproved' means your ad didn't meet the editorial requirements.
Tracking Template
This feature enables you to send additional information to your landing page. Parameters used in Tracking Templates can be employed for reporting or customizing the user experience on your website.
ValueTrack
ValueTrack lets you pass information about how users found and interacted with your ad to your landing page, including details about keyword match type, targeting, and device type. Primarily used by third-party analytics tools.
Note: If you use Google Analytics, you don't need ValueTrack, as these details are automatically incorporated into your reports once Google Ads and Google Analytics are linked.
Viewable CPM
Viewable CPM (Cost Per Thousand Impressions) bidding enables you to set the amount you're willing to pay for 1,000 viewable impressions, irrespective of click count. An impression is considered viewable when at least 50% of the ad is visible on screen for a minimum of one second (or two seconds for video ads).
View
A view is recorded when a user watches your video ad, and charges are based on these views. Refer to skippable ads for more information.
View-through Conversion
This metric for display ads quantifies the number of users who saw an ad without clicking it but later converted on your website. See also attribution and assisted conversion for more details.
YouTube
YouTube is Google's video-sharing platform. For additional information, refer to skippable ads and bumper ads.
