The ultimate reference for digital marketing terminology. Master the language of PPC, SEO, and paid social.
A value that's used to determine your ad position (where ads are shown on a page relative to other ads) and whether your ads will show at all. It is calculated by multiplying your Bid Amount by your Quality Score.
Ad Relevance Diagnostics break down your ad's performance into three components: Quality Ranking (creative quality), Engagement Rate Ranking (expected engagement), and Conversion Rate Ranking (expected conversions). They help diagnose why ads might be underperforming.
Ad Scheduling lets you control when your ads run by time of day and day of week. You can increase bids during high-converting hours, reduce spend on low-value times, or pause ads entirely during off-hours. Requires campaign daily budget mode.
Meta's suite of AI-powered automation products that minimize manual control in favor of algorithm-driven results. The most famous is Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns (ASC), which fully automates targeting and creative combinations.
Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns (ASC) are Meta's AI-powered campaign type for ecommerce. They automate audience targeting, creative selection, and budget allocation across placements. ASC combines prospecting and retargeting in a single campaign with minimal manual controls.
Affinity Audiences reach users based on their overall interests and lifestyle rather than active purchase intent. Categories include Auto Enthusiasts, Beauty Mavens, Tech Lovers, etc. Best for awareness campaigns and building brand familiarity with relevant audiences.
Aggregated Event Measurement is Meta's protocol for measuring web events from iOS 14+ users who opt out of tracking. It limits you to 8 prioritized conversion events per domain and uses modeled data to fill attribution gaps.
Asset Groups are collections of creatives (images, videos, headlines, descriptions) within Performance Max campaigns. Each Asset Group targets a specific audience signal and product set. Think of them as ad groups, but for PMax's cross-channel format.
The Attribution Window is the time period after a user interacts with your ad during which a conversion can be credited to that interaction. Meta offers 1-day view, 7-day click, and 28-day click options. Shorter windows show fewer but more directly attributable conversions.
A report available in Google Ads that lets you compare your performance with other advertisers who are participating in the same auctions that you are.
Auction Insights shows how you're performing relative to competitors in the same auctions. Metrics include impression share, overlap rate, position above rate, and top of page rate. Use it to identify competitive threats and opportunities.
Audience Exclusions prevent your ads from showing to specific groups - like existing customers, recent purchasers, or people who already converted. They're essential for separating prospecting from retargeting and preventing wasted spend on the wrong audiences.
Audience Segments are groups of users you can target or observe. Types include: Affinity (interests/lifestyles), In-Market (actively researching products), Custom Segments (based on keywords/URLs), Remarketing (your website visitors), and Similar Audiences (lookalikes).
Audience Signals in Performance Max tell Google who your ideal customers are. They include your data (customer lists, website visitors), custom segments, demographics, and interests. They're suggestions to the algorithm, not hard targeting - PMax can expand beyond them.
Auto Targeting on Microsoft Ads automatically expands your targeting to reach additional relevant audiences beyond your manual settings. Similar to Google's optimized targeting, it uses machine learning to find converters you might miss with manual targeting alone.
Bid Cap sets a maximum bid Meta can place in any single auction. Unlike Cost Cap (average), Bid Cap is a hard limit that prevents any bid from exceeding your cap. It gives maximum cost control but can significantly limit delivery if set too low.
Broad Match is the most expansive keyword match type. Your ads can show for searches that are related to your keyword, including synonyms, related topics, and other variations Google deems relevant. Combined with Smart Bidding, Broad Match can expand reach while maintaining efficiency.
A targeting strategy where you define essentially no audience constraints (no interests, no lookalikes) other than location and age/gender. You rely entirely on your ad creative and the algorithm to find the right people.
Bumper Ads are 6-second non-skippable video ads designed for broad reach and brand awareness. They're charged on a CPM basis and are ideal for reinforcing messages from longer campaigns or reaching users with short, memorable content.
CBO automatically distributes your campaign budget across ad sets based on performance. Instead of setting individual ad set budgets, you set one campaign budget and let Meta allocate spend to the best-performing ad sets in real-time.
LinkedIn Carousel Ads let you showcase multiple images in a swipeable format. Each card can have its own headline, description, and destination URL. Ideal for telling a story, showcasing features, or highlighting multiple products or case studies.
Carousel Ads display up to 10 images or videos in a single ad, each with its own link. Users swipe through cards to explore products, features, or a story sequence. They typically drive higher engagement and CTR than single image ads.
The Catalog Sales objective optimizes for purchases from your product catalog. It uses Dynamic Product Ads to show users the specific products they viewed or added to cart. Required for DPA retargeting and Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns.
Collection Ads show a cover image or video with 4 product images below. Tapping opens an Instant Experience with your full catalog. They combine awareness (video) with shopping (product grid) in a single ad unit. Great for ecommerce discovery.
Companion Banners are 300x60 clickable display ads that appear next to skippable in-stream video ads on desktop YouTube. They remain visible while the video plays and persist after the video ad finishes, providing an additional click opportunity.
The Company Engagement Report shows which companies are interacting with your LinkedIn ads and organic content. It tracks impressions, clicks, and engagement at the account level, making it essential for ABM measurement and sales team alignment.
Company Targeting lets you reach employees of specific companies by name or by company attributes like size, industry, or growth rate. You can upload a list of company names, use LinkedIn's company filters, or target companies similar to your best customers.
Complete Payment is TikTok's standard conversion event for purchases. It's the primary optimization event for ecommerce campaigns. You should pass transaction value for Value-Based Optimization and ROAS bidding strategies.
Conversation Ads are interactive message ads that let you create branching conversation paths based on user responses. Unlike Message Ads (single message), they offer multiple CTA buttons that lead to different follow-up messages or landing pages.
Conversion Tracking measures valuable actions users take after clicking your ads - purchases, leads, sign-ups, calls. It requires the Google Ads tag or Google Tag Manager on your site. Accurate tracking is essential for Smart Bidding optimization.
LinkedIn Conversion Tracking measures actions users take after clicking or viewing your ads. It uses the Insight Tag to track website conversions like form submissions, downloads, and purchases. Essential for Lead Gen Form ROI measurement and optimization.
The Conversions API is a server-side tracking solution that sends conversion data directly from your server to Meta. Unlike the Pixel (browser-based), CAPI isn't affected by ad blockers, iOS privacy restrictions, or cookie limitations, providing more accurate attribution.
Cost Cap is a Meta bid strategy that sets a maximum average cost per result you're willing to pay. Unlike Bid Cap (hard limit per auction), Cost Cap allows individual bids to exceed the cap while keeping the average within target. Better for maintaining volume with cost control.
CPA measures how much you spend to acquire one conversion (purchase, lead, sign-up). It's calculated as total spend ÷ total conversions. Also called Cost Per Action or Cost Per Conversion. It's the primary efficiency metric for performance campaigns.
CPM stands for Cost Per Mille (thousand impressions). It's the amount you pay for every 1,000 times your ad is shown. Meta Ads uses an auction-based CPM system where advertisers bid against each other for ad placements.
CPV is the amount you pay for each video view. On YouTube, a view is counted when someone watches 30 seconds (or the full ad if shorter) or interacts with the ad. CPV bidding is common for awareness campaigns where video engagement is the goal.
TikTok's Creative Center is a free research tool that shows top-performing ads, trending sounds, hashtags, and creative insights. You can filter by industry, objective, region, and time period to find inspiration and competitive intelligence for your campaigns.
CTR is the percentage of people who click your ad after seeing it, calculated as clicks ÷ impressions × 100. Higher CTR indicates more relevant, engaging ads. For Google Search, 3-5% is average; for Display/Social, 0.5-1% is typical.
A Custom Audience is a targeting option that lets you reach people who already have a relationship with your business. You can create Custom Audiences from customer lists (emails/phones), website visitors (via Pixel), app users, or people who engaged with your content on Meta platforms.
TikTok Custom Audiences let you target users based on their interactions with your business: website visitors (via Pixel), app users, customer lists (emails/phones), or engagement with your TikTok content. Essential for retargeting and lookalike creation.
Custom Intent Audiences let you target users based on their recent Google search behavior and website visits. You define keywords users have searched or URLs they've visited, and YouTube shows ads to people actively researching related topics.
Demand Gen Campaigns (formerly Discovery Ads) show visually rich ads across YouTube, YouTube Shorts, Discover feed, and Gmail. They support carousel, single image, and video formats with AI-powered audience expansion for upper-funnel marketing at scale.
Demand Gen campaigns are Google's cross-channel format for upper-funnel marketing across YouTube, YouTube Shorts, Discover, and Gmail. They support lookalike audiences, image ads, carousel ads, and video ads in a single campaign optimized for engagement or conversions.
Display Extensions add extra information to your text ads - sitelinks (additional links), callouts (short value props), structured snippets (lists), call extensions (phone numbers), and more. They improve ad real estate and often boost CTR by 10-15%.
Document Ads let you promote PDFs, PowerPoints, or Word docs directly in the LinkedIn feed. Users can read the document without leaving LinkedIn, and you can gate it behind a Lead Gen Form to collect leads. Ideal for whitepapers, research reports, and playbooks.
Dynamic Product Ads automatically show relevant products from your catalog to people based on their browsing behavior. Meta dynamically generates ads featuring products users viewed, added to cart, or purchased, making them highly personalized at scale.
Dynamic Search Ads automatically generate headlines based on your website content and match to relevant searches. Microsoft crawls your site and creates ads dynamically, filling gaps in keyword coverage. Great for large sites or discovering new keyword opportunities.
Engaged-View Conversions are conversions that occur after someone watches 10+ seconds of a skippable video ad (but doesn't click) and then converts within the attribution window. They help measure video's true impact beyond direct clicks.
Enhanced Conversions improve conversion tracking accuracy by sending hashed first-party customer data (email, phone, address) to Google. This helps match conversions to ad clicks even when cookies are blocked, increasing tracked conversions by 5-20%.
Enhanced CPC is a semi-automated bid strategy that adjusts your manual bids up or down based on the likelihood of conversion. You set base bids, and Microsoft adjusts them at auction time. It's a middle ground between manual bidding and full automation.
LinkedIn Event Ads promote your LinkedIn Events or live events directly in the feed. They include event details, date/time, and an 'Attend' or 'Register' CTA. They're effective for webinars, conferences, and live broadcasts because they drive registrations natively.
TikTok's Events API is server-side tracking that sends conversion data directly from your server to TikTok. Like Meta's CAPI, it improves attribution accuracy by bypassing browser limitations, ad blockers, and iOS restrictions.
LinkedIn Follower Ads are Dynamic Ads that show the user's profile picture alongside your Company Page, inviting them to follow. They're personalized for each viewer and typically have higher engagement than standard display ads for building audience.
Frequency measures how many times, on average, each person has seen your ad. High frequency (7+) can cause ad fatigue, leading to declining performance. Optimal frequency varies by objective: 1-3 for prospecting, 3-7 for retargeting.
GCLID is a unique parameter Google appends to URLs when someone clicks your ad. It's used to track conversions back to specific clicks, enabling accurate attribution and Smart Bidding optimization. Auto-tagging must be enabled for GCLID to work.
The Google Display Network is a collection of over 2 million websites, apps, and videos where your display ads can appear. It reaches over 90% of internet users worldwide. GDN is used for awareness, remarketing, and prospecting with image, responsive, and video ads.
Google Shopping Campaigns show product ads with images, prices, and store names in search results and the Shopping tab. They use product feed data from Merchant Center rather than keywords. Performance Max has largely replaced standalone Shopping campaigns.
Microsoft Ads' Import feature lets you copy campaigns, ad groups, keywords, and ads directly from Google Ads. It automatically maps settings, bids, and extensions, making it easy to launch Microsoft campaigns in minutes rather than hours.
Impression Share is the percentage of impressions your ads received compared to the total available impressions. Lost impression share can be due to budget (not enough money) or rank (bids/Quality Score too low). It helps identify growth opportunities.
In-Feed Ads appear natively in the TikTok For You Page, blending with organic content. They can be up to 60 seconds, support various CTAs, and are the foundation of most TikTok advertising. They must feel native to TikTok's entertainment-first environment.
In-Market Audiences reach users actively researching and considering products or services in specific categories. Microsoft uses browsing and search behavior to identify purchase intent. They're highly effective for reaching ready-to-buy prospects.
The LinkedIn Insight Tag is a JavaScript snippet you add to your website to track conversions, build retargeting audiences, and access website demographics. It shows you which companies and job titles visit your site, even without form submissions.
Instant Experience is a full-screen, mobile-optimized landing page that loads instantly within Facebook/Instagram. It can include images, videos, carousels, and forms without users leaving the app. Great for ecommerce product showcases and immersive storytelling.
Interest Targeting on TikTok lets you reach users based on their content consumption patterns and expressed interests. Categories include shopping, beauty, gaming, fitness, and more. It's less precise than data-driven targeting but useful for cold prospecting at scale.
Landing Page Experience is one of three Quality Score components. It measures how relevant, transparent, and easy-to-navigate your landing page is for users who click your ad. Load speed, mobile-friendliness, and content relevance all factor in.
Lead Gen Forms are native LinkedIn forms pre-filled with a user's profile data (name, email, company, job title). They allow users to submit their information without leaving LinkedIn, resulting in higher conversion rates than landing page forms.
Pre-filled forms that populate with a user's LinkedIn profile data (Name, Email, Job Title, Company) when they click your ad. Because users don't have to type anything manually, conversion rates are typically 5x higher than landing pages.
The Learning Phase is the period when Meta's algorithm is gathering data on how to deliver your ad set efficiently. It typically requires 50 conversions in 7 days to exit. During this phase, performance is unstable and costs may be higher.
LinkedIn Profile Targeting is a Microsoft Ads exclusive feature that lets you target users based on their LinkedIn profile data (company, industry, job function) while they search on Bing. It combines search intent with professional demographics for precise B2B targeting.
A way to reach new people who are likely to be interested in your business because they share similar characteristics (demographics, interests, behaviors) to your existing best customers.
TikTok Lookalike Audiences find new users similar to your best customers. You create them from Custom Audiences (purchasers, high-value visitors) and choose the size (Narrow, Balanced, Broad). Narrow means most similar but smallest reach; Broad means larger reach but less similar.
Match Types control how closely a search query must match your keyword to trigger your ad. Broad match shows ads for related searches, Phrase match requires the meaning to be included, and Exact match requires the same meaning as the keyword. Google has loosened all match types significantly.
LinkedIn's suite of targeting tools that let you combine your own business data with LinkedIn's professional data. This typically includes Company Match (ABM lists), Contact Match (CRM uploads), and Website Retargeting.
Message Ads (formerly Sponsored InMail) deliver personalized messages directly to a user's LinkedIn inbox. They only send when the user is active on LinkedIn, ensuring visibility. Message Ads have strict frequency caps - users can only receive one per 45 days.
The Meta Pixel is a JavaScript code snippet you add to your website to track visitor actions. It collects data on page views, purchases, add-to-carts, and other events, enabling conversion tracking, retargeting audiences, and campaign optimization.
MSAN is Microsoft's native advertising network that shows image-based ads across premium sites like MSN, Outlook, and Microsoft Edge. It uses Microsoft's audience data and AI for targeting, similar to Google's Display Network but with different inventory.
Negative keywords prevent your ads from showing for specific search terms. They're essential for reducing wasted spend on irrelevant queries. Like regular keywords, negatives have match types (broad, phrase, exact) that control how strictly they block.
Non-skippable in-stream ads are 15-second video ads that viewers must watch before their content. They guarantee complete message delivery but cost more (CPM-based) and can create negative brand sentiment if overused. Best for short, impactful brand messages.
TikTok's audience network that extends your ad reach beyond the TikTok app to thousands of third-party mobile apps and games. It is generally cheaper but has lower quality traffic than the main feed.
Performance Max is Google's AI-driven, cross-channel campaign type that runs ads across Search, Display, YouTube, Gmail, Discover, and Maps from a single campaign. It uses machine learning to optimize for conversions, requiring only assets and goals from advertisers.
Actions that happen on your website that can be tracked by the Meta Pixel. Standard events include 'Purchase', 'AddToCart', and 'Lead'. Custom events can be defined for specific actions like 'Time on Site > 60s'.
Placement Targeting on YouTube lets you show ads on specific YouTube channels or videos. You can target competitor channels, industry influencers, or content relevant to your audience. It gives precision control but limits scale.
Placements determine where your ads appear across Meta's surfaces: Facebook Feed, Instagram Feed, Stories, Reels, Messenger, Audience Network, and more. Advantage+ Placements lets Meta optimize automatically; Manual Placements gives you control.
A Product Feed is a structured data file containing all your product information: titles, descriptions, prices, images, availability, and more. It's uploaded to Google Merchant Center and used to generate Shopping and Performance Max product ads automatically.
Remarketing Lists for Video let you retarget users based on their YouTube engagement - video views, channel subscriptions, likes, or visits to your channel page. You can target people who watched specific percentages (25%, 50%, 75%, 100%) of your videos.
Responsive Search Ads let you provide up to 15 headlines and 4 descriptions. Google's AI tests combinations to find the best performers for each search. They've replaced Expanded Text Ads as the standard search ad format.
Microsoft's equivalent to Google's RSAs - you provide up to 15 headlines and 4 descriptions, and Microsoft tests combinations automatically. The system learns which combinations work best for different search queries and user contexts.
ROAS measures revenue generated for every pound spent on ads. A ROAS of 4x means you made £4 for every £1 spent. Unlike ROI, ROAS only accounts for ad spend, not other costs like product, fulfillment, or overhead.
The percentage of impressions your ads actually received compared to the total number of impressions your ads were eligible to receive. It is the single most important metric for understanding market share and missed opportunity.
The Search Terms Report shows the actual queries people typed before clicking your ads. It's essential for finding new keyword opportunities and identifying irrelevant terms to add as negative keywords. Note: Google now hides many low-volume queries.
Seniority Targeting lets you reach LinkedIn users by their job level: Entry, Senior, Manager, Director, VP, CXO, Partner, Owner. Combined with job function or title targeting, it helps you reach decision-makers at the right level for your offer.
Microsoft Shopping Campaigns show product ads with images, prices, and store names in Bing search results. They pull data from your Merchant Center product feed. Like Google Shopping, they're essential for ecommerce advertisers targeting high-intent buyers.
Smart Bidding is Google's suite of automated bid strategies powered by machine learning. Options include Target CPA, Target ROAS, Maximize Conversions, and Maximize Conversion Value. It adjusts bids in real-time based on signals like device, location, time, and audience.
Smart Performance Campaigns are TikTok's AI-powered, automated campaign type (similar to Meta's Advantage+). They automate targeting, bidding, and creative optimization. You provide creatives and a goal, and TikTok's algorithm handles the rest.
A native ad format that lets you boost organic TikTok posts (either your own or a creator's) as paid ads. Unlike standard ads, Spark Ads link to the real organic profile, allowing viewers to follow the account or click through to the landing page.
Sponsored Content are native ads that appear in the LinkedIn feed, looking similar to organic posts but marked 'Promoted'. They can be single image, carousel, video, event, or document ads. It's LinkedIn's most versatile and commonly used ad format.
LinkedIn Spotlight Ads are Dynamic Ads that personalize with the viewer's profile photo and name, featuring a prominent CTA. Unlike Follower Ads, they drive to a landing page. They appear in the right rail on desktop and are highly eye-catching due to personalization.
Target CPA is a Smart Bidding strategy that automatically sets bids to get as many conversions as possible at your target cost-per-acquisition. Google adjusts bids in real-time based on the likelihood of conversion for each auction.
Target ROAS is a Smart Bidding strategy that automatically sets bids to achieve your target return on ad spend. If you set a 400% target, Google optimizes bids to generate £4 in revenue for every £1 spent. Requires conversion value tracking.
LinkedIn Text Ads are simple pay-per-click ads that appear in the right rail of LinkedIn desktop. They include a small image, headline, and description. They're the cheapest LinkedIn ad format but have limited reach and lower engagement than Sponsored Content.
ThruPlay is Meta's video view optimization that counts a view when someone watches 15 seconds or the entire video if shorter. It's the standard for Video Views campaigns, balancing reach with meaningful engagement. ThruPlay viewers are warm audiences for retargeting.
TikTok Creator Marketplace is TikTok's official platform for finding and collaborating with creators. You can search creators by audience demographics, content category, and performance metrics. Creators here have opted in to work with brands.
The TikTok Pixel is a JavaScript code that tracks website actions and conversions. It supports standard events (ViewContent, AddToCart, Purchase) and custom events. Like Meta, TikTok also offers Events API for server-side tracking to improve attribution accuracy.
TopView Ads appear as the first thing users see when opening TikTok, playing for up to 60 seconds with sound on. They're premium video placements with guaranteed visibility, typically used for major brand launches and awareness campaigns. Requires reservation buying.
TrueView is YouTube's skippable video ad format where you only pay when viewers watch 30 seconds (or the full ad if shorter) or interact with it. TrueView for Action (now Video Action Campaigns) adds CTAs and focuses on driving conversions.
The UET Tag is Microsoft's tracking pixel for conversion tracking, remarketing, and audience building. Similar to Google's gtag, it's a JavaScript snippet you add to your site. It enables Smart Bidding strategies and conversion optimization.
Content created by consumers or creators that looks like a native, organic TikTok video rather than a polished commercial. UGC is the primary driver of performance on TikTok.
Value-Based Optimization lets TikTok optimize for conversion value rather than just conversion volume. You send purchase values via the Pixel or Events API, and TikTok learns to find high-value customers. Essential for ecommerce ROI optimization.
Video Action Campaigns are YouTube's conversion-focused campaign type that shows skippable in-stream and in-feed video ads optimized for actions like purchases, sign-ups, or leads. They use Google's Smart Bidding to maximize conversions across YouTube and Google video partners.
Video Sequences let you show viewers a series of ads in a specific order based on how they interacted with previous videos. You can tell a story across multiple videos, progressively moving users from awareness to conversion.
The Video Views objective optimizes for the maximum number of people who watch your video content. You can choose between ThruPlay (views of 15+ seconds or complete), 2-Second Continuous Views, or 15-Second Views. Useful for awareness and remarketing list building.
View Rate is the percentage of impressions that resulted in a view (watching 30+ seconds or the full ad if shorter). It indicates how engaging your video is. For skippable ads, a view rate above 15% is considered good, and above 25% is excellent.
