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Unlock the language of paid search marketing.

Our glossary breaks down essential PPC and Google Ads terminology in clear, beginner-friendly language — helping you make smarter advertising decisions.

Jump to letter:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

A

Ad Extensions

Optional components that expand your ad with extra details like phone numbers, sitelinks, or promotions — improving visibility and click-through rate.

Ad Groups

Organizational units inside a campaign that group related keywords, ads, and targeting under one theme.

Ad Rank

A score Google uses to determine your ad’s placement, based on your bid, ad quality, auction competitiveness, and expected impact of ad assets.

Attribution

The way credit is assigned to various ads or touchpoints in a user’s conversion journey. Models include first-click, last-click, linear, and data-driven.

Audience Targeting

A strategy that lets you reach users based on demographics, behaviors, interests, or retargeting lists — helping increase relevance and conversion rates.

B

Bidding Strategy

The method used in Google Ads to determine how you pay for clicks or impressions. Examples include Manual CPC, Maximize Conversions, and Target ROAS.

Broad Match

A keyword match type that shows ads for searches including synonyms, related searches, and other relevant variations — offering reach with less control.

Bounce Rate

The percentage of users who leave your landing page without taking action. A high bounce rate often signals poor user experience or mismatched ad intent.

C

CTR (Click-Through Rate)

The percentage of users who click on your ad after seeing it. Calculated as clicks divided by impressions.

Conversion

An action deemed valuable by your business, such as a form fill, phone call, or sale, tracked through conversion tracking in Google Ads.

Campaign

The top-level structure in a Google Ads account that contains ad groups, targeting, budget, and bidding settings.

D

Display Network

A collection of websites, apps, and videos where your display ads can appear. Google’s Display Network reaches over 90% of internet users worldwide.

Dynamic Search Ads

Ads that are automatically generated based on the content of your website, helping you fill gaps in keyword coverage.

E

Exact Match

A keyword match type that only triggers your ads for searches with the exact phrase or very close variations.

Expanded Text Ads

A legacy ad format that included multiple headlines and description lines, now replaced by responsive search ads.

F

Frequency

How often your ads are shown to the same person within a specific time frame — often used in Display campaigns.

Final URL

The actual landing page users are sent to when they click your ad, often different from the display URL.

G

Google Ads

Google's online advertising platform where advertisers bid on keywords to display ads across Google Search, YouTube, and the Display Network.

Geo-targeting

Targeting users by their geographic location, such as city, ZIP code, or radius from a specific address.

H

Headline

The clickable title of your ad. Google allows up to three headlines per ad to improve visibility and engagement.

I

Impressions

The number of times your ad is shown to users, regardless of whether it was clicked.

Impression Share

The percentage of impressions your ad received compared to the total it was eligible for, based on targeting and bids.

J

JSON Feed

A lightweight data format often used in dynamic remarketing to update product information in Google Ads campaigns.

JavaScript Tracking

Code snippets that help capture user interactions, often used in conversion tracking or event measurement in PPC campaigns.

K

Keyword

A word or phrase advertisers target in their campaigns to trigger ads when users search.

L

Landing Page

The web page users see after clicking an ad. A well-optimized landing page helps increase conversions.

M

Maximize Conversions

A smart bidding strategy that automatically sets bids to help get the most conversions for your budget.

N

Negative Keywords

Keywords you exclude from your campaigns to prevent ads from showing on irrelevant searches.

O

Optimization Score

A metric in Google Ads showing how well your account is set to perform, with suggestions for improvement.

P

PPC (Pay-Per-Click)

A form of online advertising where you pay each time someone clicks your ad.

Phrase Match

A keyword match type that shows your ad when the search query includes your exact phrase or close variations.

Q

Quality Score

A 1–10 rating Google assigns to keywords based on ad relevance, expected CTR, and landing page experience.

R

ROAS (Return on Ad Spend)

A performance metric that shows how much revenue you earn for every dollar spent on ads.

Responsive Search Ads

Ads that automatically test different combinations of headlines and descriptions to improve performance.

S

Sitelink Extensions

Additional links in your ad that point to specific pages on your website, increasing click-through options.

Search Network

The part of Google Ads where ads appear in Google Search and other search sites.

Smart Bidding

Automated bidding strategies that use machine learning to optimize for conversions or conversion value.

T

Target CPA

A smart bidding strategy where Google adjusts your bids to get as many conversions as possible at your target cost-per-acquisition.

U

UTM Parameters

Tags added to URLs to help track ad performance in analytics platforms like Google Analytics.

V

View-Through Conversion

A conversion that happens after a user sees your ad but doesn’t click it — measured within a certain time window.

W

Winning Ad Copy

Ad text that performs best in terms of clicks, conversions, or other campaign goals — typically determined through A/B testing.

X

XFN (Cross-Functional Navigation)

A method of linking across related ad platforms or accounts, sometimes used to unify Google Ads with external marketing tools.

X-Default Tag

An HTML hreflang attribute used in global PPC landing pages to serve a fallback version when the user’s language or region isn’t specifically targeted.

Y

YouTube Ads

Video-based ads shown on YouTube or the Google Display Network. Includes skippable, non-skippable, and bumper formats.

Z

Zero Impressions

A term used when your ad isn’t showing at all — often due to low bids, poor Quality Score, or disapproved content.

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