While running Google Ads, you can come across many terms that might be new to you. Without understanding them, you may feel a little lost and be unable to set up your campaigns properly.
However, if you have access to a Google Ads glossary, then you can be free of any worries. A comprehensive glossary provides clear definitions for all essential terms, enabling you to interpret every component of your Google Ads account easily.
Now, where can you find a Google Ads glossary that explains each term in simple and practical language? This blog will give you exactly that.
It will walk you through all the important terms from A-Z that you should know related to Google Ads. Each definition will help you understand the different elements that comprise your campaigns and Google Ads account. You will see how these terms influence targeting, bidding, and reporting. You will also learn how to use them to make smarter decisions.
A
Let’s quickly go through terms that start with the letter ‘A’.
A/B Testing
A/B Testing refers to the process of comparing two different versions of ads or campaigns to determine which one performs better. It is implemented by creating two versions of a campaign or ad that differ by one or more variables. Then both versions are run side by side (or separately) to check which one does better in terms of achieving a specific goal.
Ad Auction
Ad Auctions are used by Google to determine which ad is to be shown and in what order. These auctions take place every time a user searches on Google or visits a site where your ads can appear.
| Also read: A Guide to Write Impactful Google Ads Copies |
Ad Group
Ad Groups contain one or more ads that share the same targets. Generally, these groups are used to organize ads by a common theme (eg, types of products sold) under one particular campaign.
Ad Rank
Ad Rank is a set of values that Google uses to decide whether your ad is eligible to appear and, if it is, then where it appears on the search engine results page relative to other ads. Google calculates ad rank during each auction, and this evaluation is done on the basis of multiple factors such as your bid, ad quality, etc.
Ad Rotation
Ad Rotation is a setting that allows you to control how often your ads appear compared to other ads in the same. It is applicable only to Shopping, Search, and Display campaigns.
Ad Scheduling
Ad Scheduling (also known as dayparting) allows you to choose the exact days and hours when your ads can appear. Using this feature from Google, you can either show ads all day or limit them to your peak business hours. Ad Scheduling also allows you to adjust bids for specific days and times.
| Note: Ad Scheduling is not applicable to app campaigns. |
Ad Quality
The term ‘Ad Quality’ refers to Google’s estimate of a user’s experience when they see your Search ads and visit your landing page. This assessment of ad quality is summarized in the Quality Score, which you can analyze in your Google Ads account.
Ad Strength
Ad Strength is a tool that helps you understand the relevance, quality, and diversity of your ad assets. Its ratings can range from ‘Poor’ to ‘Excellent’ and are a measure of how well your ad’s creatives follow Google’s best practices.
Ad Variation
Ad Variations allow you to test different versions of your ads across particular campaigns or your entire account. Using this feature, you can change different assets such as headlines, CTAs, etc., across your ads and compare how each version performs. Once you identify a winning version, you can apply the modified ads to your Google Ads account.
Assets
Assets are individual content pieces that help you create ads with essential business information. They include headlines, descriptions, callouts, etc., that help you create visually appealing and helpful ads that prompt users to choose your business.
Attribution Models
Google uses Attribution Models to decide how each credit is assigned to an ad interaction that leads to a particular conversion. As users often click multiple ads before completing the final conversion, attribution models help you understand what role each touchpoint plays in the entire conversion path.
| 💡Google Ads currently offers two attribution models: last click and data-driven. |
Auction Insights
The Auction Insights report enables you to compare the performance of your ads with other advertisers who are also participating in the same auction. It includes various metrics, such as impression share, overlap rate, etc., and is available for campaigns, ad groups, or search keywords.
Audience Segments
Audience Segments group users based on their interests, behaviors, or past interactions with your business. You can use them to reach users who are most likely to interact with ads across Search, Display, Video, or other campaign types.
Automated Bidding
Automated Bidding uses Google AI to adjust your bids based on the likelihood of your ads getting clicks or conversions. It’s a smart solution that removes the need to adjust bids manually and rely on assumptions for achieving your desired performance goals.
Maximize clicks, Target CPA, etc., are some of the automated bidding strategies that Google currently supports.
Average CPC
Average CPC denotes the average amount you are paying for each click on your ads. It is calculated by dividing your total cost by the number of clicks you get.
It’s one of the most reliable and important Google Ads metrics to understand how much you are spending to attract users to your site.
B
Let’s look at important Google Ads terms that start with the letter ‘B’.
Bidding
Bidding refers to the process of setting an amount that you are willing to pay for an ad to be shown or for a specific action, like a click or a conversion. It is via bids that your ads enter an auction. And Google uses bids (along with other factors such as ad quality, etc.) to determine which ads to show.
Bid Adjustments
With Bid adjustments, you can increase or decrease your bids depending on different conditions, such as the user’s device, time of day, audience, etc. These are applied as percentage changes to your base bid, and enable you to display your ads more or less often depending on their performance.
Bid Simulators
Bid simulators estimate how changing your bidding could also change your results. These simulators analyze past auction data to make predictions about potential shifts in performance. Moreover, they also show how clicks, impressions, and costs might vary once you make changes to your bids.
Broad Match
Broad Match is a keyword match type in Google Ads. It allows your ads to appear for those searches that are related to your keyword, including variations, synonyms, etc. Since it offers the widest reach, it’s the default match type in Google Ads. It provides you with an opportunity to reach a wider audience without requiring significant effort in building keyword lists.
Budget
Budget is the amount of money you set to spend on your Google Ads advertising campaigns. Most campaigns use an average daily budget, which is the average amount for each ad campaign on a per-day basis. But in addition to the average daily budget, you can also set a shared budget and a campaign total budget.
Bumper Ads
Bumper Ads are non-skippable in-stream ads for App campaigns that last up to 6 seconds. They appear before, during, or after a video and can serve on YouTube and Google AdMob inventory.
C
Now we will be going through all the important Google ad components with the letter ‘C’.
Call Assets
Call assets allow advertisers to showcase their phone numbers in their ads. Using these assets, users can easily call your business with one tap on their mobile phones or a click on desktops. This helps you increase engagement of your ads and capture more high-intent leads for your business.
Callouts
Callout assets help you enhance your text ads by adding short text snippets underneath your ads. Using these snippets, you can promote unique offerings, highlight benefits, and draw attention to features that set your business apart.
Callouts are non-clickable and appear in different formats depending on whether you view them from desktops or mobile devices.
Call Campaigns
Call campaigns enable you to display ads that customers can click or tap on to call your business directly. These ads appear only on those mobile devices that are capable of making phone calls.
Campaign
A campaign refers to the top-level structure in any Google Ads account. It includes one or more ad groups that share several different settings, such as budget, location targeting, etc.
Using campaigns, you can easily organize categories of products or services that you offer to users.
Campaign Status
Campaign status indicates the current state of any campaign in your Google Ads account. It helps you see if your campaign is Eligible, Eligible (limited), Paused, Pending, Ended, or Removed.
| Note: You can check your campaign status by opening the Campaigns section in Google Ads. From there, use the filter options in the table to quickly view and sort campaigns by their current status. |
Click
A Click is counted whenever a user interacts with your Google ad by clicking any of its visible assets, such as the headline, phone number, etc. These interactions are counted even if the end user doesn’t reach your website due to any circumstance (eg, website down).
Clicks help you measure and understand how appealing and relevant your ad is to your target audience.
Click-Through Rate (CTR)
Click-through rate is a ratio that shows how often users who see your ad click on it. It is calculated by dividing the number of clicks your ad has by the total number of impressions:
Click ÷ Impressions = CTR
Each ad, listing, and keyword in your Google Ads account will have its own CTR. You can track it whenever you are reviewing the performance of your ads.
Conversion
A conversion is an action by which you can measure how well your ads perform and optimize your bidding strategy. It can include any action, such as clicks, purchases, sign-ups, etc., that you have defined in your account as a conversion.
Conversion Rate (CVR)
The Conversion rate (CVR) metric defines how often interactions with your ads lead to meaningful actions (eg, purchases, sign-ups, etc.).
It is calculated by dividing the total number of conversions by the total number of ad interactions that you can track to a conversion during the same period.
Total conversions ÷ Total ad interactions = CVR
Conversion Tracking
Conversion tracking is the process by which you measure when an interaction leads to a conversion on your site, app, or another platform. It helps you understand which campaigns and ads are driving results for you.
You can set up conversion tracking in several ways, with using Google conversion pixels being the most common method.
Conversion Value
Conversion values refer to the values that you assign to those actions (conversions) that matter to your business. For example, $10 for sign-ups and $50 for calls.
Cost Per Conversion (CPA)
Cost Per Conversion (CPA) tells you how much you are paying on average for each conversion. You can calculate it by dividing your total cost by the total number of conversions.
| Note: CPA only applies to those interactions (clicks, views, etc.) that can be tracked to conversions. |
Cost Per Click (CPC)
Cost per click (CPC) measures how much you pay each time someone clicks your ad. You can calculate it by dividing the total cost by the total number of clicks. CPC helps you understand how efficiently you are attracting visitors. A lower value indicates that you are getting clicks at a more cost-effective rate.
D
Now, let’s go with terms from the letter ‘D’.
Daily Spending Limit
The Daily Spending Limit is the maximum amount you can be billed for any campaign in a single day. It is determined by multiplying your average daily budget by 2 (for most campaigns).
Dayparting
Dayparting is another term for Ad Scheduling, which we have already discussed above.
Display Network
The Google Display Network (GDN) is a collection of more than 2 million websites, apps, and videos where your ads can appear. It reaches over 90% of users globally, giving your ads extensive online visibility.
With the Display Network, you get the flexibility to target ads on the basis of context, interests of users, their behaviors, or even location.
Display URL
A Display URL is the webpage address that appears in your ad. It gives users an idea of where they will land after clicking on your ad. It is different from the Final URL, which is the actual landing page, and much more specific.
Dynamic Remarketing
Dynamic Remarketing offers a smart solution to retarget users who have already visited your website or app. Using it, you can show users personalized ads that feature the exact product or service they viewed earlier, bringing them back to complete the conversion.
It works by pairing your product or service feed with a remarketing tag (in case of website remarketing). The feed includes item details, while the tag (or pixel) tracks which items every visitor views. Google further uses the data from both sources to create tailored ads for each user.
Dynamic Search Ads
Dynamic Search Ads (DSAs) are Search ads that Google generates automatically using the content available on your website. For these ads, Google scans your site, identifies relevant page titles and content, and uses them to create ads that match user searches. As an advertiser, you only need to provide the description. Rest, Google automatically takes care of dynamic headlines, and even selects which landing page for ads from your site while creating DSAs.
E
Now we will move on to important Google Ads terms starting with the letter ‘E’.
Enhanced Conversions
Enhanced conversions supplement your conversion tracking by sending hashed first-party conversion data from your website pixels or imported offline events to Google in a privacy-safe manner. Google then matches this hashed data to real user accounts, which can be helpful for recovering missed conversions (due to browser-based restrictions or other reasons) and improving conversion tracking accuracy.
Exact Match
Exact Match is another keyword match type in Google Ads. It triggers your ad to display for those searches that have the same meaning or intent as your keyword. Of all the three keyword match types (broad, phrase, and exact), the exact match gives you the most precise control over who views your ad.
| Important: Running any campaign exclusively with exact match keywords isn’t a good strategy. Read about it in detail in our blog on ‘Drawbacks of Exact-only Campaigns.’ |
Experiments
Experiments is a feature in Google Ads that allows you to perform A/B testing. Using it, you can split your traffic or budget between the original campaign and experiment, and test if there is any impact of your proposed changes.
Currently, Google allows you to create four main types of Experiments: Ad variations, Custom Experiments for Search and Display, PMax Experiments, and Video Experiments.
F
Let’s quickly discuss all the important Google Ads terms with the letter ‘F’.
Final URL
The Final URL refers to the URL address of that page that users reach whenever they click on your ad. It has to be defined for each ad that you create, and is also known as the landing page.
| 💡As per Google’s policies, your ad’s final URL and display URL must have the same domain. |
First-Party Data
First-party data refers to the information that you collect from customers, website visitors, or app users whenever they interact with your products or services. It is considered first-party, as the data is collected from a website, app, or physical store that you personally own.
Frequency Capping
Frequency capping enables you to control the number of times a single user views your Display or Video ads within a specified time period. It helps you reduce ad fatigue and manage repetition, and keep the reach of your ads balanced.
| Note: Frequency capping works differently for both Display and Video Campaigns. To read more about this in detail, refer to this Google page. |
G
Moving to important Google Ads components with the letter ‘G’.
Google Ads API
The Google Ads API is a programmatic interface that you can use to interact with the Google Ads platform to manage accounts, campaigns, ads, etc. It is designed for advanced users (agencies, developers, etc.) who want to automate tasks such as creating ads, adjusting bids, generating reports, etc., at scale.
Google Ads Editor
Google Ads Editor is a free, downloadable desktop application that allows you to manage your campaigns offline and then upload all changes when you’re ready. It is ideal for large accounts as it supports bulk editing (to campaigns), exporting, importing files, and even multi-account management.
Google Ads Scripts
Google Ads Scripts allow you to make automated changes in your Google Ads account by adding JavaScript code to it. These scripts make it possible for you to automate bids, edit keywords, and perform numerous other tasks without manual intervention.
Google Merchant Center
Google Merchant Center (GMC) is the platform where merchants can upload their product data to market them across Google Shopping and other Google services. It acts as a central hub that securely stores all your product information, such as titles and descriptions, and can be integrated with Google Ads to create Shopping ads, Display ads, and other ad types.
H
Now, it’s time to discuss Google Ad components with the letter ‘H.’
Hotel Campaigns
Using Hotel Campaigns, you can promote your hotel listings across Google Search, Maps, and YouTube. These ads appear in a hotel booking module that can also display your hotel’s key details, such as pictures, amenities, prices, and booking links.
Hotel campaigns are useful for reaching out to travellers actively searching for accommodations and guiding them to your booking page.
I
Now we will be looking at terms starting with the letter ‘I.’
Image Ad
With Image ads, you can promote your business or service across the Google Display Network using static or animated graphics, as well as GIFs. Whenever somebody clicks on these ads, Google takes them to your website.
Impressions
An impression counts whenever your ad appears on Google or across any channel on the Google Network. This metric is important to track, as it helps you understand how often users are viewing your ad and how much visibility your campaign is generating.
Impression Share (IS) denotes the total number of impressions your ads received out of the total impressions they were eligible to receive. It helps you understand if your ads can reach more users with higher bids or a larger budget.
It is calculated using this formula: Impression share = impressions / total eligible impressions
Insights (Page)
The Insights page helps you spot important market trends and understand the performance of your campaigns. It highlights the ongoing and upcoming interest in the products and services that are the most relevant to your business. Using that information, you can make necessary edits to your campaigns to meet the rising demand effectively.
Invalid Clicks
Invalid Clicks refer to those clicks that do not come from real user interest. Rather, these are fraudulent clicks, accidental taps, or even those clicks that are generated by bots. Since these clicks offer no meaningful value to your business, Google detects them automatically and filters them out. And, you are not charged for invalid clicks.
Invalid Traffic
Invalid Traffic includes both clicks and impressions that don’t come from genuine interest. Rather, these are fake, generated by bots, or accidental interactions. Google doesn’t take these into consideration when charging you for your ads.
K
Now, we will look at important Google Ads terms that start with the letter ‘K.’
Keywords
Keywords are phrases or words that describe the products or services you are offering and help Google decide when and where to show your ads. So, whenever someone searches on Google, your ad may or may not appear based on how similar your keywords are to the person’s search terms and which keyword match type you are using.
| Also read: A Beginner’s Guide To Keyword Bidding |
Keyword Match Type
Keyword Match Types are used by Google to determine how closely your keywords must match the search queries of a user, for your ad to enter the auction.
You can choose the broad match type, which will show your ads for many searches related to your keyword. You can choose phrase match, which will allow your ads to appear for those searches that include the meaning of your keyword. Alternatively, you can choose an exact match, which will display your ads on searches with the same meaning as your keyword.
Keyword Planner
Keyword Planner is a Google Ads tool that helps you discover new keyword ideas for your campaigns and understand their potential. It offers several key metrics for all keywords you explore, including average monthly searches, competition, ad impression share, and more.
Overall, it offers you all the resources and data to create strong, relevant keyword lists that allow you to reach the right audience and drive better campaign results.
Keyword Status
Keyword status indicates whether a keyword is active and eligible to display your ads. It tells you if a keyword is running, paused, removed, limited, or not showing due to an issue, helping you understand what needs attention.
| 💡 You can view the keyword status in the “Status” column of your Search Keywords table. |
L
Let’s now quickly look at the important Google Ads terms starting with the letter ‘L’.
Labels
Labels help you organize and categorize different elements (eg, campaigns and ads) in your Google Ads account into meaningful groups. Using them makes it easier to apply filters and check reports specifically for those elements that matter the most to you. Labels also help you compare how your custom categories perform against one another as well as other unlabelled (uncategorized) elements in your account.
Landing Page
A Landing page is the webpage where users reach after they click on your ad. It is the same page that you submit via the Final URL.
| 💡The landing page experience is one of the most important factors for Google to decide a keyword’s Quality Score. |
Language Targeting
Language targeting allows you to choose the language of the users you want to reach. After you select a language, Google will show your ads to those users who use its products, or browse sites or apps on the Display Network in the same language. This entire flow ensures that your ads appear only to those users who understand your language and are more likely to engage with them.
Lead Form Asset
Lead form assets help you collect customer information ( name, email, etc.) directly from your ads without sending users to your website. They allow you to capture high-intent leads while users are searching, browsing, or consuming content across Google surfaces.
| Note: Currently, Google allows you to add lead forms only to Search, Display, PMax, and Video Campaigns. |
Location Asset
Location Assets enable you to incorporate your store details (such as address, distance, etc.) in your ads. They are helpful for guiding users to your business across Search, Display, YouTube, and Maps.
Location assets are helpful in showcasing store details in your ads in both scenarios: when you own the store directly and even when you are selling products or services in those stores that you don’t own yourself.
M
We will now discuss terms with the letter ‘M’.
Manager Accounts (MCC)
An MCC account is a Google Ads account that allows you to view and manage multiple Google Ads accounts from one location. It provides a single login, a unified dashboard, and tools to create, monitor, and optimize campaigns across several client or business accounts.
Manual CPC Bidding
Manual CPC Bidding is a bidding strategy in which you set your own maximum cost-per-click. It gives you direct control over bids for each click, without any automatic adjustments from Google.
It offers great value to all advertisers, as under manual CPC, you must only pay when someone clicks on your ad.
Maximize Clicks
Maximize Clicks is an automated bidding strategy in Google Ads. It configures your bids in a way so that you can get the maximum clicks within your budget. All you need to do is set your budget, and then Google will automatically set your max CPC with the goal of helping you get the maximum clicks with your defined budget.
Maximize Conversions
Maximize Conversions is an automated bidding strategy that leverages Google’s AI to set bids that help you generate the maximum conversions for your defined budget.
If you use it without setting a Target CPA, Google will aim to spend your entire budget to maximize the number of conversions your campaign receives. However, if you use the Maximize conversions bidding strategy with a Target CPA, Google will try to get as many conversions as possible while respecting the Target CPA.
Maximize Conversion Value
Maximize Conversion Value is also an automated bidding strategy in Google Ads. It uses Google AI to ensure that your campaign generates the highest possible total conversion value within your budget.
Under this strategy, Google’s systems evaluate your historical performance and adjust bids at auction time to prioritize higher-value conversions, such as purchases with greater revenue or margin. The goal is to use your budget efficiently while maximizing overall conversion value rather than conversion volume.
Maximum CPC Bid
A Maximum CPC bid refers to the highest amount that you are willing to pay for a click on your ad. It ensures that you never have to pay more than your set limit, while still helping your ad compete for better positions.
N
Now, we will be going through the definition of terms that start with the letter ‘N’.
Negative Keywords
Negative keywords help you block unwanted search terms from triggering your ads. Using them, you can ensure that the targeting of your ads is hyper-focused and that only interested users view your ads, which boosts your RoAS.
| 💡You can create negative keywords at the account and campaign levels. |
Network (Google Network)
The Google Network includes all those destinations and surfaces where your ads can appear, such as Google’s own properties, partner websites, mobile apps, etc. It is further divided into two main subparts: the Search Network and the Display Network.
New Customer Acquisition (NCA)
The New Customer Acquisition (NCA) goal is a customer lifecycle goal that optimizes your campaigns to easily reach and acquire new customers. It prioritizes bidding toward those users who have not purchased or engaged with your business before. Thus, in a way, it helps to expand your customer base.
O
Now, we will cover terms with the letter ‘O.’
Optimization Score
The Optimization score is a metric that reflects how well your account is configured to perform and how closely it aligns with Google Ads’ best practices. This score appears in the range of 0-100%, with 100% highlighting that from Google’s perspective, your account and campaigns are optimized properly and can perform to their fullest potential.
Overdelivery
Overdelivery lets Google spend up to twice your average daily budget on high traffic days. This helps your campaign take advantage of stronger demand and reach more people when user activity is higher.
P
Now, we will look at some Google ad components that start with the letter ‘P’.
Performance Max
Performance Max is a campaign type that lets you reach customers across the entire Google Network from one single campaign. It utilizes Google AI to optimize bidding, budgets, audiences, and creative assets in real-time, which helps drive stronger performance results for your business.
Phrase Match
Phrase match lets your ads appear on searches that contain the meaning of your keyword, including more specific variations. It provides a balance between reach and control by showing ads only when the search intent aligns well with the product or service you offer.
Placement Targeting
Placement targeting lets you choose the specific locations where your ads can appear across YouTube and the Google Display Network. You can target websites, individual pages, apps, videos, or ad units that match your audience’s interests. This gives you more control, helps you reach users where they spend time, and allows you to adjust bids for each placement based on performance.
Portfolio Bid Strategy
A portfolio bid strategy is an AI-powered bidding approach that groups multiple campaigns, ad groups, or keywords under one shared strategy. It uses Google AI to configure bids and help you reach your performance goals with ease.
Q
Let’s quickly look at those terms that start with ‘Q.’
Quality Score
Quality Score helps you understand how your ads perform compared to other advertisers. It appears at the keyword level and ranges from 1 to 10. The score reflects how likely users are to click your ad, how relevant your ad text is to their search, and how helpful your landing page is. It basically highlights where you can improve overall ad quality.
R
Let’s look at terms with the letter ‘R’ now.
Remarketing
Google Ads remarketing allows you to display targeted ads to users who have already visited your website or engaged with your business. To run these ads, you place a small snippet of code called a remarketing tag on your site, which collects data on visitors and helps create remarketing lists. Further, you target those lists with ads to re-engage potential customers as they browse through different channels across the Google Network.
Responsive Display Ads
Responsive Display ads are a type of ad where you upload multiple assets (such as images, headlines, etc.), and Google then automatically generates ad combinations in different formats to fit different placements across the GDN. They are “responsive” in the sense that they can adjust automatically to fit any available ad space. This means that a single responsive ad can appear as a small text ad on some website, and a large image ad on another.
Responsive Search Ads
Responsive search ads are a type of search ad that adapts to deliver more relevant messages for each query. You provide multiple headlines and descriptions, and Google AI tests and selects the best combinations. The AI then delivers the most relevant version for each search, helping your ads match user intent and improve campaign performance.
Return on Ad Spend (RoAS)
ROAS measures how much revenue you earn for every amount you spend on ads. It is calculated by dividing your total conversion value by your total ad spend. A higher ROAS shows that your ads are generating stronger returns for your budget.
ROAS = Total conversion value ÷ Total ad spend
Return on Investment (ROI)
Return on investment (ROI) shows how much profit your ads generate compared to what you spend. It is calculated as (Revenue – Cost of goods sold) ÷ Cost of goods sold.
It helps you see how much your ads are truly helping your business grow.
S
Now, we will dive into the list of Google Ads glossary terms that start with the letter ‘S.’
Search Network
The Search Network is a group of search-related sites where your ads can appear. This includes Google Search results and other Google properties like Maps, Shopping, Images, and also search partner websites. It is a part of the broader Google Network where your ads are eligible to serve.
Search Partners
Search partners are sites in the Search Network that work with Google to show your ads. They extend the reach of your search ads and listings across hundreds of non-Google websites and YouTube. On these partner sites, your ads can appear on search results pages, parked domains, site directories, etc.
Search Terms Report
The search terms report shows the actual queries people used before your ad was shown. It helps you understand which searches triggered your ad and how closely they match your keywords.
Segment
A segment is a category you can apply to your campaign tables and charts to break down performance data. You can segment by device, day of the week, time, and other factors to see how results change across different conditions.
Served Cost
Served cost is the total cost of all the clicks or impressions your campaign received.
Shopping Ads
Shopping Ads (a.k.a Google Shopping ads) are a type of ad that you can use to promote your local or online inventory and send more traffic to your e-commerce website or local store. For these ads, Google uses your Merchant Center product data to match users’ search queries to your ads and showcase relevant products every time.
Smart Bidding
Smart Bidding is a set of automated bid strategies that use Google AI to optimize for conversions or conversion value at each auction time. Strategies like Target CPA, Target ROAS, Maximize Conversions, and Maximize Conversion Value fall under Smart Bidding.
T
Let’s explore Google Ad components with the letter ‘T’.
Target CPM (tCPM)
Target CPM is a bidding method where you set the average amount you’re willing to pay for every thousand impressions. Google then adjusts your bids to help you reach more unique users while keeping your average CPM at or below your target.
Target CPA Bidding
Target CPA bidding is an automated strategy that aims to achieve the maximum number of conversions at the average cost per action you set. It uses your conversion data to avoid clicks that are unlikely to lead to results and adjusts bids in real-time. The system increases bids for users who are more likely to convert and lowers bids for those less likely to take action, helping you reach your goals within your budget.
Text Ad
A text ad is a type of ad composed only of text, such as headlines, descriptions, etc. These are used to promote your product or service across the Google Network, where they can appear across Google search results, search partner sites, and the Display Network.
| 💡Text ads may look different on mobile or display placements and are often clearly labeled as ads so users know they are paid promotions. |
Top Ads
Top ads are ads that appear next to the top organic search results. They generally show above the top organic results, but may appear below them for certain queries. Their placement is dynamic and can change based on the user’s search.
Tracking Template
A tracking template is a Google Ads feature that lets you add extra details to your URL so you can identify where each ad click came from. It helps you track things like which campaign, ad group, keyword, or device triggered the click.
U
Let’s now look at terms that start with the letter ‘U’.
Under Review
“Under review” is a status given to ads that are being checked to ensure they are safe, appropriate, and compliant with Google’s advertising policies.
Unique Reach
Unique Reach measures how many individual people were shown your ads. It goes beyond basic cookie counts to show how many real users saw your ad across different devices, formats, sites, apps, and networks. For example, one person seeing your ad on mobile, desktop, and tablet counts as three impressions but only one unique user.
URL
A URL is the online address of a webpage. It tells the browser where to go, just like an address guides someone to a physical location. In Google Ads, each ad includes a display URL that appears in the ad and a final URL that brings users to the landing page when they click.
V
Finally, let’s look at important Google Ads glossary terms that start with ‘V.’
View-through Conversions
A view-through conversion happens when someone sees your ad but does not interact with it, and later completes a conversion on your site within the set view-through conversion window. This metric helps you understand how your ad impressions influence customer actions, even when no clicks happen.
| Note: View-through conversions only count if the user didn’t click any of your ads before converting. |
View-through Conversion Window
The view-through conversion window is the time period after an impression during which a view-through conversion can be recorded. You choose this window when creating or editing a conversion action.
For example, if you set a 30-day window, any conversion that happens within 30 days of a viewable impression, without a click, will be counted as a view-through conversion.
Conclusion
We hope this Google Ads glossary helped you understand all the key terms you’ll come across while setting up, optimizing, or just reading about Google Ad campaigns. With these basics clear, you can set up, manage, and improve your campaigns with more confidence. Keep it nearby whenever you work on your ads.
Good luck.
FAQs
- Do I need to learn all Google Ads terms before running my first campaign?
No. You can start with the basics and learn more terms as you work on your campaigns. A glossary helps you look up concepts whenever you need them.
- Will knowing these terms improve my campaign results?
Yes. Knowing these terms enables you to read your performance data accurately, resolve Google ad issues more quickly, and make informed decisions based on the performance of your ads. Over time, this leads to stronger results and better use of your budget.
- Does Google add new terms often?
Yes. Google updates features regularly. New campaign types, bidding options, or metrics can introduce new terms over time.
- What should I do if I don’t understand a feature in Google Ads?
You can search for the term in this glossary, refer to specific help articles in the Google Ads support center, or even reach out to Google’s team for assistance.
