There are numerous terms that Google uses on it’s Google Ads platform to makes sense of the account structure and performance. These terms increase in number as Google expands and improves its platform, so it is not strange that from time to time certain terminology will seem foreign especially if you have not spent a good time studying or working on Google Ads. Not all of these are important to everyone, how important certain Google language is based on, if you are like us, a digital marketing agency Prebo Digital navigating through campaigns, or you as the client analyzing your Conversions/results and the cost-effectiveness of your Google Ads spend.
We have looked into some of the most favoured Google Ads terms that show up the most in reports and emails when communicating to clients, and put together a client-friendly Google Ads glossary.
Account Structure Terms
Campaign
- The overarching structure of an account which contains ad-groups and Keywords. ad-groups in a campaign share some similar settings and budgets. A campaign can have more than one ad group.
ad-groups
- Contains one or more ads which target a shared set of Keywords. With ad-groups you can set a Bid, or Price per Click, to be offered when an ad group’s keywords trigger an ad to appear.
Keywords
- Are words or phrases that are used to match your ads with the terms people are searching for. Using high quality, relevant keywords in your advertising campaign can help you reach the customers you want, when you want.
Quality Score
- Quality Score is an estimate of the Quality of your Ads, Keywords, and Landing Pages. Higher quality ads are rewarded by Google with lower prices and better ad positions.The more relevant your ads and landing pages are to the end -user, the more likely it is that you’ll see higher Quality Scores.
Impressions
- Each time your ad appears on Google or the Google Network, it’s counted as one impression. Person begins to type and then clicks anywhere on the page like a search result, ad, or related search. *Not to be confused with an actual click.
Ad Rank
- In Internet marketing is the position of a pay-per-click (PPC) ad on a search engine results page (SERP). 1.0 indicates top position in Google, ranking down to 4.0
Mobile Ad
- A type of ad that can appear on webpages and apps that are exclusively viewed on a mobile device like a cell phone or tablet.
Ad extensions
- Are additional pieces of information about your business such as a phone number or a link to a specific page on your website. You can add a number of these beneath the headline of your Ad.
General Adwords Terms
Call to action
- Is a statement designed to get an immediate response from the person reading or hearing your AD. It Is used in business as part of a marketing strategy to get your target market to respond through action. Call to action (CTA) phrases use action verbs, like: Call, Click here for, Download, Buy Now e.t.c
Click through rate
- Is the percentage of individuals who click on an ad after viewing it. CTR is the number of clicks that your ad receives divided by the number of times your ad is shown.
Clicks / Impressions = CTR
Landing page
- Is the Destination URL, a web page your audience lands or ends up on when clicking through from your Ad.
Optimization
- Is increasing bids by 25% to get more impressions and to have the ad show in higher positions. To make sure that its ad is relevant enough to it, and if not – move that keyword to another ad group with a more relevant ad copy.
Split testing
- Its a marketing strategy where two components of a marketing campaign are tested against each other, side-by side, to analyze which one can deliver the best results. Split testing can be applied to everything from emails, landing pages, blog post titles to Facebook and Google Ads.
Cost related Terms
Bid strategy
- Consisting of automatic and manual bidding strategies, it is your approach to how you plan on spending your money, prioritising on a certain goal
Daily budget
- How much you are willing to spend in a day on a single campaign.
Cost per click (CPC)
- Is the actual price you pay for each click to google each time someone clicks on your ad.
PPC (pay per click)
- Is an internet advertising model used to direct traffic to websites, in which an advertiser pays a website owner or a network of websites when the ad is clicked.
CPM cost per thousand impressions
- The amount charged for one thousand display ad impressions. Commonly used by Facebook.
Billing threshold
- A defined amount of money that will trigger Google to charge an accrued cost when reached. Also known as “Budget Limit”
Ad Creative Terms
Headline
- The Heading Text of an ad
Destination URL
- The address of your webpage people land when they click on one of your ads.
Display URL
- The webpage address that appears with your ad, typically shown in green text. Display URLs give your audience an idea of where they’ll arrive after they click an ad.
Description
- A paragraph of the ad that gives a detailed explanation to the ad.
Google have a more comprehensive Google ads glossary on their help centre covering the multitude of definitions for beginners and professionals. These commonly used terms are essential reading if you are involved in any aspect of your Google ads efforts.
