Having trouble understanding PPC jargon? Worry no more, we’ve put together an easy to understand glossary of common PPC terminologies.

Ad Group

A collection of keywords paired with specific adverts in a group.

Adwords

PPC marketing platform of Google, with ads showing on Google, AOL, Ask.com, and multiple custom search engines and websites accepting Google Ads.

Average Position

Shows how your ad typically ranks against other ads and determines the order ads appear on the page.

Bid

The maximum amount you are willing to pay for a click.

Broad Match

Matching option used by search engines which pairs your ad against a keyword and related terms.

Click Fraud

Clicks usually from competitors or with the use of automated tools to collect commission and exhaust your budget.

Contextual Advertising

Placement of PPC ads in sites with content relevant to the product/service advertised.

Conversion

Clicks that generate sales or leads.

Conversion Rate

The percentage of clicks that generates leads or sales, computed as number of clicks divided by number of sales/leads.

Cost Per Conversion

Average cost per conversion, computed as total spent divided by total conversions.

CPC

(Cost per Click)

The price you pay every time someone clicks on your advert’s link through to your website.

CTR

(Click Through Rate)

The actual number of clicks on the ad divided by the number of impressions.

Day Parting

Setting up ads to appear at certain hours of the day or days of the week, often to match customer service availability to provide real time answers to enquiries.

Exact Match

A keyword setting where the ad only comes up when the exact keyword is searched upon.

Geographical Targeting

(aka Geo-targeting)

Setting up your ads to appear to a specific audience based on dimensions like country, state, city, area code or connection speed.

Keyword

Refers to a specific word or group of words typed by a web searcher when looking for a specific product or service offered by a website.

Impressions

The number of times your ad appeared, either as a search result or through a content placement.

Landing Page

The website page that opens when the ad is clicked.

Negative Keyword

A keyword that is used to determine when not to show an ad, usually to exclude searches for items/services not offered.

Phrase Match

The keyword will only be matched to searches containing the keyword phrase in  exactly the same order.

Position Preference

A setting which determines the desired position for your ad.

PPC

(Pay Per Click)

Paid advertising model where you pay only when someone clicks on your advert’s link and visits your website.

Quality Score

An indicator of the relevance of your keyword to your ad and landing page. Higher Quality Score means lower required CPC bid.

ROI

(Return on Investment)

Tells you how much benefit you are getting for the money you spent, calculated as revenue minus cost divided by investment cost and multiplied by 100 for percentage.