Paid media glossary, in plain English.

An experiment that shows two versions of an ad, page or email to similar audiences to see which performs better. Results should be checked for statistical significance before declaring a winner.

The score Google uses to decide whether your ad shows and in what position, based on factors such as your bid, ad quality and the context of the search. When Performance Max and Standard Shopping both advertise the same product, Ad Rank decides which one serves.

The middle level of a Meta campaign, between the campaign and the ads, where you set the audience, placements, optimisation goal, schedule and (optionally) the budget.

Google Ads' rating (Poor to Excellent) of how much variety and relevance a responsive search ad's headlines and descriptions offer. It's a guide, not a factor in the ad auction.

Meta's suite of automated campaign features, which use machine learning to handle targeting, placements, budget and creative variations with fewer manual settings.

An AI assistant given tools and a goal that it works through in several steps: checking data, deciding, acting and checking again. In paid media, agents connected to ad platforms can monitor accounts, draft changes and, with approval, make them.

An optional layer for Google Search campaigns that adds broad, keywordless matching, AI-tailored ad text and final URL expansion, steered by brand, location and URL controls.

Meta's ad retrieval system, announced in December 2024. It narrows tens of millions of eligible ads down to a few thousand candidates for each person before ranking and the auction, which is why creative variety now matters so much.

A set of creative assets (headlines, descriptions, images and video), products and audience signals inside a Performance Max campaign, usually built around one theme such as a product category or service.

The rules that decide which ads or channels get credit for a conversion. Different attribution models and windows can credit the same sale very differently.

The period after someone clicks or views an ad in which a conversion can be credited to it: for example, Meta's default of 7-day click or 1-day view.

Information you give an automated campaign, such as customer lists or website visitors, to show it who your ideal customers are. It guides the algorithm rather than restricting it.

A Google Ads setting that adds a click identifier (gclid) to ad links, so Google Analytics and Google Ads can attribute visits and conversions without manual UTM tags.

Total revenue divided by total ad spend across all channels, rather than each platform's own reported ROAS. It avoids double-counting sales that several platforms claim.

A Google Ads setting that stops Performance Max, broad match or AI Max ads from showing on searches for brands you specify, usually your own, so automated campaigns don't take credit for people already looking for you.

The increase in ad recall, awareness or consideration caused by your ads, measured by surveying people who saw them and a control group who didn't. Google, Meta and TikTok offer brand lift studies for eligible campaigns.

Search ads that appear when people search for your company or product name. Useful for protection, but often less incremental than non-brand search because many of those people would find you anyway.

The ROAS at which ad spend exactly cancels out the gross profit on your sales. Calculated as 1 ÷ gross margin: at a 40% margin, break-even ROAS is 2.5x.

A Google Ads keyword match type that shows ads for searches related to your keyword's meaning, not just its exact words. Works best with strong conversion data and negative keywords.

The total cost of winning a new customer, ad spend and, for a full picture, other sales and marketing costs, divided by the number of new customers.

Measuring which ads, keywords and campaigns make the phone ring, using tracking numbers that link each call to the click that led to it, so calls can be counted, qualified and sent back to the ad platforms as conversions.

The percentage of people who click an ad after seeing it: clicks ÷ impressions × 100. Useful for judging ad relevance, but not a measure of business results on its own.

Ads on streaming services and apps watched on smart TVs, bought by audience and region through a demand-side platform. CTV ads usually can't be clicked, so their effect shows up as brand searches and direct visits.

Google's framework that adjusts how tags behave based on a visitor's cookie consent choices, and models some of the conversions lost when people decline tracking.

A valuable action you want people to take after interacting with an ad, such as a purchase, lead, booking or sign-up.

The share of clicks or visits that turn into conversions: conversions ÷ clicks × 100. Improving it lowers your cost per acquisition without paying less per click.

Meta's server-to-server connection for sending conversion events directly from your server or CRM, alongside the browser Pixel, so fewer conversions are lost to ad-blockers and browser restrictions.

What the products you sold cost you, before advertising. Adding it to Google Merchant Center lets Google Ads report gross profit for Shopping and Performance Max sales.

The average cost of each conversion: ad spend ÷ conversions. A good CPA is one below what each conversion is worth to your business.

The average amount paid for each ad click: ad spend ÷ clicks.

The cost of 1,000 ad impressions: (ad spend ÷ impressions) × 1,000. Mostly used to plan reach and compare the cost of awareness channels.

The decline in an ad's performance as the same people see it repeatedly, usually shown by rising costs, falling click-through and lower conversion rates.

A Meta audience built from your own data, customer lists, website or app visitors, or people who engaged with your content, used for retargeting, exclusions or as the seed for a lookalike audience.

Extra attributes you add to products in a Merchant Center feed (up to five) to group them for bidding and reporting: for example by margin, bestseller status, price band or season.

A Google Ads (and Microsoft Advertising) feature that lets you upload hashed customer lists to target, exclude or value existing customers differently.

A Google Ads campaign type that runs visual ads across YouTube, Discover and Gmail to create demand among people who aren't searching yet.

A booking made on a hotel’s, tour operator’s or holiday company’s own website rather than through an online travel agent (OTA) such as Booking.com or Expedia. Direct bookings avoid OTA commission, which is often 15–25%, and give you the customer relationship.

Visits that Google Analytics can't link to a source, such as people typing in your web address. It also includes clicks from untagged emails and apps, so tag your links with UTM parameters before using it to judge brand awareness.

Showing a low headline price, then adding unavoidable fees later in the purchase. Banned in the UK since April 2025: mandatory charges such as booking, resort or cleaning fees must be in the advertised price.

Software that buys ad space automatically across thousands of websites, apps, streaming services and screens in real time: the engine behind programmatic advertising.

A Meta attribution setting that credits conversions within one day of a non-link interaction with an ad, such as a like, save or a video watched for at least five seconds.

A Google Ads feature that sends hashed first-party data, such as email addresses, with conversions to improve matching and recover conversions that browser tracking misses.

A score out of 10 in Meta Events Manager showing how well the customer information you send matches conversions to Meta accounts.

Any advert or communication that invites people to take up a financial product or service. In the UK, the FCA requires financial promotions to be fair, clear and not misleading, and Google and Meta require financial services advertisers to be FCA-authorised and verified before their ads run.

Information customers share with you directly: purchases, sign-ups, CRM records and site behaviour. The most accurate and durable data for targeting and measurement.

Unpaid links in Google's hotel search results that send travellers to book with a hotel or its booking engine. There's no fee and no cost per click.

The average number of times each person sees your ad over a period. Too high and people tire of it; too low and the message may not land.

Google's analytics platform, which measures website and app activity as events and lets you mark the most important ones as key events.

The unique ID Google Ads adds to each ad click (as ?gclid= in the link). Saving it with a lead or call lets you send what happened next back to Google as an offline conversion.

Optimising your content and online presence so AI assistants such as ChatGPT mention, cite and recommend your brand in their answers.

An experiment that runs ads in some areas and not others, then compares sales or sign-ups to see what the ads really added. Free tools such as Google's GeoX and Meta's GeoLift help plan and read them.

The badge Google shows on Local Services Ads once it has checked a business's registration, insurance and any licences its trade needs. It replaced the older Google Guaranteed and Google Screened badges.

An experiment where a control group is deliberately not shown ads, so its results can be compared with people who were: the most direct way to measure incrementality.

Revenue from incremental conversions divided by ad spend. Usually lower than platform-reported ROAS, but a truer measure of what advertising earns.

The extra results your ads actually cause, the sales or leads that wouldn't have happened without them, as opposed to every conversion platforms take credit for.

GA4's name for an event you mark as important to your business, such as a purchase or lead. Key events were previously called conversions in GA4.

The period after a campaign launches, or after a significant change, when an ad platform is still exploring how best to deliver it. Meta suggests around 50 optimisation events per ad set per week to get through it.

An experiment that compares a group who can see your ads with a similar group who can't, to measure the sales or leads the ads genuinely caused. Examples include Meta Conversion Lift, Google lift studies and geo tests.

Google ads for local service businesses, such as plumbers and electricians, that appear at the top of search results. You pay per lead rather than per click, and ads show a badge once Google has checked the business, including licences where needed, registration and insurance.

An audience of new people who resemble a source list, such as your best customers. Available on Meta, TikTok and other platforms.

The total value a customer brings over their relationship with you: ideally measured in gross profit, not just revenue.

Customer lifetime value divided by customer acquisition cost. A widely used rule of thumb is 3:1, though the right target depends on cash flow and payback time.

What an agency, freelancer or consultant charges to plan, run and report on your ad campaigns: separate from the ad spend paid to the platforms. Common models are a percentage of ad spend, a fixed retainer or a day rate.

A statistical model of sales over time that estimates how much each marketing channel contributed, after allowing for seasonality, pricing and underlying demand, without tracking individuals. Used to decide how to split budget across channels, and best calibrated with lift tests.

An open standard for connecting AI assistants such as Claude, ChatGPT and Gemini to other software. Ad platforms including Meta, Google and TikTok publish MCP servers that let AI read account data and, where allowed, edit campaigns.

Total revenue divided by total marketing spend across every channel. A simple, blended view of efficiency that doesn't depend on any one platform's attribution.

Google's platform where retailers upload and manage product data. It powers Shopping ads, Performance Max product ads and free product listings on Google.

A word or phrase you add to Google Ads so your ads don't show for searches containing it: the main way to cut wasted spend on irrelevant searches.

A Google Ads setting that bids more for new customers than existing ones, or only for new customers, using your customer lists, conversion data or Google's own detection.

Sending results that happen away from your website, qualified leads, deals closed in a CRM, phone or in-store sales, back to the ad platforms, so they optimise toward real outcomes rather than form-fills.

Meta ads that run a creator's post from the creator's own account, with the brand paying to reach people beyond the creator's followers. Formerly called branded content ads.

A Google Ads campaign type that uses one budget and automated bidding to show ads across Search, Shopping, YouTube, Display, Discover, Gmail and Maps.

A snippet of code on your website that sends visitor actions, such as page views and purchases, to an ad platform like Meta or TikTok for measurement and targeting.

Gross profit from ads divided by ad spend. Unlike ROAS, it accounts for product costs, so it shows whether advertising is actually making money.

A file of your product details, titles, prices, availability, images, GTINs and attributes, that powers Shopping ads, catalogue ads and Performance Max. On Shopping, the feed effectively is your targeting.

Buying ad space automatically through a demand-side platform, across display, video, connected TV, audio and digital out-of-home, targeted to the right audience in real time.

An enquiry your sales team has confirmed is a genuine prospect, the right size, need and location, rather than spam or a poor fit. Bidding to qualified leads instead of every form fill is how lead generation campaigns avoid chasing junk.

Google Ads' 1–10 rating of how relevant your keywords, ads and landing pages are to a search. Higher relevance tends to mean better positions at lower cost.

The standard Google and Microsoft search ad format: you write up to 15 headlines (30 characters) and 4 descriptions (90 characters), and the platform tests combinations to find what works best for each search.

Showing ads to people who have already interacted with you, such as website visitors or past customers. Often looks efficient but can be less incremental than it appears.

Revenue generated from ads divided by ad spend. A 4x ROAS means £4 of revenue for every £1 spent, but whether that's profitable depends on your margins.

The part of a vertical ad (Reels, Stories, TikTok) that the app's own buttons, captions and labels don't cover: where text, logos and key product shots should sit.

How much a campaign increases searches for your brand or products, compared with a control group who didn't see the ads. Google offers Search Lift studies for YouTube and Demand Gen campaigns.

A Google Ads report showing the actual searches that triggered your ads, used to find wasted spend and add negative keywords.

Sending tracking data from your own server rather than only from the visitor's browser, making measurement more resilient to ad-blockers and browser restrictions.

Google Ads' automated bid strategies, such as Target CPA and Target ROAS, that set bids for each auction using machine learning and your conversion data.

TikTok's AI-driven campaign type, where you choose which parts, targeting, budget, placements and creative, to automate.

A TikTok ad format that promotes organic posts, from your own account or from creators who give permission, as ads, keeping their likes, comments and profile link.

Rules requiring solicitors who advertise certain services, such as residential conveyancing and uncontested probate, to publish prices and service information on their website.

A Google Ads campaign type that shows product ads from your Merchant Center feed, mainly on Search and the Shopping tab, with hands-on control over product groups, bids and negative keywords.

A Smart Bidding strategy that aims to get as many conversions as possible at or below the cost per acquisition you set.

A Smart Bidding strategy that aims to maximise conversion value at or above the return on ad spend you set. Best set from your margins, not a benchmark.

Tags added to the end of a link, source, medium and campaign, that tell Google Analytics where a visit came from.

A conversion that happens after someone sees an ad but doesn't click it, within a set window such as one day.