A few weeks ago I sat in a session at the PPC Summit in Los Angeles. I realized that as the speakers were talking, they were using a lot of industry language that some PPC beginners may not understand. I then got the idea to write up a PPC language reference guide for anyone to use and reference in the future. This post is the first in our PPC Basics Blog Series!
- Adwords Editor – A software application by Google to make account changes without posting live until you’re ready. Adwords editor is free and allows you to add new campaigns/ad groups/keywords or to make bid changes and more.
- Application Program Interface (API) – The Google Adwords program allows developers to use applications that interact directly with the AdWords server. With these applications, advertisers can more efficiently manage large AdWords accounts.
- Assist – When a keyword helps another keyword convert into a sale/lead. Assists currently only occur in Yahoo!.
- Bounce Rate – Percent of people who enter your site but leave without visiting any other page.
- Clicks – A click is registered when someone clicks on your pay-per-click ad.
- Click-Through rate (CTR) – A way of measuring the success of an online advertising campaign. A CTR is determined by dividing the number of users who clicked on an ad by the number of times the ad was delivered (impressions).
- Content network – The content network is available on all three of the major search engines and it allows advertisers to display their ads on other websites, blogs and email programs that have partnered with Google.
- Conversion – When a user/customer completes a sale, a form, submits and email or downloads a whitepaper, etc. A conversion is essentially the same as a lead.
- Cost-per-Click (CPC) – The amount of money an advertiser pays search engines and other Internet publishers for a single click on its advertisement that brings one visitor to its website.
- Cost-per-lead (CPL) – The amount of money an advertiser pays search engines and other internet publishers for a lead generated on its advertisement.
- Cost per thousand impressions (CPM) – Pricing means advertisers pay their maximum bid amount for every one thousand impressions received.
- Google Checkout – Google Checkout is a service that makes buying and selling across the web fast, convenient, and secure. When you utilize Google Checkout an icon will be displayed within your pay-per-click ad and this can build trust with users and increase your click-through rate.
- Impressions – Number of people who see your PPC ad.
- Keyword – a word or phrase that PPC advertisers use to display their ads in the sponsored search results.
- Lead – When a user/customer completes a sale, a form, submits and email or downloads a whitepaper, etc. A lead is typically what every advertiser is trying to increase.
- Longtail Keywords – A specific keyword phrase that consists of 2 or more words. Most advertisers use long-tail keywords to target the customer at or near their buying stage.
- Match types – Match types allow an advertiser to control when their ad shows for a particular search query that may or may not contain a keyword listed in their ad group. There are three different match types, Broad, Phrase and Exact; these occur in Google and MSN. However Yahoo! has Standard and Advanced Match.
- MSN Adcenter Desktop – A software application by MSN to make account changes without posting live until you’re ready.
- My Client Center (MCC) – A powerful tool for handling multiple AdWords accounts. MCC is ideal for large advertisers with more than one account.
- Negative keywords – Advertisers add negative keywords to their account so their ads do not display when a customer types in a search query containing that keyword. Negative keywords help you qualify the clicks to your site more effectively.
- Pay-Per- Click (PPC) – A method of advertising where the advertiser pays for each click he receives on the search engines.
- Placement targeting – Placement targeting lets AdWords advertisers choose individual spots in the Google content network where they’d like to see their ads displayed.
- Quality Score – A ranking system that Google uses based off relevancy to determine bid price.
- Quality Index – A ranking system that Yahoo uses based off relevancy to determine bid price.
- Return on Advertising Spend (ROAS) – Ratio of money gained or lost on an investment relative to the amount of advertising (PPC) money invested.
- Return on Investment (ROI) – Ratio of money gained or lost on an investment relative to the amount of money invested.
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – The method of increasing organic (free) rankings on various search engines.
- Search query – A basic search query is a keyword or a keyword phrase a user enters when searching on any search engine.
- Search Engine Results Page (SERP)- The results a user sees in the search engines after typing in a search query. The results would consist of a series of Organic ads as well as Paid or sponsored search ads.
- Website Optimizer – Website Optimizer allows you to test changes in the website content of your pages in order to determine what will be most effective in getting conversions.
