Google AdWords Glossary: 50+ Terms Described With Examples

So, you are eager to be familiar with almost all the basic terms of Google Ads. Sounds good. And just because of your eagerness, I have tried to cover as many terms as possible inside this “Google Adwords Ultimate Glossary” article. Go through one-by-one and comment below if something is not mentioned here. I will add those missing Google Adwords terms as well.

1. What is Google Ads or Google AdWords?

17 years ago, i.e. on October 23, 2000, a program was developed by the leading Internet Company GOOGLE and given its name Adwords. The Google Adwords has a feature to explore your business info globally using the bidding technique in a panel. Google Adwords is now updated with the name Google Ads, recently in August 2018. Adwords is known as Google Advertising Services, Google Ads, PPC Advertising, Pay-Per-click & Pay Per Click Advertising.

2. What is PPC (Pay Per Click)?

PPC stands for Pay-Per-Click. It defines the amount you are going to pay for each click or actions going to be taken by any user. Google PPC is also known as Google Ads, Google Adwords, Online Advertising and many more. In short, PPC is an online advertising technique followed by the bidding system on keywords.

3. What is the AdWords Express?

Google has created a light tool embedded with all basic required features to run any campaign. It’s easy for those people also, who don’t know “How to setup Google Ads Campaign”. In Google Adwords Express, you only have to add your business info, budget & little more details and then it’s ready to run.

The one major difference between Google AdWords Express and Google Ads is: You can run the Call only Ads on Google even if you don’t have any website wherein Google Ads, it’s mandatory to have a website or App to run your campaign.

In short, it can be said that Google Adwords Express is an Automated Ad Management tool for running a business with limited required features.

The one major difference between Google AdWords Express and Google Ads is: You can run the Call only Ads on Google even if you don’t have any website wherein Google Ads, it’s mandatory to have a website or App to run your campaign. In short, it can be said that Google Adwords Express is an Automated Ad Management tool for running a business with limited required features.

4. What is Google AdWords Editor?

5. What is the AdWords API?

Here the API symbolizes ‘Application Programming Interface’. Google Adwords API is a tool which enables the apps to run on the Google Platforms. Technically, Adwords API is designed for the developers for representing advertisements. Through Adwords API, you can manage the large or complex Google Ads accounts & campaigns. Apart from that, you can use it to build an application that meets your needs.

6. What is Google Ads Scripts?

It’s a very simple program which allows you to automate some task rather manually. The Ads scripts can be used through some coding in JavaScript in an IDE (integrated development environment) based on the browser. The Google Ads Script helps you to create multiple keyword combinations, automate bids, schedule, reporting & much more things. It’s All up to you that how are you going to design a Script. To start automating your work, you can go through the Google Ads Script Page to learn from scratch & implement it on your account to save the time and get accuracy.

7. What is SERP?

The abbreviation of SERP is a Search Engine Result Page. It is the page on any browser where the search engine you are using, is showing all the results related to your query. Generally, the Google SERP consists of 3 Google Ads on top, around 10 organic results below Ads and then again some Google Ads shown in the bottom of the page.

8. What is AdSense?

A platform created by Google to let you earn a handsome amount by showing ads on your website. The ads directly come from Google Ads to your website, blog or videos based on your niche. It’s an easy way to earn by sharing your learning throughout the globe.

You only need to add a few lines of HTML codes to show Ads on your portal. Rest all leave on Google. You can get an idea of the power of AdSense that in 2015, Google has paid around $10B to their publishers. So, Google Adsense is an awesome platform to earn by sharing your experience & knowledge.

9. What is a Search Network?

The platforms or websites where Google shows the result relevant to your searched query. Google SERP is the best example of this. Currently, Google doesn’t have Search Partner Websites but in near future, they might start to add search sites into their Search Partner Networks.

10. What is the Display Network?

Those websites or videos or apps, which are eligible to display text-based or multimedia advertising on their portals and are eligible for AdSense, is known as Display Networks. Google allows individuals or agencies to become their Display Network Partners through Google Adsense. Please note, Gmail is also a Google Display Network Partner.

11. What is Ad Account?

An account on Google Ads to start your campaign building. Go to ads.google.com and then click on Start-Up or Sign In and then follow the further process towards creating your first campaign.

12. What is an Ad MCC Account?

Ads manager accounts, formerly known as Google MCC (My Client Center), is the master account from where you can manage all your client’s accounts. It’s a one place dashboard make easier for you to access anything from anywhere. The benefits of using Ads Manager Account is, you don’t need to ask the password or other confidential to your client.

You only need to have a 10 digit ( 000-000-0000) unique customer ID to send a request for accessing their Google Ads account. That’s all. Now from here, you have all admin access like as an individual account, for e.g. updating campaign, generate reports, update billing and all. One more good thing is you can Set up cross-account conversion tracking from Ads Manager Account.

13. What is Google Ad Campaign?

The settings where you fix the budget, location, device, audience, tracking etc for multiple or single Ad Group, is known as Campaign or Google Ad Campaign. In an account, there can be a multiple or single campaign(s), Ad Group(s) & Ad(s).

14. What is the Campaign Type?

For your different-different requirements, you need to run the campaigns with some specific feature to get a good result. Far so, In Google Ads, there are 5 types of Google Ads Campaigns and those are:

1. Search
2. Display
3. Shopping
4. Video
5. Universal App

From the above 5 Type of Google Ads Campaigns, you can choose anyone or multiple to achieve your goal.

15. What is Google Ads Search Ad Campaign?

As the name explained, it will work only when a person is going to query on Google Search Engine related to our product/ services. The search result will appear on the top 4 positions and bottom 3 positions on SERP (Search Engine Result Page).

You can choose Search Campaign to run if and only, you want to target those audiences who are showing their interest in your business by asking Google, or you want your business should come on top 3 positions of a Google Search Result Page.

On Ad Group Level, you can apply few settings like Basic Location Targeting, Basic bidding and budget settings, Language targeting & common ad extensions to include a phone number, URL, location, or social links.

16. What is Google Ads Display Ad Campaign?

The Campaigns which is eligible to show your ads on any display device such as Desktop, Laptop, Tablet or mobile are known as Display Ad Campaigns. It helps you to reach out to those audiences who are actively using the said devices.

In Google Display Advertising, you target your audience on the basis of their interest in the category. For e.g. you can show your ads on those YouTube videos or websites or Apps that are related to technologies, study, cooking, entertainment, or any niche which are related to your business.

The main purpose of the Google Adwords Display Advertising Campaigns is, to deliver brand information or any business-related information to those users who are visiting a particular website, Apps or Videos.

17. What is Google Ads Shopping Ad Campaign?

A type of campaign we create in such a way that our featured products should be displayed to the audience who are looking for our products or their search falls into our product categories. We can create Shopping Ads for single products & for several products as well. We can start advertising our products right away by following the process given for “Product Shopping ads” & “Google Merchant Center“.

18. What is Google Video Ad Campaign?

A Graphic is more than a thousand words is a good fit for this case. Google Video Ads lets you show your business or product info to the audience who are actively watching videos on YouTube. However, by making some changes in targeting networks, you can set your Video Ads apart from YouTube. Visitors can see your ads on Websites & Apps, too.

Google Video Ads have the following custom features available to optimize your Video Ad Campaigns:

• Bidding and budget settings
• Language targeting
• Location targeting
• Scheduling and ad delivery methods
• Custom operating systems target
• Custom device models targeting & more

19. What is Google Ads Universal App Campaign?

In this campaign, you can insist the user install your app on their device like a Mobile or Tablet. Best ad copy for Universal App Installation Campaigns: you can create a square or vertical video or ads that contain an image in the recommended ration.

You can customize the settings to show your Universal App Installation Ads on anyone or multiple Google Channels from these:

• Google Search Network
• Google Play Store
• YouTube
• Gmail and other apps that are relevant to your App category.

20. What are Ad Groups?

The settings levels inside Campaign, where you add keywords, negative keywords, Ads & Extensions, Specific Audiences, Demographics & more, are known as Google Ads Ad Groups. An Adgroup can have multiple Ad Copies & Keywords.

21. What are Ad Copies?

The headlines and short content you write to show your audience as an advertisement is called Ad Copies. Create more than 1 Ad copies are a good practice to see the best performing Ads & for AB testing.

22. What are Ad Extensions in Google AdWords?

Google Ad Extensions is an add-on to your Search Campaign Ad Copies to add more valuable information.

You can quickly use some most used Ad Extensions inside your PPC Campaign such as

• Call Extension
• Call Out Extension
• Sitelink Extension
• Message Extension and more.

Top 9 Ad Extensions are Listed Below:

1. Callout Extensions
2. Structured Snippet Extensions
3. Call Extensions
4. Message Extensions
5. Location Extensions
6. Affiliate Location Extensions
7. Price Extensions
8. App Extensions
9. Promotion Extensions

23. What is Keywords?

The word or phrase a user types on Google to get information about is called a keyword. The keywords are the bone of Google Ads Search Ad Campaigns. You should use the highly relevant keywords to your business campaign which should be matched with the query searched by anonymous. Google Keyword Planner is the best free tool to find the most relevant keywords with the popularity of your product or services, that can be used while creating your Google Ads.

For e.g., if you are offering “Content Writing Services” then you should use keywords like: “Low-Cost Content Writing Services”, “Best Content Writing Services”, “Content Writing Services for Blog”, “PR Content Writing Services”, “Professional Content Writing Services”, and many more.

You can read more details about Keywords and it’s Match Types here Google Ads – Keywords Match Type & it’s Use like a Pro.

24. What is Keyword Match Types?

There are mainly 3 types of Keyword matched in Google Ads, these are:-

1. Broad Match
2. Phrase Match
3. Exact Match

Whereas, phrase match keywords denoted by “” symbol, Exact Match Keyword symbol is [] and BMM or the Broad Match Modifiers denoted with + symbol.

25. What is Broad Match Keyword?

These keywords fall into broadly search query followed by the targeted terms. For e.g.: If I have added “Adwords service” in our Campaign and someone is searching for “Google Adwords Services”, then our ad will be eligible to show them.

Similarly, if someone is searching for “Google Adwords service” “Adwords Services Agency”, “Adwords Services near me” and other relevant terms, then our ad will be shown to them if we have used some broad match keywords.

26. What is the Exact Match Keyword?

Exact Match means our ads will be visible to those who are typing exactly the same words as our targeted keywords. And the keywords placed inside the symbol []. For e.g., if my targeted keyword is [Google Ads Agency], then it will be visible to those who are exactly searching for the same phrase i.e. Google Ads Agency, else if my ad will not be shown for the queries that are nearby these words.

It won’t be shown for such queries like Google Advertising Agency, Google Adword Agency, Google Ads Company etc.

27. What is the Phrase Match Keyword?

A combination of keywords being typed on Google to search something then it’s called Phrase. In Google Ads Phrase Match we focus on those keywords which are common in terms of multiple queries. Here, we place our targeted keywords inside the symbol “. To restrict the irrelevant broad search, we use Phrase Match keywords in our campaign.

Let me clear you with some examples:
If I have used the keyword “Google Ads Agency”, then our Ads would be visible if the queries contain the same phrase anywhere in words:

• Google Ads Agency in India
• Google Ads Agency Near Me
• Best Google Ads Agency
• Popular Google Ads Agency
• Google Ads Agency for my business
• Google Ads Agency for E-commerce Site
• Google Ads Agency for Boutique

But our Ad will not visible for any of the below queries due to jumbling of keywords:

• Google PPC Ads Agency
• Google Display Ads Agency
• Google Ads Optimization Agency
• Hire Ads Agency for Google campaign

28. What is Broad Match Modifier (BMM)?

It is used to modify some terms to prevent broad reach. We use the + symbol before each word in a phrase. Here, if we are using Broad Match Modifier keywords in our campaign, then only the queries which are containing our targeted words will be eligible to see my ads. At the opposite of Phrase match, BMM allowed the jumbling of words in a query.

Let’s understand it with some simple examples:
Suppose my targeted Keyword in BMM is, +Google +Advertising +Agency,

Then my ads will be visible for these queries:

• Google Advertising Agency in India
• Google Display Advertising Agency
• Indian Advertising Agency for Google Ads
• Agency for Google Advertising

Not Visible for these queries:

• Advertising Agency near me
• Google Advertising Company
• Agency for Google Ads
• E-commerce Advertising Agency

Visible for these queries:

• Google Advertising Agency in India
• Google Display Advertising Agency
• Indian Advertising Agency for Google Ads
• Agency for Google Advertising

Not Visible for these queries:

• Advertising Agency near me
• Google Advertising Company
• Agency for Google Ads
• E-commerce Advertising Agency

29. What is the Negative Keyword in Google Ads?

The irrelevant searched query for which we don’t want to show our ads is called Negatives or Negative Keywords in Google Ads Terms. Make sure, whenever you create a campaign, must add the negatives as many as possible. So, you shouldn’t waste your money on irrelevant ad clicks. Add negatives or create a negative list in a broad match is the best practice.

You can apply Negative Keywords to Ad group Label as well as campaign label through a shared library.

Few basic & most common Negatives are:

• Image
• Wallpaper
• Video
• Article
• Blog
• Car
• Career
• Game
• Job
• Magazine
• Photo
• Picture
• Download

30. What are Low Search Volume Keywords?

The Keywords which are not having a large number of search in the previous history recorded by Google bots are the Low Search Volume Keywords. We should avoid using such keywords as it will wastage of time and effort. Work on those keywords which have at least 100 or more search volumes monthly. The more the best.

31. What is Manual Bidding?

Google Ads have a feature to adjust your biddings on multiple label and target. You can apply your common bidding amount on all campaigns, ad groups or Keywords else you can manually increase or decrease bidding as per your requirement going through different navigation. There is flexibility to bid manually on keywords, device, location, gender and more.

32. What are the Types of Google Ads?

Currently, Google Ads is featured with 5 Ad Formats:

1. Search Ads
2. Display Ads
3. Shopping Ads
4. Video Ads
5. Universal App Ads

You can run the campaign in any individual format or a combination of two or more.

33. What is a Mobile Ad?

In today’s era, huge traffic comes to your portal from mobile device and The Google Ads mobile Ads allow you to show your ads on a mobile screen in between the user interaction with videos, apps, and websites.

34. What is Split Testing or AB Testing?

Hit and trial methods using two or more same parameters to achieve a more fruitful result is called Split Testing. People knew it by AB Testing, Alpha Beta Testing.

You can experiment with 2 or more Ad Copies, Landing Pages, Ad Groups, Keywords, Campaigns, and other levels of your campaigns.

35. What is Google Forwarding Phone Number?

When you run Call Campaigns, you need to use Google Forwarding Phone Numbers so that Google can track all information related to incoming calls done by users. You need to purchase the Google Forwarding Numbers and then, use it inside your campaign. The number gets replaced temporarily on your site, to show it your visitors. You can use this service if you are concerned to track the details.

36. What is Ads Headline?

The main part of Ad design which allow the visitors to click on your ad. Max. The character limit for Headline 1 is 25. If you write more than 25 chars, you will be unable to save your ads.

37. What are Description Lines?

A Text area in ad copy which allows you to show the small descriptions of your business. The Google Ads allow you to add 2 or more than 2 descriptions inside a single ad copy to write.

38. What is the Display URL?

This is a custom URL created by you to make higher ad relevancy. Google allowed you to use two boxes having 15 chars limit for each, to show your product or service category and all.

39. What is the Destination URL?

This is the final URL you provide inside ad copy to let your visitors land on your goal destination by clicking the ad. Your goal destination might be an app, website, calling, shopping or something else.

40. What is Dynamic Keyword Insertions (DKI)?

It’s easy to create ad copies for a limited number of services or products, but how will you create search ad copies where you need to show your ads on thousands of keywords at a time? So here, Dynamic Keyword Insertion works. In this feature, you can create a parameter to fill the keywords in your ad copies searched by a user, automatically. This DKI will help you to maintain Quality Score as well as Ad relevance without doing a lot more efforts.

41. What is a Call to Action (CTA)?

The terms you use in your ads make it appealing and actionable to convert your user from view to click. Some examples of CTA are Hurry Up, Grab Now, Ending Soon, Enroll Today, and Book Now.

42. What is the Landing Page in Google Ads?

A website page where the user will be redirected just after clicking your ads. An appealing landing page must have a piece of short information about your product or services along with a Call To Action and a lead generation or a query form.

43. What is Location Targeting?

Every business may have a particular goal. And the location is one of the key factors to add to your goal. Sometimes, if you want to show your ads in selected places, you can add that one and can exclude the other places in the campaign.

44. What is the Conversion Rate?

Total Conversion divided by total clicks within a certain time period is known as Conversion Rate.

The Conversion Rate formula is Total Conv./ Total Clicks.For e.g. 100(Total Conv.)/ 1000 (Total Clicks) = 0.1 => 0.1*100 = 10%

45. What is the ROI or Return on Investment?

Every businessman expects ROI means ‘Return On Investment’. In short, the output value should be more than the input value. Economically, the profit margin should be greater than the investment.
The simple calculation is:

(Revenue – Cost of goods sold) / Cost of goods sold = ROI(1500-1000)/1500 = 33%

Let’s say you have a product that costs $100 to produce and sells for $200. You sell 6 of these products as a result of advertising them on Google Ads, so your total cost is $600 and your total sale is $1200. Let’s say your Google Ads costs are $200, for a total cost of $800. Your ROI is:   ($1200 – $800) / $800   = $400 / $800   = 50%In this example, you’re earning a 50% return on investment. For every $1 you spend, you get $1.50 back.

46. What is the Daily budget?

Everything has a limit. And in terms of Google Ads, you need to fix a limit on your daily spend for a campaign. It might be in hundreds, thousand and in million often. This daily budget limit assures you to not spend more than that set amount through the Google ads.

47. What is Automatic Placement?

When you are creating display ads, and you are not sure what will be your targeted audience or websites, then you can use the automatic placement to show your ads to the default targeted audience by Google.

48. What is Auto-tagging in Google Advertising?

In Google Ads, Auto-Tagging is an option featured with an enable or disable the function. Auto-tagging allows you to capture most possible data while a person is landing on your page after clicking your ads.

Few parameters of Auto-tagging are:

• Query Match Type
• Ad Group
• Final URL
• Ad Format (text, display, video)
• Placement Domains

By default, Auto-Tagging is disabled, but you can enable it by following these steps: Sign in to your Google Ads account>> Click Settings In the left page menu>> Click Account settings>> Click the Auto-tagging section>> Check the box next to “Tag the URL that people click through from my ad>> Click Save

49. What is Managed Placement?

In the Display Ads, we choose Google Partner networks manually to show our ads, and that is called Managed Placement.

50. What is Negative Placement?

At the time of choosing the Google Partner sites to show your ads, you can mark irrelevant sites as negatives to stop showing your ads there.

51. What is Campaign Optimization in PPC?

To compete with your competitors, we hit and try many techniques to outreach them. And in terms of Google Ads, it’s called Campaign Optimization. You need to work on many parameters to optimize your campaigns, such as CPC, biddings on different levels, split testing, negative list updates, keyword optimization, and more.

52. What is the URL Parameter?

It’s a feature inside Google Ads which allow you to track the following parameters during the time when a person is landing your page after clicking your ad: Campaign, Source, Medium, Content, and keywords you can shuffle the parameter’s order at the time of applying to your campaign.

53. What is Quality Score in PPC?

On the basis of your Ad Copies followed by relevant keywords, Landing Page Experience, Ad relevance & Click Through Rate (CTR), Google Ads give a score between 1-and 10. And that score is known as the “Quality Score.” The higher the quality score you have, the lower the amount you will be charged to show your ads & maximum number of users you will get converted as a lead.

So, if you have a high-quality score on your ads, the chances are higher to be shown above your competitors. You can see your Ads Quality Score by going to Campaign>> Ad Group>> Keywords and then under Status Column.

54. What are the Impressions in Paid Advertising?

The number of times your Ad appears on SERP or Display Networks is known as Impression. Every time an ad is shown, it is counted as one Impression.