AdWords and Search Advertising Terms

Account: A Google AdWords account provides the Web space in which you
design and operate a campaign. Opening an account costs nothing; activating
your account costs five dollars. Account holders have access to Google’s keyword
research and traffic estimation tools, even before activation. Therefore,
you can conceive and budget a complete ad campaign before spending a dime.
Activation: To activate a Google AdWords account, you select a payment
method and currency and provide billing details. After you activate an account,
you’re ready to launch a campaign.
Activation fee: A five-dollar fee is charged when AdWords advertisers
first activate their accounts. An additional five-dollar fee is imposed every
third time you reactivate a campaign after Google has stopped it due to
underperformance.
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Actual cost-per-click: As compared to cost-per-click, the actual cost-per-click
is the billable amount charged by Google when a searcher clicks your ad. This
amount might be the same as or lower than your maximum bid for your ad
placement, but it’s never higher.
Ad Group: The main subdivision of an ad Campaign, an Ad Group consists
of one or more ads associated with one or more keywords. Keywords define
the Ad Group. New Ad Groups in a Campaign are associated with different
keywords, though they might have the same ads.
AdRank: Advertisements are placed in sequence based on AdRank, with the
top-ranked ad at the top of the column. AdRank is measured as a combination
of bid value (maximum CPC set by the advertiser) and clickthrough rate (CTR).
Successful ads with high CTRs are sometimes ranked and placed higher than
less successful ads with higher CPC bids. The measurement, ranking, and
placement of ads are automated.
AdWords column: The right-hand stack of AdWords advertisements on a
Google search results page. Ads are placed in that column according to
AdRank, which is a calculation of maximum CPC and clickthrough rate.
Affiliate (aff): Affiliate marketers direct their clickthroughs to third-party
destinations that sell products or services. The affiliate receives a commission
when the clickthrough results in a sale. Google’s guidelines require advertisers
to indicate in their ad copy if they’re engaging in affiliate marketing. To save
space, the aff abbreviation is often used.
Broad match: The default keyword-matching setting in Google AdWords. Broad
match displays your ad on search results pages that match your keywords and
a large peripheral universe of keywords that Google determines is relevant —
so your ads appear on the results pages of keywords you might not have
directly chosen. Broad match is an easy way to spread your ad out to keywords
that haven’t occurred to you. In choosing this option, however, you’re
relying on Google’s relevancy algorithm to choose keywords related to your
selections. (See also keyword-matching options, expanded match, exact match,
and negative match.)
Call to action: Google recommends using short phrases that command the
viewer to do something. These calls to action encourage clickthroughs with
phrases such as “Learn more,” or “Download now for free.” Some marketers
dispute the effectiveness of calls to action. A good way to test the value of
calls to action is to use multiple ads in an ad group, some with calls to action
and others without.
Campaign: The largest subdivision of a Google AdWords account, a Campaign
holds one or more Ad Groups. Campaigns can be paused, resumed, budgeted,
networked, and scheduled — these settings affect all Ad Groups simultaneously
and equally. Ad Groups have their own settings for finer control.
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Clickthrough: Clickthroughs occur when a viewer clicks your AdWords ad.
Clicking through generates a charge to your account.
Clickthrough rate (CTR): The CTR is a calculation of an ad’s clickthroughs
divided by its impressions (the number of times it’s displayed). CTR measures
the effectiveness of an ad.
Content network: Non-search-engine sites that publish Google AdWords
make up the Google content network. These sites participate in the AdSense
or premium AdSense programs. AdWords advertisers decide whether or not
they want to release their ads to this expanded network.
Content-targeted ads: AdWords ads targeted to the information pages of the
content network and distributed through Google’s AdSense program.
Control Center: The Control Center is the entire suite of ad-creation and
campaign-reporting tools located in Google AdWords.
Conversion: Conversion occurs when a site visitor performs an action
planned and desired by the Webmaster. In a business context, conversion
usually involves a capture of information (such as registering at the site
or joining a mailing list) or a transaction (such as buying a product).
In the context of AdWords, conversion is the final step of a successful
clickthrough.
Conversion rate: A calculation determined by dividing a site’s conversions by
AdWords clickthroughs. Conversion rate measures the success of an AdWords
ad and, ultimately, the return on investment (ROI) of the campaign.
Conversion tracking: A tool in the AdWords Control Center that measures
conversions resulting from ad clickthroughs.
Cost-per-click (CPC): The maximum or billable cost of a viewer clicking an
AdWords ad. In Google’s system, unlike competing systems (at the time of
this writing), actual CPC is often lower than the maximum CPC established
by the advertiser. Cost-per-click is assigned to an entire Ad Group, or to individual
keywords of that Ad Group, or both. You can think of your maximum
CPC as a bid for placement in the AdWords column.
Cost-per-thousand (CPM): A measurement of the cost for each thousand
impressions (displays) of an ad. CPM is not used in Google AdWords, which
employs a cost-per-click (CPC) system. However, some other search engines
sell advertising on a CPM basis.
Creative: The text copy of an AdWords ad. Google is reducing its use of
this word to describe ad text, but it remains in widespread use in forums
and articles about the AdWords program.
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Daily budget: Set at the Campaign level, the daily budget establishes a ceiling
on Campaign expenses. Google recommends a daily Campaign budget based
on projected impression frequency and clickthrough rate. The actual ceiling
is set by the advertiser.
Destination URL: Not necessarily visible in the ad, the destination URL points
to the ad’s landing page.
Display URL: Visible in the ad, the display URL doesn’t necessarily match
the destination URL. The main purpose of a different display URL is to
reduce the destination URL to a size that fits in the small ad box. The
shortened URL makes it easy for viewers to see the ad’s target site before
clicking.
Distribution preference: This setting allows the advertiser to release or not
release a Campaign’s ads to Google’s content networks.
Exact match: One of Google’s keyword-matching options, exact match forces
Google to display your ads only on search results pages that exactly match
your selected keyword or key phrase. Exact match may be selected for individual
keywords in an Ad Group. (See also keyword-matching options, broad
match, expanded match, and negative match.)
Expanded match: Expanded matches are variations of your selected keywords
(such as plurals, synonyms, and misspellings) that Google deems relevant and
helpful to your ad’s success. Expanded matching is included in the broad
match option. (See also keyword-matching options, broad match, exact match,
and negative match.)
Geo-targeting: Google enables advertisers to target ads by geographic region,
according to a preset list of countries, American states, and certain American
metropolitan areas. Geo-targeting works by identifying the searcher’s IP
(Internet Protocol) address, thereby locating the searcher geographically.
Geo-targeted ads are displayed only to searchers viewing Google in the targeted
area.
Google advertising network: The total reach of Google AdWords, consisting
of Google.com, Google Groups, the Google Directory, and Froogle, plus its
search partners (AOL Search, Netscape, AskJeeves, and others), and the
Google content network of AdSense sites.
Impression: A single ad displayed on a user’s screen.
Keyword: The specific word combinations and phrases users search on and
advertisers bid on.
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Keyword Suggestion Tool: This interactive tool is Google’s in-house keyword
generator for AdWords users. The Keyword Suggestion Tool spits out long
lists of words and phrases related to a selected keyword.
Keyword-matching options: Google offers four keyword-matching options
for expanding or restricting how your ads match keyword searches. These
options are broad, expanded, exact, and negative. Refining the keywordmatching
options can turn around a faltering campaign.
Landing page: A Web page represented by the destination URL. The landing
page usually seeks to convert visitors to customers.
Negative match: This option prohibits an ad being displayed once a negative
term has been applied. (See also keyword-matching options, broad match, exact
match, and expanded match.)
Optimization: In the context of Google AdWords, optimization has nothing to
do with Web site design (see Chapter 4). AdWords optimization is about the
distribution of multiple ads in an Ad Group. Google tracks the relative success
of ads and manages their rotation accordingly. This optimization can be turned
off by advertisers who prefer a random rotation of ads in an Ad Group.
Overdelivery: Overdelivery refers to Google’s optimization allowance. In the
Terms of Service agreement, Google is permitted to exceed your daily budget
by 20 percent but must reconcile this overdelivery of ad impressions (and
resulting clickthroughs) every month. Your monthly budget, which is determined
by multiplying the daily budget 30 or 31 times, can’t be overcharged.
Furthermore, if Google overshoots the daily budget by more than 20 percent,
it issues an overdelivery credit for the additional clickthroughs.
Paid placement: Search result listings paid by sponsors, these listings might
be indistinguishable from index results. Some search engines accept paid
placement as a form of advertising, but Google does not.
Pay-per-click (PPC): Pay-per-click is another term for cost-per-click (CPC).
Phrase match: One of Google’s four keyword-matching options, phrase match
forces Google to restrict the placement of your ad to search results pages that
exactly match your key phrase, including matching the word order. Other
words might be included in the user’s keyword string, but the exact phrase
specified in your phrase match must be present.
Return on investment (ROI): A general business and advertising term,
return on investment measures the profitability of a campaign. Simplified,
ROI calculates a formula by which expenses are subtracted from sales to
measure revenue gain. As an AdWords measurement, ROI is about conversions
exceeding clickthrough expenses.
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Rotation: Rotation is the formula by which multiple ads in an Ad Group are
selected for display. In Google, rotation may be random or optimized.
Start and end dates: Google enables AdWords advertisers to determine in
advance the start and end dates of a Campaign.
Traffic Estimator: The Traffic Estimator is an indispensable tool in the
AdWords Control Center that enables advertisers to gauge the clickthrough
rates of individual keywords.
AdSense Terms
Ad layout: An ad configuration for AdSense publishers. Google offers ten ad
layouts; you can choose horizontal or vertical layouts containing one, two,
four, or five ads. AdSense publishers cannot alter the configuration of ads
within the bars and banners that constitute ad layouts, but they may change
the colors in which text and borders are displayed.
Ad unit: One set of AdSense ads displayed in an ad layout.
AdSense code: The snippet of HTML and javascript that Webmasters paste
into their pages to begin serving AdWords ads.
Alternate ads: AdSense publishers may specify non-Google ad sources for the
space occupied by an ad unit, in preparation for those occasional times when
Google can’t deliver ads. Once specified, the alternate ad source is bundled
into the AdSense code, and the replacement of Google ads by alternate ads
occurs automatically if Google has no relevant ads to serve.
Banner: One type of ad layout. Three banners are available; one vertical and
the other two horizontal. Each banner contains multiple ads.
Button: A type of ad layout that holds a single ad.
Clickthrough rate (CTR): Calculated by dividing the number of clicks by the
number of displays (impressions). AdWords advertisers are charged for clicks
through their ads. AdSense publishers are paid for clicks through the ads they
host, sharing the revenue with Google.
Color palette: Individually adjusted colors for each of five elements in AdWords
ads: headline text, ad text, URL text, border, and background. Google supplies
several preset color palettes.
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Content-targeted advertising: The generic name for Google’s distribution
of AdWords ads to AdSense sites. The AdSense network is also known as
the content network. The word content is important in this context because
Google uses its analysis of an AdSense page’s content to determine which
ads should be served on it.
Cost-per-click (CPC): A monetary amount charged by Google, and paid by the
advertiser, when a user clicks through an ad. Advertisers bid for placement by
offering a maximum CPC per keyword; Google charges the minimum amount
beneath that amount (called the actual CPC) required to hold the best possible
page position for the advertiser. AdSense publishers are paid an undisclosed
percentage of the actual CPC.
Cybersquatting: The practice of unfairly capitalizing on ownership of a domain
name that infringes a trademark or copyright. Google doesn’t allow AdSense
publication on a cybersquatting Web page.
Destination URL: An underlying URL in an AdWords ad that specifies the destination
of clickthroughs. The destination URL is not necessarily the same as
the URL displayed on the ad (called the display URL). When you set up a URL
filter, the destination URL is blocked.
Distribution preference: Set by AdWords advertisers to include, or exclude,
the content network of AdSense sites. AdSense publishers run AdWords ads
only when those advertisers opt to have their ads appear on content pages.
Double serving: The practice of placing AdSense code in more than one
location on a single page. Doing so violates Google’s terms of service and
is grounds for a warning and possibly expulsion from AdSense.
Impressions: Ad displays. AdSense measures and reports the impressions of
all your ad units.
Inline rectangle: A type of ad layout meant to be placed within bodies of
text, not in sidebars. Google offers four configurations of inline rectangle.
Leaderboard: A type of ad layout featuring four AdWords ads arranged horizontally.
Leaderboards are designed to be placed at the top of Web pages but
can be placed anywhere on the page.
Public service ad (PSA): Used to fill an AdWords ad before an AdSense site is
crawled for the first time or if topical relevancy can’t be established for some
reason.
Publisher: An AdSense account holder and operator of a content site.
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Skyscraper: A vertical arrangement of ads. Two skyscrapers are available,
one holds four ads and one holds five.
Towers: All the vertical ad layouts: two skyscrapers and one vertical banner.
Towers are usually placed on AdSense pages in the sidebars.
Typosquatting: The practice of purchasing and capitalizing on a misspelling
of a prominent domain name, such as googal.com.
URL filter: A means of blocking specific AdWords ads from displaying on
an AdSense site. This feature is normally used to prevent competitors from
advertising on your site, taking away your visitors. Webmasters need to know
the destination URL of any ad to block it.