Glossary
The words behind paid acquisition.
Plain definitions of the terms used in advertising, measurement and AI: what each one is, why it matters for leads and sales, and how it is measured.
Strategy and goals16 terms
- Paid acquisitionWinning new customers through paid advertising, such as search, social and shopping ads, rather than through unpaid channels.
- Unit economicsThe revenue and costs of a single customer or order, used to judge whether growth makes money.
- Customer acquisition cost (CAC)What it costs to win one new customer: total sales and marketing spend in a period divided by the new customers won in that period.
- Customer lifetime value (LTV)The value a customer brings over the whole relationship, usually counted as the gross margin from all their purchases or payments.
- LTV to CAC ratioLifetime value divided by acquisition cost: how many times a customer repays what it cost to win them.
- Payback periodHow long it takes for a new customer's margin to repay what it cost to win them.
- Funnel stagesThe steps a buyer passes through on the way to a purchase, often described as awareness, consideration and conversion.
- North star metricThe one measure a team agrees most closely reflects the value it creates, used to settle trade-offs between other numbers.
- Budget allocationHow an advertising budget is split across channels, campaigns, audiences and ads.
- Diminishing returnsThe point where each extra dollar of ad spend brings less than the dollar before it.
- Efficiency vs growthThe trade-off between spending to keep cost per result low and spending to win more customers at a higher cost.
- Advertising strategyThe plan for who to reach, what to say to them, where to say it and how much to spend.
- Industry researchThe study of the market a business sells into, done before the ads are planned.
- Competitor researchThe study of who else speaks to your buyers, and what they tell them.
- Keyword researchFinding the searches buyers type when they look for what you sell, and sorting them by intent.
- Spending capA hard limit on how much an ad account or campaign can spend in a period.
Paid media basics18 terms
- Performance marketingAdvertising that is planned, bought and judged by measurable results, such as leads, sales or sign-ups.
- Paid searchAds shown next to search results when someone searches for a related term.
- Paid socialAds shown in social feeds and apps, such as Meta's Facebook and Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok and YouTube.
- Ad auctionThe automatic process that decides which ads appear for each search or page view, and what each advertiser pays.
- Cost per thousand impressions (CPM)What it costs to show an ad a thousand times.
- Cost per click (CPC)What an advertiser pays, on average, for one click on an ad.
- Click-through rate (CTR)The share of people who saw an ad and clicked on it.
- ConversionAn action that counts as a result for the advertiser, such as a form fill, a booked call, a sign-up or a purchase.
- Conversion rateThe share of visitors or clicks that go on to complete a conversion.
- Cost per acquisition (CPA)Ad spend divided by the number of conversions it produced, where a conversion is the action the campaign is set up to drive.
- ReachThe number of different people who saw an ad at least once in a period.
- FrequencyThe average number of times each person saw an ad in a period.
- Impression shareThe share of the impressions an ad was eligible for that it actually received.
- Ad rankGoogle's score that decides whether a search ad shows and in what position.
- Quality ScoreGoogle's rating of how relevant a keyword's ads and landing page are, compared with other advertisers.
- Landing pageThe page a person arrives on after clicking an ad.
- Search intentWhat a person is trying to do when they type a search: learn, compare, or buy.
- Walled gardenAn ad platform that keeps its data and measurement inside its own system, such as Google, Meta or LinkedIn.
Lead generation14 terms
- LeadA person or company who has shown interest and shared contact details, for example by filling in a form or booking a call.
- Cost per lead (CPL)Ad spend divided by the number of leads it produced.
- Cost per qualified leadAd spend divided by the number of leads that met the qualification bar, such as marketing or sales qualified.
- Lead qualityHow likely a lead is to become a customer, judged by fit with the target buyer and by intent.
- Lead scoringGiving each lead a score for how well it fits the target buyer and how ready it seems, so sales can act on the strongest leads before the rest.
- Marketing qualified lead (MQL)A lead that meets the marketing team's bar for fit and interest, and is ready to be passed to sales.
- Sales qualified lead (SQL)A lead that the sales team has reviewed and accepted as worth pursuing.
- Sales pipelineThe set of open sales opportunities, organized by stage, with their expected value.
- Sales cycleThe time from a buyer's initial contact to a signed deal.
- Buying committeeThe group of people inside a company who take part in a purchase decision.
- Ideal customer profile (ICP)A description of the companies most likely to buy and succeed with a product, by industry, size, location and need.
- Account-based marketing (ABM)Targeting a chosen list of companies with advertising and outreach tailored to them, instead of casting a wide net.
- Offline conversion importSending results that happen outside the website, such as qualified leads or closed deals, back to the ad platform.
- CRM integrationConnecting the advertising tools to the customer relationship management system where leads and deals are tracked.
E-commerce12 terms
- Product feedA structured file of a store's products, with titles, descriptions, prices, images and other details, used by ad platforms to build product ads.
- Catalog adsAds built automatically from a store's product catalog, showing each person products they are likely to want.
- Return on ad spend (ROAS)Revenue attributed to ads divided by what was spent on them.
- Break-even ROASThe return on ad spend at which a sale exactly covers its product, delivery and ad costs.
- Profit on ad spend (POAS)The gross profit from ad-driven sales divided by ad spend.
- Marketing efficiency ratio (MER)Total revenue divided by total marketing spend, across all channels; also called blended ROAS.
- Average order value (AOV)The average amount spent per order.
- Contribution marginWhat is left from a sale after the costs that come with it, such as product cost, delivery, payment fees and often the ad spend.
- New customer acquisitionWinning buyers who have never ordered before, measured apart from sales to customers the store already has.
- Repeat purchase rateThe share of customers who buy again within a period.
- Product catalogThe full set of products a store sells, with the data that describes each one.
- Cart abandonmentWhen a shopper adds products to the cart and leaves without buying.
Audiences9 terms
- Audience researchDefining who buys, who decides, and what each of them needs to hear before acting.
- First-party dataData a business collects directly from its own customers and visitors, such as emails, purchases, leads and site behaviour.
- Customer list audiencesAudiences built by uploading a list of customer contact details, called Customer Match on Google, Custom Audiences on Meta and Matched Audiences on LinkedIn.
- Lookalike audienceAn audience of people who resemble a source list, such as existing customers, found by the ad platform.
- RetargetingShowing ads to people who have already visited a site, used an app or engaged with the brand.
- Broad targetingRunning ads with few or no audience restrictions and letting the platform's system find the buyers.
- Audience signalsHints about the intended audience given to an automated campaign, such as customer lists or interests, which the platform may go beyond.
- Audience exclusionsGroups of people an advertiser keeps out of a campaign, such as existing customers, employees or recent converters.
- Firmographic targetingTargeting ads by company characteristics, such as industry, company size and location, and by job title, function and seniority.
Creative and testing18 terms
- Ad creative generationThe writing and design of the ads themselves.
- Landing page generationCreating a landing page for each ad, so the page continues the promise the ad made.
- Creative briefA short document that tells the people or systems making an ad who it is for, what it must say and why.
- Ad angleThe argument an ad leads with, such as saving time, avoiding a risk or a specific result for a specific role.
- HookThe opening of an ad, the line, image or seconds of video that make someone stop scrolling.
- User-generated content (UGC)Ads that look and sound like content made by real customers or creators, often filmed on a phone.
- Ad variantOne version of an ad that differs from another in a deliberate way, such as its angle, hook, image or offer.
- Dynamic creativeLetting the ad platform combine supplied images, videos, headlines and texts into ads, and show the combinations it expects to work.
- Creative fatigueThe drop in an ad's results as the same people see it too often.
- Creative iteration velocityHow quickly a team makes, tests and replaces ad ideas, usually counted as new ads tested per week.
- Creative testingRunning different ads against each other to learn which ideas bring results.
- A/B testA test that shows two versions of something, such as an ad or a page, to similar groups at random and compares the results.
- Multivariate testA test that changes several elements at once, such as headline, image and offer, to see which combination works.
- Sample sizeHow many people, clicks or conversions a test needs before its result can be trusted.
- Statistical significanceA check on whether a difference in a test is larger than chance alone would often produce.
- PeekingChecking a running test repeatedly and stopping it as soon as the result looks significant.
- Hit rateThe share of new ads tested that become winners, by whatever rule a team uses to call a winner.
- Winner's curseThe tendency of the winning result in a test to look bigger than its true effect.
Bidding and optimization10 terms
- Bid strategyThe rule an advertiser gives the platform for how to bid in each auction.
- Smart biddingGoogle's automated bid strategies that use machine learning to set a bid for each auction toward conversions or conversion value.
- Target CPAAn automated bid strategy that tries to get as many conversions as possible at or near a set average cost per conversion.
- Target ROASAn automated bid strategy that tries to get as much conversion value as possible at or near a set return on ad spend.
- Maximize conversionsAn automated bid strategy that tries to get as many conversions as possible within the budget.
- Value-based biddingBidding for the value of conversions rather than their number, so the platform prefers the results worth more.
- Optimization eventThe action an ad platform is told to find more of, such as a click, a lead, a qualified lead or a purchase.
- Learning phaseThe period after a campaign or ad set is created or significantly changed, while the platform's delivery system learns who to show it to.
- Budget pacingHow an ad budget is spent across a day, week or month.
- Channel optimizationThe ongoing decision of where the next dollar goes: which channel, which audience, which ad.
Measurement19 terms
- Conversion trackingRecording each lead, sale or other result and tying it back to the ad that preceded it.
- GA4 key eventsEvents in Google Analytics 4 that a business marks as important, such as a lead or a purchase; Google renamed them from "conversions".
- UTM parametersTags added to the end of a link (utm_source, utm_medium, utm_campaign and others) that tell analytics where a visit came from.
- Click IDAn identifying code an ad platform adds to the landing page link when someone clicks an ad, such as Google's gclid, Meta's fbclid or Microsoft's msclkid.
- Enhanced conversionsA Google Ads feature that sends hashed customer details, such as an email address, with each conversion to improve matching.
- Consent ModeA Google setting that makes its tags respect each visitor's cookie choices and adjust what they collect.
- Meta Conversions API (CAPI)A way to send conversion events, such as a lead or a purchase, from a company's own server straight to Meta, instead of through the browser alone.
- Server-side taggingCollecting tracking data on a server the company controls, then passing it on to analytics and ad platforms, instead of loading every tag in the visitor's browser.
- Signal lossThe share of conversions and user data that ad platforms can no longer see because of privacy rules, browser limits and consent choices.
- Last-click attributionA way of measuring ads that gives all the credit for a sale or lead to the last ad the person clicked before converting.
- Multi-touch attributionA way of measuring ads that splits the credit for a conversion across several of the ads a person saw or clicked on the way.
- Data-driven attributionAn attribution model that uses an account's own data to estimate how much each touchpoint contributed to conversions; the default in Google Ads and GA4.
- View-through conversionA conversion credited to an ad that the person saw but did not click.
- Attribution windowThe period after a click or view during which a conversion is credited to the ad.
- Self-reported attributionAsking buyers how they heard about the company, usually with a question on a form or at checkout.
- Holdout groupA group of people deliberately not shown the ads, used as the comparison in a test.
- Incrementality testingA test that measures what ads actually caused, by comparing a group that saw them with a similar group that did not.
- Geo lift testA test that compares regions where ads ran with similar regions where they did not.
- Marketing mix modeling (MMM)A statistical model that estimates how much each channel contributed to sales, using spend and sales data over time.
AI and automation14 terms
- AI agentSoftware that uses an AI model to pursue a goal over several steps, choosing actions and using tools along the way.
- Agentic AIAI systems built to act toward goals, not just to answer questions.
- Automation vs autonomyAutomation follows rules a person set; autonomy lets a system decide what to do within a goal.
- GuardrailsLimits that keep an automated system inside safe bounds, such as spending caps, brand rules and actions that need approval.
- Human in the loopA way of running AI where the system prepares and acts, but a person approves the decisions that matter before they happen.
- Human approvalA person's sign-off required before an automated system takes a significant action, such as launching ads or moving budget.
- AI marketing operating systemSoftware in which AI runs the connected steps of marketing work, from research to ads to reading results, with people approving the decisions.
- AI marketing agencyAn agency that uses AI to do much of the research, creative and campaign work that people used to do by hand.
- Relay and loopTwo ways of running advertising: a relay hands the work between people and tools; a loop runs it as one job, with results flowing back.
- Acquisition formulaQuality times Velocity times Optimization: the three parts that decide what paid acquisition returns.
- Adgentic OSAdgentic OS, the AI marketing operating system. The whole advertising job, run by one AI team.
- OS Adgentic Lead GenThe version of Adgentic OS for companies that sell through a pipeline.
- OS Adgentic CommerceThe version of Adgentic OS for stores that sell on the site.
- Propensity scoringA model that gives each person or account a score for how likely they are to take an action, such as buy, book a call or cancel.
Channels and platforms
81 terms, by platform. They describe the market: each platform's campaign types, formats and tools.
Campaign types and settings13 terms
- Campaign launchThe step where approved ads go live on the ad platforms.
- Campaign structureHow an ad account is organized into campaigns, ad groups or ad sets, and ads.
- Brand vs non-brand searchThe split between searches that include a company's own name (brand) and searches for the need or product without it (non-brand).
- Prospecting vs retargetingProspecting campaigns reach people who have not engaged with the company yet; retargeting campaigns reach people who already have.
- Campaign objectiveThe goal chosen when a campaign is created, such as awareness, traffic, leads or sales, which tells the platform what to optimize for.
- Conversion campaignA campaign set to drive a tracked action on the advertiser's site or app, such as a purchase or a form submission.
- Lead generation campaignA campaign built to collect contact details from potential buyers, through a form on the platform or on the advertiser's site.
- Awareness and consideration campaignsCampaigns set to reach people and get them interested, measured by reach, views or engagement rather than direct sales.
- Always-on vs flighted campaignsAlways-on campaigns run continuously; flighted campaigns run in bursts around launches, seasons or events.
- DaypartingRunning or adjusting ads by time of day and day of week; Google calls it ad scheduling.
- Geo-targetingShowing ads to people in chosen locations, such as countries, regions, cities or a radius around an address.
- PlacementsThe places an ad can appear, such as a feed, stories, search results, a video or a partner site.
- Landing page experienceGoogle's rating of how relevant and useful a landing page is for the people who click an ad, one part of Quality Score.
Google Ads20 terms
- Google Search adsText ads shown on Google search results when someone searches for terms an advertiser has chosen.
- Responsive search ads (RSA)Google search ads built from several headlines and descriptions that Google combines automatically for each search.
- Keyword match typesSettings that control how closely a search must match a keyword for the ad to show: broad, phrase or exact match.
- Negative keywordsWords or phrases that stop an ad from showing on searches that contain them.
- Search terms reportThe list of actual searches that triggered an advertiser's ads, as opposed to the keywords they bid on.
- Ad assets (extensions)Extra pieces added to search ads, such as sitelinks, callouts, call buttons and images.
- Demand Gen campaignsA Google campaign type that shows image and video ads across YouTube, Discover and Gmail, among other Google surfaces.
- YouTube adsVideo ads shown on YouTube, before, during or beside videos and in Shorts.
- Shopping adsGoogle ads that show a product's image, price and store name, built from a product feed rather than written ads.
- Google Merchant CenterThe Google tool where a store uploads and manages its product data for Shopping ads and free product listings.
- Performance Max (PMax)A Google campaign type that runs ads across all of Google's channels from one campaign, toward a single conversion goal.
- Asset groupA set of images, videos, headlines, descriptions and audience signals inside a Performance Max campaign.
- Google Display adsImage and responsive ads shown across the Google Display Network, a large network of websites and apps, and on Google properties.
- YouTube in-stream adsVideo ads that play before, during or after a YouTube video, in skippable and non-skippable versions.
- YouTube in-feed adsVideo ads shown as a thumbnail and text in YouTube search results, the home feed and next to related videos; the viewer clicks to watch.
- YouTube Shorts adsVertical video ads shown between YouTube Shorts, the platform's short vertical videos.
- Google App campaignsA Google campaign type that promotes a mobile app across Search, Google Play, YouTube, Discover and the Display Network from one setup.
- Location assetsAdditions to Google ads that show a business address, distance and directions, linked from its Google Business Profile.
- Discovery campaignsThe former name of Google's Demand Gen campaigns.
- Google Ads EditorGoogle's free desktop application for making large changes to Google Ads accounts offline and posting them in one go.
Microsoft Advertising4 terms
- Microsoft AdvertisingMicrosoft's ad platform, which runs search ads on Bing and partner search sites and audience ads across Microsoft properties and partners.
- Microsoft search adsMicrosoft's keyword-based text ads on Bing and its partner search sites, built and bought much like Google Search ads.
- Microsoft Audience adsNative image and text ads shown on Microsoft properties such as MSN, Outlook.com and Microsoft Edge, and on partner sites.
- Import from Google AdsA Microsoft Advertising tool that copies campaigns, ads and settings from a Google Ads account, once or on a schedule.
Meta8 terms
- Meta adsAds on Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and Meta's partner apps, bought through Meta Ads Manager.
- Advantage+ campaignsMeta's automated campaign setup, available for sales, app and lead objectives, which hands targeting, placements and budget to Meta's system.
- Advantage+ audienceMeta's automated targeting, where the advertiser may suggest an audience but Meta's system can go beyond it to find people likely to act.
- Advantage+ catalog adsMeta ads built automatically from a product catalog, showing each person the products they are likely to want; formerly called dynamic product ads.
- Meta lead adsMeta ads that open an instant form inside Facebook or Instagram, pre-filled with the person's details, to collect a lead without a visit to a website.
- Reels adsFull-screen vertical video ads shown between Reels on Instagram and Facebook.
- Stories adsFull-screen vertical ads shown between Stories on Instagram, Facebook and Messenger.
- Click-to-message adsMeta ads that open a conversation in Messenger, WhatsApp or Instagram Direct instead of a website.
LinkedIn13 terms
- LinkedIn Sponsored ContentAds that appear in the LinkedIn feed as single images, videos, carousels or documents.
- LinkedIn Lead Gen FormsForms that open inside LinkedIn when someone clicks an ad, filled in advance with details from their profile.
- LinkedIn Document AdsLinkedIn ads that let people read a document, such as a guide or report, in the feed, with the option to ask for details before the full version.
- LinkedIn Conversation AdsMessage-style ads delivered to a LinkedIn inbox, with buttons that lead the reader down different paths.
- LinkedIn Thought Leader adsLinkedIn ads that promote a post from a person, such as a founder or an employee, rather than from the company page.
- LinkedIn video adsVideo ads in the LinkedIn feed, a format of Sponsored Content.
- LinkedIn carousel adsLinkedIn feed ads with a row of swipeable cards, each with its own image and headline.
- LinkedIn Message adsLinkedIn ads delivered as a single message to a member's inbox, with one call to action; formerly called Sponsored InMail.
- LinkedIn Text adsSmall text and image ads shown on LinkedIn's desktop pages, at the side or top of the page.
- LinkedIn Dynamic adsLinkedIn desktop ads personalized with the viewer's own profile details, such as their photo or name, for example follower ads and spotlight ads.
- LinkedIn Event adsLinkedIn ads that promote a LinkedIn Event, such as a webinar or conference, to drive registrations.
- LinkedIn Matched AudiencesLinkedIn's audiences built from the advertiser's own data: website visitors, people who engaged with ads or pages, and uploaded lists of contacts or companies.
- LinkedIn Audience NetworkAn option that extends LinkedIn Sponsored Content to partner apps and websites outside LinkedIn.
TikTok6 terms
- TikTok In-Feed adsFull-screen vertical video ads that appear between videos in TikTok's For You feed.
- TikTok Spark AdsTikTok ads that boost existing posts, from the advertiser's own account or from creators who give permission.
- TikTok TopViewA premium TikTok placement where a full-screen video ad is shown as the app opens.
- TikTok Smart+ campaignsTikTok's automated campaign type, where the platform handles targeting, bidding and creative combinations toward a goal.
- TikTok Shop adsTikTok ads that promote products sold through TikTok Shop, so people can buy inside the app.
- TikTok lead generationA TikTok campaign objective that collects leads through instant forms inside TikTok or forms on the advertiser's site.
Amazon Ads4 terms
- Amazon Sponsored ProductsCost-per-click ads that promote individual product listings in Amazon search results and on product pages.
- Amazon Sponsored BrandsAmazon ads that show a brand's logo, a headline and several products or a video, often at the top of search results.
- Amazon Sponsored DisplayAmazon display ads that reach shoppers on and off Amazon, based on the products they viewed or their interests.
- Amazon DSPAmazon's demand-side platform for buying display, video and audio ads programmatically, on Amazon properties and across other sites and apps.
Other social platforms5 terms
- Reddit adsAds shown in Reddit feeds and conversation pages, targeted by communities, interests and keywords.
- X adsAds on X (formerly Twitter), mostly promoted posts shown in timelines, search results and profiles.
- Pinterest adsPromoted pins and other ad formats shown in Pinterest feeds and search, where people look for ideas and products.
- Snapchat adsFull-screen vertical ads shown between Snapchat stories and content, including Snap Ads, Story ads and Collection ads.
- Quora adsAds shown on Quora question and answer pages, targeted by topic, question, keyword or audience.
Programmatic and open web8 terms
- Programmatic advertisingBuying ad space automatically through software and real-time auctions, rather than by direct deals with each publisher.
- Demand-side platform (DSP)Software advertisers use to buy ad impressions across many exchanges and publishers from one place.
- Supply-side platform (SSP)Software publishers use to sell their ad space to many buyers through programmatic auctions.
- Open web displayDisplay ads shown on independent websites and apps outside the big platforms, usually bought programmatically.
- Native adsAds designed to match the look of the content around them, such as recommended articles or sponsored listings on a publisher's site.
- Connected TV (CTV) and OTTVideo ads shown on streaming services: CTV means watched on a television screen, OTT means delivered over the internet to any device.
- Audio adsAds played in streaming music, podcasts and digital radio, sometimes with a companion image.
- Retail media networksAdvertising sold by retailers on their own sites, apps and partner sites, using their shopper data; Amazon Ads is one example, and many large retailers run their own.
No term matches. Try a shorter word, or browse the A to Z index below.
A to Z
All 211 terms in one list.
A
- A/B test
- Account-based marketing (ABM)
- Acquisition formula
- Ad angle
- Ad assets (extensions)
- Ad auction
- Ad creative generation
- Ad rank
- Ad variant
- Adgentic OS
- Advantage+ audience
- Advantage+ campaigns
- Advantage+ catalog ads
- Advertising strategy
- Agentic AI
- AI agent
- AI marketing agency
- AI marketing operating system
- Always-on vs flighted campaigns
- Amazon DSP
- Amazon Sponsored Brands
- Amazon Sponsored Display
- Amazon Sponsored Products
- Asset group
- Attribution window
- Audience exclusions
- Audience research
- Audience signals
- Audio ads
- Automation vs autonomy
- Average order value (AOV)
- Awareness and consideration campaigns
B
C
- Campaign launch
- Campaign objective
- Campaign structure
- Cart abandonment
- Catalog ads
- Channel optimization
- Click ID
- Click-through rate (CTR)
- Click-to-message ads
- Competitor research
- Connected TV (CTV) and OTT
- Consent Mode
- Contribution margin
- Conversion
- Conversion campaign
- Conversion rate
- Conversion tracking
- Cost per acquisition (CPA)
- Cost per click (CPC)
- Cost per lead (CPL)
- Cost per qualified lead
- Cost per thousand impressions (CPM)
- Creative brief
- Creative fatigue
- Creative iteration velocity
- Creative testing
- CRM integration
- Customer acquisition cost (CAC)
- Customer lifetime value (LTV)
- Customer list audiences
D
G
I
L
- Landing page
- Landing page experience
- Landing page generation
- Last-click attribution
- Lead
- Lead generation campaign
- Lead quality
- Lead scoring
- Learning phase
- LinkedIn Audience Network
- LinkedIn carousel ads
- LinkedIn Conversation Ads
- LinkedIn Document Ads
- LinkedIn Dynamic ads
- LinkedIn Event ads
- LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms
- LinkedIn Matched Audiences
- LinkedIn Message ads
- LinkedIn Sponsored Content
- LinkedIn Text ads
- LinkedIn Thought Leader ads
- LinkedIn video ads
- Location assets
- Lookalike audience
- LTV to CAC ratio
M
O
P
R
S
T
See the work on your own account.
A 30-minute call. We look at your market, your buyers and where the loop would start.
Book a call