Glossary

KeywordsKeywords and match types

A keyword is a word or phrase you advertise on; if someone types something that matches, your ad can appear. The match type determines how strict that match is.

• Exact: your ad appears only for exactly this keyword and very close variants.
• Phrase: your ad appears when your words occur in that order within a longer search query.
• Broad: the widest reach and the least control; your ad may also appear for loosely related search queries.
• Negative keyword (exclusion keyword): a word you specifically do not want to appear on, to block unwanted traffic.

StructureAd groups and ads

• Ad group: a group of related keywords, with the ads that are shown for them.
• Responsive Search Ad (RSA): a text ad for which you provide multiple headlines and descriptions; Google automatically combines them into the best-performing variant.
• Extension or asset: extra information under your ad, such as a sitelink (an additional link to a page) or a callout (a short standalone text like "Free shipping").

MetricsPerformance metrics

• CTR (click-through rate): the share of impressions that leads to a click.
• CPC (cost per click): what you pay on average per click.
• CPA (cost per conversion): what a conversion costs you on average.
• ROAS (return on ad spend): how much revenue you get back for every euro spent.
• Conversion: a desired action after a click, such as a purchase or an inquiry; the conversion value is the euro return you assign to such an action.
• Impression share: the share of the possible impressions that your ads actually received.
• Quality Score: Google’s estimate of the quality of your keyword, your ad and your landing page.

SettingsBidding and budget

• Bid strategy: the way your bids are determined, for example manually or with a target CPA or target ROAS.
• Daily budget: the amount a campaign is allowed to spend on average per day.

OtherA few more terms

• N-gram: a single word that recurs across multiple wasteful search terms and thus reveals a pattern of waste.
• Manager account (MCC): an overarching Google Ads account under which multiple client accounts fall, handy for agencies.
• Google Ad Grants: free advertising budget from Google for non-profits, with its own rules (see Grants mode).