Google Ads encompasses a massive share of the digital advertising world, and it comes with an entire vocabulary related to its service. Adapting to a Google Ads account can feel like learning to speak a new language for beginners and people new to the platform.
We’ve compiled some of the essential Google Ads terms into this handy glossary to help you get started and interpret your data.
Ad Groups
Ad groups are an easy way to provide structure to your Google Ads, sorting ads according to common themes among your products or services. When you create an ad group for search ads, you’re combining sets of ads and keywords that are related.
Bids and Bid Strategy
Similar to an auction, bids are the amount you’re willing to pay to win a click for a keyword on Google Ads. Your bid strategy relates to how you set your bids on keywords. Depending on your campaign goals, industry, and budget, your bid strategy can be implemented to maximize conversions, maximize impressions, and more.
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Call Tracking
Call tracking is a type of conversion that tracks how many people call your business after clicking or seeing one of your Google Ads. Call tracking services and Google Ads data can provide you with the top keywords that are driving the most calls to your business and even allow you to listen to calls after the fact.
Campaign
A campaign is one of the first things to set up in Google Ads. Your ad campaign will contain your budget, campaign type, ad groups, and more. Campaigns are a way to organize various Google Ads efforts, and you can also separate campaigns by theme.
Campaign Types
Google ads offer several campaign types, determining where you want your ads to be shown. Some campaign types include search network, display network, and shopping. You can also choose different campaign types for your specific goals.
Click
When someone clicks (or taps) on an ad, this is registered as a “click” in your reporting data.
Clickthrough Rate (CTR)
A clickthrough rate (CTR) is the measurement of how many people see your ad (impressions) actually click through to the linked landing page.
Conversion
A conversion is an action that you choose as valuable to your business while advertising on Google – such as a phone call, form submission, or purchase. You can track conversions on your Google ads through reporting.
Daily Budget
You can set a max daily budget for your ads when setting up your campaign. A daily budget can help you manage costs and ensure you aren’t spending too much or too little on the front end of your campaign.
Display Network
The Google Display Network (GDN) is a group of millions of websites and apps where Google can place your ads.
Extension
An extension shows additional business information with your ads, such as an address, phone number, store rating, or more webpage links.
Google My Business
If you manage a local business, this is a product that’s essential for your success on Google. Google My Business helps you manage your business listings information such as hours, location, services, and more.
Impressions
Impressions tell you how many times your ad was triggered by a keyword or how many times a viewer was served your ad. It is not a guarantee that they saw your ad, just that it was served to them.
Keywords
Keywords, sometimes referred to as “positive keywords,” are the specific words or phrases that you can bid on in Google Ads. When a user searches keywords you’ve placed bids on, your ad could be shown to the user. When developing a keyword strategy, you’ll want to consider cost, relevance, and more.
Landing Page
A landing page is the linked webpage to your Google ads. When someone clicks on your ad, they’ll be directed to this page. It should feature content targeted to the keywords, services, or products that are related to your marketing campaign. You can optimize your landing pages to increase the likelihood of a conversion.
Location Targeting
In your Google Ads campaign, you can reach audiences based on their geographic location. You can also set locations you do not want your ads to appear.
Negative Keywords
Negative keywords are the opposite of keywords you bid on. These are keywords that if searched will prevent your ad from showing up in the SERP. For example, if you sell roller skates, you may not want to show up for people searching for ice skates. You’ll want to add negative keywords to minimize wasting ad spend on users whose search intents do not align with your campaign. An example would be to place “Ice skates” on your negative keyword list in your campaign.
Quality Score
The quality score is used to see how your ad quality (the overall experience users have when they encounter your ad) holds up when compared to other advertisers’ ads. Rated on a scale from 1-10, the quality score is deemed high when your ad and landing page feature keywords that are both relevant and useful to the user.
Search Engine Results Page (SERP)
The search engine results page (SERP) is where the search results are displayed once a user enters their search query.
Chat With M&R Marketing About Implementing Google Ads for Your Business
Our team is experienced in creating successful Google Ads strategies for all businesses. If you’re ready to get started, give us a call at 478-621-4491.