The Ultimate PPC Glossary: 2025

Paid search is packed with acronyms, technical terms, and platform-specific jargon. Whether you are new to PPC or looking to stay sharp for 2025, this glossary breaks down the essentials.

From key metrics to tools, campaign types, and audience targeting options, this is your go-to reference to actually understand what everyone’s talking about.

We’ve popped everything into handy sections, so you can quickly find what you’re looking for.

• General metrics
• Google Ads - Ad Formats
• Google Ads - Campaign Structure
• Google Ads - Features & tools
• Microsoft Ads - Structure
• Microsoft Ads - Features & tools
• Reporting & tools
• Audience targeting

General Metrics

Ad Rank

This determines your position on the SERP, based on your bid and Quality Score. If you get a higher ad rank, you’ll have a better placement overall.

Bounce Rate

The percentage of visitors to the landing page who leave as soon as they arrive, without interacting or engaging.

Clicks

The number of times users have actively selected or tapped on a specific ad.

Conversion Rate

The percentage of clicks that lead to a conversion.

CPA (Cost Per Acquisition)

The average cost it takes to convert a user into a customer.

CPC (Cost Per Click)

How much you pay every time someone clicks on that ad. It’s influenced by your Quality Score, bidding strategy, and competition overall for specific keywords.

CPM (Cost Per Mille)

The cost per 1,000 impressions of your ad. It’s a great metric in brand awareness campaigns.

Impressions

How many times your ad has been shown.

Quality Score

Google’s somewhat mystical rating on the relevance and quality of your ads, keywords, and landing pages. A high Quality Score can result in a lower CPC.

ROAS (Return On Ad Spend)

The revenue-to-spend ratio showing you how much you earn per pound spent on marketing.

Search Impression Share

The percentage of impressions your ad receives compared to the total it could have received.

Google Ads -Ad formats

Ad Extensions

Additional information like sitelinks, callouts, and structured snippets that increase ad real estate and CTR. Can improve Ad Rank and the appeal of your ads overall.

Expanded Text Ads (ETAs)

A now-deprecated ad format with fixed headline and description lines.

Responsive Search Ads (RSAs)

These ads automatically combine multiple headlines and descriptions to find the best performing ad combinations.

Google Ads -Campaign structure

Ad groups

These contain sets of ads and keywords around a common theme. They help organise campaigns and improve relevance.

Campaign types

Includes Search, Display, Shopping, Video, and Performance Max. Each type targets different user intents and placements.

Keyword match types

Broad, Phrase, Exact, and Negative match types control which searches trigger your ads. Match types determine the reach and relevance of the ads they are assigned to.

Google Ads - Tools & features

Conversion tracking

Measures actions like purchases or sign-ups resulting from your ads. Essential for evaluating ad performance.

Campaign drafts & experiments

Allows you to test changes on a subset of your campaign traffic. Drafts are clones of your existing campaigns that you can experiment on, and experiments run alongside the original campaign, so you can compare between the two.

Google Ads API

Enables developers to build tools and automate tasks in Google Ads. Useful for advanced account management and reporting.

Google Ads Editor

A downloadable application that allows bulk edits to campaigns offline. Ideal for managing large accounts efficiently; it’s basically the one-stop-shop for solving most of your PPC marketing concerns.

Google Merchant Center

A platform to upload and manage product data for Shopping campaigns. It’s the place to focus on to ensure your listings show accurate product details.

Smart Bidding

An automated bidding strategy that uses machine learning to optimise for conversions or conversion value. Examples include Target CPA, Target ROAS, and Maximise Conversions.

Microsoft Ads - Structure

Dynamic Product Ads

These ads automatically promote relevant products to users based on their browsing behaviour. Ideal for ecommerce remarketing.

Microsoft Ads Manager

The main interface to manage Microsoft Advertising campaigns. Similar in layout and functionality to Google Ads.

Microsoft Audience Network

Extends your ad reach to Microsoft’s partner sites and platforms. 

Microsoft Merchant Center

Hosts your product feed for Shopping campaigns on Microsoft Ads. Required for running product-based ads.

Multimedia Ads

Rich, visual ad formats that combine headlines with images. Designed to stand out on the Bing search results page.

UET tag (Universal Event Tracking)

Microsoft’s tracking tag used for conversion tracking and remarketing. The driving force behind your Microsoft Ads metrics.

Microsoft Ads -Features and Tools

Ad variations
Testing different ad elements without creating separate ads. Microsoft rotates them to find what works best.

Bulk import
Enables uploading large sets of changes across multiple campaigns. Useful for scaling updates efficiently over 100’s of ads.

Campaign sync status
Shows how up to date your Microsoft campaigns are with your imported Google Ads versions. Useful after bulk imports.

Experiments
A/B test different bidding strategies or campaign settings using a clone of your original campaign running alongside the original. Helps verify the usefulness of potential optimisation ideas before a full rollout.

Google Ads import tool
Allows easy import of existing Google Ads campaigns into Microsoft Ads. Saves time and preserves campaign structure.

LinkedIn profile targeting
A feature unique to Microsoft Ads, this allows targeting based on job function, industry, and company size using LinkedIn data.

Product ads
Visual ads with product images, titles, and prices pulled from your feed. Commonly used in Shopping campaigns.

Video ads (pilot)
A developing format within Microsoft’s network. Allows you to test video creative in a PPC environment.

Reporting & Tools

A/B testing
Comparing two versions of an element (e.g. ad copy or landing page) to see which performs better. An essential part of daily PPC strategy.

Ad Preview & Diagnosis tool
Lets you preview how your ads appear for different searches without affecting performance. Useful for troubleshooting.

Attribution models
These define how credit for conversions is assigned across user touchpoints. Includes Last Click, Linear, Time Decay, and Data-Driven models.

Auction insights
Provides visibility into how your ads compare with competitors. Shows impression share, overlap rate, and position metrics.

Budget pacing tools
Monitors how your campaign is spending over time. Helps you understand the pace of your success overall.

Campaign experiments
Built-in Google Ads feature to test performance changes before fully applying them. Allows for split testing within campaigns.

Conversion windows
Defines how long after an ad interaction a conversion can be attributed. Important for accurate performance tracking.

Cross-device conversions
Tracks users who engage on one device and convert on another. Important for understanding true conversion paths and the overall customer journey.

Google Analytics (GA4 integration)
The sophisticated hub for creating, optimising and analysing all of your Google PPC campaigns. Essential for cross-channel attribution.

Impression share report
Details how much exposure your ads are getting relative to competitors.

Keyword Planner
A vital tool to find new keywords, see search volume, and estimate costs. Ideal for campaign planning and expansion.

Looker Studio (formerly known as Google Data Studio)
A free visual reporting tool from Google. Lets you build shareable dashboards using PPC data.

Performance Max insights
Offers asset, audience, and placement-level data for Performance Max campaigns. Helps assess what's driving results and what’s hindering progress.

Search terms report
Shows the actual search queries users typed that triggered your ads. Helps refine keyword targeting and add negatives.

 

Audience Targeting

Ad scheduling
Set your ads to run only on specific days or times. Helps align ads with business hours or high-performing windows.

Affinity audiences
Groups users by interests and long-term habits (e.g. sports fans, travel buffs). Often used in brand or product/service awareness campaigns.

Bid adjustments
Modify bids based on device, location, time, audience, or other factors.

Content targeting (Display)
Aligns your ads with relevant content using topics, keywords, or placements. Boosts your relevance on the Display Network.

Custom intent audiences
Building audiences based on keywords and URLs people are actively researching. Ideal for targeting niche segments.

Customer Match
Uses uploaded customer data (e.g. emails and phone numbers) to create tailored audiences. Great for re-engaging known users.

Demographic targeting
Targets users based on age, gender, parental status, or household income (where available). Helpful for refining reach.

Device targeting
Enables different bids for desktop, mobile, and tablet users. Useful for optimising across platforms.

Exclusion lists
Prevents ads from showing on certain placements, keywords, or audiences. Helps reduce wasted spend.

Geo-targeting / Location targeting
Allows ads to show only in selected geographic areas. Can be set at country, region, city, or radius level.

In-market audiences
Targets users actively researching products or services. Indicates high buying intent.

Keyword targeting
Shows ads to users based on search queries or on-page content. Core targeting method for Search and Display campaigns.

Placement targeting
Lets you choose specific websites or YouTube channels where your Display or Video ads appear.

Remarketing Lists for Search Ads (RLSA)
Enables custom bids and ads for users who have previously visited your site.

Similar audiences
Previously allowed targeting of users similar to your existing audience lists. (Deprecated, but still referenced in legacy campaigns and replicated in emerging AI targeting options.)

Topic targeting
Targets content related to specific subjects (e.g. automotive, health). Useful for broader contextual relevance.

Let’s wrap things up

There we have it; your ultimate PPC glossary for 2025 and beyond. Whether you’re building out campaigns for the very first time, or just looking to level up your next campaign, this guide’s got you covered.

Bookmark this glossary for quick reference, and you’ll always have the answer to hand in a second! 

PPC is only getting more complex, but with a solid understanding of the foundations of PPC, and some of those brand new features thrown into the mix, you’ll be all set to stay ahead of the curve.

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