Glossary

Ad group

Contains one or more ads that target placements (websites or subsets of websites) or categories. You set a bid, or price, to be used when your ad is triggered by the targeting criteria in the ad group. You may also set prices for individual placements within the ad group.

Ad impression

An ad impression is counted when an individual ad is "downloaded" (for desktop and mobile web) or "displayed" (for mobile apps). Learn more about impression counting.

Different ad formats display varying numbers of ads, and can therefore result in a different number of impressions. In addition, keep in mind that the number of ads in any ad unit may vary depending on whether the ad unit is displaying standard text ads, expanded text ads, or display ads.

Ad status: Disapproved

If an ad does not meet our advertising guidelines, we may stop your ad from running, and display "Disapproved" as the ad status. Once you've made the appropriate edits, simply save your changes, and your ad will be automatically resubmitted for review. Learn more about the most common reasons for bid response filtering

Ad status: Pending

If your ad is pending review, we haven't conducted an ad review based on our advertising terms.
                           Learn more about the most common reasons for bid response filtering

Ad technology

The tools used in the creation of ads, such as ad servers, research technologies, and remarketing.

Below-the-fold exclusion

Setting that allows you to exclude placements that may appear in a lower section of a webpage (where the user needs to scroll down to view the content).

Bid request

A request sent by Google to the buyer application that describes an impression being auctioned.

Learn more about real-time bidding

Bid response

A response sent by the buyer application to Google that describes the bid and includes an HTML snippet for the associated creative.

Learn more about bid response filtering

Campaign

Campaigns are used to give structure to the products or services you want to advertise. The ads in a given campaign share the same daily budget, language and location targeting, and end dates.

Within each campaign, you can create one or more ad groups. While a campaign may represent a broad product class, the ad groups within that campaign can be more focused on the specific product you want to advertise.

Click

A metric that measures the reaction of a user to an ad. For standard content ads, we count a click when a user clicks on an ad.

Conversion tag

Snippet of code on an advertiser's website that tracks conversions.

Cookie

A small text file downloaded to a user's computer that can be used to store user preferences and other information. Many sites use cookies to customize and improve functionality on repeat visits to a site.

Cookie matching tag

Tag that is served along with an ad when there is a cookie match for the user. Cookie matching is a service that enables buyers to associate a user with a domain.

Learn more about cookie matching

Deal

An agreement made between a seller and a buyer via Authorized Buyers Preferred Deals

Learn more about deals

Demand-side platform (DSP)

System enabling advertisers to manage multiple ad exchanges from a single interface.

Learn more about demand-side platforms

Engaged view

Number of times a skippable ad was viewed for at least 30 seconds (or if the ad is shorter than 30 seconds, until the ad was completed).

Learn more about engaged view

Fourth-party call

A call made by a third-party ad server to another third-party ad server.

IMA SDK

Abbreviation for “Interactive Media Ads Software Development Kit”. The IMA SDK is a Google technology that renders in-stream video ads, where video ads are shown in content videos. 

Learn more about IMA SDK

Impression beacon URL

A small (one pixel by one pixel) image displayed on a website or within other content that forces the browser to call another system so that the system can read or write its own cookie.

Interstitial (mobile)

In the context of Authorized Buyers inventory, mobile interstitial ads are full-screen in-app mobile ads that display before or after an event (app launch, video pre-roll) or user action (game level load).

Learn more about interstitial ads

Min CPM

The minimum acceptable bid for an ad unit.

Mobile app

In the context of Authorized Buyers inventory, mobile app (also known as "in-app" and "application inventory") refers to ads delivered within mobile applications.

Learn more about mobile apps

Mobile video

In the context of inventory, mobile video refers to ads delivered as either interstitials or via in-stream ad units.

Learn more about mobile video

Mobile web

In the context of inventory, mobile web (also known as "mWeb") refers to ads delivered "in-browser", or within mobile web browsers.

Learn more about mobile web

MRAID

Abbreviation for "Mobile Rich Media Ad Interface Definitions". MRAID is an industry standard API for rich media ads running in mobile apps. Using the MRAID API with HTML5 and JavaScript, rich media developers can communicate between ads and apps, and access certain device functions.

Learn more about MRAID

Native ads

Native ads are ads formatted to fit mobile apps' content and visual design, making them more likely to be viewed and clicked by users.

Learn more about native ads

Open Auction

Public marketplace where Authorized Buyers matches buyers' targeting with sellers' inventory and seeks the highest bid. The buyer with the highest net bid wins.

Learn more about open auction

Preferred deal

An agreed deal between a seller and buyer for inventory at a fixed, pre-negotiated price before the inventory is made available to other buyers in the general auction.

Learn more about preferred deals

Private auction

In contrast to an open auction, in a private auction the seller invites only specific buyers to participate. If none of the buyers takes the inventory, it becomes available to the open auction.

Learn more about private auction

Publisher provided identifier (PPID)

The Publisher provided identifier (PPID) allows publishers to send Google Ad Manager an identifier for use in frequency capping, audience segmentation and audience targeting, sequential ad rotation, and other audience-based ad delivery controls across devices. Publisher Provided ID (PPID) is not available with 3P user ids, such as google_user_id, hosted_match_data, device ids, and is not available in the EEA.

Remarketing tag

A UI-based way of building and targeting audiences. The tag is built on the basis of Google Ads functionality.

Learn more about remarketing tags

Sell-side platform (SSP)

System enabling publishers to manage ad impression inventory and maximize revenue from digital media.

Shopping cart abandoner

A person who visited a shopping cart page but did not complete a purchase. Advertisers can create a custom combination list to see shopping cart abandoners, by excluding "converters" from shopping cart page visitors.

Learn more about shopping cart abandoner

Skip rate

Measures the rate at which users choose to skip a video ad by clicking the "skip" button that accompanies a skippable video.

Learn more about skip rate

Third-party ad tag

A piece of creative code owned by a third party that calls another ad server.

Learn more about third-party ad tags

Topic targeting

Topic targeting is a method which identifies the way an advertiser has targeted ads to your website based on the categorization of your website's content.

Learn more about topic targeting

VPAID

Abbreviation of "Video Player-Ad Interface Definition". This is an IAB-published industry standard for interactive in-stream video ads. 

Learn more about VPAID