Google Ads glossary in plain English.

Campaigns and networks

Campaign

The highest level of an account. The campaign sets the budget, the location, the network and the bid strategy, and contains one or more ad groups.

Ad group

A set of ads and keywords aimed at similar searches. For a small business, one ad group per service gives more precise ads and clearer reports.

Google Search Network

The search-related websites and apps where your ads can appear, starting with Google Search itself. It is the network where a person’s intent is clearest.

Search partners

Websites that don’t belong to Google and that show its search ads. They are included by default in Search Network campaigns and can be turned off in the settings. See our guide on why Google Ads campaigns aren’t working.

Google Display Network

A large collection of websites, mobile apps and video content where image ads appear. It reaches people who weren’t searching for your service, so it is better suited to making an offer known.

Performance Max

A goal-based campaign type that gives access to all of Google Ads inventory (YouTube, Display, Search, Discover, Gmail and Maps) from a single campaign. Convenient, but you have less control over where each dollar goes.

Location targeting

The choice of areas where your ads can appear. By default, Google targets people who are in the area and people who are interested in it; the “Presence” option limits delivery to people who are in the area or regularly go there.

Ad schedule

The days and hours when your ads can appear, for example only during your business hours, when someone can answer the phone.

Audience segments

Groups of people defined by their interests, habits or interactions with your business, which you can target or observe.

Your data (formerly remarketing)

The segments made up of people who have already interacted with your website or your business. Google replaced the term “remarketing” with “your data”.

Keywords and searches

Keyword

The word or phrase you choose to indicate which searches your ads can respond to. The keyword isn’t the search itself: its match type decides how far Google broadens it.

Search term

What the person actually typed into Google. A single keyword can trigger hundreds of different search terms.

Broad match

The match type assigned by default. The ad can show for searches related to the keyword, including searches that don’t carry its direct meaning. Google recommends using it with Smart Bidding strategies.

Phrase match

The match type written in quotation marks ("roofing laval"). The ad can show for searches that include the meaning of the keyword.

Exact match

The match type written in square brackets ([roofing laval]). The ad can show for searches that have the same meaning or the same intent as the keyword. It is the most precise, but it covers fewer searches.

Negative keywords

Words or phrases you don’t want your ads to show for, such as “jobs”, “free” or “training”. Google accounts for misspellings, but not for plurals or synonyms: add those yourself. They matter as much as the keywords themselves.

Search terms report

The list of actual searches that triggered your ads. It is where you find the off-topic searches to exclude.

Keyword Planner

Google’s tool for estimating the search volume and cost of keywords. Its “top of page bid” range roughly matches the 20th and 80th percentiles of what advertisers have paid. See our guide on the cost of Google Ads.

Ads and landing pages

Responsive search ad

The standard ad format on Search. You provide several headlines and descriptions, and Google tests the combinations to show the ones that perform best.

Assets (formerly extensions)

Pieces of content that add useful information to an ad: a phone number, an address, links to other pages, selling points. They replace what Google used to call extensions.

Location asset

The asset that shows your business address with the ad, based on your Google Business Profile. It replaces the former “location extension”.

Final URL

The address of the page a person lands on after clicking the ad, also called the landing page. For a small business, it should lead to a page about exactly the service being advertised.

Tracking template

An address that adds tracking information to the click, using custom parameters or ValueTrack parameters. The final URL suffix serves the same purpose, added to the end of the address.

Landing page experience

Google’s assessment of how relevant and useful your page is to the person who clicked. It is one of the three components of Quality Score.

Quality Score

An estimate, from 1 to 10, of the quality of your ads, keywords and landing pages. It is a diagnostic tool: Google states that it isn’t used in the ad auction.

Ad Rank

The set of values that determines whether your ad can show and in what position. It takes six factors into account, including your bid, the quality of your ad and page, and the context of the search.

Disapproved

The status of an ad or asset that violates one of Google’s advertising policies. A disapproved item doesn’t run until it is fixed.

Bidding and budget

Average daily budget

The amount you are willing to spend per day, on average. Google can spend up to twice that amount on a given day but, if the budget doesn’t change, never more than 30.4 times that amount in a month.

Maximum CPC (Max. CPC)

The highest amount you are willing to pay for a click, with a manual bid strategy.

Actual CPC

What you really pay for a click: often less than your maximum CPC, namely the amount needed to beat the advertiser ranked just below you.

Average CPC (Avg. CPC)

The total cost of clicks divided by the number of clicks, over a period.

CPM

Cost per thousand impressions, a bidding method used mostly on the Display Network, where you pay for impressions rather than clicks.

Bid strategy

How Google sets your bids: manually, based on your amounts, or automatically, based on a goal such as the number of conversions.

Smart Bidding

The automated bid strategies that use Google’s artificial intelligence to aim for conversions or conversion value in every auction. They only learn well if the conversions being counted are real leads.

Maximize conversions

The strategy that tries to get as many conversions as possible with your budget.

Target CPA

The strategy where you set the average cost per conversion you want. Since June 2026, “Maximize conversions with a target CPA” is simply called “Target CPA”; how it works doesn’t change.

Target ROAS

The strategy that aims for a given return on ad spend, for example 500%, by putting more weight on the searches likely to bring in more. It requires a value for each conversion.

Learning period

The time a Smart Bidding strategy needs to calibrate itself, shown by the “Learning” status. A significant change to the budget, the target or the conversion goals can restart it.

Bid adjustments

An increase or decrease in your bids, as a percentage, based on device, location or time of day.

Measurement and metrics

Impressions

The number of times your ad is shown on Google or on the Google Network.

Clicks

The number of clicks on your ads. Clicks considered invalid, for example automated ones, are excluded and not charged.

Click-through rate (CTR)

Clicks divided by impressions: how often people who see your ad click on it.

Interactions

The main action associated with the ad format: a click for a search ad, a call for a call asset, a view for a video.

Conversion

An action you consider valuable, such as a submitted form or a call, measured to evaluate your campaigns and guide bidding. See our guide on call and form tracking.

Primary conversion action

A conversion that counts in the Conversions column and is used for bidding. Secondary actions, on the other hand, are for observation only.

All conversions

The column that also includes secondary actions and other types of conversions. To judge your results, read the Conversions column instead.

Conversion rate

The average number of conversions per interaction, as a percentage. It can exceed 100% when a single interaction produces several conversions.

Cost / conv.

Cost divided by the number of conversions. If your conversions are real leads, this is your cost per lead.

Conversion value

The amount you assign to a conversion, for example the value of a sale. It is used by strategies that aim for a return on ad spend.

View-through conversions

Conversions from people who saw your ad without clicking, then converted later. They are excluded from the Conversions column.

Attribution model

The rule that splits the credit for a conversion among the ads seen before it. Data-driven attribution is the default model for most conversion actions.

Search impression share

The percentage of impressions received out of the total possible impressions. It is an estimate, and it excludes Search partners. See our guide to reading a Google Ads report.

Search lost IS (budget)

The share of possible impressions missed because the budget ran out. Google advises against using it with the Maximize conversions strategy.

Search lost IS (rank)

The share of possible impressions missed because of Ad Rank: quality, landing page or bid.

Optimization score

An estimate of your account’s potential based on Google’s recommendations. It goes up when you apply a recommendation, but also when you dismiss it: it isn’t a result.

Recommendations

Google’s suggestions for your account. Some can be applied automatically if that option is turned on.

Custom experiment

A test that compares a modified version of a campaign with the original, on part of the traffic, before you apply a change.

Tracking, data and consent

Google tag

The code installed on your website that sends visits and conversions to Google Ads.

Google Tag Manager

A tag management system that lets you configure and deploy your website’s tags from a web interface, without touching the code every time something changes.

GCLID (Google click identifier)

A parameter added to the address when someone clicks on an ad. Kept with the lead, it lets you tie a sale back to the original campaign.

Google forwarding number

A number assigned by Google that replaces yours on your website or in the ad and forwards the call to your line. It lets you know how long the call lasted and count it as a conversion.

Call tracking

Measuring the calls that come from your ads or your website. A call counts as a conversion if it lasts longer than the minimum length you set.

Enhanced conversions

Sending Google data provided by the customer, such as their email address, in hashed form, to measure conversions more accurately. The version for leads is for businesses that close their sales offline.

Offline conversion import

Sending results tracked elsewhere, for example in your CRM, back into Google Ads: a lead that became a customer, a closed sale.

Key event

The Google Analytics term for an important action on your website. Unlike key events, Google Ads conversions can be used for bidding.

Consent mode

The mechanism that passes the visitor’s cookie choice on to Google tags. In Quebec, it goes hand in hand with a banner that informs visitors and gives them a choice.

To see how these concepts fit together in a small business campaign, read our guide to Google Ads for small businesses in Quebec. And if you would rather have a team take care of it, see how we work as a Google Ads agency.