The AdTech dictionary. Plain English.
Acronyms get tossed around. Definitions get fuzzy. We wrote them down. Search a term. Jump to a letter. Move on with your day.
Above the Fold
TL;DR. Above the fold is the slice of a web page a visitor sees before scrolling. It is the most valuable real estate...
Read definitionAd Account Management
TL;DR. Ad account management is the day-to-day work of running paid-ad accounts across platforms like Meta and Google....
Read definitionAd Agency
TL;DR. An ad agency is a company that plans, creates, and buys advertising on behalf of brands. The category covers...
Read definitionAd Clone
TL;DR. An ad clone is a recreation of a competitor's winning ad in your own brand voice, palette, and offer. The clone...
Read definitionAdd to Cart Event
TL;DR. The AddToCart event is a Meta Pixel standard event that fires when a shopper adds a product to their cart. It...
Read definitionAd Exchange
TL;DR. An ad exchange is a digital marketplace that runs real-time auctions for ad impressions between buy-side DSPs...
Read definitionAd Fatigue
TL;DR. Ad fatigue is the drop in ad performance after an audience has seen the same creative too many times. CTR falls,...
Read definitionAd Impression
TL;DR. An ad impression is a single instance of a paid creative being served from an ad server to a user's device. It...
Read definitionAd Mediation
TL;DR. Ad mediation is a software layer that sends a single ad request to multiple ad networks, runs an auction across...
Read definitionAd Network
TL;DR. An ad network is a company that aggregates ad inventory from many publishers and resells it to advertisers as...
Read definitionAd Revenue
TL;DR. Ad revenue is the income a publisher earns from ads served on a site, app, video, or email. It is calculated as...
Read definitionAd Server
TL;DR. An ad server is software that stores ad creative, decides which ad to show each user, delivers the impression,...
Read definitionAd Tag (Creative or Placement Tag)
TL;DR. An ad tag is a snippet of HTML, JavaScript, or XML that a publisher page or app drops into an ad slot. It calls...
Read definitionAd Tech (Advertising Technology)
TL;DR. Ad tech (advertising technology) is the software stack that buys, sells, targets, and measures digital ads...
Read definitionAd Unit
TL;DR. An ad unit is a defined slot on a page, app screen, or CTV interface where a single ad renders. It has a fixed...
Read definitionAdvantage+ Creative
TL;DR. Advantage+ Creative is Meta's AI layer inside Ads Manager that takes one uploaded ad and spins out per-user...
Read definitionAdvantage+ Placements
TL;DR. Advantage+ Placements is Meta's AI placement optimization, the renamed Automatic Placements setting. The system...
Read definitionAdvantage+ Shopping Campaign (ASC)
TL;DR. Advantage+ Shopping Campaign (ASC) is Meta's automated ecommerce campaign type that uses machine learning to...
Read definitionAdvertisers
TL;DR. An advertiser is the brand, agency, or merchant that pays to place ads in front of an audience. Advertisers buy...
Read definitionAdvertising Restrictions
TL;DR. Advertising restrictions are rules set by platforms like Meta and Google or regulators like the EU that limit...
Read definitionAdware and Spyware
TL;DR. Adware is software that injects unwanted ads into a user's browser or device. Spyware is software that secretly...
Read definitionAEO (Answer Engine Optimization)
Answer Engine Optimization, or AEO, is the practice of preparing content so that AI answer engines can easily extract,...
Read definitionAffiliate
TL;DR. An affiliate is a person or company that promotes another brand's products or services in exchange for a...
Read definitionAffiliate Link / Affiliate Marketing
TL;DR. An affiliate link is a trackable URL containing a unique partner ID that attributes clicks and conversions to a...
Read definitionAffiliate Manager
TL;DR. An affiliate manager runs a brand's partner program day to day. The role covers recruiting publishers,...
Read definitionAffiliate Marketing Forum
TL;DR. An affiliate marketing forum is an online community where affiliates, advertisers, and network reps trade offer...
Read definitionAffiliate Network
TL;DR. An affiliate network is a marketplace that connects advertisers running offers with publishers driving traffic....
Read definitionAffiliate Program
TL;DR. An affiliate program is a performance-based deal where a brand pays partners a commission for every sale, lead,...
Read definitionAgent-First Marketing
Agent-First Marketing is a strategic posture that treats AI agents, not human visitors, as the primary audience for a...
Read definitionAgentic AI in Advertising
TL;DR. Agentic AI in advertising refers to autonomous systems that plan, execute, and optimize paid media without...
Read definitionAgentic Commerce
Agentic Commerce describes a new layer of online buying where AI agents, not humans, do the discovery, comparison, and...
Read definitionAgentic Workflow
TL;DR. An agentic workflow is an AI system that plans a multi-step task, calls external tools, and acts on its own...
Read definitionAI Ad Creative
TL;DR. AI ad creative is the finished ad asset, image, video, or copy, produced by a generative model from a product...
Read definitionAI Copywriting for Ads
TL;DR. AI copywriting for ads uses large language models to generate headlines, primary text, descriptions, and calls...
Read definitionAI Creative Scoring
AI Creative Scoring is the use of machine learning to predict how an ad creative will perform before or during a...
Read definitionAI-Generated Ads
TL;DR. AI-generated ads are image, video, copy, and dynamic creatives produced by generative models from a product URL,...
Read definitionAI Governance in Advertising
AI governance in advertising is the set of policies, controls and review processes that decide how a marketing...
Read definitionAI Image Generation
TL;DR. AI image generation turns a written prompt into a finished picture using diffusion or transformer models. The...
Read definitionAI Orchestration
AI Orchestration is the coordination of multiple AI agents and tools across the full customer journey so that decisions...
Read definitionAI Overviews (AIO)
AI Overviews, often abbreviated AIO, are the generative summaries that appear at the top of Google Search results for...
Read definitionAI Video Ads
TL;DR. AI video ads are short motion clips generated by diffusion or transformer models from a text prompt, a still...
Read definitionAlexa Rank
А platform that measures website popularity based on users’ browsing behavioral patterns. It’s a marketing tool...
Read definitionAlt Text (Alternative Text)
TL;DR. Alt text (alternative text) is a short written description added to an image's HTML via the alt attribute. It...
Read definitionAmazon PPC
TL;DR. Amazon PPC is pay-per-click advertising inside Amazon's marketplace. Sellers bid on keywords or products. Ads...
Read definitionAmazon Sponsored Products
TL;DR. Amazon Sponsored Products are pay-per-click ads that promote individual ASINs across Amazon search results and...
Read definitionAmbient Commerce
Ambient commerce describes a buying experience that happens quietly in the background of a user's life, without an...
Read definitionApp Metrics
TL;DR. App metrics are the quantitative signals that describe how a mobile app acquires, engages, and monetizes users....
Read definitionApp Monetization
TL;DR. App monetization is how a mobile app turns users into revenue. The four primary models are in-app advertising,...
Read definitionApp Rating
TL;DR. An app rating is the 1 to 5 star score users assign to an app on the Apple App Store or Google Play. It is a...
Read definitionApp Session
TL;DR. An app session is one continuous period of user engagement with a mobile app, from foreground open to background...
Read definitionAR Advertising
TL;DR. AR advertising places branded 3D objects, filters, and try-on experiences inside a user's camera feed. It runs...
Read definitionAttribution Window
Attribution window defines the period over which conversion is attributed to a specific ad or affiliate click,...
Read definitionAttribution Window (Meta)
TL;DR. A Meta attribution window is the time period after a click or view in which Meta will credit a conversion to one...
Read definitionAudience Retargeting
TL;DR. An audience retargeting list contains users who already engaged with a brand: site visitors, cart abandoners,...
Read definitionAudience Targeting
TL;DR. Audience targeting is the practice of choosing who sees an ad based on demographics, interests, behavior,...
Read definitionAugmented Creativity
Augmented Creativity is the framing that positions AI as a partner to human creative work, not a replacement for it....
Read definitionAverage Revenue per Paying User (ARPPU)
TL;DR. Average Revenue per Paying User (ARPPU) divides total revenue by the count of paying users in a window. It...
Read definitionAverage Revenue Per User (ARPU)
TL;DR. Average revenue per user (ARPU) is total revenue divided by active users in a fixed period. It is the cleanest...
Read definitionAVOD vs SVOD (Video on Demand)
TL;DR. Video on demand (VOD) lets viewers stream content on demand instead of on a fixed schedule. AVOD is the...
Read definitionBacklinks
TL;DR. A backlink is a link from one website to another. Search engines treat each backlink as a vote of trust. The...
Read definitionBanner Ad
TL;DR. A banner ad is a visual ad placed in a fixed slot on a website, app, or mobile screen. It runs as a static...
Read definitionBid
TL;DR. A bid is the price an advertiser is willing to pay for an ad placement, click, view, or conversion in an...
Read definitionBiddable CTV
Biddable CTV is connected television inventory that is bought and sold through real time programmatic auctions instead...
Read definitionBid Shading
TL;DR. Bid shading is a programmatic bidding technique that reduces a buyer's bid in a first-price auction to a...
Read definitionBid Strategy
TL;DR. A bid strategy is the rule set that decides how an ad platform spends your budget in each auction. It can be...
Read definitionBlack Hat SEO
TL;DR. Black hat SEO is the practice of using tactics that violate search engine guidelines to push a page up the...
Read definitionBlacklist
TL;DR. A blacklist is a list of domains, apps, IP addresses, or keywords that an advertiser explicitly blocks from a...
Read definitionBounce Rate
TL;DR. Bounce rate is the percentage of sessions that end on the entry page with no further interaction. In GA4, it is...
Read definitionBrand Lift Study
TL;DR. A brand lift study measures how an ad campaign moves brand metrics like awareness, recall, and purchase intent...
Read definitionBrand LLM
A Brand LLM is a large language model that has been fine-tuned or heavily grounded on a single brand's voice, tone,...
Read definitionBrand Profile
TL;DR. A brand profile is a structured record of a brand's identity that an AI ad platform uses to keep every generated...
Read definitionBrand Safety
TL;DR. Brand safety is the practice of keeping ads away from content that could damage an advertiser's reputation. It...
Read definitionBroad Targeting (Meta)
TL;DR. Broad targeting on Meta means setting only age, geo, and language, then letting the delivery algorithm locate...
Read definitionBulk Campaign Launcher
TL;DR. A bulk campaign launcher is a tool that builds and deploys many ad campaigns at once by combining products,...
Read definitionCampaign Automation
TL;DR. Campaign automation is software that runs the repetitive parts of paid advertising without manual clicks. It...
Read definitionCampaign Budget Optimization (CBO)
TL;DR. Campaign Budget Optimization (CBO) sets a single budget at the campaign level and lets Meta distribute spend...
Read definitionCampaign Compliance
TL;DR. Campaign compliance is the process of ensuring every ad, landing page, and claim meets platform policies,...
Read definitionCarousel Ads
TL;DR. Carousel Ads are a paid social format that lets one ad unit hold up to 10 cards. Each card carries its own image...
Read definitionCatalog Ads / Dynamic Product Ads (DPA)
TL;DR. Catalog ads (also called Dynamic Product Ads or DPA) pull items from a structured product feed and auto-generate...
Read definitionCCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act)
TL;DR. The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) is a state privacy law that gives California residents the right to...
Read definitionChargeback
TL;DR. A chargeback is a forced payment reversal a cardholder triggers through their issuing bank, not the merchant. It...
Read definitionChurn Rate
TL;DR. Churn rate is the percentage of customers, subscribers, or app users who stop paying or stop using a product in...
Read definitionClick Arbitrage
TL;DR. Click arbitrage is the practice of buying paid clicks at a lower CPC than the RPC earned from monetizing those...
Read definitionClick Fraud
TL;DR. Click fraud is the practice of generating invalid clicks on a paid ad to drain a competitor's budget, inflate...
Read definitionClick ID
TL;DR. A click ID is a per-click token (like Google's gclid or Meta's fbclid) added to landing page URLs. Advertisers...
Read definitionClick-Through
The act of clicking a link that takes a user to a website. Even while clicking through on an ad is the most common...
Read definitionClick-through Rate
The ratio of the users who see the ad to the number of users who click on the ad. If a user visits your advertisement...
Read definitionCold Audience
TL;DR. A cold audience is a group of users who have no prior relationship with the brand. They have never visited the...
Read definitionCollection Ads
TL;DR. Collection Ads are a Meta mobile-only ad format that pairs a cover image or video with a four-tile product grid....
Read definitionCommerce Media
TL;DR. Commerce media is digital advertising sold by a company that owns transaction data. Retailers, marketplaces,...
Read definitionConnected TV (CTV)
TL;DR. Connected TV (CTV) is video advertising delivered to internet-connected televisions through streaming apps and...
Read definitionConsent Management Platform (CMP)
TL;DR. A consent management platform (CMP) is the software layer that shows the cookie banner, records what each...
Read definitionContent Approval
TL;DR. Content approval is the review step that decides whether an ad creative is allowed to run on a platform. It...
Read definitionContent Farm
TL;DR. A content farm is a website that publishes huge volumes of low-effort articles purely to capture search traffic,...
Read definitionContextual Ads
TL;DR. A contextual ad is an ad unit served next to page content that matches its topic. The unit can be display,...
Read definitionContextual Advertising
TL;DR. Contextual advertising serves ads based on the content of the page, not the identity of the reader. NLP engines...
Read definitionContextual Links
Links found in the body of the article. The clickable text on a web page, typically a keyword, is referred to as the...
Read definitionContextual Targeting
TL;DR. Contextual targeting places ads next to relevant page content rather than tracking individual users. NLP engines...
Read definitionConversion
TL;DR. A conversion is any user action that an advertiser counts as success. Purchases, signups, leads, app installs,...
Read definitionConversion Lift
TL;DR. Conversion lift is a randomized experiment that measures the conversions an ad actually caused, by comparing an...
Read definitionConversion Rate
TL;DR. Conversion rate is the percentage of visitors who complete a desired action, divided by total visitors,...
Read definitionConversion Rate Optimization
TL;DR. Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) is the practice of increasing the share of visitors who complete a desired...
Read definitionConversion Tracking
TL;DR. Conversion tracking is the system that records what users do after clicking an ad. It pairs a browser pixel with...
Read definitionCost Per Acquisition (CPA)
TL;DR. Cost per acquisition (CPA) is the average cost to win one conversion from paid media. Formula: ad spend divided...
Read definitionCost per Click
A price the advertiser pays every time their banner/creative clicks on. It’s the fee you pay when someone clicks on one...
Read definitionCost Per Click (CPC)
TL;DR. Cost per click (CPC) is the price an advertiser pays each time someone clicks a paid ad. It is calculated by...
Read definitionCost Per Engagement (CPE)
TL;DR. Cost per engagement (CPE) is the price an advertiser pays each time a user interacts with an ad. Engagements...
Read definitionCost Per Install (CPI)
TL;DR. Cost per install (CPI) is total ad spend divided by installs in a period. It is the headline mobile user...
Read definitionCost Per Lead (CPL)
TL;DR. Cost per lead (CPL) is the average paid media cost to capture one lead. Formula: ad spend divided by lead form...
Read definitionCost per One Thousand Impressions
A price the advertiser pays for every thousand impressions on their ad. CPM stands for cost per thousand impressions,...
Read definitionCost Per View (CPV)
TL;DR. Cost per view (CPV) is what an advertiser pays each time a video ad counts as viewed. The threshold changes per...
Read definitionCPA (Cost Per Action)
TL;DR. CPA, or cost per action, is an affiliate payout model that pays a fixed fee each time a tracked user completes a...
Read definitionCPM Advertising
TL;DR. CPM advertising prices ads by every 1,000 impressions served, regardless of clicks. The formula is total spend...
Read definitionCPM (Cost per Mille / Cost per 1,000 Impressions)
TL;DR. CPM is the price of 1,000 ad impressions. You divide total spend by impressions, then multiply by 1,000. It is...
Read definitionCPM (Cost per Mille/Cost per 1,000 Impressions)
Cost to display an ad 1,000 times, used to quantify the effectiveness of advertising campaigns. CPM is a widely used...
Read definitionCreative
TL;DR. A creative is the visual and copy asset a user sees in an ad. Static image, video, carousel, UGC clip, or...
Read definitionCreative Compliance
TL;DR. Creative compliance is the pre-launch review process that confirms ad creative meets platform policy,...
Read definitionCreative Intelligence
Creative intelligence is the use of AI systems to score, predict and adapt advertising creative based on performance...
Read definitionCreative Library
TL;DR. A creative library is a centralized repository of approved ad assets, images, video, copy, and brand guidelines,...
Read definitionCreative Library
TL;DR. A creative library is a central store of approved ad assets. Images, videos, headlines, logos, and brand kits...
Read definitionCreative Optimization
TL;DR. Creative optimization is the process of testing ad creatives at scale and shifting budget toward the variants...
Read definitionCTR (Click Through Rate)
TL;DR. CTR (click-through rate) is the share of people who click an ad or link after seeing it. The formula is clicks...
Read definitionCustom AdTech Stack
A custom adtech stack is a set of proprietary data, decisioning and measurement components that a brand owns and...
Read definitionCustom Audience (Meta)
TL;DR. A Meta Custom Audience is a list of users built from first-party data: customer files, website visits, app...
Read definitionCustomer Cohort Analysis
TL;DR. Customer cohort analysis groups users by a shared start event, usually signup or first purchase, and tracks how...
Read definitionDaily Active Users (DAU)
TL;DR. Daily Active Users (DAU) is the count of unique users who interact with a product within a 24-hour window....
Read definitionDaily Budget
TL;DR. A daily budget is the average amount an ad campaign is allowed to spend each day. Google and Meta both treat it...
Read definitionData Clean Room
TL;DR. A data clean room is a secure, privacy-preserving environment where two or more parties match and analyze...
Read definitionData-Driven Attribution (DDA)
TL;DR. Data-driven attribution (DDA) is a machine-learning model that assigns conversion credit across every ad...
Read definitionDatafeed
TL;DR. A datafeed is a structured file or API stream that ships catalog data from a source system into an ad platform....
Read definitionDayparting
TL;DR. Dayparting is the practice of running ads only during specific hours of the day or days of the week. It cuts...
Read definitionDeep Linking
TL;DR. Deep linking is a URL that sends a user to a specific screen inside a mobile app or a specific page on the web,...
Read definitionDemand Path Optimization (DPO)
TL;DR. Demand path optimization (DPO) is the publisher-side practice of curating which SSPs, exchanges, and bidders...
Read definitionDemand-Side Platform (DSP)
TL;DR. A demand-side platform (DSP) is software that lets advertisers buy ad inventory across multiple ad exchanges and...
Read definitionDescribe Your Audience
Describe Your Audience is a natural language targeting input inside Meta's Advantage+ campaign setup. Instead of...
Read definitionDirect Buy
TL;DR. A direct buy is ad inventory purchased straight from a publisher through a negotiated insertion order, not an...
Read definitionDirect Offer
TL;DR. A direct offer is an affiliate deal sourced straight from the advertiser instead of through a network....
Read definitionDisclosure
TL;DR. A disclosure is a clear, conspicuous notice that tells readers, viewers, or followers that you are paid, gifted,...
Read definitionDisplay Advertising
TL;DR. Display advertising places visual ads, banner, video, or rich media, on websites, apps, and connected TV. It...
Read definitionDomain Authority
TL;DR. Domain Authority (DA) is a Moz metric that scores a website's likely ranking strength on a 0 to 100 logarithmic...
Read definitionDOOH (Digital Out-of-Home)
TL;DR. Digital out-of-home (DOOH) is advertising on internet-connected digital screens in public spaces such as...
Read definitionDouble opt
A term that means the subscriber has confirmed the subscription. A regular Opt-in occurs when a user voluntarily joins...
Read definitionDynamic Tracking
TL;DR. Dynamic tracking auto-populates URL parameters from variables inside each click event, using macro tokens like...
Read definitionEarnings Per Click (EPC)
TL;DR. Earnings per click (EPC) is the average commission an affiliate earns for every click sent to an offer. The...
Read definitionEffective Cost per Mile
An ad revenue that’s generated for every 1,000 impressions. When calculating the cost per thousand ad impressions, the...
Read definitionEngagement Rate
TL;DR. Engagement rate is the percentage of viewers who interact with a piece of content, calculated as interactions...
Read definitionExclusive Offer
TL;DR. An exclusive offer is an affiliate deal that an advertiser grants to a single network, publisher, or region...
Read definitionFacebook Ads
TL;DR. Facebook Ads is Meta's auction-based advertising platform that places paid placements across Facebook,...
Read definitionFeed Provider
TL;DR. A feed provider is a company that supplies a syndicated feed of search results, products, or sponsored content...
Read definitionFill Rate
TL;DR. Fill rate is the percentage of ad requests that return a paid ad. It is the publisher's monetization yield on...
Read definitionFirst Click Attribution
TL;DR. First click attribution assigns 100% of conversion credit to the first marketing touchpoint a user interacts...
Read definitionFirst-Party Data
TL;DR. First-party data is information a brand collects directly from its own customers, app users, and site visitors...
Read definitionFirst-Touch Attribution
TL;DR. First-touch attribution gives 100 percent of conversion credit to the first marketing touchpoint a buyer...
Read definitionFrequency Cap
TL;DR. A frequency cap is the numeric setting that limits how many times one user or household sees the same ad in a...
Read definitionFrequency Capping
TL;DR. Frequency capping is the rule that limits how often a single user or household sees the same ad inside a defined...
Read definitionGA4 (Google Analytics 4)
TL;DR. GA4 is Google's current analytics platform. It replaced Universal Analytics in July 2023. Everything is an...
Read definitionGame Bundles
TL;DR. Game bundles package multiple mobile games into a single app, offer, or subscription that affiliates promote as...
Read definitionGDPR
TL;DR. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is the European Union law that governs how companies collect,...
Read definitionGEO (Generative Engine Optimization)
Generative Engine Optimization, or GEO, is the practice of structuring and distributing brand content so that...
Read definitionGEO Target
A method of targeting a specific country. If you hear affiliates talking about GEO, they’re referring to a certain...
Read definitionGeo Targeting
TL;DR. Geo targeting is the practice of choosing who sees an ad based on physical location. It runs across six levels:...
Read definitionGoogle AI Max
Google AI Max is an AI driven upgrade for Search campaigns inside Google Ads. It expands keyword matching, generates ad...
Read definitionGoogle Shopping Ads
TL;DR. Google Shopping Ads are visual product listings that appear on the search results, Shopping tab, Images,...
Read definitionHeatmap (Web Analytics)
TL;DR. A heatmap is a visual report that aggregates user behavior on a web page. It uses warm-to-cool color overlays to...
Read definitionHook Rate
TL;DR. Hook rate is the percentage of ad impressions that keep watching a video past the 3-second mark. It measures how...
Read definitionIdentity Resolution
TL;DR. Identity resolution is the process of stitching scattered signals (emails, hashed phone numbers, device IDs,...
Read definitionImage-to-Video Ads
Image-to-video ads are video creatives generated by AI from a small set of still product photos. Meta launched the...
Read definitionImpression
TL;DR. An impression is a single instance of an ad being served to a user's device. Platforms count it the moment the...
Read definitionIn-App Advertising
TL;DR. In-app advertising is the practice of showing ads inside mobile apps, sold through networks like Google AdMob,...
Read definitionIncrementality Testing
TL;DR. Incrementality testing measures the conversions an ad actually caused versus the conversions that would have...
Read definitionInstalls Per Mille (IPM)
TL;DR. Installs Per Mille (IPM) measures how many app installs an ad creative drives per 1,000 impressions. Mobile ad...
Read definitionInstant Experience (Canvas Ad)
TL;DR. Instant Experience is Meta's full-screen, post-click canvas that opens inside Facebook and Instagram after a tap...
Read definitionIntent-Based Targeting
Intent-Based Targeting is an audience approach that uses real-time behavioral signals, including search queries, page...
Read definitionInteractive Ads
TL;DR. Interactive ads invite the viewer to tap, swipe, play, or shop inside the ad unit itself. Common formats include...
Read definitionInternal Linking
It leads to another page that’s on the same website. Put another way, and they’re talking about hyperlinks that point...
Read definitionInterstitial Ads
TL;DR. An interstitial ad is a full-screen ad that appears between two content moments, like an app level break or a...
Read definitionInvalid Traffic (IVT)
TL;DR. Invalid traffic is any ad impression or click not generated by a real human with genuine intent. The IAB Tech...
Read definitionInventory Curation
TL;DR. Inventory curation is the process of selecting, packaging, and quality-screening programmatic ad supply before...
Read definitioniOS 14.5 ATT (App Tracking Transparency)
TL;DR. iOS 14.5 App Tracking Transparency is Apple's privacy framework that forces apps to ask permission before...
Read definitionKeyword
TL;DR. A keyword is the word or phrase a user types into a search engine to find content. Keywords are the unit that...
Read definitionKeyword Density
TL;DR. Keyword density is the percentage of times a target keyword appears in a page's total word count. It was a...
Read definitionKeyword Research
TL;DR. Keyword research is the process of finding the exact search terms people type into Google, then ranking those...
Read definitionK-Factor (Viral Coefficient)
TL;DR. K-factor, also called viral coefficient, measures how many new users each existing user brings in. The formula...
Read definitionCustomer Lifetime Value (LTV)
TL;DR. Customer lifetime value (LTV) is the total profit a customer generates from the first purchase to the last. It...
Read definitionLanding Page
TL;DR. A landing page is a standalone web page built for a single conversion goal. It is where paid traffic lands after...
Read definitionLast-Touch Attribution
TL;DR. Last-touch attribution gives 100 percent of the conversion credit to the final marketing touchpoint before a...
Read definitionLinkedIn Ads
TL;DR. LinkedIn Ads is the paid advertising platform inside LinkedIn Marketing Solutions. It reaches over 1 billion...
Read definitionLLM Advertising
LLM Advertising is the umbrella term for paid ad formats served inside or through large language model products. It...
Read definitionLLM DSP (Large Language Model Demand-Side Platform)
An LLM DSP, or Large Language Model Demand-Side Platform, is a new type of programmatic buying tool that uses live...
Read definitionLLM (Large Language Model)
TL;DR. A large language model (LLM) is an AI system trained on huge volumes of text to predict the next token in a...
Read definitionLLMO (Large Language Model Optimization)
LLMO, short for Large Language Model Optimization, is the practice of shaping content, structured data and brand...
Read definitionLookalike Audience
TL;DR. A lookalike audience is a modeled group of users who resemble a seed list of known customers. Ad platforms run a...
Read definitionManual Approval
TL;DR. Manual approval is the human review step that vets affiliate applications, ad creatives, or full campaigns...
Read definitionMaximum Budget
TL;DR. Maximum budget is the hard ceiling an advertiser sets on campaign spend, applied either daily or across a...
Read definitionMedia Buyer
TL;DR. A media buyer plans, negotiates, buys, and optimizes paid ad placements across digital and traditional channels....
Read definitionMedia Buying Platform
TL;DR. A media buying platform is software that lets advertisers plan, purchase, and optimize ad inventory across...
Read definitionMeta Ad Library
TL;DR. The Meta Ad Library is a public, searchable archive of every ad currently running on Facebook, Instagram,...
Read definitionMeta Ads Learning Phase
TL;DR. The Meta Ads learning phase is the algorithm's exploration period for new or edited ad sets, ending once the ad...
Read definitionMeta Ads Manager
TL;DR. Meta Ads Manager is the central dashboard advertisers use to plan, launch, measure, and optimize paid campaigns...
Read definitionMeta Advantage
TL;DR. Meta Advantage is the umbrella brand for Meta's AI-driven ad automation products. It covers Advantage+ Sales...
Read definitionMeta Business Manager
TL;DR. Meta Business Manager is the central hub where brands own and organize their Meta assets. Pages, ad accounts,...
Read definitionMeta Conversions API (CAPI)
TL;DR. The Meta Conversions API (CAPI) sends conversion events directly from your server to Meta, bypassing the...
Read definitionMeta Description
TL;DR. A meta description is the short HTML summary that tells search engines what a page is about. Google often...
Read definitionMeta Pixel
TL;DR. The Meta Pixel is a JavaScript snippet that loads fbevents.js on your website to track visitors for Facebook and...
Read definitionMeta Pixel Events
TL;DR. Meta Pixel events are the named signals your website sends to Meta when a user does something valuable. There...
Read definitionMeta Tags
TL;DR. Meta tags are HTML snippets in the <head> of a page that tell search engines and social platforms what the...
Read definitionMeta Title
TL;DR. A meta title is the HTML title tag that names a webpage in search results, browser tabs, and social previews. It...
Read definitionMFA Sites (Made for Advertising)
TL;DR. MFA sites are web properties built primarily to harvest programmatic ad revenue, not to serve readers. They run...
Read definitionMobile App Fraud
TL;DR. Mobile app fraud is the theft of user acquisition budget through fake installs, hijacked attribution, and...
Read definitionMobile Billing
TL;DR. Mobile billing, also called direct carrier billing or DCB, lets a user charge a digital purchase to their...
Read definitionMobile Game Marketing
TL;DR. Mobile game marketing is the practice of acquiring, retaining, and monetizing players for iOS and Android...
Read definitionModel Context Protocol (MCP)
Model Context Protocol, usually shortened to MCP, is an open standard that lets AI agents and large language models...
Read definitionModular Asset Generation (MAG)
Modular Asset Generation, often shortened to MAG, is a creative production model in which teams build a library of...
Read definitionMonthly Active Users (MAU)
TL;DR. Monthly Active Users (MAU) is the count of unique users who performed a qualifying action inside a product...
Read definitionMulti-Touch Attribution
TL;DR. Multi-touch attribution (MTA) splits conversion credit across every marketing touchpoint a buyer interacted with...
Read definitionMultivariate Testing (MVT)
TL;DR. Multivariate testing (MVT) changes multiple elements of a page or ad at the same time and measures every...
Read definitionNative Ads
TL;DR. A native ad is a single paid unit built to match the look, feel, and behavior of the content around it. The...
Read definitionNative Advertising
TL;DR. Native advertising is paid media designed to match the form, function, and feel of the surrounding editorial...
Read definitionNative to Search
TL;DR. Native to Search (N2S) is a paid traffic strategy where advertisers buy clicks on native networks like Taboola...
Read definitionNiche Marketing
TL;DR. Niche marketing focuses a brand on one narrow audience with specific needs the mass market ignores. It trades...
Read definitionOffer
TL;DR. An offer is the product, service, or promotion an advertiser submits to an affiliate network for publishers to...
Read definitionOffer Wall
TL;DR. An offer wall is an in-app screen where users complete paid actions in exchange for app currency. Users install...
Read definitionOff-Page SEO
TL;DR. Off-page SEO is everything you do outside your own site to earn ranking trust. Backlinks, brand mentions,...
Read definitionOn-Page SEO
TL;DR. On-page SEO is the set of edits you make on a webpage to rank higher in search and earn more clicks. It covers...
Read definitionOptimization Rules
TL;DR. Optimization rules are automated if-then triggers that pause, scale, or rotate ad campaigns based on performance...
Read definitionOpt-In Email
TL;DR. Opt-in email is permission-based marketing. A user actively agrees to receive messages before any send. Two...
Read definitionOrganic Installs
TL;DR. Organic installs are app downloads not attributed to any paid campaign. They come from store search, ASO, word...
Read definitionOutbound Link
A link to another website. An external link, also known as a connector that connects your website that takes users to...
Read definitionPage Authority
A score from 1-100 that predicts how well will a certain page rank on search engines. Pages with high Page Authority...
Read definitionPage Management for Facebook Pages
TL;DR. Page management for Facebook Pages is the day-to-day work of running a brand's Page on Facebook. It covers admin...
Read definitionPageRank
An algorithm for ranking sites based on their searches (used by Google). Page Rank is a search engine ranking technique...
Read definitionPaid Media
TL;DR. Paid media is any marketing channel where you pay a platform to place a message in front of an audience. It...
Read definitionPaid Search
TL;DR. Paid search is the practice of buying ad placements on search engine results pages. Advertisers bid on keywords....
Read definitionPay Bump
TL;DR. A pay bump is a temporary higher payout an advertiser grants a specific affiliate to drive volume, win back lost...
Read definitionPayout
TL;DR. A payout is the amount an affiliate network or advertiser pays a publisher for each qualifying conversion....
Read definitionPay Per Click (PPC)
A payment model where the advertiser gets paid every time a user clicks on an ad. PPC is an abbreviation for...
Read definitionPay-per-Crawl
Pay-per-Crawl is a publisher monetization model in which AI companies pay a fee each time their bots fetch a page from...
Read definitionPay Per Lead (PPL)
TL;DR. Pay per lead (PPL) is an affiliate pricing model where the advertiser pays a fixed fee for each validated lead...
Read definitionPay Per Sale (PPS)
TL;DR. Pay per sale (PPS), also called CPS, is an affiliate payout model where the advertiser pays the affiliate a...
Read definitionPerformance Max (PMax)
TL;DR. Performance Max is a Google Ads campaign type that runs across Search, YouTube, Display, Discover, Maps, Gmail,...
Read definitionPinterest Ads
TL;DR. Pinterest Ads are paid Pins that appear in the home feed, search results, and related Pin sections across...
Read definitionPixel
TL;DR. A pixel is a snippet of tracking code (originally a 1x1 transparent image, now usually a JavaScript tag) that...
Read definitionPixel Event
TL;DR. A pixel event is a named signal a tracking pixel fires to an ad platform when a user takes an action. PageView,...
Read definitionPlayable Mobile Ads
TL;DR. Playable mobile ads are 30 to 60 second HTML5 mini-games that let users try an app inside the ad before...
Read definitionPostback URL
TL;DR. A postback URL is a server-to-server call the advertiser fires when a conversion happens. It pings the tracking...
Read definitionPPC Affiliates
TL;DR. PPC affiliates are performance marketers who buy paid traffic on platforms like Google Ads, Microsoft Ads, and...
Read definitionPredictive Analytics
TL;DR. Predictive analytics uses historical data and machine learning to forecast future outcomes. In marketing, it...
Read definitionPrelander
TL;DR. A prelander is a short bridge page that appears after the ad click and before the actual offer. Affiliates use...
Read definitionPrivacy Sandbox
TL;DR. Privacy Sandbox is Chrome's stack of privacy-preserving advertising APIs. It replaces cross-site cookie use...
Read definitionProduct Feed
TL;DR. A product feed is a structured file (XML, TXT, CSV, or API) that lists every SKU you sell with attributes like...
Read definitionProgrammatic Audio
TL;DR. Programmatic audio is the automated buying of digital audio ad inventory across music streaming, digital radio,...
Read definitionProgrammatic Direct
TL;DR. Programmatic direct is automated media buying without an open auction. The buyer reserves inventory from one...
Read definitionPrompt Engineering
TL;DR. Prompt engineering is the craft of writing instructions that get reliable, on-brand output from AI models. For...
Read definitionPublisher
TL;DR. A publisher is the owner of a website, app, email list, or social account who monetizes traffic by serving ads...
Read definitionPurchase Event
TL;DR. The Purchase event is the Meta Pixel standard event that fires when a customer completes an order. It carries...
Read definitionRAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation)
Retrieval-Augmented Generation, or RAG, is the architecture behind most practical AI marketing tools in 2026. Instead...
Read definitionRaw Clicks
TL;DR. Raw clicks are the unfiltered total of every click event a tracker records before deduplication, bot exclusion,...
Read definitionReal-Time Bidding (RTB)
TL;DR. Real-time bidding (RTB) is the auction mechanism that prices and serves a digital ad impression in under 100...
Read definitionReal-Time Reporting
TL;DR. Real-time reporting surfaces ad and marketing performance data within seconds to minutes of an event firing....
Read definitionReddit Ads
TL;DR. Reddit Ads is the self-serve and managed advertising system for Reddit. Advertisers buy auction-priced...
Read definitionReels Ads
TL;DR. Reels Ads are full-screen vertical video placements that run between organic Reels on Instagram and Facebook....
Read definitionReferral Bonus Programs
TL;DR. A referral bonus program rewards existing users for bringing in new ones. Rewards can be one-sided, two-sided,...
Read definitionReferring Domain
A domain from where backlinks are coming. In the SEO world, it’s also referred to as a linking domain, and it’s a...
Read definitionReferring URL
The URL of a web page that sends traffic to your page or website. When you click on an internal link on a webpage, you...
Read definitionRetail Media Network (RMN)
TL;DR. A retail media network (RMN) is an ad platform owned by a retailer that lets brands buy on-site, in-app, and...
Read definitionRetention Rate
TL;DR. Retention rate is the percentage of users, customers, or accounts who stay active over a defined window. It is...
Read definitionReturn on Investment (ROI)
TL;DR. Return on investment (ROI) measures the net profit a marketing campaign produces relative to its total cost. The...
Read definitionRevenue Per Click (RPC)
TL;DR. Revenue Per Click (RPC) is total revenue divided by total clicks, expressed in dollars. Affiliates,...
Read definitionRevise (Creative Variation Tool)
TL;DR. A revise tool takes one existing ad creative and generates AI variants by swapping specific elements: headline,...
Read definitionRewarded Video
TL;DR. Rewarded video is an opt-in mobile ad format where a user watches a 15 to 30 second video or playable in...
Read definitionROAS Calculator
TL;DR. A ROAS calculator divides revenue from ads by ad spend to return a single multiplier. Plug in $40,000 revenue...
Read definitionROAS (Return on Ad Spend)
TL;DR. ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) is the revenue generated for every dollar spent on ads. Formula: revenue from ads...
Read definitionRobots.txt
Web admins use a Robots.txt file to give instructions to web robots. Robots.txt exclusion protocol is a text file that...
Read definitionROI (Return on Investment)
ROI (Return on Investment) is a primary metric that assesses the profitability of a campaign on the basis of comparing...
Read definitionRON (Run of Network)
TL;DR. Run of Network (RON) is an ad buy that spreads impressions across every publisher in an ad network without...
Read definitionRoot Domain
The shortest form of the domain. The root domain is the highest level of the Internet’s hierarchies, surpassing...
Read definitionRSOC (Related Search on Content)
TL;DR. RSOC, short for Related Search on Content, is a Google AdSense for Search product. Publishers embed a search box...
Read definitionS2S (Server-to-Server) Tracking
TL;DR. S2S tracking records conversions through direct server-to-server calls instead of browser pixels. The advertiser...
Read definitionS2S Tracking
A unique identification is generated and stored when a user clicks on a tracking link or generates an ad impression...
Read definitionSearch Arbitrage
TL;DR. Search arbitrage is the practice of buying cheap paid traffic, sending it to a content page that hosts a Google...
Read definitionSearch Engine Results Page (SERP)
Results that the search engine finds when searching for a word or sentence query. After submitting a search query, SERP...
Read definitionSearch Feed
TL;DR. A search feed is an XML or JSON stream of paid search ads syndicated from Google, Microsoft, or Yahoo to...
Read definitionSearch Intent Targeting
TL;DR. Search intent targeting reaches users based on the queries they type, not who they are. It uses keyword data to...
Read definitionSearch Monetization
TL;DR. Search monetization is the practice of turning search queries and search-result pages into ad revenue, typically...
Read definitionSearch to Search
TL;DR. Search to search (S2S) is an arbitrage strategy where marketers buy paid search clicks on Google or Bing, route...
Read definitionSearch Traffic
TL;DR. Search traffic is the slice of website visitors who arrive from a search engine. It splits into organic (unpaid...
Read definitionSEO Affiliates
TL;DR. SEO affiliates are publishers who rank in Google for buyer-intent keywords, then monetize the traffic with...
Read definitionServer-Side Tracking
TL;DR. Server-side tracking sends conversion events from your backend directly to ad platforms via authenticated APIs....
Read definitionShopify Ads Integration
TL;DR. A Shopify ads integration is the connection between a Shopify store and an ad platform like Meta, Google, or...
Read definitionSingle Offer
TL;DR. A single offer is an affiliate campaign that points all traffic to one specific advertiser, landing page, and...
Read definitionSingle opt-in
Conversion flow that requires only one conformation. It is a one-step method that only requires a single confirmation,...
Read definitionSKAdNetwork (SKAN)
TL;DR. SKAdNetwork (SKAN) is Apple's privacy-preserving attribution API for iOS ad campaigns. It returns aggregated...
Read definitionSmartlink
TL;DR. A smartlink is a single tracking URL that sends each click to the highest-paying affiliate offer that matches...
Read definitionSmart Resize (AI)
TL;DR. Smart Resize (AI) is a workflow that takes one ad creative and rebuilds it for every placement format. The model...
Read definitionSnapchat Ads
TL;DR. Snapchat Ads are paid placements that run between Stories, in Discover, in Spotlight, and through AR Lenses...
Read definitionSocial Marketers
TL;DR. Social marketers are professionals who plan, produce, and measure paid and organic content across platforms like...
Read definitionSocial Proof in Ads
TL;DR. Social proof in ads embeds trust signals, reviews, ratings, testimonials, user counts, expert endorsements, into...
Read definitionSocial Traffic (Social Advertisements)
TL;DR. Social traffic is the visits a website receives from social platforms, either from organic posts or paid social...
Read definitionSoft Launch
TL;DR. A soft launch is a deliberately limited release of a product, app, or ad campaign. It tests demand, pricing, and...
Read definitionSpiders (Web crawling)
Several website URLs that need to be visited, and these are seeds. The crawler of the search engine visits every web...
Read definitionSplit Testing (A/B Testing)
TL;DR. Split testing, also called A/B testing, runs two versions of a page, ad, or email at the same time to see which...
Read definitionSponsored Suggestions
Sponsored Suggestions is the official name OpenAI uses for its paid ad format inside ChatGPT. Launched in the United...
Read definitionSSP (Supply-Side Platform)
TL;DR. A supply-side platform (SSP) is software that lets publishers sell their ad inventory programmatically across...
Read definitionStory Ads
TL;DR. Story Ads are full-screen vertical (9:16) ads that appear between user-generated Stories on Instagram, Facebook,...
Read definitionSub ID tracking
Tracking the performance of the campaigns by analyzing publishers. Campaign performance can be tracked using...
Read definitionSubID Tracking
TL;DR. SubID tracking is a method where affiliates append custom parameters to their links, like sub1 or aff_sub, to...
Read definitionSuper Affiliates
TL;DR. Super affiliates are the top 1-3% of partners in any program, often generating $100k+ per month and accounting...
Read definitionSupply Path Optimization (SPO)
TL;DR. Supply path optimization (SPO) is the buy-side practice of curating which exchanges, SSPs, and resellers a DSP...
Read definitionSupply Side Platform (SSP)
A technology platform that enables web publishers to manage their advertising space inventory, fill it with ads, and...
Read definitionSuppression List
TL;DR. A suppression list is a record of contacts who must not receive your marketing. It includes unsubscribers, hard...
Read definitionSweepstakes
TL;DR. A sweepstakes is a promotion where participants submit basic information (name, email, postal address) for a...
Read definitionSynthetic Audiences
Synthetic audiences are AI generated audience profiles that simulate the responses, preferences and behaviors of real...
Read definitionSynthetic Media
TL;DR. Synthetic media is image, video, audio, or text content produced or materially altered by generative AI. It...
Read definitionTargeted Marketing
TL;DR. Targeted marketing reaches a defined audience with a message built for them, instead of broadcasting to...
Read definitionTargeted Traffic
TL;DR. Targeted traffic is visitors who match your offer by search intent, audience signal, or context. It converts at...
Read definitionText Link
A link to a web page without an image attached. A text link is also called an anchor text or link label and refers to...
Read definitionThird-Party Cookie Deprecation
TL;DR. Third-party cookie deprecation is the gradual end of cross-site tracking cookies in major browsers. Safari...
Read definitionThird-Party Tracking
TL;DR. Third-party tracking measures ad activity through entities other than the publisher or advertiser, using...
Read definitionThreads Ads
TL;DR. Threads Ads are sponsored placements inside Meta's text-first social network. Launched as a closed image-ad beta...
Read definitionThumb-Stop Rate
TL;DR. Thumb-stop rate measures the percentage of feed impressions where a scroller actually pauses on your video,...
Read definitionTikTok Ads
TL;DR. TikTok Ads are paid placements that run inside TikTok's For You feed, on TopView, and across the audience...
Read definitionTracking Link
TL;DR. A tracking link is a URL with appended parameters that record where a click came from, who sent it, and what...
Read definitionTracking Method
TL;DR. A tracking method is the technical approach used to record ad clicks and conversions. The main options are pixel...
Read definitionTracking Pixel
TL;DR. A tracking pixel is a 1x1 transparent image or JavaScript tag embedded in a webpage, email, or app that fires a...
Read definitionTracking Platform
TL;DR. A tracking platform records every click, click ID, and conversion across affiliate campaigns, then attributes...
Read definitionTracking Software
TL;DR. Tracking software is the system that records every click, conversion, and payout in an affiliate or performance...
Read definitionTracking URL
TL;DR. A tracking URL is a web address with appended query parameters that record click metadata before the page loads....
Read definitionTraffic
TL;DR. Traffic is the flow of visitors arriving at a website, app, or ad placement. Each visitor comes from a source:...
Read definitionUGC Ads
TL;DR. UGC ads are paid social ads that look and feel like organic creator content. First-person, lo-fi, phone-shot....
Read definitionUnified Reporting
TL;DR. Unified reporting consolidates ad performance data from every paid channel into one view, so marketers can...
Read definitionUnique Clicks
TL;DR. Unique clicks measure how many distinct users or sessions clicked an ad or link, not the raw click total....
Read definitionUnique User
TL;DR. A unique user is a deduplicated count of distinct people interacting with a campaign or property over a defined...
Read definitionUniversal Commerce Protocol (UCP)
Universal Commerce Protocol, usually written as UCP, is an emerging open standard that allows AI agents, merchants, and...
Read definitionURL–Uniform Resource Locator (Web Address)
A Uniform Resource Locator (URL) is a unique identification for a resource located on the Internet. Every proper URL...
Read definitionUser Acquisition (UA)
TL;DR. User acquisition (UA) is the practice of attracting new users to an app, game, or SaaS product through paid and...
Read definitionUser Engagement
TL;DR. User engagement measures how actively people interact with a product, page, or piece of content. It covers time...
Read definitionUser Segmentation
TL;DR. User segmentation is the practice of grouping customers into clusters that share traits, behavior, or value....
Read definitionVertical Scaling (Ad Spend)
TL;DR. Vertical scaling is raising the daily budget on a single proven ad set instead of duplicating it or launching...
Read definitionVertical Video
TL;DR. Vertical video is a 9:16 portrait format shot for full-screen mobile playback. It is the de facto standard for...
Read definitionVideo Traffic
TL;DR. Video traffic is paid or earned visits and impressions generated from video ad placements across YouTube,...
Read definitionView-Through Attribution
TL;DR. View-through attribution (VTA) credits a conversion to an ad the user saw but did not click, usually within a...
Read definitionViral Marketing
TL;DR. Viral marketing is a strategy that engineers content for peer-to-peer sharing, so each viewer sends the message...
Read definitionWarm Audience
TL;DR. A warm audience is a group of people who already know a brand. They watched a video, visited the site, opened an...
Read definitionWebmasters
The term "webmaster" sounds more like something out of a corny sci-fi novel than something you’d find on a job board....
Read definitionWhite Hat SEO
TL;DR. White hat SEO is the practice of earning rankings within Google's published guidelines. It rests on four...
Read definitionWhite Label
TL;DR. White label is a product built by one company and resold under another company's brand. The buyer keeps the...
Read definitionWhitelist
TL;DR. A whitelist is a list of pre-approved domains, apps, IP addresses, or keywords that a system explicitly allows....
Read definitionWooCommerce Ads
TL;DR. WooCommerce ads are paid campaigns powered by an integration between a WordPress WooCommerce store and an ad...
Read definitionZero-Click Commerce
Zero-Click Commerce describes purchases that complete entirely inside an AI chat, voice assistant, or agent experience,...
Read definitionZero-Click Search
Zero-Click Search refers to any search query that is resolved on the results page itself, without the user clicking...
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