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
Above the fold is the slice of a web page a visitor sees before scrolling. It is the most valuable real estate on the...
Read definitionAd Account Management
Ad account management is the day-to-day work of running paid-ad accounts across platforms like Meta and Google. It...
Read definitionAd Agency
An ad agency is a company that plans, creates, and buys advertising on behalf of brands. The category covers...
Read definitionAd Clone
An ad clone is a recreation of a competitor's winning ad in your own brand voice, palette, and offer. The clone copies...
Read definitionAdd to Cart Event
The AddToCart event is a Meta Pixel standard event that fires when a shopper adds a product to their cart. It carries...
Read definitionAd Exchange
An ad exchange is a digital marketplace that runs real-time auctions for ad impressions between buy-side DSPs and...
Read definitionAd Fatigue
Ad fatigue is the drop in ad performance after an audience has seen the same creative too many times. CTR falls, CPM...
Read definitionAd Impression
An ad impression is a single instance of a paid creative being served from an ad server to a user's device. It is the...
Read definitionAd Mediation
Ad mediation is a software layer that sends a single ad request to multiple ad networks, runs an auction across them,...
Read definitionAd Network
An ad network is a company that aggregates ad inventory from many publishers and resells it to advertisers as packaged...
Read definitionAd Revenue
Ad revenue is the income a publisher earns from ads served on a site, app, video, or email. It is calculated as RPM...
Read definitionAd Server
An ad server is software that stores ad creative, decides which ad to show each user, delivers the impression, and logs...
Read definitionAd Tag (Creative or Placement Tag)
An ad tag is a snippet of HTML, JavaScript, or XML that a publisher page or app drops into an ad slot. It calls an ad...
Read definitionAd Tech (Advertising Technology)
Ad tech (advertising technology) is the software stack that buys, sells, targets, and measures digital ads across the...
Read definitionAd Unit
An ad unit is a defined slot on a page, app screen, or CTV interface where a single ad renders. It has a fixed size,...
Read definitionAdvantage+ Creative
Advantage+ Creative is Meta's AI layer inside Ads Manager that takes one uploaded ad and spins out per-user variations....
Read definitionAdvantage+ Placements
Advantage+ Placements is Meta's AI placement optimization, the renamed Automatic Placements setting. The system picks...
Read definitionAdvantage+ Shopping Campaign (ASC)
Advantage+ Shopping Campaign (ASC) is Meta's automated ecommerce campaign type that uses machine learning to optimize...
Read definitionAdvertisers
An advertiser is the brand, agency, or merchant that pays to place ads in front of an audience. Advertisers buy...
Read definitionAdvertising Restrictions
Advertising restrictions are rules set by platforms like Meta and Google or regulators like the EU that limit who...
Read definitionAdware and Spyware
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
An affiliate is a person or company that promotes another brand's products or services in exchange for a commission on...
Read definitionAffiliate Link / Affiliate Marketing
An affiliate link is a trackable URL containing a unique partner ID that attributes clicks and conversions to a...
Read definitionAffiliate Manager
An affiliate manager runs a brand's partner program day to day. The role covers recruiting publishers, onboarding new...
Read definitionAffiliate Marketing Forum
An affiliate marketing forum is an online community where affiliates, advertisers, and network reps trade offer intel,...
Read definitionAffiliate Network
An affiliate network is a marketplace that connects advertisers running offers with publishers driving traffic. The...
Read definitionAffiliate Program
An affiliate program is a performance-based deal where a brand pays partners a commission for every sale, lead, or...
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
Agentic AI in advertising refers to autonomous systems that plan, execute, and optimize paid media without step-by-step...
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
An agentic workflow is an AI system that plans a multi-step task, calls external tools, and acts on its own decisions...
Read definitionAI Ad Creative
AI ad creative is the finished ad asset, image, video, or copy, produced by a generative model from a product link,...
Read definitionAI Copywriting for Ads
AI copywriting for ads uses large language models to generate headlines, primary text, descriptions, and calls to...
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
AI-generated ads are image, video, copy, and dynamic creatives produced by generative models from a product URL, brand...
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
AI image generation turns a written prompt into a finished picture using diffusion or transformer models. The big six...
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
AI video ads are short motion clips generated by diffusion or transformer models from a text prompt, a still image, or...
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)
Alt text (alternative text) is a short written description added to an image's HTML via the alt attribute. It serves...
Read definitionAmazon PPC
Amazon PPC is pay-per-click advertising inside Amazon's marketplace. Sellers bid on keywords or products. Ads appear in...
Read definitionAmazon Sponsored Products
Amazon Sponsored Products are pay-per-click ads that promote individual ASINs across Amazon search results and product...
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
App metrics are the quantitative signals that describe how a mobile app acquires, engages, and monetizes users. The...
Read definitionApp Monetization
App monetization is how a mobile app turns users into revenue. The four primary models are in-app advertising, in-app...
Read definitionApp Rating
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 weighted...
Read definitionApp Session
An app session is one continuous period of user engagement with a mobile app, from foreground open to background or...
Read definitionAR Advertising
AR advertising places branded 3D objects, filters, and try-on experiences inside a user's camera feed. It runs on Snap...
Read definitionAttribution Window
Attribution window defines the period over which conversion is attributed to a specific ad or affiliate click,...
Read definitionAttribution Window (Meta)
A Meta attribution window is the time period after a click or view in which Meta will credit a conversion to one of its...
Read definitionAudience Retargeting
An audience retargeting list contains users who already engaged with a brand: site visitors, cart abandoners, video...
Read definitionAudience Targeting
Audience targeting is the practice of choosing who sees an ad based on demographics, interests, behavior, location, and...
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)
Average Revenue per Paying User (ARPPU) divides total revenue by the count of paying users in a window. It isolates...
Read definitionAverage Revenue Per User (ARPU)
Average revenue per user (ARPU) is total revenue divided by active users in a fixed period. It is the cleanest read on...
Read definitionAVOD vs SVOD (Video on Demand)
Video on demand (VOD) lets viewers stream content on demand instead of on a fixed schedule. AVOD is the ad-supported...
Read definitionBacklinks
A backlink is a link from one website to another. Search engines treat each backlink as a vote of trust. The more...
Read definitionBanner Ad
A banner ad is a visual ad placed in a fixed slot on a website, app, or mobile screen. It runs as a static image,...
Read definitionBid
A bid is the price an advertiser is willing to pay for an ad placement, click, view, or conversion in an auction. Bids...
Read definitionBiddable CTV
Biddable CTV is connected television inventory that is bought and sold through real time programmatic auctions instead...
Read definitionBid Shading
Bid shading is a programmatic bidding technique that reduces a buyer's bid in a first-price auction to a predicted...
Read definitionBid Strategy
A bid strategy is the rule set that decides how an ad platform spends your budget in each auction. It can be manual...
Read definitionBlack Hat SEO
Black hat SEO is the practice of using tactics that violate search engine guidelines to push a page up the rankings....
Read definitionBlacklist
A blacklist is a list of domains, apps, IP addresses, or keywords that an advertiser explicitly blocks from a campaign....
Read definitionBounce Rate
Bounce rate is the percentage of sessions that end on the entry page with no further interaction. In GA4, it is now...
Read definitionBrand Lift Study
A brand lift study measures how an ad campaign moves brand metrics like awareness, recall, and purchase intent by...
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
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
Brand safety is the practice of keeping ads away from content that could damage an advertiser's reputation. It uses...
Read definitionBroad Targeting (Meta)
Broad targeting on Meta means setting only age, geo, and language, then letting the delivery algorithm locate...
Read definitionBulk Campaign Launcher
A bulk campaign launcher is a tool that builds and deploys many ad campaigns at once by combining products, audiences,...
Read definitionCampaign Automation
Campaign automation is software that runs the repetitive parts of paid advertising without manual clicks. It covers...
Read definitionCampaign Budget Optimization (CBO)
Campaign Budget Optimization (CBO) sets a single budget at the campaign level and lets Meta distribute spend across ad...
Read definitionCampaign Compliance
Campaign compliance is the process of ensuring every ad, landing page, and claim meets platform policies, regulatory...
Read definitionCarousel Ads
Carousel Ads are a paid social format that lets one ad unit hold up to 10 cards. Each card carries its own image or...
Read definitionCatalog Ads / Dynamic Product Ads (DPA)
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)
The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) is a state privacy law that gives California residents the right to know,...
Read definitionChargeback
A chargeback is a forced payment reversal a cardholder triggers through their issuing bank, not the merchant. It moves...
Read definitionChurn Rate
Churn rate is the percentage of customers, subscribers, or app users who stop paying or stop using a product in a given...
Read definitionClick Arbitrage
Click arbitrage is the practice of buying paid clicks at a lower CPC than the RPC earned from monetizing those visitors...
Read definitionClick Fraud
Click fraud is the practice of generating invalid clicks on a paid ad to drain a competitor's budget, inflate publisher...
Read definitionClick ID
A click ID is a per-click token (like Google's gclid or Meta's fbclid) added to landing page URLs. Advertisers store it...
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
A cold audience is a group of users who have no prior relationship with the brand. They have never visited the site,...
Read definitionCollection Ads
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
Commerce media is digital advertising sold by a company that owns transaction data. Retailers, marketplaces, delivery...
Read definitionConnected TV (CTV)
Connected TV (CTV) is video advertising delivered to internet-connected televisions through streaming apps and smart TV...
Read definitionConsent Management Platform (CMP)
A consent management platform (CMP) is the software layer that shows the cookie banner, records what each visitor...
Read definitionContent Approval
Content approval is the review step that decides whether an ad creative is allowed to run on a platform. It combines...
Read definitionContent Farm
A content farm is a website that publishes huge volumes of low-effort articles purely to capture search traffic, then...
Read definitionContextual Ads
A contextual ad is an ad unit served next to page content that matches its topic. The unit can be display, native,...
Read definitionContextual Advertising
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
Contextual targeting places ads next to relevant page content rather than tracking individual users. NLP engines...
Read definitionConversion
A conversion is any user action that an advertiser counts as success. Purchases, signups, leads, app installs, and...
Read definitionConversion Lift
Conversion lift is a randomized experiment that measures the conversions an ad actually caused, by comparing an exposed...
Read definitionConversion Rate
Conversion rate is the percentage of visitors who complete a desired action, divided by total visitors, multiplied by...
Read definitionConversion Rate Optimization
Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) is the practice of increasing the share of visitors who complete a desired action on...
Read definitionConversion Tracking
Conversion tracking is the system that records what users do after clicking an ad. It pairs a browser pixel with a...
Read definitionCost Per Acquisition (CPA)
Cost per acquisition (CPA) is the average cost to win one conversion from paid media. Formula: ad spend divided by...
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)
Cost per click (CPC) is the price an advertiser pays each time someone clicks a paid ad. It is calculated by dividing...
Read definitionCost Per Engagement (CPE)
Cost per engagement (CPE) is the price an advertiser pays each time a user interacts with an ad. Engagements include...
Read definitionCost Per Install (CPI)
Cost per install (CPI) is total ad spend divided by installs in a period. It is the headline mobile user acquisition...
Read definitionCost Per Lead (CPL)
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)
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)
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
CPM advertising prices ads by every 1,000 impressions served, regardless of clicks. The formula is total spend divided...
Read definitionCPM (Cost per Mille / Cost per 1,000 Impressions)
CPM is the price of 1,000 ad impressions. You divide total spend by impressions, then multiply by 1,000. It is the...
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
A creative is the visual and copy asset a user sees in an ad. Static image, video, carousel, UGC clip, or dynamic...
Read definitionCreative Compliance
Creative compliance is the pre-launch review process that confirms ad creative meets platform policy, regulatory, and...
Read definitionCreative Intelligence
Creative intelligence is the use of AI systems to score, predict and adapt advertising creative based on performance...
Read definitionCreative Library
A creative library is a centralized repository of approved ad assets, images, video, copy, and brand guidelines, used...
Read definitionCreative Library
A creative library is a central store of approved ad assets. Images, videos, headlines, logos, and brand kits sit in...
Read definitionCreative Optimization
Creative optimization is the process of testing ad creatives at scale and shifting budget toward the variants that...
Read definitionCTR (Click Through Rate)
CTR (click-through rate) is the share of people who click an ad or link after seeing it. The formula is clicks divided...
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)
A Meta Custom Audience is a list of users built from first-party data: customer files, website visits, app activity,...
Read definitionCustomer Cohort Analysis
Customer cohort analysis groups users by a shared start event, usually signup or first purchase, and tracks how each...
Read definitionDaily Active Users (DAU)
Daily Active Users (DAU) is the count of unique users who interact with a product within a 24-hour window. Paired with...
Read definitionDaily Budget
A daily budget is the average amount an ad campaign is allowed to spend each day. Google and Meta both treat it as an...
Read definitionData Clean Room
A data clean room is a secure, privacy-preserving environment where two or more parties match and analyze user-level...
Read definitionData-Driven Attribution (DDA)
Data-driven attribution (DDA) is a machine-learning model that assigns conversion credit across every ad touchpoint...
Read definitionDatafeed
A datafeed is a structured file or API stream that ships catalog data from a source system into an ad platform. Common...
Read definitionDayparting
Dayparting is the practice of running ads only during specific hours of the day or days of the week. It cuts wasted...
Read definitionDeep Linking
Deep linking is a URL that sends a user to a specific screen inside a mobile app or a specific page on the web, instead...
Read definitionDemand Path Optimization (DPO)
Demand path optimization (DPO) is the publisher-side practice of curating which SSPs, exchanges, and bidders earn...
Read definitionDemand-Side Platform (DSP)
A demand-side platform (DSP) is software that lets advertisers buy ad inventory across multiple ad exchanges and SSPs...
Read definitionDescribe Your Audience
Describe Your Audience is a natural language targeting input inside Meta's Advantage+ campaign setup. Instead of...
Read definitionDirect Buy
A direct buy is ad inventory purchased straight from a publisher through a negotiated insertion order, not an open...
Read definitionDirect Offer
A direct offer is an affiliate deal sourced straight from the advertiser instead of through a network. Affiliates trade...
Read definitionDisclosure
A disclosure is a clear, conspicuous notice that tells readers, viewers, or followers that you are paid, gifted, or...
Read definitionDisplay Advertising
Display advertising places visual ads, banner, video, or rich media, on websites, apps, and connected TV. It runs...
Read definitionDomain Authority
Domain Authority (DA) is a Moz metric that scores a website's likely ranking strength on a 0 to 100 logarithmic scale....
Read definitionDOOH (Digital Out-of-Home)
Digital out-of-home (DOOH) is advertising on internet-connected digital screens in public spaces such as billboards,...
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
Dynamic tracking auto-populates URL parameters from variables inside each click event, using macro tokens like...
Read definitionEarnings Per Click (EPC)
Earnings per click (EPC) is the average commission an affiliate earns for every click sent to an offer. The formula is...
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
Engagement rate is the percentage of viewers who interact with a piece of content, calculated as interactions divided...
Read definitionExclusive Offer
An exclusive offer is an affiliate deal that an advertiser grants to a single network, publisher, or region instead of...
Read definitionFacebook Ads
Facebook Ads is Meta's auction-based advertising platform that places paid placements across Facebook, Instagram,...
Read definitionFeed Provider
A feed provider is a company that supplies a syndicated feed of search results, products, or sponsored content to...
Read definitionFill Rate
Fill rate is the percentage of ad requests that return a paid ad. It is the publisher's monetization yield on supply....
Read definitionFirst Click Attribution
First click attribution assigns 100% of conversion credit to the first marketing touchpoint a user interacts with. It...
Read definitionFirst-Party Data
First-party data is information a brand collects directly from its own customers, app users, and site visitors with...
Read definitionFirst-Touch Attribution
First-touch attribution gives 100 percent of conversion credit to the first marketing touchpoint a buyer interacted...
Read definitionFrequency Cap
A frequency cap is the numeric setting that limits how many times one user or household sees the same ad in a defined...
Read definitionFrequency Capping
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)
GA4 is Google's current analytics platform. It replaced Universal Analytics in July 2023. Everything is an event....
Read definitionGame Bundles
Game bundles package multiple mobile games into a single app, offer, or subscription that affiliates promote as one...
Read definitionGDPR
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is the European Union law that governs how companies collect, store, and...
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
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
Google Shopping Ads are visual product listings that appear on the search results, Shopping tab, Images, YouTube, and...
Read definitionHeatmap (Web Analytics)
A heatmap is a visual report that aggregates user behavior on a web page. It uses warm-to-cool color overlays to show...
Read definitionHook Rate
Hook rate is the percentage of ad impressions that keep watching a video past the 3-second mark. It measures how well...
Read definitionIdentity Resolution
Identity resolution is the process of stitching scattered signals (emails, hashed phone numbers, device IDs, cookie...
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
An impression is a single instance of an ad being served to a user's device. Platforms count it the moment the creative...
Read definitionIn-App Advertising
In-app advertising is the practice of showing ads inside mobile apps, sold through networks like Google AdMob,...
Read definitionIncremental Attribution
Incremental attribution is a measurement approach that credits a marketing touchpoint only for the conversions that...
Read definitionIncrementality Testing
Incrementality testing measures the conversions an ad actually caused versus the conversions that would have happened...
Read definitionInstalls Per Mille (IPM)
Installs Per Mille (IPM) measures how many app installs an ad creative drives per 1,000 impressions. Mobile ad networks...
Read definitionInstant Experience (Canvas Ad)
Instant Experience is Meta's full-screen, post-click canvas that opens inside Facebook and Instagram after a tap on an...
Read definitionIntent-Based Targeting
Intent-Based Targeting is an audience approach that uses real-time behavioral signals, including search queries, page...
Read definitionInteractive Ads
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
An interstitial ad is a full-screen ad that appears between two content moments, like an app level break or a page...
Read definitionInvalid Traffic (IVT)
Invalid traffic is any ad impression or click not generated by a real human with genuine intent. The IAB Tech Lab...
Read definitionInventory Curation
Inventory curation is the process of selecting, packaging, and quality-screening programmatic ad supply before it...
Read definitioniOS 14.5 ATT (App Tracking Transparency)
iOS 14.5 App Tracking Transparency is Apple's privacy framework that forces apps to ask permission before tracking...
Read definitionKeyword
A keyword is the word or phrase a user types into a search engine to find content. Keywords are the unit that connects...
Read definitionKeyword Density
Keyword density is the percentage of times a target keyword appears in a page's total word count. It was a useful proxy...
Read definitionKeyword Research
Keyword research is the process of finding the exact search terms people type into Google, then ranking those terms by...
Read definitionK-Factor (Viral Coefficient)
K-factor, also called viral coefficient, measures how many new users each existing user brings in. The formula is...
Read definitionCustomer Lifetime Value (LTV)
Customer lifetime value (LTV) is the total profit a customer generates from the first purchase to the last. It sets the...
Read definitionLanding Page
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
Last-touch attribution gives 100 percent of the conversion credit to the final marketing touchpoint before a sale. It...
Read definitionLinkedIn Ads
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)
A large language model (LLM) is an AI system trained on huge volumes of text to predict the next token in a sequence....
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
A lookalike audience is a modeled group of users who resemble a seed list of known customers. Ad platforms run a...
Read definitionManual Approval
Manual approval is the human review step that vets affiliate applications, ad creatives, or full campaigns before they...
Read definitionMaximum Budget
Maximum budget is the hard ceiling an advertiser sets on campaign spend, applied either daily or across a campaign's...
Read definitionMedia Buyer
A media buyer plans, negotiates, buys, and optimizes paid ad placements across digital and traditional channels. The...
Read definitionMedia Buying Platform
A media buying platform is software that lets advertisers plan, purchase, and optimize ad inventory across digital...
Read definitionMeta Ad Library
The Meta Ad Library is a public, searchable archive of every ad currently running on Facebook, Instagram, Messenger,...
Read definitionMeta Ads Learning Phase
The Meta Ads learning phase is the algorithm's exploration period for new or edited ad sets, ending once the ad set...
Read definitionMeta Ads Manager
Meta Ads Manager is the central dashboard advertisers use to plan, launch, measure, and optimize paid campaigns across...
Read definitionMeta Advantage
Meta Advantage is the umbrella brand for Meta's AI-driven ad automation products. It covers Advantage+ Sales (formerly...
Read definitionMeta Business Manager
Meta Business Manager is the central hub where brands own and organize their Meta assets. Pages, ad accounts, pixels,...
Read definitionMeta Conversions API (CAPI)
The Meta Conversions API (CAPI) sends conversion events directly from your server to Meta, bypassing the browser. It...
Read definitionMeta Description
A meta description is the short HTML summary that tells search engines what a page is about. Google often displays it...
Read definitionMeta Pixel
The Meta Pixel is a JavaScript snippet that loads fbevents.js on your website to track visitors for Facebook and...
Read definitionMeta Pixel Events
Meta Pixel events are the named signals your website sends to Meta when a user does something valuable. There are 17...
Read definitionMeta Tags
Meta tags are HTML snippets in the <head> of a page that tell search engines and social platforms what the page...
Read definitionMeta Title
A meta title is the HTML title tag that names a webpage in search results, browser tabs, and social previews. It is the...
Read definitionMFA Sites (Made for Advertising)
MFA sites are web properties built primarily to harvest programmatic ad revenue, not to serve readers. They run dense...
Read definitionMobile App Fraud
Mobile app fraud is the theft of user acquisition budget through fake installs, hijacked attribution, and spoofed SDK...
Read definitionMobile Billing
Mobile billing, also called direct carrier billing or DCB, lets a user charge a digital purchase to their monthly phone...
Read definitionMobile Game Marketing
Mobile game marketing is the practice of acquiring, retaining, and monetizing players for iOS and Android titles. It...
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)
Monthly Active Users (MAU) is the count of unique users who performed a qualifying action inside a product during a...
Read definitionMulti-Touch Attribution
Multi-touch attribution (MTA) splits conversion credit across every marketing touchpoint a buyer interacted with before...
Read definitionMultivariate Testing (MVT)
Multivariate testing (MVT) changes multiple elements of a page or ad at the same time and measures every combination...
Read definitionNative Ads
A native ad is a single paid unit built to match the look, feel, and behavior of the content around it. The standard...
Read definitionNative Advertising
Native advertising is paid media designed to match the form, function, and feel of the surrounding editorial content....
Read definitionNative to Search
Native to Search (N2S) is a paid traffic strategy where advertisers buy clicks on native networks like Taboola or...
Read definitionNiche Marketing
Niche marketing focuses a brand on one narrow audience with specific needs the mass market ignores. It trades reach for...
Read definitionOffer
An offer is the product, service, or promotion an advertiser submits to an affiliate network for publishers to promote....
Read definitionOffer Wall
An offer wall is an in-app screen where users complete paid actions in exchange for app currency. Users install apps,...
Read definitionOff-Page SEO
Off-page SEO is everything you do outside your own site to earn ranking trust. Backlinks, brand mentions, citations,...
Read definitionOn-Page SEO
On-page SEO is the set of edits you make on a webpage to rank higher in search and earn more clicks. It covers content,...
Read definitionOptimization Rules
Optimization rules are automated if-then triggers that pause, scale, or rotate ad campaigns based on performance...
Read definitionOpt-In Email
Opt-in email is permission-based marketing. A user actively agrees to receive messages before any send. Two flavors...
Read definitionOrganic Installs
Organic installs are app downloads not attributed to any paid campaign. They come from store search, ASO, word of...
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
Page management for Facebook Pages is the day-to-day work of running a brand's Page on Facebook. It covers admin and...
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
Paid media is any marketing channel where you pay a platform to place a message in front of an audience. It covers paid...
Read definitionPaid Search
Paid search is the practice of buying ad placements on search engine results pages. Advertisers bid on keywords. The...
Read definitionPay Bump
A pay bump is a temporary higher payout an advertiser grants a specific affiliate to drive volume, win back lost spend,...
Read definitionPayout
A payout is the amount an affiliate network or advertiser pays a publisher for each qualifying conversion. Payouts run...
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)
Pay per lead (PPL) is an affiliate pricing model where the advertiser pays a fixed fee for each validated lead the...
Read definitionPay Per Sale (PPS)
Pay per sale (PPS), also called CPS, is an affiliate payout model where the advertiser pays the affiliate a fixed...
Read definitionPerformance Max (PMax)
Performance Max is a Google Ads campaign type that runs across Search, YouTube, Display, Discover, Maps, Gmail, and...
Read definitionPinterest Ads
Pinterest Ads are paid Pins that appear in the home feed, search results, and related Pin sections across Pinterest....
Read definitionPixel
A pixel is a snippet of tracking code (originally a 1x1 transparent image, now usually a JavaScript tag) that fires...
Read definitionPixel Event
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
Playable mobile ads are 30 to 60 second HTML5 mini-games that let users try an app inside the ad before installing....
Read definitionPostback URL
A postback URL is a server-to-server call the advertiser fires when a conversion happens. It pings the tracking...
Read definitionPPC Affiliates
PPC affiliates are performance marketers who buy paid traffic on platforms like Google Ads, Microsoft Ads, and native...
Read definitionPredictive Analytics
Predictive analytics uses historical data and machine learning to forecast future outcomes. In marketing, it powers bid...
Read definitionPredictive Budget Allocation
Predictive budget allocation is the practice of using AI models to forecast how each campaign, channel or audience will...
Read definitionPrelander
A prelander is a short bridge page that appears after the ad click and before the actual offer. Affiliates use it to...
Read definitionPrivacy Sandbox
Privacy Sandbox is Chrome's stack of privacy-preserving advertising APIs. It replaces cross-site cookie use cases with...
Read definitionPrivate Marketplace (PMP)
A Private Marketplace, or PMP, is an invitation only programmatic auction where selected advertisers bid on a...
Read definitionProduct Feed
A product feed is a structured file (XML, TXT, CSV, or API) that lists every SKU you sell with attributes like id,...
Read definitionProgrammatic Audio
Programmatic audio is the automated buying of digital audio ad inventory across music streaming, digital radio,...
Read definitionProgrammatic Direct
Programmatic direct is automated media buying without an open auction. The buyer reserves inventory from one publisher...
Read definitionProgrammatic Guaranteed (PG)
Programmatic Guaranteed, often shortened to PG, is a buying model where an advertiser and a publisher agree on a fixed...
Read definitionPrompt Engineering
Prompt engineering is the craft of writing instructions that get reliable, on-brand output from AI models. For...
Read definitionPublisher
A publisher is the owner of a website, app, email list, or social account who monetizes traffic by serving ads or...
Read definitionPurchase Event
The Purchase event is the Meta Pixel standard event that fires when a customer completes an order. It carries value,...
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
Raw clicks are the unfiltered total of every click event a tracker records before deduplication, bot exclusion, or...
Read definitionReal-Time Bidding (RTB)
Real-time bidding (RTB) is the auction mechanism that prices and serves a digital ad impression in under 100...
Read definitionReal-Time Reporting
Real-time reporting surfaces ad and marketing performance data within seconds to minutes of an event firing. True...
Read definitionReddit Ads
Reddit Ads is the self-serve and managed advertising system for Reddit. Advertisers buy auction-priced placements...
Read definitionReels Ads
Reels Ads are full-screen vertical video placements that run between organic Reels on Instagram and Facebook. They use...
Read definitionReferral Bonus Programs
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)
A retail media network (RMN) is an ad platform owned by a retailer that lets brands buy on-site, in-app, and off-site...
Read definitionRetention Rate
Retention rate is the percentage of users, customers, or accounts who stay active over a defined window. It is the...
Read definitionReturn on Investment (ROI)
Return on investment (ROI) measures the net profit a marketing campaign produces relative to its total cost. The...
Read definitionRevenue Per Click (RPC)
Revenue Per Click (RPC) is total revenue divided by total clicks, expressed in dollars. Affiliates, arbitrageurs, and...
Read definitionRevise (Creative Variation Tool)
A revise tool takes one existing ad creative and generates AI variants by swapping specific elements: headline, hero...
Read definitionRewarded Video
Rewarded video is an opt-in mobile ad format where a user watches a 15 to 30 second video or playable in exchange for...
Read definitionROAS Calculator
A ROAS calculator divides revenue from ads by ad spend to return a single multiplier. Plug in $40,000 revenue and...
Read definitionROAS (Return on Ad Spend)
ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) is the revenue generated for every dollar spent on ads. Formula: revenue from ads divided by...
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)
Run of Network (RON) is an ad buy that spreads impressions across every publisher in an ad network without site-level...
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)
RSOC, short for Related Search on Content, is a Google AdSense for Search product. Publishers embed a search box or...
Read definitionS2S (Server-to-Server) Tracking
S2S tracking records conversions through direct server-to-server calls instead of browser pixels. The advertiser server...
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
Search arbitrage is the practice of buying cheap paid traffic, sending it to a content page that hosts a Google AdSense...
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
A search feed is an XML or JSON stream of paid search ads syndicated from Google, Microsoft, or Yahoo to third-party...
Read definitionSearch Intent Targeting
Search intent targeting reaches users based on the queries they type, not who they are. It uses keyword data to infer...
Read definitionSearch Monetization
Search monetization is the practice of turning search queries and search-result pages into ad revenue, typically...
Read definitionSearch to Search
Search to search (S2S) is an arbitrage strategy where marketers buy paid search clicks on Google or Bing, route users...
Read definitionSearch Traffic
Search traffic is the slice of website visitors who arrive from a search engine. It splits into organic (unpaid clicks...
Read definitionSEO Affiliates
SEO affiliates are publishers who rank in Google for buyer-intent keywords, then monetize the traffic with affiliate...
Read definitionServer-Side Tracking
Server-side tracking sends conversion events from your backend directly to ad platforms via authenticated APIs. It...
Read definitionShopify Ads Integration
A Shopify ads integration is the connection between a Shopify store and an ad platform like Meta, Google, or TikTok. It...
Read definitionSingle Offer
A single offer is an affiliate campaign that points all traffic to one specific advertiser, landing page, and geo...
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)
SKAdNetwork (SKAN) is Apple's privacy-preserving attribution API for iOS ad campaigns. It returns aggregated install...
Read definitionSmart Bidding
Smart Bidding is Google Ads' family of automated bidding strategies that use machine learning to set bids in real time,...
Read definitionSmartlink
A smartlink is a single tracking URL that sends each click to the highest-paying affiliate offer that matches the...
Read definitionSmart Resize (AI)
Smart Resize (AI) is a workflow that takes one ad creative and rebuilds it for every placement format. The model...
Read definitionSnapchat Ads
Snapchat Ads are paid placements that run between Stories, in Discover, in Spotlight, and through AR Lenses inside the...
Read definitionSocial Marketers
Social marketers are professionals who plan, produce, and measure paid and organic content across platforms like Meta,...
Read definitionSocial Proof in Ads
Social proof in ads embeds trust signals, reviews, ratings, testimonials, user counts, expert endorsements, into paid...
Read definitionSocial Traffic (Social Advertisements)
Social traffic is the visits a website receives from social platforms, either from organic posts or paid social...
Read definitionSoft Launch
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)
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)
A supply-side platform (SSP) is software that lets publishers sell their ad inventory programmatically across multiple...
Read definitionStory Ads
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
SubID tracking is a method where affiliates append custom parameters to their links, like sub1 or aff_sub, to pass...
Read definitionSuper Affiliates
Super affiliates are the top 1-3% of partners in any program, often generating $100k+ per month and accounting for the...
Read definitionSupply Path Optimization (SPO)
Supply path optimization (SPO) is the buy-side practice of curating which exchanges, SSPs, and resellers a DSP uses to...
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
A suppression list is a record of contacts who must not receive your marketing. It includes unsubscribers, hard...
Read definitionSweepstakes
A sweepstakes is a promotion where participants submit basic information (name, email, postal address) for a chance to...
Read definitionSynthetic Audiences
Synthetic audiences are AI generated audience profiles that simulate the responses, preferences and behaviors of real...
Read definitionSynthetic Media
Synthetic media is image, video, audio, or text content produced or materially altered by generative AI. It covers AI...
Read definitionTargeted Marketing
Targeted marketing reaches a defined audience with a message built for them, instead of broadcasting to everyone. It...
Read definitionTargeted Traffic
Targeted traffic is visitors who match your offer by search intent, audience signal, or context. It converts at 3 to 10...
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
Third-party cookie deprecation is the gradual end of cross-site tracking cookies in major browsers. Safari blocked them...
Read definitionThird-Party Tracking
Third-party tracking measures ad activity through entities other than the publisher or advertiser, using cross-site...
Read definitionThreads Ads
Threads Ads are sponsored placements inside Meta's text-first social network. Launched as a closed image-ad beta in...
Read definitionThumb-Stop Rate
Thumb-stop rate measures the percentage of feed impressions where a scroller actually pauses on your video, usually...
Read definitionTikTok Ads
TikTok Ads are paid placements that run inside TikTok's For You feed, on TopView, and across the audience network....
Read definitionTracking Link
A tracking link is a URL with appended parameters that record where a click came from, who sent it, and what campaign...
Read definitionTracking Method
A tracking method is the technical approach used to record ad clicks and conversions. The main options are pixel and...
Read definitionTracking Pixel
A tracking pixel is a 1x1 transparent image or JavaScript tag embedded in a webpage, email, or app that fires a network...
Read definitionTracking Platform
A tracking platform records every click, click ID, and conversion across affiliate campaigns, then attributes payouts...
Read definitionTracking Software
Tracking software is the system that records every click, conversion, and payout in an affiliate or performance...
Read definitionTracking URL
A tracking URL is a web address with appended query parameters that record click metadata before the page loads. The...
Read definitionTraffic
Traffic is the flow of visitors arriving at a website, app, or ad placement. Each visitor comes from a source: organic...
Read definitionUGC Ads
UGC ads are paid social ads that look and feel like organic creator content. First-person, lo-fi, phone-shot. They...
Read definitionUnified Reporting
Unified reporting consolidates ad performance data from every paid channel into one view, so marketers can compare...
Read definitionUnique Clicks
Unique clicks measure how many distinct users or sessions clicked an ad or link, not the raw click total. Platforms...
Read definitionUnique User
A unique user is a deduplicated count of distinct people interacting with a campaign or property over a defined window....
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)
User acquisition (UA) is the practice of attracting new users to an app, game, or SaaS product through paid and organic...
Read definitionUser Engagement
User engagement measures how actively people interact with a product, page, or piece of content. It covers time spent,...
Read definitionUser Segmentation
User segmentation is the practice of grouping customers into clusters that share traits, behavior, or value. Marketers...
Read definitionVertical Scaling (Ad Spend)
Vertical scaling is raising the daily budget on a single proven ad set instead of duplicating it or launching new...
Read definitionVertical Video
Vertical video is a 9:16 portrait format shot for full-screen mobile playback. It is the de facto standard for paid...
Read definitionVideo Traffic
Video traffic is paid or earned visits and impressions generated from video ad placements across YouTube, TikTok, Meta...
Read definitionView-Through Attribution
View-through attribution (VTA) credits a conversion to an ad the user saw but did not click, usually within a 1-day...
Read definitionViral Marketing
Viral marketing is a strategy that engineers content for peer-to-peer sharing, so each viewer sends the message to...
Read definitionWarm Audience
A warm audience is a group of people who already know a brand. They watched a video, visited the site, opened an email,...
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
White hat SEO is the practice of earning rankings within Google's published guidelines. It rests on four pillars:...
Read definitionWhite Label
White label is a product built by one company and resold under another company's brand. The buyer keeps the customer...
Read definitionWhitelist
A whitelist is a list of pre-approved domains, apps, IP addresses, or keywords that a system explicitly allows....
Read definitionWooCommerce Ads
WooCommerce ads are paid campaigns powered by an integration between a WordPress WooCommerce store and an ad platform....
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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