Let’s face it.
There’s sometimes that one term or piece of jargon that gets dropped in a conversation about digital advertising that stumps us. We promise ourselves we’ll look it up later.
This glossary is dedicated to those who love to keep learning, and do it without making the answer more complicated than the question itself.
So in we go. The top 50 most commonly used terms in digital advertising that you can’t do without.
A-B
Ad Exchange: Imagine a digital marketplace where advertisers and publishers buy and sell ad space. Think of it like a stock exchange, but for ads. Ad Exchanges form the backbone of programmatic advertising – enabling millions of transactions every minute.
Ad Network: A ‘middleman’ that connects advertisers and publishers. They act as a clearinghouse, aggregating ad inventory from various sources and selling it to advertisers.
Ad Server: The tech behind delivering ads to websites and apps. It’s like the delivery driver for your digital ads. Ad Server down? No ads for you. Come back, one year. No, it won’t take that long, but it might give advertisers and publishers an instant migraine.
Ad Viewability: Whether or not people actually see your ads. It’s a measure of how much of an ad is visible to a user. 20% ad viewability means they saw only the heads of that carefully crafted creative with people doing interesting things.
Ad Fraud: Malicious activities aimed at deceiving advertisers and publishers. It can include click fraud, impression fraud, and viewability fraud. How do you avoid ad fraud? The same way you might avoid fraud in the physical world – buy from companies that are trustworthy.
C-D
Click-Through Rate (CTR): How many people click on your ad compared to how many see it. It’s a measure of how effective your ad is at grabbing attention. High CTRs may or may not be a good thing. Why? See our blog where we dug a little deeper into this.
Cost Per Acquisition (CPA): How much you pay for each new customer. It’s a way to measure the cost-effectiveness of your advertising efforts. Higher than average or expected CPAs? Time to dig into the data to see what’s going on.
Cost Per Click (CPC): How much you pay each time someone clicks on your ad. It’s a common pricing model for online advertising.
Cost Per Mille (CPM): How much you pay for every 1,000 people who see your ad. It’s a pricing model based on impressions.
Conversion: When someone does what you want them to (like buying your product or signing up for your newsletter). It’s a desired action that you’re trying to achieve through your marketing efforts. Digital marketers turn happy cartwheels when conversions are high.
E-F
Engagement: How much people interact with your ads. It’s a measure of how interested people are in your content.
Frequency: How often people see your ads. It’s the number of times a person is exposed to an ad within a specific timeframe. You don’t want to create ad fatigue so they start hating your brand.
Impression: When someone sees your ad, even if they don’t click on it. It’s a unit of measurement in digital advertising. Essentially, the number of eyeballs that your ads are exposed to.
Influencer Marketing: Paying famous people to promote your stuff. It’s a popular strategy for reaching a wider audience. It’s not as glamorous as it sounds.
Keyword Research: Finding the right words people use when searching for stuff. It’s essential for optimizing your ads for search engines. Effective SEO is built on solid keyword research.
G-H
Google Ads: Google’s ad platform for searching, display, video, and app ads. It’s one of the most popular platforms for online advertising. Hey, it’s Google.
Header Bidding: A real-time auction for ad space. It’s a process where multiple ad exchanges compete for the same impression. It can be enabled for publishers through simple (but very effective) scripts.
High-Impact Units: Big, flashy ads that grab attention. They’re often used for branding or awareness campaigns.
HTML5 Ads: Fancy ads with animations and interactive elements. They’re more engaging than traditional banner ads.
I-J
In-App Advertising: Ads you see inside apps. They’re a popular way to reach mobile users. Hey, don’t complain – it keeps many apps free to use.
Interstitial Ads: Full-screen ads that pop up between app screens. They can be disruptive, but they can also be effective if done right.
Especially if that little ‘X’ to close the ad is large enough for human fingers to tap.
JavaScript: The coding language that makes websites interactive. It’s used to create dynamic and engaging ads.
Just-In-Time (JIT) Bidding: Bidding on ad space in real time. It allows advertisers to bid on impressions as they become available.
K-L
Landing Page: The page people land on after clicking your ad. It should be optimized to encourage conversions. It could be your main webpage, but campaigns often have dedicated pages built for them for specific messaging, offers and/or tracking.
Lead Generation: Getting people to give you their contact info. It’s a goal of many digital advertising campaigns. It’s also a reason why many marketing managers get ulcers.
Lookalike Audiences: Targeting people who are similar to your existing customers. It’s a way to find new potential customers. Remember that twin Spiderman meme, with them pointing at each other? Something like that.
M-N
Mobile Advertising: Ads specifically for phones and tablets. It’s a growing segment of the advertising market. But you already knew that. We hope.
Native Advertising: Ads that blend in with the content around them. They’re designed to be less intrusive and more engaging. In the old days, perhaps an equivalent was an advertorial – looks and sounds just like news, but really isn’t.
Open Auction: An auction where multiple ad exchanges compete for the same ad space. It’s a common way to buy and sell ad inventory.
Optimization: Making your ads better. It involves testing different ad variations to see what works best. It also involves a lot of data analysis and math and expertise. You need to know what to look for and what to do when you find it.
O-P
Programmatic Advertising: Using software to buy and sell ad space automatically. It’s a more efficient and effective way to manage ad campaigns. It’s a job in itself. Good programmatic advertising takes expertise and experience.
Retargeting: Showing ads to people who have already visited your website. It’s a way to remind people about your brand. Say ‘no’ to cookies – on websites, of course – if you want to avoid this.
Remarketing: Similar to retargeting, but often used in a broader context. It can include other forms of targeted advertising.
Return on Investment (ROI): How much you make compared to how much you spend. It’s a key metric for measuring the success of your advertising efforts. Ideally, this number should be positive.
Q-R
Quality Score: Google’s way of measuring how good your ads and landing pages are. It affects your ad rank and cost per click. If your ad copy, keywords and landing page content aren’t in sync, your Quality Score will likely tank.
Real-Time Bidding (RTB): Buying and selling ad space in real time. It’s a fast-paced auction where bids are submitted in milliseconds.
S-T
Search Engine Marketing (SEM): Advertising on search engines like Google. It’s a popular way to reach potential customers who are actively searching for products or services. The top few and bottom few results on a search engine will be these ads, usually identifiable by the word ‘sponsored’ on it.
Social Media Marketing (SMM): Using social media to promote your brand. It’s a great way to connect with your audience and build relationships. Entire careers have been built on this.
Tracking: Understanding what people do on your website or with your ads. It’s essential for assessing the effectiveness of your campaigns, website and which parts are working/not working.
TrueView Ads: YouTube ads that let people skip after 5 seconds. They’re a popular format for video advertising.
U-V
User Experience (UX): How easy it is for people to use your website or app. It’s important for keeping people engaged and converting them into customers.
Video Advertising: Ads that appear on video platforms. They can be highly effective for reaching a large audience and telling a story. Sometimes very satisfying to skip as well.
W-X
Website Analytics: Tracking what people do on your website. It’s essential for understanding your audience and optimizing your website.
Whitelisting: Approving certain ad exchanges to show your ads. It’s a way to control where your ads appear. You don’t want your ads appearing in the shadier parts of the internet, do you? Do you?
Y-Z
Yield Management: Maximizing your ad revenue. It involves setting the right ad rates and allocating inventory effectively. This is critical for websites to ensure they’re optimizing the revenue they are making from advertisers.