If you have ever opened a PPC report and thought, “I trust the results, but I don’t fully understand the language”, you’re not alone.
This glossary explains the most common PPC terms you might see in your monthly reports, in plain English, so you can better understand what is happening and what to focus on in your reports.
The Basics
Impressions
Impressions are the number of times your advert was shown, and this gives an indication of visibility and reach. Low impressions can suggest limited demand, a restricted budget, or targeting that is too narrow.
Clicks
Clicks show how many people actively clicked on your advert. While clicks indicate interest, they are only the first step and should always be considered alongside conversions.
Click-Through Rate (CTR)
CTR is the percentage of impressions that resulted in a click. It reflects how relevant and compelling your ads are to the people seeing them, and whether the messaging aligns with user intent.
Cost
Cost is the total amount spent on advertising during the reporting period. On its own, it doesn’t indicate success or failure, and should always be reviewed in relation to leads, sales, or revenue.
Cost Per Click (CPC)
CPC is the average amount paid for each click. CPCs can fluctuate due to competition, seasonality, or keyword demand, and a higher CPC is not necessarily a problem if results remain strong.
Conversions and Results
Conversion
A conversion is a meaningful action taken after someone clicks an advert, such as submitting a form, making a purchase, or booking a call. Conversions represent real business outcomes rather than traffic alone.
Conversion Rate
Conversion rate is the percentage of clicks that turn into conversions. This helps indicate whether performance issues relate to the ads themselves or to the website or landing page experience.
Cost Per Conversion (CPA)
CPA is the average cost required to generate one conversion. A higher CPA can still be acceptable if lead quality is strong or if customers have a high lifetime value.
Conversion Value
Conversion value is the monetary value assigned to a conversion, such as revenue from a sale. Tracking value allows campaigns to optimise for quality and profitability rather than volume alone.
Return on Ad Spend (ROAS)
ROAS shows how much revenue is generated for every pound spent on ads. For example, a ROAS of 4.0 means £4 returned for every £1 spent, making it a key metric for revenue-focused campaigns.
Ad Quality and Visibility
Quality Score
Quality Score is a platform-assigned rating based on ad relevance, expected engagement, and landing page experience. Higher quality scores typically lead to better visibility and lower costs.
Impression Share
Impression share shows the percentage of available impressions your ads actually received. A low impression share often highlights missed opportunities due to budget limits or ad rank.
Search Terms
Search terms are the phrases people typed into a search engine (like Google) before seeing or clicking your advert. Reviewing these helps identify what is working well and what should be excluded to avoid wasted spend.
Strategy and Automation
Automated Bidding
Automated bidding allows advertising platforms to adjust bids automatically based on campaign goals. It relies heavily on accurate conversion tracking and sufficient data to perform effectively, which allows our campaigns to react more efficiently to changes in the market than we could manually.
Target CPA (tCPA)
Target CPA is a bidding strategy focused on achieving conversions at an average target cost. It works best when lead values are relatively consistent.
Target ROAS (tROAS)
Target ROAS is a bidding strategy that focuses on achieving a specific return on ad spend. It is commonly used for e-commerce and higher-value conversion campaigns.
Analytics and Tracking
Attribution
Attribution determines how credit for a conversion is shared across multiple touchpoints, and different attribution models can change how performance appears, even when results remain stable.
Bounce Rate
Bounce rate is the percentage of users who leave a page without taking any action. Essentially, a high bounce rate can indicate mismatched messaging, poor user experience, or unclear next steps.
Landing Page
A landing page is the page users arrive on after clicking an advert. Strong ads depend on strong landing pages, as conversion performance is always influenced by both.
Need Help Interpreting Your PPC Data?
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