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SEM Glossary, Jargon and Definitions

  • AdRank Google's formula for positioning an AdWords ad. Consists of the keyword's Quality Score times [Maximum CPM or CPC]
  • Advanced Match Overture term for a combined Broad and Phrase match keyword.
  • Basic Match Enhance/Ah-Ha term for an Exact Match.
  • Bid The amount that an advertiser is willing to pay to display an ad. Some search engines let you vary your bids as often as you wish, while others require manual intervention by their staff to change your bid.
  • Bid Rank Google's old method of ranking its PPC ads (see AdRank). The rank number is based on the keyword's Maximum CPC multiplied by the CTR. For example, if the Max CPC is $0.15 and the CTR is 2%, the rank is 0.30. The relative ranks of all advertisers for that term determine their position and an oft-clicked ad can outrank another with a higher bid but poor CTR.
  • Bilink A bi-directional (reciprocal) link from the same page that is linked by the other site. Most reciprocal links tend to be from a links page to the home page of the other site, but an example of a bilink is from home page to home page. (coined by Ash Nallawalla, 2005)
  • Broad Match Some PPC search engines enable you to bid on broad-match words, which are two or more words that are part of a longer search term, but not necessarily in the same order or adjacent to one another. For example, if you bid on "digital camera" as a broad match and the search term was "buy a digital or film camera", then your ad would be eligible for display. Engines that offer Broad Match include Google. Contrast with Phrase Match and Broad Match.
  • Click The act of pressing a mouse button while the pointer is above an advertisement.
  • Click Through The arrival of a prospect, who has clicked on an advertisement, at the advertiser's landing page.
  • Click-Through Rate (CTR) The percentage of clicks to impressions (or clicks divided by impressions). The higher the better. Typically, CTR is used to measure the performance of ads, because a low CTR might be a clue that the ad does not tempt people sufficiently to click it.
  • Content Matching Ads can be displayed on publisher sites to match their content. For example, a site that features cancer can display content targeted ads from engines such as Overture or Google.
  • Conversion Any user action that you consider to be fulfilling the goal of the web site, e.g. a purchase, a sign-up, trial download, signing a petition, etc.
  • Conversion Rate The percentage of clicks that become conversions, e.g. Out of 1000 viewers of the ad, say, 100 click the ad (which is a 10% CTR) and 1 converts (a 1% conversion rate)
  • Cookie A small file that is deposited on your computer that will identify the computer (presumably you) during subsequent visits to the same web site.
  • Cost per Acquisition The cost of advertising divided by the number of conversions. For example, if you spent $200 on a PPC campaign in a day and signed up 10 customers, then the cost per acquisition was $20. You may also think of this figure for budget planning, that is, how much am I willing to spend to gain a customer and still be profitable?
  • Cost per Click The actual cost a click costs, which can be the same amount or lower than your Maximum bid. In reporting, this is usually shown as an average.
  • CPA See Cost per acquisition
  • CPC See Cost per click
  • CPM Cost per thousand impressions (mille is thousand in French). Usually the payment model for graphical ads such as banners.
  • CTR See Click-through rate
  • Destination URL The URL that is shown when an ad is clicked. This is usually a Tracking URL, which is the web site address followed by some tracking code.
  • Display URL The URL that is shown in the ad. Contrast with Destination URL.
  • Directory A searchable web site structured into tiered categories of topics, typically with links to web sites and other online resources.
  • Expanded Broad Match Google term for Broad Match, but Google has proprietary rules based on its experience that cause a given search term (which is related to the broad term) to trigger an ad. For example, if your broad match keyword is "toner" then your ad might be shown when a search is made for "HP LaserJet 3150".
  • Exact Match Some PPC search engines enable you to bid on exact-match words, which are two or more words in a search term, exactly in the same order and with no other words in the search term. For example, if you bid on "digital camera" as an exact match and the search term was "digital camera", then your ad would be eligible for display. If the term was "Kodak digital camera", your ad would not be eligible for display. Engines that offer Exact Match include Google, Overture, Search123. Contrast with Phrase Match and Broad Match.
  • Excluded Word Overture term for Negative keyword.
  • Impression An impression is the display of an ad to the viewer and is counted for calculating the CTR. An impression does not imply that the viewer of the page noticed the ad.
  • Keyword The word or phrase that the advertiser anticipates to be used by the searcher either partly or exactly. Compare with Search Term. The match type determines whether a partial match or a full match will cause the ad to be displayed. The term "keyword" is also used synonymously with the search term.
  • Link A hyperlink, usually used to refer to links to or from another site.
  • Maximum Bid The upper limit that you are willing to spend to display an ad. In practice, some engines will charge you less than this amount, typically one cent higher than the next lower bid.
  • Maximum CPC See Maximum bid.
  • Negative Keyword The presence of such a keyword prevents the display of an ad. For example, if your keyword is "red widgets" and the word "free" is specified as a negative keyword, then your ad will not be shown to a user who is looking for "free red widgets".
  • Pay Per Click A form of online advertising where the advertiser pays only if a user clicks the ad. Contrast with CPM and CPA.
  • Pay For Performance Another term for PPC advertising, but sometimes meaning that the advertiser pays only when an action is completed. Former term for Overture Precision Match. The advertiser pays only if the ad is clicked, hence "perfomance".
  • PFI Pay for inclusion. Some directories require a payment for inclusion of your information. This is mostly true for well-known directories such as Yahoo! but even PFI directories have free inclusion loopholes. There are also search engines that accept payment to spider your web site although most of them will do it for free when they crawl sites that link to you.
  • Phrase A phrase is part of a sentence. See Phrase Match
  • Phrase Match Some PPC search engines enable you to bid on a phrase, which could be part of a longer search term. For example, if you bid on "digital camera" as a phrase and the search term was "Canon digital camera" then your ad would be eligible for display. Engines that offer Phrase Match include Google and Search123. Contrast with Exact Match and Broad Match.
  • PFP See Pay For Performance
  • PPC See Pay Per Click.
  • Precision Match Overture term for its PPC ad service.
  • Reciprocal Link A hyperlink from one site to another in return for a similar link. Contrast with Bilink.
  • Return on Advertising Spend The gross profit arising from advertising, calculated for one outlet or all of them.
  • Return on Investment The gross profit for any specific business expense.
  • ROAS See Return on Advertising Spend
  • ROI See Return on Investment
  • SEM Search engine marketing.
  • SEO Search Engine Optimisation (Optimization).
  • SERP See Search engine results page. Used as an acronym, that is, used as a word.
  • Search Engine A database-driven web site with a user interface that enables users to find online resources, typically web sites.
  • Search Engine Results Page The search results that are displayed after a search request is submitted. Abbreviated to SERP.
  • Search Term The word or words typed into a search box by a user. It is often used synonymously with Keyword.
  • Search Term Suggestion Tool A tool that displays search terms that are synonymous or proximate to the input term. Many PPC engines offer such a tool to help the advertiser to choose relevant keywords.
  • Spam SPAM (all uppercase) is a registered trademark of Hormel Foods Corporation. In the context of search engines, there is no generally agreed definition other than "Sites positioned Above Mine". Other definitions include the use of doorway pages, scraped pages, keyword-stuffed tags or body text, pages built entirely to make money, and so on. (Spam in an email context refers to unsolicited commercial email (UCE) or unsolicited bulk email (UBE).)
  • Standard Match Overture term for Exact Match.
  • Stemming Some search engines will use your search term as the stem of a related word, for example, you search for a singular term and the search engine includes the plural form in the results. Sometimes, exceptions are made, for example, blind/blinds are not usually related terms.
  • Sub-Phrase Match Search123 term for Phrase Match.
  • Tracking URL A web address that contains additional tracking code to enable you to identify the origin of a click; for example, did it come from a free search or a paid ad? A normal URL might look like this: www.example.com, while a tracking URL might look like this: www.example.com?source=bidsmart.
  • Uniform Resource Locator The address of a resource on the World Wide Web, usually a Web page. The first part of the URL is the protocol, such as http://, ftp:// and so on; the second part is the resource, e.g. www.microsoft.com, which might be just the domain name or also the specific path and document, e.g. www.blah.org/docs/mydoc.html.
  • URL See Uniform Resource Locator.
 
 
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