Glossary
Digital Marketing glossary
47 key terms and acronyms from across Digital Marketing certifications, in plain English. Definitions are simplified for learning; the official exam outlines are authoritative.
- A/B test
- Comparing two versions of an ad or setting to see which performs better.
- Ad
- The lowest level - the actual creative (image, video, copy, link) people see.
- Ad auction
- The system that decides which ad to show and what it costs, based on bid, quality and estimated action.
- Ad group
- A container for related keywords and the ads that target them.
- Ad Rank
- The value that sets ad position, combining bid, ad quality, context and expected impact.
- Ad set
- The middle level, where you set audience, placement, budget and schedule.
- Ads Manager
- Meta's main tool for creating, editing and reporting on ad campaigns.
- Auction
- The real-time process that decides which ads show and in what order for a search.
- Bid
- The most you are willing to pay for a click (or other action).
- Broad match
- Match type that shows ads for related searches, including synonyms and intent.
- Budget
- The amount you set to spend, either per day (daily) or over the run (lifetime).
- Business Manager
- A tool for organising ad accounts, Pages, people and payment methods for a business.
- Campaign
- The top level of an ad, where you choose the objective.
- Campaign objective
- The result you optimise for, such as awareness, traffic, engagement, leads or sales.
- Conversion
- A tracked valuable action, such as a purchase or a lead.
- Conversion rate
- Conversions divided by clicks.
- Conversion tracking
- The setup that records conversions; required for Smart Bidding to optimise.
- Core (saved) audience
- An audience defined by demographics, interests, behaviours and location.
- CPC
- Cost per click.
- CPM
- Cost per 1,000 impressions.
- CTR
- Click-through rate - clicks divided by impressions.
- Custom Audience
- An audience built from your own data, such as site visitors or a customer list.
- Exact match
- Match type that shows ads for searches with the same meaning or intent as the keyword.
- Facebook Page
- A business's public profile on Facebook; required before running most ads.
- Google Ads
- Google's advertising platform for running paid campaigns, including Search.
- Impression
- A single instance of your ad being shown.
- Impression share
- Impressions received divided by impressions you were eligible for.
- Impressions
- The total number of times an ad was shown (can include repeats).
- Keyword
- A word or phrase you bid on so your ad can show for related searches.
- Lookalike Audience
- A new audience modelled on a source audience to find similar people.
- Maximise conversions
- A Smart Bidding strategy that gets the most conversions for a budget.
- Meta Blueprint
- Meta's official training and certification programme for advertising on its platforms.
- Meta Business Suite
- A free tool to manage a business's Facebook and Instagram presence in one place.
- Meta Pixel
- A piece of code on a website that tracks actions for measurement and optimisation.
- Meta technologies
- Meta's family of apps and services used for advertising, mainly Facebook and Instagram.
- Negative keyword
- A term you exclude so your ad does not show for it.
- Phrase match
- Match type that shows ads for searches including the meaning of your keyword.
- Placement
- Where an ad appears, such as Facebook Feed, Instagram Feed, Stories or Reels.
- Quality Score
- A diagnostic (1-10) reflecting expected click-through rate, ad relevance and landing-page experience.
- Reach
- The number of unique people who saw an ad.
- Responsive search ad
- An ad that mixes multiple headlines and descriptions, which Google combines automatically.
- ROAS
- Return on ad spend - revenue generated divided by amount spent.
- Search campaign
- Ads shown on Google's search results in response to user queries.
- Skillshop
- Google's free platform for Google Ads training and certification assessments.
- Smart Bidding
- Automated, goal-based bidding using Google's signals (e.g. Target CPA, Target ROAS).
- Target CPA
- A Smart Bidding strategy aiming for a set cost per conversion.
- Target ROAS
- A Smart Bidding strategy aiming for a set return on ad spend.