The ad tech glossary
309 terms, each answered in one sentence, then explained properly with an analogy and a worked example.
AllBasicsProgrammaticInvalid traffic & fraudMeasurementData & identityPrivacy & regulationCTV & videoMobile & appRetail & commerceFormats & creativeBusiness & financeSearch & socialSupply chainAudio & DOOH
A
- Ads in AI assistants and AI search
- Ads in AI assistants and AI search are paid placements that appear within or beside AI-generated answers, such as in Google's AI Overviews or ChatGPT, often matched to the conversation's context.
I
- Influencer marketing
- Influencer marketing is paying or partnering with social media creators to promote products to their followers through posts, videos or livestreams, which must be disclosed as advertising.
K
- Keyword bidding
- Keyword bidding is choosing search terms your ads should appear for and setting how much you are willing to pay per click when someone searches for them.
P
- Paid social
- Paid social is advertising on social media platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn, Snapchat, Pinterest and X, where ads appear in feeds, stories and short videos.
Q
- Quality Score
- Quality Score is Google Ads' 1-to-10 diagnostic rating of how relevant and useful a keyword's ads and landing page are, based on expected click-through rate, ad relevance and landing page experience.
S
- Search advertising
- Search advertising is placing paid ads alongside search engine results, triggered by the words people search for and usually charged per click.
- Search arbitrage
- Search arbitrage is buying cheap traffic, often from social or native ads, and sending it to pages that show search-style ad links, earning money when visitors click those links.