Media buying, in plain words.

An experiment that shows two versions of an ad, audience or landing page to comparable groups that don't overlap, then compares the results. Change one thing at a time and let the test collect enough conversions before calling a winner. Meta, Google Ads and TikTok each have a built-in experiments tool for this.

Meta's page that shows the status of your ad accounts, Pages and business assets, any restrictions on them and the policy behind each one. It is also where you request a review of a decision through Meta's own process.

A measure a platform places on an ad account, business or person after a policy review — for example, the account can no longer run ads. The notice names the policy involved. The only route forward is the platform's own review process, and the platform makes the decision.

How campaigns, ad sets or ad groups and ads are organized inside an ad account. A clear structure — by objective, market or product, with a consistent naming convention — keeps reports readable and stops budgets from competing with each other.

Amazon Ads' efficiency metric: ad spend divided by the sales attributed to those ads, as a percentage. An ACoS of 25% means $1 of spend for every $4 of attributed sales — the inverse of a 4x ROAS.

The account inside an ad platform where campaigns are built, ads are delivered and spend is billed. It has its own payment setup, currency, time zone and user roles, and it remains the platform's property under the platform's terms.

The process that decides which ad is shown each time a placement is available. Platforms don't rank on bid alone: Meta combines the bid, the estimated action rate and ad quality, and Google combines the bid, ad quality, the search context and the expected impact of assets into Ad Rank.

The words in an ad: headline, primary text and description. Good copy says who the offer is for, what they get and what to do next, in words the landing page repeats.

In Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising, the level under a campaign that holds a set of keywords or targeting and the ads that serve for them. TikTok also calls this level an ad group; Meta's equivalent is the ad set.

A public, searchable archive of the ads a platform is running — Meta Ad Library, Google Ads Transparency Center and TikTok's Commercial Content Library are examples. Useful for research, and a reminder that ads are a public record.

A company that gathers ad space from many websites or apps and sells it to advertisers in one place. Native networks such as Taboola, Outbrain and MediaGo are ad networks for sponsored content recommendations.

Google's score for an ad in a given auction. It decides whether the ad can show and in which position, and is calculated from the bid, ad quality (including expected click-through rate and landing page experience), Ad Rank thresholds, the context of the search and the expected impact of assets.

Meta's three rankings — quality, engagement rate and conversion rate — comparing an ad with ads that competed for the same audience. They help you spot weak creative; Meta states they are diagnostics, not inputs to the auction.

The check every ad goes through before and while it runs, to confirm it follows the platform's advertising policies. Reviews are mostly automated, with people looking at some cases. The platform decides; if an ad is rejected, you can edit it or request another review through the platform's own tools.

The level of a Meta campaign that holds the audience, placements, schedule, optimization event and — unless the campaign manages it — the budget. Each ad set contains one or more ads.

Meta's name for its automated options. Advantage+ campaigns, audience, placements and creative let Meta's delivery system decide more of the targeting, placements and creative variations, within the settings you choose.

Meta's setting that puts the budget at the campaign level and shares it across the ad sets automatically, toward wherever results are available. It was previously called campaign budget optimization (CBO).

Google Ads' program that confirms who is behind the ads. The advertiser submits its legal name, location and documents, and Google shows the verified name in the ad's disclosure details. Other platforms run similar checks under their own names.

The rules each platform publishes for what businesses, ads and landing pages may promote, and how. They differ by platform and by country, they change over time, and the platform's reading of them is final.

An ad written in the style of an article, common in native advertising. It must be clearly labeled as an advertisement, and every claim in it has to be one the advertiser can support.

An ad account opened under an agency's setup with the platform — for example under its Meta business portfolio or its Google Ads manager account — for one verified advertiser. The agency handles billing and support, the advertiser runs campaigns under its own login, and ads go through the platform's policies and review like any other.

Revenue divided by the number of orders. A higher AOV — through bundles or a free-shipping threshold — lets you afford a higher CPA at the same margin.

A request for the platform to look again at a decision — a rejected ad, a restricted account or a disabled asset. Appeals go only through the platform's official process, such as Meta's Account Quality or the policy manager in Google Ads, and the platform makes the final decision.

Apple's framework, introduced with iOS 14.5 in 2021, that requires apps to ask permission before tracking people across other companies' apps and websites. It changed how ad platforms measure iOS conversions and moved advertisers toward server-side and modeled measurement.

Assigning credit for a conversion to the ads and touchpoints that came before it. Each platform attributes by its own rules and windows, so the same sale can be claimed by more than one platform. Compare platform numbers with your own sales data before deciding where budget goes.

The rule that splits credit between touchpoints. Last click gives all the credit to the final click; data-driven attribution uses the account's own conversion paths to share it. Google Ads offers data-driven attribution, the default, and last click.

How long after a click or view a conversion can still be credited to an ad. Meta's standard setting is 7-day click or 1-day view; Google Ads sets a window per conversion action, 30 days after a click by default. A shorter window reports fewer conversions — not fewer sales.

Meta's network of third-party mobile apps where Meta ads can also appear. It is a placement you can include or leave out at the ad set level.

The share of people two audiences have in common. Heavy overlap between ad sets makes them enter the same auctions against each other and blurs which one is working.

Hints you give a Google Performance Max campaign — your customer lists, custom segments and interests — to show it where to start. Google can go beyond the signals to find conversions.

Conditions you set in an ad platform to act on their own — pause an ad, change a budget or send an alert when a metric crosses a threshold. Good as guardrails; keep them simple so they don't fight the platform's own optimization.

A Meta bid strategy that sets the most you'll bid in any single auction. It gives the tightest control over cost per auction, but delivery slows if the cap sits below what the auction needs.

How you tell the platform to bid for you. Common choices: spend the budget for the most results (Meta's highest volume, Google's Maximize conversions), aim for an average cost (cost cap, target CPA), aim for a return (ROAS goal, target ROAS) or set a ceiling per auction or click (bid cap, manual CPC).

On ad accounts that charge a card automatically, the spend amount at which the platform bills you; anything below it is billed on the monthly bill date. The platform sets the threshold and may change it as the account builds payment history.

The share of visits that leave without engaging. In Google Analytics 4 it is the opposite of engagement rate: sessions that lasted under 10 seconds, had no key event and viewed only one page.

Keeping ads away from content that could harm the advertiser's reputation. Platforms offer inventory filters, block lists and placement exclusions, and independent verification vendors can measure it.

The ROAS at which ad spend is exactly covered by the gross profit it brings in: 1 ÷ gross margin. With a 40% margin, break-even ROAS is 2.5x; below that, ads lose money before any other cost.

A keyword match type in Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising that lets an ad show for searches related to the keyword's meaning, including searches that don't contain its words. It reaches the most searches and works well with Smart Bidding and a solid negative keyword list.

Targeting with few settings beyond location, age and language, so the delivery system finds buyers from conversion data. It depends on clean conversion tracking and strong creative, because the creative does much of the targeting.

Meta's container for a company's business assets — ad accounts, Pages, pixels, catalogs — and the people who can work on them. It was previously called Business Manager. Business verification, partner access and user roles are managed here.

A platform's check that a business is real and that the person applying can act for it, usually with the legal name, address, phone number, website and an official document. Meta, TikTok, Reddit and others run it, and some features only open up after it. Krög sets up services only for verified businesses.

What it costs to win one new customer: acquisition spend — ads, and often agency fees and tools — divided by new customers in the same period. Unlike CPA, it counts new customers only, not repeat purchases.

The action an ad asks for, such as Shop now, Sign up or Get quote — both the button the platform adds and the line in the copy. A call to action that matches the landing page keeps the conversion rate up.

The top level of an ad account's structure. It sets the objective and, depending on the settings, the budget; ad sets or ad groups, and the ads, sit beneath it.

The result you ask the platform to optimize for when you create a campaign, such as sales, leads, traffic or awareness. It shapes who sees the ads and how the system bids, so choose the objective closest to the business result you want.

Meta's Conversions API: a server-to-server connection that sends web, app and offline events from your server or commerce platform directly to Meta. Run alongside the Meta Pixel and deduplicated with a shared event ID, it keeps measurement working when browsers block or shorten cookies. TikTok's equivalent is the Events API.

An ad format with two or more swipeable cards, each with its own image or video, headline and link. Meta allows up to 10 cards in one carousel.

A unique parameter a platform adds to the landing page URL when someone clicks an ad — gclid for Google Ads, fbclid for Meta, ttclid for TikTok, msclkid for Microsoft Advertising. Saving it with the lead or order lets you send conversions back to the platform later.

The direct cost of the products you sold — the purchase or manufacturing price, plus inbound freight and packaging depending on how you keep your books. It is the base of gross margin.

A group of customers who share a start date, such as everyone acquired in March. Comparing cohorts shows whether newer customers are worth more or less than earlier ones, which is the honest basis for LTV.

Google's framework for passing visitors' cookie-consent choices to Google tags, so the tags adjust what they collect and Google can model the conversions it can't observe.

Revenue minus every variable cost of the orders — product cost, shipping, payment fees and ad spend. It is what the sales contribute toward fixed costs and profit, and the clearest test of whether a campaign pays.

An action you count as a result — a purchase, a lead, a signup or an app install — recorded by a pixel, an SDK, a server event or an upload.

The value attached to a conversion, usually the order revenue. Value-based bidding and ROAS reporting are built on it, so send it clean: in the right currency, and excluding tax and shipping if your margin math does.

A Meta bid strategy that aims to keep the average cost per result at or below the amount you set while getting as many results as possible. Single results can cost more or less; it controls the average.

Meta's reporting metric for spend divided by the results of the ad set's optimization — purchases, leads, link clicks or another result. It is a CPA for whatever the ad set optimizes for.

Ad spend divided by conversions, for whichever conversion you choose — a sale, a signup, a booked call. Judge it against what a conversion is worth to you, not against another account's CPA.

Ad spend divided by clicks. In search auctions the actual CPC is set by the auction, so it is often below your maximum bid.

Ad spend divided by app installs. App campaigns usually optimize for installs first, then for in-app events that predict value, such as a first purchase.

Ad spend divided by leads. A low CPL means little on its own: track how many leads become customers so you can compare cost per qualified lead or per sale.

Ad spend divided by impressions, times 1,000. It shows how expensive attention is in a given auction or placement, and moves with competition, seasonality and audience size.

What you pay for each video view, as the platform defines a view. For skippable YouTube ads, a view generally counts when someone watches 30 seconds (or the whole ad, if shorter) or interacts with it.

Everything people see and hear in an ad: the image or video, the copy, the format and the offer it carries. On automated platforms, creative is one of the biggest levers left to the buyer.

The drop in results when the same people see the same ad too often. Typical signs are rising frequency, a falling click-through rate and a rising CPA at a steady budget. New angles and formats — not just new colors — are the usual fix.

A routine for trying new ads against the current ones, with a set budget and a rule for deciding — for example, a number of conversions or a CPA threshold. Test concepts and hooks before small variations.

Clicks divided by impressions, as a percentage. It measures how well an ad earns a click from the people who see it. Compare it within the same placement and format, because normal ranges vary widely.

An audience built from your own sources — customer lists, website visitors, app users or people who engaged with your content. Customer lists are hashed before matching, and you need the consent your privacy policy describes to use them.

Conversions divided by clicks — or by sessions or visitors, depending on the tool — as a percentage. Check which denominator a report uses before comparing two numbers.

The average amount a campaign or ad set should spend per day. Platforms spend more on strong days and less on weak ones: Google Ads can spend up to twice the average daily budget on a given day while keeping the month within about 30.4 times it, and Meta can spend up to 75% above it on some days while keeping each calendar week within seven times it.

Running ads only on certain days or hours, or changing bids by time of day. Useful when conversions depend on business hours, such as calls; automated bidding often handles timing on its own.

Making sure one conversion is counted once when it arrives from two sources, such as the browser pixel and the Conversions API. Meta matches the two by event name and event ID; without a shared ID, the same purchase can be reported twice.

A link that opens a specific screen inside an app instead of the app's home screen or the website, so an ad click lands where the ad promised.

How and when the platform actually serves an ad. Delivery statuses — Active, Learning, Learning limited, Not delivering — explain why spend is or isn't moving, and the platform's notes usually say what to change.

An ad that the platform's review found doesn't follow its policies. The notice names the policy. You can change the ad to comply, or request another review through the platform's own tools if you believe the decision is wrong.

Image and banner ads shown on websites and apps, bought through networks such as the Google Display Network or programmatically through a DSP.

Proving to a platform that you own a website domain, usually with a DNS TXT record or a meta tag on the home page. On Meta it lets your business portfolio control how links to your domain are edited and shown.

Software that advertisers and agencies use to buy display, video, audio and connected-TV inventory from many exchanges at once, with their own targeting and bidding.

A setup where you supply several images, videos, headlines and texts, and the platform builds and tests combinations, showing the strongest ones to each audience.

Effective cost per thousand impressions: total spend — or, for publishers, revenue — divided by impressions, times 1,000, whatever the buying model was. It puts CPC, CPA and CPM buys on one scale.

A Google Ads conversion counted when someone watches at least 10 seconds of a skippable video ad (or the whole ad, if shorter), doesn't click, and converts within the window.

Interactions — likes, comments, shares, saves, clicks — divided by impressions or reach, depending on the platform. A useful creative signal, but only loosely tied to sales on its own.

A Google Ads feature that sends hashed first-party data, such as the email address entered at checkout, with conversion tags so Google can match more conversions to ad interactions in a privacy-safe way.

A tracked action sent to an ad platform or analytics tool — standard events such as Purchase or Lead, or custom ones you define. An event becomes a conversion when you mark it as a goal.

Meta's score from 0 to 10 for how well the customer information sent with server events — such as a hashed email or phone number — can be matched to Meta accounts. Higher match quality means more conversions attributed and better optimization.

A keyword match type for searches with the same meaning or intent as the keyword, including close variants such as plurals and misspellings. It gives the most control and the least reach.

Telling the platform who or where not to target: recent buyers, existing customers, placements, keywords or locations. Exclusions keep prospecting budgets from paying to reach people you already have.

The address of the page people reach after clicking a Google Ads or Microsoft Advertising ad. Tracking parameters are better added through a tracking template or a final URL suffix rather than typed into the final URL.

Information people give you directly — emails, purchases, behavior on your own site. It powers custom audiences, server-side events and enhanced conversions, and it needs clear consent.

The average number of times each person saw your ad in a period: impressions divided by reach. Rising frequency with flat results usually means the audience is saturated or the creative is tiring.

A setting that caps how many times the same person can see an ad in a period. It's available in reach and awareness buying and in most display and video tools.

A simple model of the path from first contact to purchase: top (awareness), middle (consideration) and bottom (conversion). Media plans often give each stage its own campaigns, creative and KPIs.

Showing ads only to people in chosen places — countries, states, cities, ZIP codes or a radius around an address. Check the location option: in Google Ads, 'presence' means people in or regularly in the area, while 'presence or interest' also includes people searching about it.

Google's single website tag for sending data to Google Ads and Google Analytics. Google Ads conversion tracking and remarketing run through it.

Revenue minus the cost of goods sold, as a percentage of revenue. It sets your break-even ROAS and how much you can afford to pay for a customer.

Turning personal data such as an email address into a fixed string with a one-way function, usually SHA-256, before it is sent to a platform for matching. Platforms require it for customer lists and server events.

A share of the audience deliberately kept from seeing the ads, so its results show what would have happened without them. The gap between the exposed group and the holdout is the incremental effect.

For video ads, the share of impressions that turn into a view of the first few seconds — often 3-second video views divided by impressions. It measures whether the opening earns attention; the rest of the ad has to do the selling.

One time an ad is shown on a screen. Each platform counts impressions by its own rules, which is one reason totals don't match across tools.

The impressions your ads received divided by the impressions they were eligible for, in Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising. Lost impression share is split into budget and rank, which tells you whether money or Ad Rank held you back.

The results that happened because of the ads and wouldn't have happened without them. It is measured with controlled experiments — conversion lift studies, geo tests or holdout groups — rather than with attribution.

A signed order between an advertiser or agency and a publisher or network that sets the budget, dates, placements and rates for a direct media buy.

Reaching people a platform associates with topics, based on their activity on that platform. The options have narrowed over the years as platforms removed sensitive categories.

Clicks and impressions that don't come from a real person with real interest — bots, crawlers, accidental or fraudulent activity. Major platforms filter it and don't charge for invalid clicks they detect; independent tools can audit what's left.

A word or phrase you bid on in search advertising. Its match type decides which searches can trigger the ad.

The few numbers a campaign is judged on, agreed before launch — for example a CPA under $40 or a ROAS above 3x. One primary KPI with a couple of guardrails is easier to act on than a dashboard of everything.

The page people reach after clicking an ad. It has to match what the ad promises, work on mobile, load quickly and follow the platform's destination policies — platforms review it along with the ad.

A form that opens inside the ad platform, prefilled with details from the person's profile, so they can send their contact information without leaving the app. Meta lead ads, Google Ads lead form assets and TikTok lead generation all work this way.

How likely leads are to become customers. Track it by sending qualified-lead or sale events back to the platform, so it optimizes for good leads and not just form fills.

The period after a new ad set launches, or after a significant edit, when Meta's delivery system explores how to deliver it and results are less stable. It usually ends after about 50 optimization events within 7 days; fewer edits help it finish. Google Ads and TikTok have similar learning periods for automated bidding.

A total budget for the whole schedule of a campaign or ad set, which the platform paces across the dates you set.

A Meta audience of people who resemble a source audience, such as your customers. You choose a size from 1% to 10% of a country's population — smaller is closer to the source. Other platforms offer similar audience-expansion tools under their own names.

The gross profit — or revenue; always say which — that a customer brings over the whole relationship. Set against CAC, it tells you how much you can afford to pay to acquire a customer.

Lifetime value divided by acquisition cost. Many teams treat 3 : 1 as a rough benchmark, and below 1 : 1 each new customer loses money. Read it together with the payback period, because cash can run short before a good ratio pays off.

A bid strategy in Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising where you set maximum cost-per-click bids yourself, by keyword or ad group. Full control, and it needs regular attention.

A statistical model that estimates each channel's contribution to sales from historical spend and results, without tracking individual people. Open-source tools such as Google's Meridian and Meta's Robyn have made it easier to run.

Gross profit divided by cost, as a percentage — not the same as margin. A product that costs $40 and sells for $100 has a 150% markup and a 60% margin.

The keyword setting that decides how closely a search has to match the keyword to trigger the ad: broad, phrase or exact.

A Google Ads Smart Bidding strategy that spends the budget to get as many conversions as possible. Adding a target CPA turns it into target-CPA bidding.

A Google Ads manager account: one sign-in that links to and manages many Google Ads accounts. Agencies use it to manage client accounts from one place and share conversion tracking and audience lists across them. The name comes from its original name, My Client Center.

The person who plans, launches and optimizes paid campaigns: choosing platforms and placements, setting budgets and bids, testing creative and reporting on results.

The document that sets out where, when and how much you'll spend — channels, audiences, budgets, dates, KPIs and how results will be measured.

Total revenue divided by total marketing spend across every channel. Because it doesn't depend on any platform's attribution, it is a useful check on the ROAS each platform reports.

Microsoft Advertising's network for native and display ads on Microsoft properties such as MSN, Outlook and Microsoft Edge, and on partner sites.

Conversions a platform estimates rather than observes directly, when consent choices or browser limits hide part of the path. Google and Meta include modeled conversions in reporting and describe the method in their documentation.

A fixed pattern for naming campaigns, ad sets and ads — for example market_objective_audience_date — so that reports can be filtered and read by anyone on the team.

Paid ads that match the look of the content around them — for example sponsored article recommendations on news sites, through networks such as Taboola, Outbrain and MediaGo. They must be clearly labeled as sponsored, and their landing pages follow the network's content guidelines.

A keyword that stops your ad from showing for searches containing it, such as 'free' or 'jobs'. Built from the search terms report, it is the main way to cut wasted search spend.

Conversions that happen away from the website — a sales call, a signed contract, a store purchase — uploaded back to the ad platform with a click ID or hashed customer data, so bidding can optimize for real outcomes.

The event an ad set or campaign is told to get more of, such as Purchase or Lead. Choose the deepest event that still happens often enough for the system to learn from.

How evenly a budget is spent across its period, and whether it's on track to land on target. Under-pacing leaves budget unspent; over-pacing runs it out early.

Meta's way to let another business, such as an agency, work on your assets — ad accounts, Pages, pixels — from its own business portfolio, without sharing logins. Access can be set per task and removed at any time.

How long it takes a new customer's gross profit to cover what it cost to acquire them. A shorter payback means less cash tied up in growth.

How an ad account pays the platform: a card charged automatically, a manual prepayment, or billing through an agency. The payer is part of the account's setup and verification.

A Google Ads campaign type that runs from one campaign across Search, YouTube, Display, Discover, Gmail and Maps, using your goals, assets and audience signals to decide where to serve.

A keyword match type for searches that include the meaning of the keyword, possibly with words before or after it. It sits between broad and exact match in reach and control.

A snippet of code on your website that sends events — page views, add-to-carts, purchases — to an ad platform, such as the Meta Pixel or TikTok Pixel. It powers conversion reporting, optimization and website audiences, and works better when paired with a server-side connection.

Where an ad appears — Facebook Feed, Instagram Reels, YouTube in-stream or a publisher's website, for example. You can let the platform choose placements automatically or pick them yourself.

Gross profit from attributed sales divided by ad spend. Unlike ROAS, it reflects margins that differ by product; a POAS above 1 means the ads paid for themselves.

A server-to-server call that reports a conversion to a tracker or ad network when it happens, usually carrying the click ID. Common in native and app advertising.

A file or connection that lists your products with IDs, titles, prices, availability and images. Shopping ads and catalog ads on Meta, TikTok and others are built from it.

Buying ad space through automated systems instead of manual negotiation — most often real-time auctions between DSPs and SSPs through ad exchanges.

Campaigns aimed at people who don't know you yet, as opposed to retargeting. Prospecting usually has a higher CPA, and it is what grows the customer base.

Google Ads' 1–10 keyword diagnostic, based on expected click-through rate, ad relevance and landing page experience compared with other advertisers. It is a guide to ad quality, not an input into the auction itself.

The number of unique people who saw an ad at least once in a period. Platforms estimate it, so reach can't simply be added up across campaigns or days.

A buying type on Meta and some other platforms that books reach in advance at a predictable price and frequency, for planned awareness campaigns.

The auction that runs in milliseconds while a page or app loads, where buyers bid on a single impression through an ad exchange.

Google Ads' standard search ad. You provide up to 15 headlines and 4 descriptions, and Google tests combinations to show the most relevant one for each search.

Products and services a platform allows only under conditions — such as gambling, alcohol, financial services or healthcare. They can require the platform's own authorization or certification first, specific targeting settings or disclaimers, and the rules differ by platform and by country.

Showing ads to people who already interacted with you — visited the site, added to cart, watched a video or are on your customer list. It needs a pixel or a list, and the consent your privacy policy describes.

Revenue attributed to ads divided by ad spend. A ROAS of 3x (or 300%) means $3 in attributed revenue for each $1 spent. It ignores margins, so compare it with your break-even ROAS.

Profit divided by total cost, as a percentage. Unlike ROAS, it uses profit rather than revenue and counts every cost, not only ad spend.

Raising spend while keeping results within target — by increasing budgets gradually, adding audiences, placements or markets, or adding new creative. Results usually get more expensive as spend grows.

Text ads shown alongside search results for the words people type. Intent is high, because the person is already looking for something.

The list of actual searches that triggered your ads in Google Ads or Microsoft Advertising. Reviewing it regularly is how you find new keywords and negative keywords.

Predictable swings in demand and auction prices through the year. CPMs typically rise in the fourth quarter, around Black Friday and the holidays, when more advertisers compete for the same people.

Sending conversion events from your server, or a server-side tag container, to ad platforms and analytics instead of only from the visitor's browser. It holds up better against browser restrictions and gives you control over what is shared.

What an agency charges for its service, often a percentage of ad spend. At Krög it runs from 2% to 17% of ad spend, depending on the platform and volume, and the exact rate is confirmed in writing before you pay.

Ads that show a product's image, price and store name, generated from a product feed in Google Merchant Center or Microsoft Merchant Center.

Apple's privacy-preserving framework for attributing app installs to ad campaigns without identifying the user. Results arrive delayed and aggregated, with limited conversion values. Apple's newer AdAttributionKit builds on it.

Google Ads' family of automated bid strategies that set a bid for each auction using machine learning: Maximize conversions, Maximize conversion value, target CPA and target ROAS.

A TikTok ad format that promotes an existing organic post from your own account or, with their authorization, from a creator's account, keeping the original likes and comments.

Meta's categories for ads about financial products and services, employment, housing, and social issues, elections or politics. Ads in them must be declared and use narrower targeting; political ads also need authorization and a 'Paid for by' disclaimer.

A cap on spend that the advertiser sets — an account spending limit or a campaign spending limit on Meta, or a campaign total budget elsewhere. When it is reached, ads stop until it is raised or reset. Platforms can also apply their own spending thresholds to an account; only the platform sets and changes those.

Amazon Ads' cost-per-click format that promotes individual product listings in shopping results and on product pages.

Software that publishers use to sell their ad space programmatically to many buyers and exchanges at once, with price floors and rules.

A summary of a period's billing: top-ups, platform spend, fees and balances. Krög sends monthly statements with platform spend and the service fee on separate lines.

How confident you can be that a difference between test groups isn't chance. Small samples swing widely, so decide the sample size or confidence level before the test starts — not after a good day.

Amazon sellers' metric: ad spend divided by total sales, advertised and organic together. A falling TACoS while sales grow suggests the ads are lifting organic sales too.

A bid strategy that gets as many conversions as possible at or around the average cost per conversion you set. Google Ads offers it within Maximize conversions; other platforms have their own versions.

A value-based bid strategy that aims for the average return on ad spend you set. It needs reliable conversion values and enough conversion volume to work well.

Cookies set by a domain other than the site you're on, long used for cross-site tracking and retargeting. Safari blocks them and Firefox isolates them by default, which is one reason first-party and server-side measurement matter.

A Meta video metric and optimization option: a play to the end for videos shorter than 15 seconds, or of at least 15 seconds for longer ones.

Two settings chosen when an ad account is created. They decide when 'today' starts for budgets and reports, and which currency you are billed in. Choose them to match your business and reporting from the start.

Adding funds to a prepaid balance that ad spend then draws from. With agency billing, each top-up is invoiced and spend is reported against the balance.

A Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising setting that adds tracking information to the landing page URL on each click, often through a measurement tool, without changing the final URL.

A second sign-in step — an authenticator app, a security key or a code — on top of the password. Ad platforms increasingly require it for people with admin roles on business assets.

Content in the style of real customers — reviews, unboxings, demonstrations — often made by paid creators. When creators are paid or products are gifted, platform rules and the FTC's endorsement guidance require a clear disclosure.

The levels of access people have to an ad account or business asset, such as admin, advertiser or analyst. Give each person the lowest role they need, and remove access when someone leaves.

Tags added to a link — utm_source, utm_medium, utm_campaign, utm_term and utm_content — so analytics tools can tell which source, campaign and ad a visit came from. Keep them lowercase and consistent with your naming convention.

Bidding toward conversion value instead of conversion count, so the system favors buyers likely to spend more. Target ROAS and Maximize conversion value are examples.

The industry or category an offer belongs to, such as e-commerce, apps, software or health. Each comes with its own platform policies, any certifications the platform requires, and its own typical costs.

Whether an ad had a real chance to be seen. Under the common industry standard, a display impression is viewable when at least 50% of its pixels are on screen for one continuous second — two seconds for video.

A conversion credited to an ad the person saw but didn't click, within a view window — for example Meta's 1-day view. It matters for video and awareness, but it is easy to over-credit, so check it with incrementality tests.

A platform that keeps ad buying, data and measurement inside its own ecosystem — Google, Meta, Amazon and TikTok are typical examples. You buy on its terms and measure largely with its tools.

Information a customer intentionally shares with you, such as preferences in a quiz or a survey. It complements first-party data for segmentation and personalization.