Google Acronym Glossary
Have you ever sat down to watch a game of football without knowing any of the rules? Maybe played a hand at poker without knowing if your cards are any good? Watched the sequel without having seen the original movie?
You get lost, don’t you? It’s tough going when you’re not sure what you’re watching, or what you should be doing next.
Welcome to AdWords – where the rules are even more complicated than that game of football. The cards are played closer to your opponent’s chest, and just think of all that character development you missed.
Luckily you’ve got SponsoredLinX here to help out, and today we’re going to get to the bottom of some of the rules you don’t know by starting out with just some of the hundreds of acronyms Google uses on a daily basis.
Okay, I may be exaggerating a little with ‘hundreds’ but, there’s definitely a few. Let’s start off with the more common ones you might hear from those working in online marketing.
Before we get too far ahead of ourselves, here are the basics:
Click – When a potential customer clicks on your ad, this is known as a ‘click’. This is a pretty obvious one. This can also now be referred to as an ‘interaction’.
Impression – If a potential customer searches for the keywords you’re advertising on, and is shown your ad (whether it be in position one or further down the page) this is referred to as an ‘impression’.
Conversion – When a customer completes a specified action after clicking your ad. This could relate to an enquiry form being filled out, a quote request or a purchase.
CPC (Cost per click)
The amount you actually paid when your ad was clicked.
AVG CPC (Average cost per click)
The average amount you paid when your ad was clicked. This takes into account the time frame you’re viewing, and is the total amount paid divided by the total number of clicks over that time.
CTR (Click through rate)
The number of times your ad was clicked on divided by the number of times your ad was shown to a potential customer. This also takes into account the time frame you’re viewing. This is a good indication of how well a keyword or ad may be performing. A high CTR means it is performing well, a low CTR means you may need to look at adjusting the keywords or ad copy.
AVG POS (Average position)
This shows you the position your ad has been placed on average over the time frame you are viewing. This indicates your ad position on the first page. If you are not bidding enough to be shown on the first page, this may be seen as 0.0. An example would be 2.4. This ad would be seen on average between position 2 and 3.
CPC (or CPA) (Cost per conversion or cost per acquisition)
This shows you how much you paid to get a conversion (email sent, form filled in, product purchased). It takes into account the time frame you’re viewing. Total cost divided by the number of conversions = CPA.
A couple of the less common acronyms you might come across:
CPM (Cost per thousand impressions)
This is only common in an alternate pricing model that charges for ever thousand impressions an ad has rather than the number of clicks.
CPV (Cost per view)
This one relates to YouTube. You set a maximum CPV for the amount you’re willing to pay for someone to see or watch your video, or click on the YouTube overlay
Now it’s time for the big and important acronym…
ROI (Return on investment)
This is the end goal. Everyone is out to get return on investment. That’s what SponsoredLinX is here for, to help you manage and maintain your Google advertising so that the investment you are making in your business is bringing you the return you need to succeed.
Hopefully this should help you through the maze that is Google AdWords, but just remember, you can always call us here at SponsoredLinX on 1300 859 600 to always lend a helping hand.