Performance Marketing Glossary
A
Assisted Conversion
A touchpoint that a user interacts with before the final click that leads to a sale. It “assists” the conversion but doesn’t get the final credit in a last-click model.
Attribution Model
The rule (or set of rules) that determines how credit for sales and conversions is assigned to touchpoints in conversion paths (e.g., First Click vs. Last Click).
A/B Testing
A method of comparing two versions of an ad or landing page against each other to determine which one performs better.
B
B2B (Business-to-Business)
Marketing strategies focused on selling products or services to other businesses rather than individual consumers.
B2C (Business-to-Consumer)
Marketing strategies focused on selling directly to individual end-consumers.
Backpropagation
Short for “backward propagation of errors.”
Broad Match
A keyword setting in search advertising that allows your ad to show when a user searches for that keyword, its synonyms, related searches, or other relevant variations.
Buyer Persona
A semi-fictional representation of an ideal customer based on market research and real data about existing customers.
C
CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost):
The total sales and marketing cost required to earn a new customer.
Campaign
A specific set of ad groups and ads sharing a budget and targeting goals within a platform like Meta or Google Ads.
Cookies
Small files stored on a user’s browser used to track behavior, maintain login sessions, and power retargeting ads.
CPA (Cost Per Acquisition)
The cost to acquire one paying customer or a specific lead.
CPC (Cost Per Click)
You only pay when someone actually clicks your ad.
CPL (Cost Per Lead)
The cost specifically for capturing a user’s information (email, phone, etc.).
CPM (Cost Per Mille)
The cost for 1,000 impressions. Ideal for brand awareness.
CPV (Cost Per View)
A bidding method for video campaigns where you pay when a viewer watches a certain duration of your video or interacts with it.
Creative
The actual ad content; images, videos, or copy that the target audience sees. In modern performance marketing, “creative is the new targeting.”
The percentage of people who saw your ad and clicked it.
Formula: (Clicks / Impressions) x 100
Custom Audience
A targeting option that allows you to find your existing audiences among people who are on platforms like Meta or Google (usually uploaded via email lists).
Customer Lifetime Value (CLV/LTV)
The total worth to a business of a customer over the whole period of their relationship.
CVR (Conversion Rate)
The percentage of people who clicked your ad and then completed the desired action (like buying a product)
D
DABA (Dynamic Ads for Broad Audiences)
A Meta (Facebook) ad feature that shows relevant products from your catalog to people who haven’t visited your website yet but have shown interest in similar products elsewhere.
DPA (Dynamic Product Ads)
Ads that automatically show products to people who have expressed interest on your website or app. If they looked at a specific pair of shoes, the DPA will show them those exact shoes.
E
Event
A specific action a user takes on your website that you want to track, such as “Add to Cart,” “Start Checkout,” or “Lead Form Submitted.”
F
Facebook Pixel (now Meta Pixel)
A piece of code for your website that lets you measure, optimize, and build audiences for your ad campaigns.
Feed (Product Feed)
A digital file (usually XML, CSV, or JSON) that contains a list of all the products you want to advertise, including titles, prices, and images. This powers Dynamic Product Ads.
First-Click Attribution
An attribution model that gives 100% of the credit for a sale to the very first ad or link a user clicked, even if they clicked five other ads before buying.
Funnel
The visual representation of the customer journey, narrowing from a large group of “aware” people at the top to a small group of “purchasers” at the bottom.
G
GCLID (Google Click Identifier)
A unique tracking parameter passed in a URL when a user clicks on a Google ad. it allows Google Ads and Google Analytics to share data about that specific click.
GDN (Google Display Network)
A group of more than 2 million websites, videos, and apps where your Google ads can appear, reaching over 90% of internet users worldwide.
GMC (Google Merchant Center)
A tool that helps you upload your store and product data to Google and make it available for Shopping ads and other Google services.
I
Inventory (Ad Inventory)
The space available for advertisements on a website or app. Performance marketers bid on this inventory in real-time.
J
Junk Leads
Inquiries or sign-ups that do not meet the quality standards for a sales team (e.g., fake phone numbers or people looking for freebies). Monitoring your CPL (Cost Per Lead) is meaningless if your “Junk Lead” percentage is too high.
L
Landing Page
The specific webpage a visitor “lands” on after clicking an ad, optimized for a single conversion goal.
Lead Generation
The process of attracting and converting strangers into leads through various performance channels.
Lookalike Audience (LAL)
An audience created by an algorithm (like Meta’s) that finds new people who share similar characteristics with your existing customers.
LTV (Lifetime Value)
The total amount of money a customer is expected to spend with your business during their entire relationship with you.
M
Match Type
A setting in search advertising (Broad, Phrase, or Exact) that tells Google or Bing how closely a user’s search query must match your keyword for your ad to show.
MER (Marketing Efficiency Ratio)
Total Revenue divided by Total Ad Spend across all platforms. Often called the “blended” ROAS.
Meta Ads Manager
The tool used to create, manage, and track performance for ads on Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and the Audience Network.
N
Negative Keywords
Specific words or phrases you exclude from your search campaigns to prevent your ads from showing for irrelevant queries.
Example: If you sell “Premium Coffee,” you might add “free” or “cheap” as negative keywords to avoid low-intent traffic.
Non-Brand Keywords
Search terms that do not include your company or product name. These are usually more competitive and expensive than Brand Keywords but are essential for reaching new customers.
O
Offer
The specific value proposition you are presenting to the user (e.g., “50% off,” “Free Trial,” or “Buy One Get One”). In performance marketing, a strong offer often outweighs the impact of the ad’s design.
P
Pixel / Tag
A snippet of code placed on a website that allows platforms (like Google or Meta) to track user behavior and conversions.
PMax (Performance Max)
A goal-based Google Ads campaign type that uses AI to serve ads across the entire Google Network (Search, YouTube, Display, Discover, Gmail, and Maps) from a single campaign. It automatically optimizes bidding and placements to find the highest-converting opportunities in real-time.
R
Retargeting / Remarketing
Serving ads to people who have already visited your website or interacted with your brand.
ROAS (Return on Ad Spend)
The gross revenue generated for every dollar spent on advertising.
Example: If you spend $1 and make $5, your ROAS is 5x.
ROI (Return on Investment)
A broader look at profit after all expenses (not just ad spend) are deducted.
S
Segmentation
Dividing a broad audience or customer list into smaller sub-groups based on shared characteristics (e.g., “Big Spenders,” “Inactive Users,” or “Cart Abandoners”) for more personalized targeting.
Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
The practice of promoting websites by increasing their visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs) through paid advertising (PPC).
U
UGC (User-Generated Content)
Content created by customers rather than the brand itself (like unboxing videos or reviews). In performance marketing, UGC-style ads often outperform high-production videos because they feel more “native” to social feeds.
UTM Parameters (Urgency Tracking Module)
Small snippets of text added to the end of a URL to help you track the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns in tools like GA4.
The 5 standard parameters:
utm_source,utm_medium,utm_campaign,utm_term, andutm_content.
V
View Through Rate
View-Through Rate (VTR) is a metric used in video advertising to measure the percentage of people who watched an ad from start to finish.
Formula: (Completed Views \ Total Impressions) x 100 = VTR
