Digital marketing is dynamic. So dynamic in fact, that we seem to have found the need to shorten terms that don’t even really need shortening. What we’re left with, is an overwhelming number of acronyms which get chucked about at every opportunity, and if you’re new to digital marketing, this can be like learning another language.
Luckily, we have compiled a list of the most commonly used acronyms, so you won’t mix up your CPCs with your CPVs.
CPA – Cost Per Acquisition
The investment needed to drive a conversion (i.e. a website transaction or purchase) (Cost/Conversions)
CPC – Cost Per Click
The amount paid for a click through Paid channels (Cost/Clicks)
CPM – Cost Per Mille
The amount paid for 1,000 impressions ((Cost/Impressions) * 1000)
oCPM – Optimised Cost Per Mille
A Facebook ad bidding type which optimises towards a particular goal (a landing page view, link click etc.)
CPV – Cost Per View
The amount paid for a video view (Cost/Views)
CPCV – Cost Per Completed View
The amount paid for a completed view, where a user watches the full length of a video (Cost/Completed Views)
CPL – Cost Per Lead
The amount paid per lead generated (i.e. email submission, newsletter sign-up, form completion) (Cost/Leads)
IS – Impression Share
The number of impressions you showed for; out of the total you could’ve shown for if the account was not limited by budget or rank (100% IS = Complete visibility across all searches)
ROAS – Return On Ad Spend
Ratio of Revenue Generated to Media Spend. A measure of if paid activity is making/losing money (Revenue/Cost)
ROI – Return On Investment
Ratio of Revenue Generated to Media Spend Inc. associated costs, therefore giving an idea of sustainability ((Revenue-Cost)/Cost)
CTR – Click-Through Rate
The percentage of people who clicked through to your website after triggering and seeing an ad (Clicks/Impressions)
CR/CVR – Conversion Rate
The number of conversions driven out of the total number of people that clicked through to site (Conversions/Clicks)
AOV – Average Order Value
The average amount paid in a transaction
KPI – Key Performance Indicator
A chosen metric(s) used to identify if activity is achieving the desired goal
MCC – My Client Centre
Part of account structure in Google Ads, overarching umbrella which contains different accounts. Agencies will typically use one MCC to manage all their clients
PPC – Pay-Per-Click
Atype of internet advertising in which advertisers pay whenever an advert is clicked.
SQR – Search Query Report
Part of Google Ads Account optimisation in which keywords are identified in user searches and added as new keywords, or excluded as irrelevant
CTA – Call To Action
Snippet of text used to help push and promote a particular action (i.e. Call Us Today!)
RLSA – Remarketing Lists for Search Ads
Google Ads feature which lets you upweight or show ads to only specific users who have been on your website
GDN – Google Display Network
The name of Google’s list of websites where Display ads (Images/GIFs) can show
QS – Quality Score
Measure of keyword quality, considering a) keyword and ad relevance, b) expected CTR & historical performance, c) landing page experience
SEO – Search Engine Optimisation
Work carried out to improve organic search rankings across search engines
SERP – Search Engine Results Page
The name given to the pages which appear after a search is carried out on a search engine
SEM – Search Engine Marketing
Broad term used to describe marketing which uses search engines to drive paid traffic to a website
B2B/B2C – Business-to-Business/Business-to-Consumer
B2B is the exchange of products from one business to another, whilst B2C is the exchange of products from business to a consumer
CRM – Customer Relationship Management
In Paid Media, most commonly refers to a list of first-party data (such as a list of emails sourced from newsletter sign ups) which can be used across different paid channels for targeting
GDPR – General Data Protection Regulation
EU regulation regarding data protection and privacy.
WoW/MoM/YoY/YTD – Week-on-Week, Month-on-Month, Year-on-Year, Year-to-Date
Used to highlight and compare how particular metrics have changed over a given time period
GA – Google Analytics
Google’s Analytics platform used to measure and monitor on-site metrics/performance, tracking and more.
There we have it, a list of our most commonly used Paid Search & Paid Social acronyms! Now that you know these, all those numbers will start to make sense, and you’ll feel like Neo from The Matrix…
