What is CPC? A Google Ads glossaryGoogle Ads terms, in plain English.

What sets the price of a click

Google runs an auction each time someone searches, and it ranks the ads that fit by bid, ad quality and the context of the search. Your rank decides your spot on the page and what you pay.

Clicks, costs and results

Your ad shows, someone clicks, and some of those clicks turn into a call or a form, and Google reports a number for each step.

1. Impr.

   Impression

   Google counts an impression each time your ad shows. One person who sees your ad three times counts as three, and impressions are the first of the five numbers worth reading in a monthly report.

2. Impr. share

   Impression share

   Impression share compares the times your ad showed with the times Google thinks it could have shown. Google also shows the share you missed because the budget ran out, and our budget guide covers when a bigger budget makes sense.

3. CTR

   Click-through rate

   CTR is your clicks divided by your impressions, so 5 clicks from 100 showings is a 5% click rate. A Google Ad Grant has to keep at least 5% across the account each month, and our guide to a good CTR shows how to judge yours.

4. Budget

   Average daily budget

   Your average daily budget sets what a campaign can spend. Google may spend up to twice that on a busy day, but it won't bill more than 30.4 times it in a month, so our budget pacing guide judges the month, not the day.

5. Conv.

   Conversion

   A conversion is an action you've told Google to count after someone clicks your ad, like a call, a form or a sale. Google's bidding learns from whatever you count, so our conversion tracking guide starts by counting only real leads.

6. Conv. rate

   Conversion rate

   Conversion rate is your conversions divided by the clicks and other interactions that led to them, so 50 conversions from 1,000 interactions is 5%. Our metrics guide shows why you judge it over three months, not one.

7. CPL

   Cost per lead

   Cost per lead is your ad spend divided by the calls and forms it brought in, and Google's reports call it cost per conversion. If $1,500 brings 30 calls and forms, each lead cost $50, and the CPC calculator runs the same math on your numbers.

8. ROAS

   Return on ad spend

   ROAS is the revenue your ads brought in divided by what you spent on them, so $4,000 in sales from $1,000 in ads is a ROAS of 4. The ROAS calculator finds the break-even line for your profit margin.

Keywords, searches and ads

Keywords tell Google which searches you want, and the search terms report shows what people really typed.

1. What you bid on

   Keyword

   A keyword is a word or phrase you add to a campaign to tell Google which searches fit your ad. Google reads it as a topic, so it can match searches you never typed.

2. Match type

   Broad match

   Broad match lets your ad show on searches related to your keyword, even ones that don't use its words, while phrase and exact match stay closer to them. We add new keywords on broad match and use negative keywords to block the searches that prove to be waste.

3. What people typed

   Search terms report

   A search term is what someone typed before your ad showed, and the search terms report lists the ones your ads appeared on. Our search terms study looks at the words people use right before they call or buy.

4. Blocks a search

   Negative keyword

   A negative keyword keeps your ad off any search that contains it, like jobs for a plumber. Our negative keywords guide shows how to block waste without blocking the searches that bring leads.

5. 1 to 10

   Quality Score

   Quality Score is Google's 1 to 10 grade for a keyword, built from expected click rate, ad relevance and landing page experience. Google uses it as a diagnostic and doesn't feed it into the auction, and our Quality Score guide explains each part.

6. Your spot

   Ad Rank

   Ad Rank decides whether your ad shows and where. Google works it out again on every search from your bid, the quality of your ad and page, and the context of the search.

7. Bidding

   Smart Bidding

   Smart Bidding is Google's automated bidding, which uses Google AI to aim for conversions in every auction. It bids toward whatever your account counts, so a hang-up counted as a lead teaches it to find more hang-ups.

8. Page

   Landing page

   A landing page is the page someone reaches after clicking your ad. The ones we build answer one search and ask for one action, like a call or a short form.

Campaign types and Google programs

Google sells more than one kind of ad, and some businesses and nonprofits qualify for programs with their own rules.

1. PMax

   Performance Max

   Performance Max is a campaign type that runs one budget across Search, Maps, YouTube, Gmail, Discover and the Display Network, and Google's AI picks where each ad shows. Our Performance Max guide lists the settings we change.

2. LSA

   Local Services Ads

   Local Services Ads charge a service business for each valid lead, like a call or a message, instead of for each click. Google ranks them partly on your reviews and how fast you respond.

3. LSA lead

   Charged lead

   Google charges for answered calls, messages, booking requests and some missed calls that come through your Local Services ad. It checks each lead for 30 days and credits the ones it finds were low quality, repeated or invalid. You can also rate a lead from your Leads page so Google hears about a bad one.

4. Badge

   Google Verified

   Google Verified is the blue badge a business earns by passing Google's Local Services screening. It replaced the Google Guaranteed badge in October 2025.

5. Nonprofits

   Google Ad Grant

   The Google Ad Grant gives a qualifying nonprofit up to $10,000 a month of search ads on Google. To stay in the program, the account has to keep a 5% click rate, track conversions and follow Google's other Grant rules.

6. GBP

   Google Business Profile

   Your Google Business Profile is the listing that shows your hours, phone number, photos and reviews on Google Search and Maps. Our guide to Business Profile optimization shows how to set it up once and keep it right.

7. Where ads show

   Location targeting

   Location targeting sets the places your ads show, and Google's default also reaches people who only show interest in them. On each campaign built for one local area, we switch it to people in or regularly in the area.

Tracking

Tracking ties each call, form and sale back to the ad click that brought it, so Google can learn which searches bring work.

1. Click ID

   GCLID

   The GCLID, short for Google Click Identifier, is a code that auto-tagging adds to the link of every ad click. Save it with each form lead, and you can later tell Google which click turned into booked work.

2. Lead matching

   Enhanced conversions

   Enhanced conversions send Google a one-way code made from the email on your form, so a lead can still count when a browser blocks cookies. Google matches the code to people signed in when they clicked, and our tracking guide adds it in month two.

3. Booked work

   Offline conversion import

   An offline conversion import sends Google the leads that turned into booked work, each with its click ID, so bidding can aim at the searches that bring jobs. Google won't import one uploaded more than 90 days after the click, so our tracking guide says to send them often.

4. Calls

   Call tracking

   Call tracking counts the calls from your ads, your website and your Google profile, and shows where each one came from. Our guide to Business Profile call tracking shows how to add it without changing the number your customers know.

5. UTM

   UTM codes

   UTM codes are tags on the end of a link, like utm_source=facebook, that tell Google Analytics which post or email sent each visit. Our guide to UTM codes for social media has the naming rules.

AI search

Search now includes answers written by AI, and a business can show up inside them.

1. GEO

   Generative engine optimization

   GEO is the work of getting your business named or quoted when an AI tool like ChatGPT, Gemini or Google's AI Overviews answers a question. Some people call it AEO, for answer engine optimization, and our GEO guide covers both.

2. AI answer

   AI Overview

   Google's AI writes an AI Overview above some search results to answer the question, and it links to the pages it drew from. Google showed one on 36% of the searches we track for our clients. Our GEO guide shows what makes a page easier for it to quote.