Glossary of Google AdSense Terms

Ad CTR

For standard ads, your ad clickthrough rate (CTR) is the number of ad clicks divided by the number of individual ad impressions.

Ad CTR = Clicks / Ad impressions

For example, if your ad received 5 clicks out of 1000 ad impressions, your ad CTR would be .5%.

For link units, the number of ad clicks divided by the number of impressions for the page of ads that appears when a link unit is clicked.

Ad impression

An ad impression is reported whenever an individual ad is displayed on your website. Different ad formats will display varying numbers of ads; for example, each time a vertical banner appears on your site, you'll see two ad impressions in your reports. In addition, keep in mind that the number of ads in any ad unit may vary depending on whether the ad unit is displaying standard text ads, expanded text ads, or image ads.

Ad request

An ad request is counted whenever your site requests ads to be displayed. It is the number of ad units that requested ads (for content ads) or search queries (for search ads). We report an ad request each time a request was sent, even if no ads were returned and public service ads or backup ads were displayed instead.

Ad request CTR

The ad request clickthrough rate (CTR) is the number of ad clicks divided by the number of ad requests.

Ad request CTR = Clicks / Ad requests

For example, if you received 7 clicks out of 1000 ad requests, your ad request CTR would be .7%. (7 / 1000 = 0.7%)

Ad request RPM

Ad request revenue per thousand impressions (RPM) is calculated by dividing your estimated earnings by the number of ad requests you made, then multiplying by 1000.

Ad request RPM = (Estimated earnings / Number of ad requests) * 1000

For example, if you earned an estimated $60 from 15,000 ad requests, your ad request RPM would equal ($60 / 15,000) * 1000, or $4.00.

Ad RPM

Ad revenue per thousand impressions (RPM) is calculated by dividing your estimated earnings by the number of ad impressions you received, then multiplying by 1000.

Ad RPM = (Estimated earnings / Ad impressions) * 1000

For example, if you earned an estimated $180 from 45,000 ad impressions, your ad RPM would equal ($180 / 45,000) * 1000, or $4.00.

Ad type

Google offers several different options for the varieties of ad that may appear on your pages and in your reports. Here's what you may see:

• Text
• Image
• Rich media
• Flash
• Video
• Animated image
• Audio
• Link units

You can choose what ad type you'd like to display when creating or editing an ad unit and also set default ad type preferences for your account.

Bid type

The bid type is the way that advertisers bid in the auction for your ad space: cost-per-click (CPC) or cost-per-thousand impressions (CPM).

Click

For standard content ads, we count a click when a user clicks on an ad.

For link units, we count a click when a user clicks on an ad on the page of ads, after selecting a link in the link unit.

Clickthrough rate (CTR)

The clickthrough rate (CTR) is the number of ad clicks divided by the number of impressions, page views, or queries you received.

CTR = ( Clicks / # of impressions, views, or queries) * 100%

For example, if you received 7 clicks out of 1000 page views, your page CTR would be .7%.

Cost-per-click (CPC)

The cost-per-click (CPC) is the amount you earn each time a user clicks on your ad. The CPC for any ad is determined by the advertiser; some advertisers may be willing to pay more per click than others, depending on what they're advertising.

Coverage

Coverage is the percentage of ad requests that returned at least one ad. Generally, coverage can help you identify sites where AdSense isn't able to provide targeted ads.

Formula:
Coverage = (Ad requests that returned ads / total ad requests) * 100

For example, if you have 3 ad units on a page, you'll generate 3 ad requests. If two of these ad units display ads and one displays no ads, the coverage for this page would be 66.67%. Likewise, if you have a search box, coverage of 80% means that an average of 1 query out of 5 shows no ads with the search results.

For link units, coverage reflects the number of link units that showed ads after the user clicked on a term in the link unit. Coverage for pages displaying link units is typically much lower than for the other kinds of ad units, because it involves user clicking. This also means you'll see a higher number for unmatched ad requests.

High coverage, close to 100%, indicates that Google was able to provide ads to most requests. Lower coverage is a sign that Google wasn't able to provide ads suitable for your page and no ads or your specified backup ads instead. To maximise your coverage, we recommend reviewing the possible causes for low coverage.

Estimated earnings

Your account balance for the time period selected. This amount is an estimate that is subject to change when your earnings are verified for accuracy at the end of every month.

Impression

Generally, an impression translates to a user view of a particular item on your site, whether the user is viewing a page, an ad unit, or an individual ad. In AdSense, you'll see reports for page views, ad unit impressions, and ad impressions.

Matched CTR

The matched request clickthrough rate (CTR) is the percentage of matched requests that led to a click.

Matched CTR = Clicks / Matched requests




Matched requests

A matched request is counted for each ad request that returns at least one ad to the site. It is the number of ad units (for content ads) or search queries (for search ads) that showed ads.

Pages displaying link units may notice artificially low matched requests due to how link unit statistics are reported.




Matched RPM

The matched request revenue per thousand impressions (RPM) is the average earnings per one thousand matched requests.


Matched RPM = (Estimated earnings / Matched requests) * 1000




Page CTR

The page clickthrough rate (CTR) is the number of ad clicks divided by the number of page views.

Page CTR = Clicks / Page views

For example, if you received 2 clicks for 250 page views, your ad unit CTR would be .8%. (2/250=.8%)




Page RPM

Page revenue per thousand impressions (RPM) is calculated by dividing your estimated earnings by the number of page views you received, then multiplying by 1000.

Page RPM = (Estimated earnings / Number of page views) * 1000

For example, if you earned an estimated $0.15 from 25 page views, then your page RPM would equal ($0.15 / 25) * 1000, or $6.00.




Page view

A page view is what Google counts in your reports every time a user views a page displaying Google ads. We will count one page view regardless of the number of ads displayed on that page.

For example, if you have a page displaying three ad units and it is viewed twice, you will generate two page views.




Query

In your reports, we count a query each time a request is made to our system to display an ad unit. We'll count a query every time an ad unit on your site requests ads, whether or not targeted ads are displayed.

Query CTR

The query clickthrough rate (CTR) is the number of ad clicks divided by the number of queries reported.

Query CTR = Clicks / Queries

For example, if you received 7 clicks out of 1000 queries, your query CTR would be .7%.




Query RPM

Query revenue per thousand impressions (RPM) is calculated by dividing your estimated earnings by the number of queries reported, then multiplying by 1000.

Query RPM = (Estimated earnings / Number of queries) * 1000

For example, if you earned an estimated $60 from 15,000 queries, your query RPM would equal ($60 / 15,000) * 1000, or $4.00.




Revenue per thousand impressions (RPM)

Revenue per 1000 impressions (RPM) represents the estimated earnings you'd accrue for every 1000 impressions you receive.

RPM doesn't represent how much you have actually earned; rather, it's calculated by dividing your estimated earnings by the number of page views, impressions, or queries you received, then multiplying by 1000.

Formula:
RPM = (Estimated earnings / Number of page views) * 1000
For example:

• If you earned an estimated $0.15 from 25 page views, then your page RPM would equal ($0.15 / 25) * 1000, or $6.00.
• If you earned an estimated $180 from 45,000 ad impressions, your ad RPM would equal ($180 / 45,000) * 1000, or $4.00.

RPM is a commonly used number in advertising programs, and you may find it helpful for comparing revenue across different channels.




Search box

A search box is the part of a Custom Search Engine that you place on your website using AdSense for search. You can customize a search box and add it to your pages so users can enter terms they're looking for on your site or on the web, and perform a search directly from your site.

Targeting type

The manner in which an advertiser targeted ads at your website. AdSense offers the following targeting types:

• Contextual targeting, based on keywords
• Placement targeting, based on your site URL
• Interest-based advertising, targeting specific users on your site based on their cookie ID.