- Ad rotation: Ads are typically rotated based on a given list and given conditions. This can be managed by an Ad Network, a simple rotation script, or more complex Ad Management software. There can be any number of ads in a given rotation and they are often based on demographics and a requirement for number of views each ad needs to achieve.
- Affiliate: An affiliate is a webmaster who has a relationship with an advertiser for CPA advertising / Affiliate Marketing.
- Affiliate Marketing: Affiliate Marketing is another term for CPA Advertising. This is a form of advertising where the advertiser pays based on specified actions taken by the end user. Some examples would be filling out a form after clicking on the ad or purchasing a product after clicking on the ad.
- Banner: An advertisement in a defined set of pixel space such as 468x60 or 160x600. These are usually image-based ads, but they can also contain text and/or rich media.
- Clickthrough: A click in which the user was successfully directed to the Advertiser's landing page.
- Co-branding: A site which is branded with the logos and/or style of another site for use with the other site is called a co-brand.
- Creative: The Creative is the advertisment itself, whether it be a banner, rich media, or text ad.
- CPA / Cost Per Action: This is a form of advertising where the advertiser pays based on specified actions taken by the end user. Some examples would be filling out a form after clicking on the ad or purchasing a product after clicking on the ad.
- CPC / Cost Per Click: This is a form of advertising where the advertiser pays a certain amount per advertisement click or pays a specified amount for a specified number of clicks.
- CPL / Cost Per Lead: This is a form of CPA advertising where the advertiser pays based on specified actions taken by the end user. These actions are based around the advertiser gaining a "lead" usually through the user filling out a form.
- CPM / Cost Per Thousand: This is a form of advertising where the advertiser pays based on the number of ad views. The payment is based off of a certain dollar cost per 1000 ads viewed. M is the roman numeral for 1000 and is the reason for the M in CPM.
- CPS / Cost Per Sale: This is a form of CPA advertising where the advertiser pays out when a sale is completed.
- CTR / Clickthrough Rate: The Clickthrough Rate is the rate at which an ad is clicked on and the user is successfully directed to the Advertiser's landing page. Clickthrough rates are often used to determine whether or not an ad is served and can sometimes have a Publisher's account cancelled with an Ad Network due to low Clickthrough rates.
- Demographics: The data that makes up a website's audience such as age, gender, income, and location are the demographics for a given site.
- Impression: The ad has been displayed on a user's browser. Do not confuse this with a pageview. A pageview can have multiple impressions (due to multiple ads) or zero impressions (due to ad blocking software). Typically though one pageview will mean 1 impression per ad you have on that page.
- IO / Insertion Order: An Insertion Order is a formal order for advertising specifying all of the details of the campaign (creatives, cost, impressions, etc).
- Inventory: Inventory is the number of ad impressions you have available over a specified period of time.
- PPC / Pay Per Click: This is a form of advertising where the advertiser pays a certain amount per advertisement click or pays a specified amount for a specified number of clicks.
- PSA / Public Service Advertisement: A Public Service Advertisement or Public Service Announcement is an advertisement that is run on a website for no charge, usually when there are no other ads to display. These ads are usually displayed for charities or government agencies.
- Rich Media: Rich Media is an advertisement that contains technology more advanced than just a static image or standard GIF animation.
- ROI / Return On Investment: An advertiser's return on investment is how much was earned/gained from an ad campaign minus the ad campaign's expenses, also known as "The Bottom Line".
- RON / Run Of Network: A run of network ad campaign is one that runs on all websites in a given network of sites.
- ROS / Run Of Site: An ad shown anywhere on a website as opposed to specific pages or categories of the website.
- SEM / Search Engine Marketing: Promoting one's website through a search engine, either through paid listings, or getting one's site higher Search engine rankings through other means.
- SEO / Search Engine Optimization: The process of optimizing one's website to get better results in search engines.
- The Fold: The Fold is the viewable area of a webpage without scrolling. The Fold is defined differently by different advertisers and ad networks. It is most commonly the first 400-600 pixels of a website.
- Unique / Unique User / Unique Visitor: A visitor is counted as a Unique on their first pageview of the website for that day.
