Digital Glossary for Advertising Researchers from Microsft Digital Advertising Solutions: Source: IAB, WOMMA, McDougal Interactive and Microsoft internal materials

1. 1
Digital Glossary for Advertising Researchers
A
Ad click -
a measurement of the user-initiated action of responding to (such as clicking on) an ad element causing a re-direct to
another Web location or another frame or page within the advertisement.
Ad click rate -
ratio of ad clicks to ad impressions.
Ad impression -
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Ad Network
an aggregator or broker of advertising inventory for many sites. Ad networks are the sales representatives for the
web sites within the network.
Ad Relevance -
The relationship between how relevant the ad is to the keyword, the landing page, the demographic of the searcher
and the client web site.
AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) -
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makes web pages
feel more responsive by exchanging small amounts of data with the server behind the scenes, so that the entire web
page does not have to be reloaded each time the user makes a change.
Ad serving -
the delivery of ads by a server to an end user's computer on which the ads are then displayed by a browser and/or
cached.
Affiliate marketing -
an agreement between two sites in which one site (the affiliate) agrees to feature content or an ad designed to drive
traffic to another site. In return, the affiliate receives a percentage of sales or some other form of compensation
generated by that traffic.
Avatar –
a graphical image that represents a person on the Internet
B
Banner -
a graphic image displayed on an HTML page used as an ad.
Bid –
the amount of money an advertiser is willing to pay for a click on a specific keyword or keyword phrase.
Blog –
a website where entries are made in journal style and displayed in a reverse chronological order.
Browser -
a software program that can request, download, cache and display documents available on the World Wide Web.
Button -
1) clickable graphic that contains certain functionality, such as taking one someplace or executing a program;
2) buttons can also be ads.
Buzz Marketing –
using high-profile entertainment or news to get people to talk about your brand.
C
Caching -
the process of copying a Web element (page or ad) for later reuse.

2. 2
Channel -
1) a band of similar content; 2) a type of sales outlet (also known as channel of distribution)..
Clicks -
metric which measures the reaction of a user to an Internet ad.
Click Fraud –
Fraudulently increasing the number of clicks on a particular ad on an affiliate website which is being paid a
commission on the number of clicks it receives.
Click-stream -
the electronic path a user takes while navigating from site to site, and from page to page within a site.
Click-through -
the action of following a hyperlink within an advertisement or editorial content to another Web site or another page or
frame within the web site.
Click Through Rate (CTR) -
The percentage of users clicking on a link out of the total number who see the link. (Number of clicks an ad receives /
number of times the ad unit is shown)
Cloaking -
Showing one page to your visitors and another to the search engines from the same URL.
Conversion Rate –
The relationship between visitors to a web site and sales or actions which are considered a conversion.
Cookie -
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Cost per Acquisition (CPA) –
the costs incurred within a marketing campaign to reach a sale or an action such as registration.
CPC (Cost-per-click) -
cost of advertising based on the number of clicks received.
CPM (Cost-per-thousand) -
media term describing the cost of 1,000 impressions.
Crawler -
a software program which visits virtually all pages of the Web to create indexes for search engines.
D
Deep Linking –
the practice of sending searchers to inner pages of a website instead of sending searchers directly to the home page.
Destination URL –
the webpage that the searcher is taken to after clicking on an ad.
Display URL –
the URL that is displa
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Domain name -
the unique name that identifies an Internet site.
Drill down -
when an online user accesses more and more pages of a web site, i.e., he or she goes deeper into the content of the
site.
Dynamic ad placement -
the process by which an ad is inserted into a page in response to a user's request.
Dynamic URL -
a web page that is created automatically from a database when the user searches for a specific keyword or performs
a specific action.
E
Expandable banner -
a banner ad which can expand to as large as 468 x 240 after a user clicks on it or after a user moves his/her cursor
over the banner.
Eyeballs -
reference to the number of people who view, or "lay their eyes on," a certain advertisement.

3. 3
G
Gadget –
a web-based device that has a useful specific practical purpose and function.
H
Hit -
when a user sends a request to a the site's server to begin downloading a page.
Home page -
the page designated as the main point of entry of a web site (or main page) or the starting point when a browser first
connects to the Internet.
House ads -
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Impression -
a measurement of responses from a web server to a page request from the user browser, which is filtered from
robotic activity and error codes, and is recorded at a point as close as possible to opportunity to see the page by the
user.
Incremental Bid -
an additional bid amount that can be added to a demographic that can increase the rank of an ad.
Instant messaging -
a method of users communicating one-to-o
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Interactive advertising -
all forms of online, wireless and interactive television advertising, including banners, sponsorships, e-mail, keyword
searches, referrals, slotting fees, classified ads and interactive television commercials.
ISP (Internet Service Provider) -
an organization that provides access to the Internet. An ISP can be a commercial provider, a corporate computer
network, a school, college, university, or the government.
iTV (Interactive Television) -
any technology that allows for two-way communication between the audience and the service provider (such as the
broadcaster, cable operator, set-top box manufacturer) via standard or enhanced television appliance.
K
Key word -
specific word or phrase entered into a search engine by the user that results in a list of web sites related to the key
word. The key word can be purchased by advertisers in order to direct the hyperlink opportunity to the advertiser's
site or to serve an ad related to th
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Landing Page –
the specific web page a searcher reaches once they click on a link that was presented to them in a query.
Latency -
1) time it takes for a data packet to move across a network connection; 2) visible delay between request and display
of content and ad.
Link -
an electronic connection between two web sites. Also called "hot link" and hyperlink.
Link Popularity and Page Popularity
how many other sites link to you or your inner pages.

4. 4
Log File/Web Stats
a server file in which details of visitor accesses are stored.
M
Meta tag -
code placed in the HTML header of a web page, providing information which is not visible to browsers. The most
common meta tags (and those most relevant to search engines) are keywords and description.
Micro-sites -
multi-page ads accessed via click-through from initial ad. U
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Mouseover -
the process by which a user places his/her mouse over a media object, without clicking. The mouse may need to
remain still for a specified amount of time to initiate some actions.
N
Natural search –
search results that are populated by a search query and appear in the main body of the page. These results are
unpaid. Also known as organic listings or natural listings.
Negative Keywords –
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On-demand -
the ability to request video, audio, or information to be sent to the screen immediately by clicking something on the
screen referring to that choice.
Optimization –
changes made to a website to increase natural rankings with the search engines
Opt-in -
refers to an individual giving a company permission to use data collected from or about the individual for a particular
reason, such as to market the company's products and services or for surveys.
Opt-out -
refers to an individual who specifically chooses to be excluded from mailing lists or surveys.
Organic Listings –
search results that are populated by a search query and appear in the main body of the page. You do not normally
pay a fee to be included, or bid per click for position, in these listings. (Also known as natural listings)
Organic Search –
(see natural search)
P
Page impression -
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robotic activity and error codes, and is recorded at a point as close as possible to the opportunity to see the page by
the user.
Page view -
when the page is actually seen by the user.
Paid Inclusion -
paying to have a site indexed in the organic listings of a search engine or directory. Usually does not guarantee a
high ranking, just inclusion.
Paid Search -
listings that search engines sell to advertisers through paid placement or paid inclusion programs.
Also know as Paid Listings

5. 5
Pay-per-Click -
an advertising pricing model in which advertisers pay agencies and/or media companies based on how many users
clicked on an online ad or e-mail message.
Pay-for-Performance (P4P) -
marketing campaign where the advertiser only pays for what is performing.
Pay-per-Sale -
an advertising pricing model in which advertisers pay agencies and/or media companies based on how many sales
transactions were generated as a direct result of the ad.
Pixel -
picture element (single illuminated dot) on a computer monitor.
Pop-under ad -
ad that appears in a separate window beneath an open window.
Pop-up ad -
ad that appears in a separate window on top of content already on-screen.
Portal -
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Q
Query -
a request for information, usually to a search engine.
R
Re-direct -
when used in reference to online advertising, one server assigning an ad-serving or ad-targeting function to another
server, often operated by a third company.
Reach -
1) unique users have visited the site over the course of the reporting period, expressed as a percent of the universe
for the demographic category; also called unduplicated audience; 2) the total number of unique users who will be
served a given ad.
Referral link -
the referring page, or referral link is a place from which the user clicked to get to the current page.
Registration/Submission -
process of informing a search engine or directory that a new web page or web site should be indexed.
Relevancy Algorithm -
method a search engine or directory uses to match the keywords in a query with the content of each web page, so
that the web pages found can be ordered suitably in the query results. Each search engine or directory is likely to use
a different algorithm and to change or improve its algorithm from time to time.
Rich media -
a method of communication that incorporates animation, sound, video, and/or interactivity.
Robot -
any browser program which follows hypertext links and accesses web pages but is not directly under human control.
(Search engine spiders, etc.)
ROI (Return on Investment) -
net profit divided by investment.
RON (Run-of-Network) -
the scheduling of Internet advertising whereby an ad network positions ads across the sites it represents at its own
discretion, according to available inventory.
ROS (Run-of-Site) -
the scheduling of Internet advertising whereby ads run across an entire site, often at a lower cost to the advertiser
than the purchase of specific site sub-sections.
RSS –
a simple XML-based system that allows users to subscribe to their favorite websites. Using RSS, webmasters can put
their content into a standardized format, which can be viewed and organized through RSS-aware software or
automatically conveyed as new content on another website.

6. 6
S
Search engine -
a program that helps Web users find information on the Internet.
SEO - Search Engine Optimization
a process of getting your web site noticed on the web. A form of online marketing, it uses keywords and meta tags
and expertise to obtain high ranking in search engines for a web site. Some SEO strategies can be accomplished
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Session -
1) a sequence of Internet activity made by one user at one site. If a user makes no request from a site during a 30
minute period of time, the next content or ad request would then constitute the beginning of a new visit; 2) a series of
transactions performed by a user that can be tracked across successive Web sites.
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Skyscraper -
a tall, thin online ad unit. The IAB guidelines recommend two sizes of skyscrapers: 120 X 600 and 160 x 600.
Spam -
slang term describing unsolicited e-mail.
Spider -
a program that automatically fetches web pages. Spiders are used to feed pages to search engines.
Splash page -
a preliminary page that precedes the user-requested page of a web site that usually promotes a particular site feature
or provides advertising. A splash page is timed to move on to the requested page after a short period of time or a
click.
Static ad placement/Static rotation -
1) ads that remain on a web page for a specified period of time; 2) embedded ads.
Stickiness -
a measure used to gauge the effectiveness of a site in retaining individual users. Stickiness is usually measured by
the duration of the visit.
Streaming -
1) technology that permits continuous audio and video delivered to a computer from a remote web site; 2) an Internet
data transfer technique that allows the user to see and hear audio and video files.
Superstitials® -
an interstitial format developed by Unicast which is fully pre-cached before playing. Specs are 550 x 480 pixels (2/3 of
screen), up to 100K file size and up to 20 seconds in length.
T
Tail (as in search) –
Derivatives of a search term that usually contain multiple words.
Third-party ad server -
independent outsourced companies that specialize in managing, maintaining, serving, tracking, and analyzing the
results of online ad campaigns.
Traffic -
the number of visits and/or visitors who come to a web site.
Transitional ad -
an ad that is displayed between web pages.
U
Unique user -
unique individual or browser that has either accessed a site (see unique visitor) or was served unique content and/or
ads such as e-mail, newsletters, interstitials and pop-under ads.

7. 7
Unique visitor -
a unique user who accesses a web site within a specific time period. See unique user.
URL (Uniform Resource Locator) -
the unique identifying address of any particular page on the Web.
URL tagging -
the process of embedding unique identifiers into URLs contained in HTML content.
V
Viewer -
person viewing content or ads on the Web. There is currently no way to measure viewers.
Viral marketing -
1) any advertising that propagates itself 2) advertising and/or marketing techniques that "spread" like a virus by
getting passed on from consumer to consumer and market to market.
Visit -
measurement which has been filtered for robotic activity of one or more text and/or graphics downloads from a site
without 30 consecutive minutes of inactivity and which can be reasonably attributed to a single browser for a single
session.
Visit duration -
the length of time the visitor is exposed to a specific ad, Web page or Web site during a single session.
Visitor -
individual or browser which accesses a Web site within a specific time period.
W
Web site -
the virtual location (domain) for an organization's or individual's presence on the World Wide Web.
Webcasting -
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Word-of-mouth marketing -
giving people a reason to talk about your products and services, and making it easier for that conversation to take
place. It can be applied to both consumer-to-consumer and consumer-to-marketer communication.
X
XML - (eXtensible Markup Language) -
a richer more dynamic successor to HTML utilizing SGML or HTML type tags to structure information. XLM is used
for transferring data and creating applications on the Web. See SGML and HTML.
Source: IAB, WOMMA, McDougal Interactive and Microsoft internal materials