PPC Glossary for Attorneys

A short, practical reference for the PPC terms that appear most often in contracts, reports, and expert opinions.

Key PPC Terms

The average amount paid for each click on an ad. Total cost divided by total clicks.

The percentage of people who saw an ad and clicked it. Clicks divided by impressions.

An action an advertiser cares about, such as a lead form submission, phone call, or online sale.

The percentage of clicks that resulted in a conversion. Conversions divided by clicks.

A Google Ads metric that estimates the relevance and quality of keywords, ads, and landing pages.

The rules used to decide which click or channel gets credit for a conversion or sale.

The number of times an ad was shown, whether or not anyone clicked.

The percentage of eligible impressions where the ad actually appeared.

Keywords that prevent ads from showing on certain searches that are not relevant.

Settings that control how closely a search query needs to match a keyword to trigger an ad.

Automated bidding strategies in Google Ads that use machine learning to set bids based on goals.

Revenue generated divided by ad spend, often expressed as a ratio or percentage.

Clicks that Google or Microsoft consider non-genuine or abusive, such as bot traffic or repeated clicks.

For deeper explanations of how these terms show up in disputes, see PPC damages analysis and PPC standard of care.