Ad Traffic Quality Resource Center

AdSense

AdSense is a program designed for website publishers to include Google AdWords ads on their websites. Ads are targeted to these websites based on the content of the website. Publishers receive a percentage of the cost-per-click (CPC) when users click on the ads.

The program is free, and it combines pay-per-click and pay-per-impression advertising. Publishers interested in being a part of this program will have to comply with AdSense program policies.

For more information on AdSense, please visit https://www.google.com/adsense/support.

You may also be interested in looking at the information on AdSense for Content, AdSense for Domains, and AdSense for Search in this glossary.

AdSense for Content

In AdSense for Content, Google shows ads on a webpage based on the webpage's content. The AdWords system analyzes your ad group's entire keyword list when matching your keyword-targeted ad to a content page.

For instance, if you are selling digital cameras or accessories, your ad may appear on a webpage offering digital camera reviews.

AdSense for Domains

AdSense for domains is a part of the AdSense program that allows domain name registrars and large domain name holders to place AdSense ads on their parked pages. A parked domain site is an undeveloped webpage belonging to a domain name registrar or domain name holder. Parked domain sites are usually blank pages. However, by offering to show ads on these pages, the publisher allows the user to find relevant information. We've found that the return on investment gained from these pages is equal to or better than that gained on other pages in the search and content networks.

Note that certain domain park sites may include a search box to help users refine their search. Alternatively, the domain park may include certain highlighted words that act as search queries once users click on the highlighted word. At times, this may result in a sudden surge in clicks for keywords that do not generally accrue any clicks.

You can monitor the conversion rate from these sites to determine the value of this traffic. Conversion tracking will help you monitor such conversions. If you aren't satisfied with the quality of traffic you are receiving from these sites, you can prevent your ads from showing on parked domain sites by using the Site and Category Exclusion tool.

To learn more about domain parks, you may consider visiting http://www.google.com/domainpark/

To learn more about the Site and Category Exclusion tool, please visit http://adwords.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=71992

AdSense for Search

AdSense for search is a free solution that allows publishers to place a search box on their site and earn revenue from relevant ads on the search results page. Publishers may also highlight certain terms on their websites that trigger a search.

Analytics

Google Analytics is a full-featured, free tracking software that helps you understand how visitors have navigated in your website. The data you gather from this software can help you improve the visitor experience, thus increasing your return on investment and conversions.

With over 80 reports, your Google Analytics account will track visitors through your site, and will keep track of the performance of your marketing campaigns - whether they're AdWords campaigns, email campaigns, or any other advertising program. With this information, you'll know which keywords are really working, which ad text is the most effective, and where your visitors are dropping off during the conversion process.

Google Analytics has been fully integrated with AdWords. Once Analytics is enabled for your account, all of your reports and settings are available from the Analytics tab.

To get started with Google Analytics, simply visit http://www.google.com/analytics or click the Analytics tab in your AdWords account. You'll be guided through a simple sign-up process, which will require the addition of a code snippet.

Auto-tagging

Auto-tagging is a feature in Google AdWords that automatically appends a parameter to the Destination URL of your ad when your ad is clicked on. The weblog entry should typically appear as follows:

The value that follows the parameter '?gclid=' is a unique string that is generated for each click. Google charges you at most once for each click (if we determine that the click is valid). This value allows you to differentiate clicks from AdWords and visits from other organic searches.

Auto-tagging is automatically enabled for users who have linked their AdWords account to their Analytics account. Though we encourage you to use to use Google Analytics, auto-tagging can be enabled to without linking your AdWords account to your Analytics account.

Clickbot

A clickbot is a software robot that clicks on ads (generally by issuing HTTP requests for the advertiser's destination URL web pages) to help an attacker conduct click fraud. If you are interested in an extensive study on how clickbots work, please visit the following URL. The study was conducted by Neil Daswani and the Google AD Traffic Quality team on a case study of the Clickbot.A botnet's low-noise click fraud attack.

The Anatomy of Clickbot.A [PDF]

Click quality adjustments/credits

We have several proactive measures in place to automatically detect invalid activity on our content network. In addition to filtering out invalid clicks, we apply to advertiser's account if we find that the advertiser has received malicious clicks from a publisher's website. Such credits are listed as 'Adjustment - Click Quality' on the Advertising costs and adjustments section of the Billing Summary page.

How will Google credit my account for invalid clicks? https://adwords.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=6426&topic=10625

Click tracking software

Click tracking softwares are third-party tools you can use to track clicks in your account. The tracking mechanism used by these tools vary from company to company. Certain tools require the advertiser to install PHP or JavaScript scripts on the website, while some require the advertiser to tag the Destination URL with special parameters. Though Google does not endorse or recommend any specific click tracking service, you can search for more information on click tracking companies on Google.com.

Clicks

A click (sometimes called a clickthrough) occurs when a user sees your ad and clicks on the title of your ad, leading them to your website.

Comparison shopping

Comparison shopping refers to a user's behavior where the user visits several similar websites in quick succession to compare products or services for price, quality, etc. Users may thus end up clicking multiple times on a Google AdWords ad while comparison shopping as he or she clicks across various sites or ads to compare the product or service. Such clicks may be treated as valid.

Content Network

Content sites display AdWords ads alongside related content; Google scans the content of a Web page every time it is viewed, and automatically selects ads to display when they have keywords matching the page content. Reaching over 75% of global internet users, the content network is the easiest way to put your ads in front of your customers.

To see examples of where your ads may appear on the Content Network, visit https://adwords.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=6119&hl=en_US.

Contextual advertising

Google shows your ads on content pages based on by contextually targeting your ads. The AdWords system analyzes your ad group's entire keyword list. If the theme of the keyword list matches the content of the web page, your ad is eligible to appear. For example, an ad that is promoting a photography school may be shown on web pages that are providing photography tips.

Cookie

Cookie is a a small amount of text data given to a web browser by a web server. The data is stored on a user's hard drive and is returned to the specific web server each time the browser requests a page from that server.

Cookies are used to remember information from page to page and visit to visit, and can contain information such as user preferences or shopping cart contents, and can note whether a user has logged in so that they do not need to authenticate again as they navigate through the site.

DNS Look up

Reverse DNS Lookup is the process of converting a numeric IP address into a text name. For example, 209.85.153.104 is converted to www.google.com. You can access the website by either directly typing in the IP address in the browser or by typing the domain name.

Domain Parks/Parked domains

AdSense for domains is a part of the AdSense program that allows domain name registrars and large domain name holders to place AdSense ads on their parked pages. A parked domain site is an undeveloped webpage belonging to a domain name registrar or domain name holder. Parked domain sites are usually blank pages. However, by offering to show ads on these pages, the publisher allows the user to find relevant information. We've found that the return on investment gained from these pages is equal to or better than that gained on other pages in the search and content networks.

Note that certain domain park sites may include a search box to help users refine their search. Alternatively, the domain park may include certain highlighted words that act as search queries once users click on the highlighted word. At times, this may result in a sudden surge in clicks for keywords that do not generally accrue any clicks.

You can monitor the conversion rate from these sites to determine the value of this traffic. Conversion tracking will help you monitor such conversions. If you aren't satisfied with the quality of traffic you are receiving from these sites, you can prevent your ads from showing on parked domain sites by using the Site and Category Exclusion tool.

To learn more about domain parks, you may consider visiting http://www.google.com/domainpark/

To learn more about the Site and Category Exclusion tool, please visit http://adwords.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=71992

Double click

Double click refers to the process of clicking a button on a pointing device twice in rapid succession in order to activate a command or a function. Several programs implement double click actions in several ways - opening a file, selecting text, etc. Due to force of habit, users may double click on your ads. Please be assured that Google charges advertisers for only one click in a double click (if we determine the click to be valid).

Filtered clicks

Filtered clicks refers to the clicks that Google automatically discards. These clicks may be discarded if Google identifies that the click:

• was intended to increase the advertiser's advertising costs or to increase profits for website owners hosting the ads
• was generated by automated tools, robots, or other deceptive software
• was an extraneous click and provide no value to the advertiser, such as the second click of a double-click

Firewall

A security device that protects a network from unauthorized access. This can be a special kind of hardware router, a piece of software, or both. Firewalls are typically configured to permit, deny, encrypt, or act as a proxy for all computer traffic between the internal network and the Internet.

GCLID parameter

Auto-tagging is a feature in Google AdWords that automatically appends a parameter to the Destination URL of your ad when your ad is clicked on. The weblog entry should typically appear as follows:

The value that follows the parameter '?gclid=' is a unique string that is generated for each click. Google charges you at most once for each click (if we determine that the click is valid). This value allows you to differentiate clicks from AdWords and visits from other organic searches.

Auto-tagging is automatically enabled for users who have linked their AdWords account to their Analytics account. Though we encourage you to use to use Google Analytics, auto-tagging can be enabled to without linking your AdWords account to your Analytics account.

Google Network

The Google Network is made up of sites and products who partner with Google to publish targeted AdWords ads via their site or product. Google can target your ads to search results and relevant web content on a wide variety of sites and products to help you reach a vast and highly-targeted audience. When you create an AdWords campaign, your ads are automatically set to show on the Google Network.

http://www.google.com/adwords/learningcenter/text/18989.html

Hot Search listings

Some of our search partners like AOL, About, and Netscape, highlight certain terms on their website. Clicking on these terms triggers a Google Search results page that show ads. Hot Search listings can at time be responsible for dramatic increases in the number of clicks.

Impressions

An impression is each instance an ad is seen by a user on a page in our search or content network. We list the number of impressions your ads have accrued in the 'Impr' column of tables in your AdWords account.

Invalid Clicks

Invalid clicks are clicks that Google does not charge to your account because we determine they were generated by prohibited methods. Examples of invalid clicks may include repeated manual clicking or the use of robots, automated clicking tools, or other deceptive software.

How Google combats invalid clicks:
http://www.google.com/adwords/learningcenter/text/19457.html#19459

How to run an invalid clicks report?
http://adwords.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=44008

IP address (Dynamic vs. Static)

An IP address is an identifier for a computer or device on a TCP/IP network. Networks using the TCP/IP protocol route data are based on the IP address of the destination. The format of an IP address is a numeric address written as four numbers separated by periods, each number ranging from 0 to 255. For example 192.168.0.1 or 84.23.104.233.

There are two kinds of IP addresses

• Dynamic IP address / shared IP address: An ISP (like AOL) or the network provided may rotate a small set of IP addresses among several users. A user is issued a new IP address everytime he or she logs on to the Internet.
• Static IP address: A static IP address is assigned to a user either permanently or is not changed for a long period of time. The ISP may allot these IP addresses for several months at a time to a single user.

ISP

An Internet Service Provider is a company which provides other companies or individuals with access to, or presence on, the Internet.

JavaScript

JavaScript is a scripting language commonly used within web pages. JavaScript programs are executed by the browser, rather than running on the server. Several tracking programs (like Google Analytics) track users by executing JavaScript programs.

Log file / Server logs

Log file is a file created by a web or proxy server which contains all of the access information regarding the activity on that server. Each line in a log file generated by web server software is a hit, or request for every entity (image, GET/POST requests, etc) on the webpage.

Network

A set of computers connected so that they can communicate and share information. Most major networks are also connected to the global network called the Internet.

Proxy

A proxy server is an application or a server computer that forwards a user's request via another server. The proxy server requests for the service on the user's behalf. For example, if a user visiting Google via a proxy server, Google will provide the information to the proxy server, which in turn will pass the information to the user. Proxies are typically shared among several users. Since all service requests are route via a single system, visits/clicks from this computer may appear as visits from a single user or an IP address.

Referrer Headers

Referrer headers are fields in your server log that identify the web property/website that referred the user to your website. Referrer headers show the last page the browser loaded before loading your website and usually indicate the site users were on when they clicked on your ad. For example, if a user searches on your keyword on Google.com and then clicks on your AdWords ad, the referrer header would most likely read ‘http://www.google.com/...’ Conversely, if the clickthrough had come while your ad was appearing on AOL, the referrer header would read ‘http://www.aol.com...’

Search network

Search sites are those which provide AdWords ads along with search results after a user searches for a particular keyword. These search sites are part of the AdSense for Search Online network, which is a program that enables website publishers to display a Google search box on their site. When a user enters a search query into this box, the Google search results are shown on a page hosted by Google.

To see examples of where your ads may appear on the Search Network, visit https://adwords.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=6119&hl=en_US.

Server logs

Log file is a file created by a web or proxy server which contains all of the access information regarding the activity on that server. Each line in a log file generated by web server software is a hit, or request for every entity (image, GET/POST requests, etc) on the webpage.

Smart pricing

We are constantly analyzing data across our search and content network against a variety of factors. If our data shows that a click is less likely to turn into business results (e.g. online sale, registration, phone call, newsletter sign-up), we reduce the price you pay for that click. You may notice a reduction in the cost of clicks from content sites. We take into account many factors such as what keyword lists or concepts triggered the ad as well as the type of site on which the ad was served.

Tracking URLs

Tracking URLs allow you to identify clicks from AdWords in your weblogs. If your destination URL looks like http://www.example.com/product.html, you can simply add “?source=AdWordsCampaign” or “?campaign=ChristmasShoesCampaign” to the end of the URL. All visits that were generated from this ad will appear as:

Note that ?source and ?campaign are parameters that are appended to the URL. You are always free to replace these parameters with any name as is convenient for you. For instance “?AdName” or “?MarketingCamp”. Similarly, the value taken by these URLs can be decided based on your convenience.

User agent

A user agent is a generic term for any program used for accessing a website. This includes browsers (such as Internet Explorer or Netscape), robots and spiders, and any other software program that retrieves information from a website.

Visit time

Visit times refer to the average time the user has spent on your site. Depending on the tracking software you use, visit times can dramatically vary based on the way users are tracked. Many web tracking services (like Analytics) count the length of a user visit from the point that the user first enters the site to the point that the user accesses another page on the same site. Therefore, if a user does not access another file or page on the site after entering the landing page, the web tracking service will report the visit as a zero-second visit, regardless of the actual length of time that the user spent browsing the first page.

Web Logs

Log file is a file created by a web or proxy server which contains all of the access information regarding the activity on that server. Each line in a log file generated by web server software is a hit, or request for every entity (image, GET/POST requests, etc) on the webpage.

WHOIS

WHOIS is a protocol that is used to determine the owner of a domain name and an IP address. Several domain registration websites offer this service free of cost. For example, www.whois.net and www.arin.net/whois/