GLOSSARY

Glossary (selected terms taken from IAB’s “Interactive 101’s and Glossary”, full list of online terms can be downloaded here)
A
Ad banner -
a graphic image or other media object used as an advertisement. See iab.net for voluntary guidelines for banner ads.
Ad display/Ad delivered -
when an ad is successfully displayed on the user's computer screen.
Address -
a unique identifier for a computer or site online, usually a URL for a Web site or marked with an @ for an e-mail address. Literally, it is how one computer finds the location of another
computer using the Internet.
Ad impression -
1) an ad which is served to a user’s browser. Ads can be requested by the user’s browser (referred to as pulled ads) or they can be pushed, such as e-mailed ads; 2) a measurement of responses from an ad delivery system to an ad request from the user's browser, which is filtered from robotic activity and is recorded at a point as late as possible in the process of delivery of the creative material to the user's browser -- therefore closest to the actual opportunity to see by the user. Two methods are used to deliver ad content to the user - a) serverinitiated and b) client-initiated. Server-initiated ad counting uses the publisher's Web content server for making requests, formatting and re-directing content. Client-initiated ad counting relies on the user's browser to perform these activities. For organizations that use a server-initiated ad counting method, counting should occur subsequent to the ad response at either the publisher's ad server or the Web content server. For organizations using a client-initiated ad counting method, counting should occur at the publisher's ad server or third-party ad server, subsequent to the ad request, or later, in the process. See iab.net for ad campaign measurement guidelines.
Ad impression ratio -
Click-throughs divided by ad impressions. See click rate.
Ad insertion -
when an ad is inserted in a document and recorded by the ad server.
Ad materials -
the creative artwork, copy, active URLs and active target sites which are due to the seller prior to the initiation of the ad campaign.
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 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. Ad serving is normally performed either by a Web publisher or by a third-party ad server. Ads can be embedded in the page or served separately.
Ad space -
the location on a page of a site in which an advertisement can be placed. Each space on a site is uniquely identified. Multiple ad spaces can exist on a single page.
Ad stream -
the series of ads displayed by the user during a single visit to a site (also impression stream).
Advertiser -
the company paying for the advertisement.
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.
B
Behavioral Targeting -
A technique used by online publishers and advertisers to increase the effectiveness of their campaigns. Behavioral targeting uses information collected on an individual’s web browsing behavior such as the pages they have visited or the searches they have made to select which advertisements to be displayed to that individual. Practitioners believe this helps them deliver their online advertisements to the users who are most likely to be influenced by them.
C
Click rate -
ratio of ad clicks to ad impressions.
Clicks -
1) metric which measures the reaction of a user to an Internet ad. There are three types of clicks: click-throughs; in-unit clicks; and mouseovers; 2) the opportunity for a user to download another file by clicking on an advertisement, as recorded by the server; 3) the result of a measurable interaction with an advertisement or key word that links to the advertiser’s intended Web site or another page or frame within the Web site; 4) metric which measures the reaction of a user to linked editorial content. See iab.net for ad campaign measurement guidelines.
See also, click-through, in-unit clicks and mouseover.
Click Fraud -
Click fraud is a type of internet crime that occurs in pay per click online advertising when a person, automated script, or computer program imitates a legitimate user of a web browser clicking on an ad, for the purpose of generating a charge per click without having actual interest in the target of the ad's link.
Click-stream -
1) the electronic path a user takes while navigating from site to site, and from page to page within a site; 2) a comprehensive body of data describing the sequence of activity between a user’s browser and any other Internet resource, such as a Web site or third party ad server.
Click-through -
the action of following a link within an advertisement or editorial content to another Web site or another page or frame within the Web site. Ad click-throughs should be tracked and reported as a 302 redirect at the ad server and should filter out robotic activity.
Contextual Ads -
Existing contextual ad engines deliver text and image ads to non-search content pages. Ads are matched to keywords extracted from content. Advertisers can leverage existing keyboard-based paid search campaigns and gain access to a larger audience.
Cookie -
A cookie is a text-only string of information from a website via a “response header” that a web browser transfers to a cookie file on a client PC. The client PC browser has sole discretion to store these response headers from one or more websites.
CPA (Cost-per-Action) -
cost of advertising based on a visitor taking some specifically defined action in response to an ad. "Actions" include such things as a sales transaction, a customer acquisition, or a click.
CPC (Cost-per-Customer) -
the cost an advertiser pays to acquire a customer.
CPC (Cost-per-click) -
cost of advertising based on the number of clicks received.
CPL (Cost-per-lead) -
cost of advertising based on the number of database files (leads) received.
CPM (Cost-per-thousand) -
media term describing the cost of 1,000 impressions. For example, a Web site that charges $1,500 per ad and reports 100,000 visits has a CPM of $15 ($1,500 divided by 100).
CPO (Cost-per-Order) -
cost of advertising based on the number of orders received. Also called Cost-per-Transaction.
CPS (Cost-per-Sale) -
the advertiser's cost to generate one sales transaction. If this is being used in conjunction with a media buy, a cookie can be offered on the content site and read on the advertiser's site after the successful completion of an online sale.
D
Display Advertising -
a form of online advertising where an advertiser’s message is shown on a destination web page, generally set off in a box at the top or bottom or to one side of the content of the page.
Domain name -
the unique name that identifies an Internet site. Every domain name consists of one top or high-level and one or more lower-level designators. Top-level domains (TLDs) are either generic or geographic. Generic top-level domains include .com (commercial), .net (network), .edu (educational), .org (organizational, public or non-commercial), .gov (governmental), .mil (military); .biz (business), .info (informational),.name (personal), .pro (professional), .aero (air transport and civil aviation), .coop (business cooperatives such as credit unions) and .museum. Geographic domains designate countries of origin, such as .us (United States), .fr (France), .uk (United Kingdom), etc.
Dynamic ad insertion -
the process by which an ad is inserted into a page in response to a user's request. Dynamic ad placement allows alteration of specific ads placed on a page based on any data available to the placement program. At its simplest, dynamic ad placement
Dynamic rotation -
delivery of ads on a rotating, random basis so that users are exposed to different ads and ads are served in different pages of the site.
E
E-mail Advertising -
banner ads, links or advertiser sponsorships that appear in e-mail newsletters, e-mail marketing campaigns and other commercial e-mail communications. Includes all types of electronic mail (e.g., basic text or HTML-enabled).
F
Flash™ -
Adobe’s vector-based rich media file format which is used to display interactive animations on a Web page.
Floating ads -
an ad or ads that appear within the main browser window on top of the Web page's normal content, thereby appearing to "float" over the top of the page.
Fold -
The line below which a user has to scroll to see content not immediately visible when a Web page loads in a browser. Ads or content displayed “above the fold” are visible without any
end-user interaction. Monitor size and resolution determine where on a Web page the fold lies.
G
Geotargeting -
Displaying (or preventing the display of) content based on automated or assumed knowledge of an end user’s position in the real world. Relevant to both PC and mobile data services.
H
Hit -
when users access a Web site, their computer sends a request to the site's server to begin downloading a page. Each element of a requested page (including graphics, text, and interactive items) is recorded by the site's Web server log file as a "hit." If a page containing two graphics is accessed by a user, those hits will be recorded once for the page itself and once for each of the graphics. Webmasters use hits to measure their servers' workload. Because page designs and visit patterns vary from site to site, the number of hits bears no relationship to the number of pages downloaded, and is therefore a poor guide for traffic measurement.
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. Typically, it welcomes visitors and introduces the purpose of the site, or the organization sponsoring it, and then provides links to other pages within the site.
Host -
any computer on a network that offers services or connectivity to other computers on the network. A host has an IP address associated with it.
HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) -
a set of codes called markup tags in a plain text file that determine what information is retrieved and how it is rendered by a browser. There are two kinds of markup tags: anchor and format. Anchor tags determine what is retrieved, and format tags determine how it is rendered. Browsers receive HTML pages from the Internet and use the information to display text, graphics, links and other elements as they were intended by a Website’s creator.
HTTP (Hyper-Text Transfer Protocol) -
the format most commonly used to transfer documents on the World Wide Web.
Hybrid pricing -
pricing model which is based on a combination of a CPM pricing model and a performance-based pricing model. See CPM pricing model and performance-based pricing model.
Hyperlink -
a clickable link, e.g., on a Web page or within an e-mail, that sends the user to a new URL when activated.
Hypertext -
any text that contains links connecting it with other text or files on the Internet.
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.
Insertion -
actual placement of an ad in a document, as recorded by the ad server.
Insertion order -
purchase order between a seller of interactive advertising and a buyer (usually an advertiser or its agency).
Instant messaging (IM) –
a method of communicating in real-time, one-to-one or in groups over the internet. Users assemble “buddy lists” which reflect the availability (or “presence”) of people with whom they communicate.
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.
Interstitial ads -
ads that appear between two content pages. Also known as transition ads, intermercial ads and splash pages.
Inventory -
the number of ads available for sale on a Web site.
IP (Internet Protocol) -
a protocol telling the network how packets are addressed and routed.
IP address -
Internet protocol numerical address assigned to each computer on the Internet so that its location and activities can be distinguished from those of other computers. The format is ##.##.##.## with each number ranging from 0 through 255 (e.g. 125.45.87.204)
J
Java® -
a programming language designed for building applications on the Internet. It allows for advanced features, increased animation detail and real-time updates. Small applications called Java applets can be downloaded from a server and executed by Java-compatible browsers like Microsoft Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator.
Jump page ad -
microsite which is reached via click-through from button or banner ad. The jump page itself can list several topics, which are linked to either the advertiser's site or the publisher's site.
K
Keyword -
specific word(s) entered into a search engine by the user that result(s) in a list of Web sites related to the key word. Keywords can be purchased by advertisers in order to embed ads linking to the advertiser's site within search results (see “Search engine marketing.”
L
Lead Generation
Fees advertisers pay to Internet advertising companies that refer qualified purchase inquiries (e.g., auto dealers which pay a fee in exchange for receiving a qualified purchase inquiry online) or provide consumer information (demographic, contact, and behavioral) where the consumer opts into being contacted by a marketer (email, postal, telephone, fax). These processes are priced on a performance basis (e.g., cost-per-action, -lead or -inquiry), and can include user applications (e.g., for a credit card), surveys, contests (e.g., sweepstakes) or registrations.
Link -
a clickable connection between two Web sites. Formally referred to as a hyperlink.
Log file -
a file that records transactions that have occurred on the Web server. Some of the types of data which are collected are: date/time stamp, URL served, IP address of requestor, status code of request, user agent string, previous URL of requestor, etc. Use of the extended log file format is preferable.
M
Micro-sites -
multi-page ads accessed via click-through from initial ad. The user stays on the publisher’s Web site, but has access to more information from the advertiser than a display ad allows.
N
Netiquette -
a term that is used to describe the informal rules of conduct ("do's and don'ts") of online behavior.
O
On-site measurement -
when a server has an appropriate software program to measure and analyze traffic received on its own site.
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. See permission marketing.
Opt-in e-mail -
lists of Internet users who have voluntarily signed up to receive commercial e-mail about topics of interest.
Opt-out -
when a company states that it plans to market its products and services to an individual unless the individual asks to be removed from the company's mailing list.
P
Page impression -
a measurement of responses from a Web server to a page request from the user’s browser, which is filtered from 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. See iab.net for ad campaign measurement guidelines.
Page request -
the opportunity for an HTML document to appear on a browser window as a direct result of a user's interaction with a Web site.
Page view -
when the page is actually seen by the user. Note: this is not measurable today; the best approximation today is provided by page displays.
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. See CPC
Pay-per-Impression -
an advertising pricing model in which advertisers pay based on how many users were served their ads. See CPM.
Pay-per-Lead -
an advertising pricing model in which advertisers pay for each "sales lead" generated. For example, an advertiser might pay for every visitor that clicked on an ad or site and successfully completed a form. See CPL.
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. See CPS.
Performance pricing model -
an advertising model in which advertisers pay based on a set of agreed upon performance criteria, such as a percentage of online revenues or delivery of new sales leads. See CPA, CPC, CPL, CPO, CPS, CPT.
Permission marketing -
when an individual has given a company permission to market its products and services to the individual. See opt-in.
Pixel -
picture element (single illuminated dot) on a computer monitor. The metric used to indicate the size of Internet ads.
Platform -
the type of computer or operating system on which a software application runs, e.g., Windows, Macintosh or Unix.
Plug-in -
a program application that can easily be installed and used as part of a Web browser. Once installed, plug-in applications are recognized by the browser and their function integrated into the main HTML file being presented.
Pop-under ad -
ad that appears in a separate window beneath an open window. Pop-under ads are concealed until the top window is closed, moved, resized or minimized.
Pop-up ad -
ad that appears in a separate window on top of content already on-screen. Similar to a daughter window, but without an associated banner.
Pop-up transitional -
initiates play in a separate ad window during the transition between content pages. Continues while content is simultaneously being rendered. Depending primarily on line-speed, play of a transitional ad may finish before or after content rendering is completed.
Portal -
a Web site that often serves as a starting point for a Web user’s session. It typically provides services such as search, directory of Web sites, news, weather, e-mail, homepage space, stock quotes, sports news, entertainment, telephone directory information, area maps, and chat or message boards.
Privacy policy -
a statement about what information is being collected; how the information being collected is being used; how an individual can access his/her own data collected; how the individual can opt-out; and what security measures are being taken by the parties collecting the data.
Protocol -
a uniform set of rules that enable two devices to connect and transmit data to one another. Protocols determine how data are transmitted between computing devices and over networks. They define issues such as error control and data compression methods. The protocol determines the following: type of error checking to be used, data compression method (if any), how the sending device will indicate that it has finished a message and how the receiving device will indicate that it has received the message. Internet protocols include TCP/IP (Transfer Control Protocol/Internet Protocol), HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol), FTP (File Transfer Protocol), and SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol).
Proxy servers -
intermediaries between end users and Web sites such as ISPs, commercial online services, and corporate networks. Proxy servers hold the most commonly and recently used content from the Web for users in order to provide quicker access and to increase server security.
Push advertising -
pro-active, partial screen, dynamic advertisement which comes in various formats.
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. For instance, a Web publisher's ad management server might re-direct to a third-party hired by an advertiser to distribute its ads to target customers; and then another re-direct to a "rich media" provider might also occur if streaming video were involved before the ad is finally delivered to the consumer. In some cases, the process of re-directs can produce latency. See ad serving, latency.
Reach -
1) unique users that 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.
Real time -
events that happen “live” at a particular moment. When one chats in a chat room, or sends an instant message, one is interacting in real time.
Referral link -
the referring page, or referral link is a place from which the user clicked to get to the current page. In other words, since a hyperlink connects one URL to another, in clicking on a link the browser moves from the referring URL to the destination URL. Also known as source of a visit.
Referral fees -
fees paid by advertisers for delivering a qualified sales lead or purchase inquiry.
Registration -
a process for site visitors to enter information about themselves. Sites use registration data to enable or enhance targeting of content and ads. Registration can be required or voluntary.
Repeat visitor -
unique visitor who has accessed a Web site more than once over a specific time period.
Return visits -
the average number of times a user returns to a site over a specific time period.
Rich media –
advertisements with which users can interact (as opposed to solely animation) in a web page format. These advertisements can be used either singularly or in combination with various technologies, including but not limited to sound, video, or Flash, and with programming languages such as Java, Javascript, and DHTML. These Guidelines cover standard Web applications including e-mail, static (e.g. html) and dynamic (e.g. asp) Web pages, and may appear in ad formats such as banners and buttons as well as transitionals and various over-the-page units such as floating ads, page take-overs, and tear-backs.
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 inventor. The advertiser usually forgoes premium positioning in exchange for more advertising weight at a lower CPM.
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.
S
Scripts -
files that initiate routines like generating Web pages dynamically in response to user input.
Search -
Fees advertisers pay Internet companies to list and/or link their company site or domain name to a specific search word or phrase (includes paid search revenues). Search categories include:
Paid listings—text links appear at the top or side of search results for specific keywords. The more a marketer pays, the higher the position it gets. Marketers only pay when a user clicks on the text link.
Contextual search—text links appear in an article based on the context of the content, instead of a user-submitted keyword. Payment only occurs when the link is clicked.
Paid inclusion—guarantees that a marketer’s URL is indexed by a search engine. The listing is determined by the engine's search algorithms.
Site optimization—modifies a site to make it easier for search engines to automatically index the site and hopefully result in better placement in results.
Search engine -
an application that helps Web users find information on the Internet. The method for finding this information is usually done by maintaining an index of Web resources that can be queried for the keywords or concepts entered by the user.
Search engine marketing (SEM) -
a form of Internet Marketing that seeks to promote websites by increasing their visibility in the Search Engine result pages
Search engine optimization (SEO) -
SEO is the process of improving the volume and quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via "natural" ("organic" or "algorithmic") search results.
Sell-through rate -
the percentage of ad inventory sold as opposed to traded or bartered.
Server -
a computer which distributes files which are shared across a LAN, WAN or the Internet. Also known as a "host".
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. For example, in a single session, a user may start on a publisher's Web site, click on an advertisement and then go to an advertiser's Web site and make a purchase. See visit.
Session cookies -
These are temporary and are erased when the browser exits at the end of a web surfing session. . See cookie.
Skyscraper -
a tall, thin online ad unit. The IAB guidelines recommend two sizes of skyscrapers: 120 X 600 and 160 x 600.
Social marketing –
Marketing tactic that taps into the growth of social networks, encouraging users to adopt and pass along widgets or other content modules created by a brand, or to add a brand to the user’s social circle of friends.
Social network –
An online destination that gives users a chance to connect with one or more groups of friends, facilitating sharing of content, news, and information among them. Examples of social networks include Facebook and LinkedIn.
Space -
location on a page of a site in which an ad can be placed. Each space on a site is uniquely identified. There can be multiple spaces on a single page.
Spam -
term describing unsolicited commercial e-mail.
Spam filter –
software built into e-mail gateways as well as e-mail client applications designed to identify and remove unsolicited commercial messages from incoming e-mail before the end user sees them.
Spider -
a program that automatically fetches Web pages. Spiders are used to feed pages to search engines. It is called a spider because it crawls over the Web. Because most Web pages contain links to other pages, a spider can start almost anywhere. As soon as it sees a link to another page, it goes off and fetches it. Large search engines have many spiders working in parallel. See robot.
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. Also known as an interstitial. Splash pages are not considered qualified page impressions under current industry guidelines, but they are considered qualified ad impressions.
T
Target audience -
the intended audience for an ad, usually defined in terms of specific demographics (age, sex, income, etc.) product purchase behavior, product usage or media usage.
Textual ad impressions -
the delivery of a text-based advertisement to a browser. To compensate for slow Internet connections, visitors may disable "auto load images" in their graphical browser. When they reach a page that contains an advertisement, they see a marker and the advertiser's message in text format in place of the graphical ad. Additionally, if a user has a text-only browser, only textual ads are delivered and recorded as textual ad impressions.
Third-party ad server -
independent outsourced companies that specialize in managing, maintaining, serving, tracking, and analyzing the results of online ad campaigns. They deliver targeted advertising that can be tailored to consumers' declared or predicted characteristics or preferences.
Traffic -
the number of visits and/or visitors who come to a Web site.
U
Unique user -
unique individual or browser which has either accessed a site (see unique visitor) or which has been served unique content and/or ads such as e-mail, newsletters, interstitials and popunder ads. Unique users can be identified by user registration or cookies. Reported unique users should filter out bots. See iab.net for ad campaign measurement guidelines.
Unique visitor -
a unique user who accesses a Web site within a specific time period. See unique user.
Universe -
total population of audience being measured.
URL (Uniform Resource Locator) -
the unique identifying address of any particular page on the Web. It contains all the information required to locate a resource, including its protocol (usually HTTP), server domain name (or IP address), file path (directory and name) and format (usually HTML or CGI).
URL tagging -
the process of embedding unique identifiers into URLs contained in HTML content. These identifiers are recognized by Web servers on subsequent browser requests. Identifying visitors through information in the URLs should also allow for an acceptable calculation of visits, if caching is avoided.
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 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.
Widget –
A small application designed to reside on a PC desktop (Mac OS X or Windows Vista) or within a Web-based portal or social network site (e.g., MySpace or Facebook) offering useful or entertaining functionality to the end user.