GlossaryGlossary

The words this course uses, from both sides of the work: affiliate programmes and Google Ads. They're in alphabetical order, and each one points to the lesson that explains it best. Many also have a page of their own in the glossary, such as close variants and the cookie window, with how each shows up in practice and where the definition comes from.

About this advertiser

The panel behind a Search ad's three-dot icon on desktop, or its info icon on mobile. For a verified advertiser it gives the legal name, or an approved trade mark name, and where it's based; for an unverified one, its payments profile name. Godotoro's Paid for by shows the advertiser named there: see Reading the live check.

Absolute top impression share

Of the top-location impressions your ads were eligible for, the share in which yours was the very first ad. Split by device, month on month, it can show a change the all-devices figure hides. More in Not where you are.

Actual CPC

What you pay for a click: the least needed to beat the Ad Rank of the ad below yours, also affected by those further down. More bidders on your brand terms can raise it with no change to your bids. More in Looks like yours.

Ad location

Where ads can show on a results page: the top location, above the results, and the bottom location, below them. Since 14 April 2025 Google shows no more than one ad for the same business or site in a single ad location. More in Looks like yours.

Ad Preview and Diagnosis

Google Ads' tool for seeing a results page for a chosen location, language and device without adding impressions, which Google recommends over searching for your own ad. Google's help lists settings for location, language and device but none for time of day, and says it may not reflect all campaign activity. More in Not where you are.

Ad Rank

The set of values Google uses to decide whether an ad can show and where it sits against other ads, drawn from the bid, the ad's quality and landing page, and the context of the search. Where several ads lead to the same or similar landing pages, only the one with the highest Ad Rank shows. More in Looks like yours.

Ad schedule

A campaign setting that limits its ads to chosen days and hours, on the account's own time zone, fixed when the account was created. Blocks go in quarter-hour steps, up to six a day, and can't cross midnight, so an overnight run is two entries. More in Out of hours.

Ads Transparency Center

Google's public library of advertisers and their ads, searchable by advertiser or website and filtered by date and location. Each advertiser has an id beginning AR, and each ad shows how it read and when it was last shown, but not its final URL, keywords or spend. More in New name, same ad.

Advertiser

In affiliate marketing, the brand that runs a programme and pays commission. In Google's tools, anyone who runs ads, which can include a publisher on your programme. More in How affiliate marketing works.

Advertiser verification

Google's check of who an advertiser is, as a person or an organisation depending on its payments profile. Verified advertisers carry a verified badge in ad disclosures and the Ads Transparency Center, others an unverified one, and advertising on brand-related searches is one reason Google may ask for it. More in New name, same ad.

Affiliate

A business or person paid commission on the sales it refers to a brand. Networks usually call affiliates publishers or partners. More in How affiliate marketing works.

Auction Insights

A Google Ads report comparing you with the other advertisers in auctions you entered, one row per display domain, for Search, Shopping and Performance Max. It segments by day of week but not by hour, shows a share under 10% as “< 10%”, and can't show auctions you never entered. More in Out of hours.

Auto-tagging

A Google Ads setting that adds Google's click ID, gclid, to the landing page's address and to the tracking template's. GA4 uses it to fill in campaign details for Ads accounts linked to your property. More in Looks like yours.

Brand bidding

Bidding on a brand's name, its misspellings, or the name plus other words as paid-search keywords. Google doesn't restrict trade marks as keywords, so whether a publisher may do it is a matter for your programme terms. More in Brand search and your terms.

Brand campaign

A brand's own Google Ads campaign on searches for its name. Its Auction Insights, impression share and CPC show who else is in the auctions you entered. More in Brand search and your terms.

Broad match

The widest keyword match type: searches related to the keyword, plus everything the phrase and exact versions would match. More in Round the edges.

Cashback site

A publisher that usually shares part of its commission with its members as cashback on their purchases. In the live check, its ads carry the tag Cashback. More in How affiliate marketing works.

Circumventing systems

A Google policy against getting round Google's own enforcement, such as opening new accounts after a suspension. It starts from a Google suspension, and a brand removing a publisher from its programme isn't one; for advertising against programme rules, the route is Unfair advantage. More in New name, same ad.

Click reference

Free text a publisher adds to its own tracking link to label a click: a page, a placement or an internal code. The brand and the network don't set it, and depending on the network a brand may see only some of it, or none. More in Behind the network.

Close variants

Searches Google counts as matching a keyword though worded differently: misspellings, plurals, abbreviations, reordered or implied words, synonyms, paraphrases and the same intent. They apply to every match type and can't be switched off. More in Round the edges.

Commission

What a brand pays for a sale credited to a publisher, usually a percentage of the order value, sometimes a fixed amount. It waits as pending until the brand validates or declines it. More in How affiliate marketing works.

Cookie

A small record in the shopper's browser that lets a later sale be matched to the click. Browsers treat third-party cookies differently: some block them outright, others partition them by site, and Chrome still allows them by default. More in How a sale gets credited.

Cookie window

How long after a click a sale can still be credited to it, set in the programme's terms, usually in days. Sales can arrive well after the click, so compare publishers' traffic by click time, not sale time. More in How affiliate marketing works.

Coupon extension

A browser extension that offers codes as you shop. Godotoro's codes pane reads what some of them list for your store, with every code masked. More in How affiliate marketing works.

CPA

Cost per acquisition: paying for a result, such as a sale, rather than for a click or an impression. Affiliate commission usually works this way, and in Google Ads, target CPA is a Smart Bidding strategy. More in How affiliate marketing works.

Declined

A sale the brand has rejected during validation, so no commission is due on it. On at least one network a decline must rest on a clear reason, and paid search outside the programme's rules is among those it lists. More in How a sale gets credited.

De-duplication

How a programme handles a sale another channel also touched, such as your own brand ad or your email. Some brands pass the network a value with each sale saying which channel won under their rules; ask your network whether yours does, and by which rule. More in How a sale gets credited.

Destination requirements

Google's policy on where an ad leads: the display domain must match the final URL, the final URL mustn't redirect to another domain, and the tracking template must lead to the same content. Since July 2026, some cross-domain redirects are allowed with Google's prior approval. More in Looks like yours.

Direct linking

A publisher's paid-search ad that sends shoppers straight to the brand's site, with the brand's page as its final URL, so the ad shows the brand's domain. Programme terms can rule it out, along with showing the brand's domain as the display URL, unless the brand gives permission. More in Looks like yours.

Display path

Two optional fields of up to 15 characters each, shown after the domain in the display URL. It's descriptive text: it needn't match the real page, and it isn't guaranteed to show. More in Looks like yours.

Display URL

The address shown in an ad: the final URL's domain plus any display path. The domain can't be typed in, so an ad whose final URL is your page shows your domain, whoever runs it. More in Looks like yours.

Exact match

A match type for searches with the same meaning or intent as the keyword, not only the same words. Close variants apply, and can't be switched off. More in Round the edges.

Final URL

The address a click on an ad lands on. Google takes the display URL's domain from it. More in Looks like yours.

Final URL suffix

Parameters Google Ads adds to the end of the landing page's address. Unlike the tracking template, they reach the page itself, where tags on your site can read them. More in Only some clicks.

GA4 session source / medium

Where GA4 says a session came from, and by what means. A Google Ads click shows as google / cpc, and GA4's Affiliates channel needs the medium affiliate. More in Looks like yours.

gbraid and wbraid

Click identifiers Google can use in place of gclid for some iOS traffic. More in Only some clicks.

gclid

Google's click ID, added to the landing page's address by auto-tagging. It belongs to the Ads account the click came from, so you can't look up another account's; whether your network can search its own records by one is a question to put to it. More in Only some clicks.

Impression share

The impressions your ads received, divided by the impressions Google estimates they were eligible for. More in Looks like yours.

Invalid clicks

Clicks Google judges not genuine, such as automated clicks or manual ones meant to raise an advertiser's costs. Google filters them from reports and charges. More in Only some clicks.

IP exclusions

Addresses a campaign won't show its ads to: up to 500 per campaign, plus account-level lists that cover every campaign type, Performance Max included. The interface takes single addresses or a wildcard over the last block; the API also takes address blocks. More in Not where you are.

Last click

The attribution rule in many programmes: the commission goes to the last eligible affiliate click before the sale. A later click, such as one from a code search at checkout, can take the credit from an earlier publisher. More in How affiliate marketing works.

Location targeting and exclusion

Where a campaign's ads may show: a country, region, city, postcode district (the outward code, such as NR29) or a radius of at least 1 km. Any listed location can be excluded but a radius can't, and exclusions work by Presence: people Google thinks are in the area, placed mainly by IP address. More in Not where you are.

{lpurl}

The ValueTrack parameter that stands for the final URL in a tracking template; templates at account, campaign and ad group level must include it. Under parallel tracking, Google puts its own address in its place for the background request, so that chain never reaches the shop. More in Only some clicks.

Negative keywords

Keywords that stop an ad showing. A negative exact keyword blocks only a search with the same words, in the same order, with nothing added, so an advertiser can exclude your bare name and still show on ‘yourbrand discount code’. Negatives cover casing and misspellings, but plurals and synonyms have to be added by hand. More in Round the edges.

Network

The company between a brand and its publishers. It tracks clicks and sales, reports them, holds the programme's terms, and usually collects the brand's payment and pays the publishers. More in How affiliate marketing works.

Network fee or override

What many networks charge the brand on top of the commission, often worked out as a share of it. How it's calculated varies by contract, so read yours. More in How affiliate marketing works.

(not set)

GA4's value when it has nothing for a dimension. A google / cpc session whose Google Ads campaign is (not set) can come from an Ads account that isn't linked to your property, and Google's help suggests checking for other accounts advertising your site. More in Looks like yours.

Order reference

The id your shop gives an order, passed to the network with the sale. It joins your records to the network's, so quote it in every question about a sale. More in How a sale gets credited.

Parallel tracking

How Google Ads handles tracking on a click: the shopper goes straight to the final URL while Google's click tracker and the tracking template load in the background. It has been mandatory on Search and Shopping since 30 October 2018, and now covers Display, Video and Performance Max too. More in Only some clicks.

Pending

A tracked sale whose commission waits for the brand to validate or decline it. When the validation window ends, pending sales are approved automatically or locked, depending on the network. More in How affiliate marketing works.

Phrase match

A match type for searches that include the meaning of the keyword. It took over broad match modifier's behaviour by July 2021. More in Round the edges.

PPC affiliate

A publisher that promotes brands with paid search ads, paying for the clicks and earning commission on the sales. Programme terms usually say which searches it may appear on, and how. More in Brand search and your terms.

Programme

A brand's affiliate scheme on a network: who may join, the commission rates, the cookie window and the terms. Publishers apply, and the brand approves or declines them. More in How affiliate marketing works.

Programme terms

The rules publishers agree to when they join, including what they may do in paid search. They often cover bidding on or appearing on the brand and its misspellings, the brand plus other words, required negative keywords, direct linking and the display URL. More in Brand search and your terms.

Publisher

The usual network word for an affiliate: the site, app, extension or person promoting a brand in its programme. More in How affiliate marketing works.

Search lost IS (rank)

The share of impressions your Search ads missed because their Ad Rank was too low. A rise on your exact brand terms, with nothing changed on your side, is worth a closer look. More in Looks like yours.

Server-to-server tracking

Tracking in which your systems report each sale to the network, not the shopper's browser: your site keeps the network's click identifier from the landing URL and sends it back with the order. Ask your network whether your programme uses it. More in How a sale gets credited.

Smart Bidding

Google Ads' automated bid strategies, such as target CPA, target ROAS, Maximise conversions and Maximise conversion value. They ignore schedule bid adjustments but follow the ad schedule itself. More in Out of hours.

Sub ID

Another network's name for the free text a publisher adds to its tracking link. It describes a click, not an ad: it doesn't name the keyword, the Google ad or the Ads account, and it isn't proof of who ran an ad. More in Behind the network.

Sub-network

A publisher whose own publishers join it rather than your network, usually giving up part of their commission. It joins your programme as one publisher, so you can't vet the ones behind it. More in Behind the network.

Top and bottom ads

The ads above the results and those below them, run as separate auctions; an advertiser that showed at the top can also enter the bottom auction. Godotoro's Top 1 and Bottom 2 read the same way. More in Reading the live check.

Tracking link

The publisher's link through the network, which records the click before the shopper reaches the brand. In a Google ad it can sit in the tracking template, where under parallel tracking it loads in the background. More in How a sale gets credited.

Tracking template

A URL Google Ads loads for tracking when an ad is clicked, with {lpurl} standing for the final URL. Under parallel tracking it runs in the background, out of the address bar, and Google's rules say it must lead to the same content as the final URL. More in Only some clicks.

Trade mark complaint

A request under Google's Trademarks policy to restrict a trade mark in ad text, against specific advertisers named by URL. It doesn't restrict keywords, and ads leading to resellers, to information about the brand or to an index of search results for it can be exempt. More in What you can do.

Unfair advantage

A Google Ads policy that bars more than one ad for the same business or site in a single ad location, and names “affiliates that advertise on Google Ads against the applicable affiliate program rules”. Google warns at least seven days before suspending an account under it. More in What you can do.

Validation

The brand's review of pending sales before commission is paid, validating or declining each against its own records. Windows in network documentation run from about 30 to 67 days; after the lock, commission is final, and paid commission rarely comes back. More in What you can do.

ValueTrack parameters

Placeholders in braces, such as {keyword} and {lpurl}, that Google fills in when an ad is clicked. Where an ad matched without a keyword, as in AI Max, Dynamic Search Ads and Performance Max, {keyword} comes back blank. More in Only some clicks.

Voucher site

A website that lists discount codes for stores, usually earning commission on the sales it refers. In the live check, its ads carry the tag Voucher site, and its listings show under Where your codes are. More in Round the edges.