Google Ads Video key terms

A Google Ads campaign type built to drive conversions or clicks from video inventory, using formats such as in-stream, in-feed, and Shorts, and optimized toward a conversion goal rather than pure awareness.

A campaign type optimized to deliver the most impressions or unique reach for a target audience at a set budget, typically used for brand awareness rather than direct response.

A campaign type focused on maximizing video views or view rate, suited to building consideration and engagement with creative rather than driving conversions or impressions.

A skippable or non-skippable video ad that plays before, during, or after other video content on YouTube and partner sites, with the viewer able to skip skippable formats after a few seconds.

A video ad that appears in YouTube feeds, search results, and the Home feed, playing only when a viewer taps it, so it reaches people browsing content rather than watching a specific video.

A vertical, full-screen video ad shown between Shorts in the YouTube Shorts feed, designed for mobile viewing and often using the same creative as organic Shorts content.

A short, non-skippable video ad of up to six seconds that plays before or during other content, used to deliver a brief, memorable message at low cost.

An in-stream video ad format the viewer must watch for its full duration before the main content plays, available in short lengths and billed on impressions rather than views.

An in-stream video ad that a viewer can skip after a short period, typically five seconds, and that is billed only when the viewer watches past that point or engages with the ad.

A bidding strategy in which the advertiser pays only when a viewer watches a set portion of the video or interacts with it, commonly used for view-focused video campaigns.

A bidding strategy that aims to show ads at a chosen average cost per thousand impressions, often used with non-skippable formats where the goal is reach and frequency rather than views.

A setting that asks Google Ads to show a video ad to the same person a chosen number of times within a set period, helping control repetition and budget waste in reach campaigns.

Bidding strategies such as target cost per action or maximize conversions applied to video campaigns, where the system bids to win conversions rather than views or impressions.

Selecting who sees a video ad using criteria such as demographics, interests, in-market segments, life events, and customer match lists, narrowing delivery to the most relevant viewers.

An audience built from keywords, URLs, and apps that signal a person is researching or comparing products, letting video advertisers reach viewers with active purchase intent.

A broad audience segment based on long-term interests and habits, such as people passionate about cooking or fitness, used to reach viewers likely to care about a topic over time.

A audience segment of people actively shopping for a product or service category, based on recent behavior, useful for reaching viewers close to a purchase decision.

A list of people who previously interacted with a brand, such as site visitors or video viewers, used to show them video ads again and move them further down the funnel.

A targeting method that uploads hashed customer data, such as email addresses, to reach those people and similar audiences with video ads across Google properties.

A segment generated by Google that resembles an existing remarketing or Customer Match list, used to find new viewers with behavior similar to a brand's known customers.

Choosing specific YouTube channels, videos, websites, or apps where a video ad may appear, giving direct control over context at the cost of scale.

Serving video ads on YouTube and partner content grouped by subject category, such as beauty or technology, to align ads with relevant content without picking individual channels.

A set of placements, topics, or audiences where ads must not appear, used to protect brand safety and avoid wasted spend on irrelevant or sensitive content.

Practices and controls that keep video ads from appearing next to inappropriate, harmful, or off-brand content, protecting reputation and advertiser trust.

An individual video file uploaded to Google Ads, which can be combined with headlines, descriptions, and calls to action to build responsive or standard video ad formats.

A display image shown alongside a video ad on desktop, often reinforcing the message or offering a clickable path to the landing page.

A clickable button or text shown over a video ad, such as Shop now or Sign up, that links viewers to the advertiser's chosen destination.

Video shot or edited in a tall aspect ratio for mobile feeds such as Shorts, where horizontal creative would appear small or letterboxed and lose impact.

The opening seconds of a video ad designed to capture attention and stop scrolling, critical because viewers decide quickly whether to keep watching or skip.

The share of ad impressions that resulted in a view, calculated as views divided by impressions, indicating how well creative and targeting hold viewer attention.

A conversion credited to a video ad that a person saw but did not click, recorded within a defined window and used to measure upper-funnel impact.

Setting up actions such as purchases, sign-ups, or leads to be recorded from video campaigns so bidding and reporting can optimize toward business outcomes.

The period after an ad interaction during which a conversion can be credited to that ad, configurable by advertisers and affecting reported results.

A measurement of how much a video campaign changed awareness, ad recall, consideration, or favorability among people exposed compared with a control group.

A campaign goal focused on increasing recognition of a brand or product, typically paired with reach-oriented formats, broad targeting, and frequency controls rather than conversion bidding.

The percentage of available impressions an advertiser received out of the total it was eligible for, showing how much reach was captured versus lost to budget or targeting.

How spend is spread across a campaign's schedule, either evenly or accelerated, so that budget lasts the intended period and delivery stays consistent.

The web page a viewer reaches after clicking a video ad, whose relevance, speed, and clarity strongly affect whether the campaign produces conversions.