Below is a list of terminology that will be helpful in bringing you up to speed on how PPC (pay-per-click) advertising works.  We’ve also included some terminology specific to advertising on Baidu.  This is by no means a complete list, but understanding the terms and concepts below will be helpful in grasping the basics.

  • Ad Credit – The money you pay to have your ads displayed online.  For example, to display your ads on Google or Baidu, you have to purchase advertising credit (ad credit) to cover the cost of web users clicking on your ads.  Baidu requires a minimum purchase of 900 USD in ad credit in order to open an account.
  • Ad Groups – A unit that contains keywords and ads.  A larger unit called a campaign contains at least one ad group, which on average contains around 10 keywords, but this varies a lot.  For example, you could have a campaign for muffins, an ad group for blueberry muffins, and a keyword like “buy blueberry muffins” that triggers your ad for blueberry muffins.
  • Baidu Tongji (百度统计) – Baidu’s analytics platform.  The rough equivalent of Google Analytics for Baidu, though it lacks some of the capabilities of Google Analytics.  Read more here.
  • Baidu Tuiguang (百度推广) – Baidu’s PPC platform.  Think Baidu’s version of Google AdWords.
  • Baidu Verification (百度认证) – Verification allows you, the advertiser, to prove the authenticity of your website.  If your website is verified, a small symbol will appear in your search ads that tells web users that your site is an official site of the brand they are searching for.  Product authenticity is a big issue in China, so Baidu verification is essential for advertisers.  In addition, getting verified helps you get better ad positions, cheaper advertising prices, and better ad formats.  We can help your business get verified.
  • Bounce rate – The percentage of web users that visit your site and then leave without visiting any other pages.
  • Campaign – A collection of ad groups that share a combination of settings, such as budget and geographic targeting.
  • Conversion Rate – The rate at which clicking on your ad resulted in a conversion. A conversion is a desired action such as  buying something or submitting a contact form.
  • Cost-Per-Click (CPC) – The amount of money you, the advertiser, pay to search engines and publishers in exchange for a single click on an ad that brings a visitor to your site.
  • Cost-Per-Lead (CPL) – The amount of money you, the advertiser, pay in advertising costs to generate a lead.  For example, if you spent $500 on advertising that resulted in 10 people filling out contact forms, then your CPL is $50.
  • Click-Through Rate (CTR) – The number of users that click an ad divided by the number of impressions (times the ad was shown).
  • Display Network – A vast collection of websites, videos, and aps where advertisers can display their ads.
  • Goal – Sure, everyone knows what a goal is, but in the context of PPC advertising, it needs to be specific.  “Make more money”, for example, is not as clear a goal as “increase sales leads by 30% without exceeding a monthly budget of $1000.”  A specific goal is much easier for PPC professionals to work with than a vague one.
  • Keyword – A word or phrase that you select to trigger the display of one of your ads in the search engine results page.  For example, if you have a Baidu pay per click account and “leather belt” is one of your keywords, when a web user conducts a search query using this keyword, one of your ads will be displayed on Baidu’s search engine results page.
  • Long-Tail Keyword – A keyword phrase made up of at least two words.  Long tail keywords generally have a better conversion rate and are less competitive than single-word keywords, reducing your cost per click (CPC).  “Cheap Red Dress Shoes” is an example of a long-tail keyword, where as “Shoes” is not.
  • Lead – An action taken by customers that is desirable to advertisers.  Submitting a contact form or downloading a brochure are examples of leads.
  • Landing Page – The webpage that customers are taken to after they click your ad.
  • Match type – Settings that enable advertisers to control when their ads are shown for a specific search query.  There are three main match types:
    • Broad match: Your ads may be triggered if a query includes any word in your keyword phrase, in any order.  Close synonyms for keywords may also trigger your ads.  For example, if you have the keyword “tennis shoes” set at broad match, a search for “cheap athletic shoes” may trigger your ad.
    • Phrase match: Your ads may be triggered if someone searches your keyword phrase in the exact order the words appear, even if other words appear before or after this phrase. For example, if you have the keyword “rubber duck”, a search for “yellow rubber duck” may trigger your ad.
    • Exact match: Your ads may be triggered if someone searches your keyword phrase in the exact order the words appear, with no additional words before or after. For example, if you have the keyword “yellow rubber duck”, only a search for “yellow rubber duck” would trigger that ad, while a search for “rubber ducks” or “yellow ducky” would not.
  • Negative Keyword – A keyword that you specify should not trigger one of your ads.  Adding negative keywords to your account ensures that your clicks are coming from people that are likely to convert.  If your website sells alligator skin wallets, and you see that a search for “alligator farms” triggered your ad, you’ll want to add that keyword to your negative keywords list, as people searching that phrase aren’t likely to buy an alligator skin wallet.
  • Quality Score – A measurement of how relevant your keywords, ads, and landing page are to a person who sees your ad.  Search engines want your ads to be relevant to what web users are searching for, so by calculating quality score, advertisers are encouraged to ensure that people find that they’re looking for when they click through on your ad.  Achieving a high quality score is vital, as doing so allows your ads to rank higher on the page for less money.
  • Search Engine Results Page (SERP) – The list of results a web user sees after conducting a search query.  The results include a mix of organic listings and paid ads.