This glossary explains the terms that come up when you run and report on paid ads, from ad platform metrics to CRM pipeline. Each definition is short and plain. Where a term points to a common problem, it links to the fix.
The terms cover LinkedIn Ads, Google Ads, Microsoft Ads, Reddit Ads and Meta Ads, plus HubSpot and Salesforce.
A
Ad fatigue
Ad fatigue is when the same people see an ad so often that they stop responding to it. The sign is a falling click-through or engagement rate on the same ad while its frequency climbs. There’s no universal “too many times” number, so judge it by the ad’s own decline. See how to fix ad creative fatigue.
Audience Network
An Audience Network shows your ads on partner apps and websites outside the platform’s own feed. LinkedIn and Meta both offer one. It adds reach, but it can change who sees your ads, so check lead quality separately for that traffic. See how to fix low-quality leads.
Audience penetration
Audience penetration is the share of your target audience that has actually seen your ads: unique people reached divided by audience size. Low penetration on a fully spent budget usually means the audience is too large for the budget. Very high penetration on a small list often comes before ad fatigue.
B
Budget pacing
Budget pacing compares what you’ve spent so far this month with what you planned to spend by this point. A month-end forecast takes the spend so far, works out the daily rate, and projects it over the days left. See how to fix budget pacing.
C
Click-through rate (CTR)
Click-through rate is clicks divided by impressions. It tells you how well an ad earns attention from the people who see it. Compare an ad with its own first weeks and with similar campaigns, because CTR varies a lot by platform, format and objective. See why your LinkedIn CTR is dropping.
Closed-won
Closed-won is a deal the customer signed. It’s the last stage of the pipeline and the number finance cares about most. Because B2B deals often take months to close, closed-won lags well behind the ad spend that started them.
Conversion delay
Conversion delay is the time between an ad click and the conversion it leads to, such as a form fill. It makes the most recent days look worse than they are, because the spend is in but the conversions haven’t arrived yet. Leave the last few days out when you compare conversion rates or cost per lead.
Conversions API
A Conversions API sends conversion events from your server or CRM straight to the ad platform, instead of relying only on a browser tag. LinkedIn and Meta both offer one. When you send the same event through the browser tag and the Conversions API, both must carry the same event ID so the platform counts it once. LinkedIn’s deduplication guide explains the setup.
Cost per click (CPC)
Cost per click is spend divided by clicks. A sudden rise usually comes from a change you made, a seasonal market shift or a drop in ad relevance. See how to fix a CPC spike.
Cost per lead (CPL)
Cost per lead is spend divided by the leads a campaign produced. It’s quick to measure, but a low CPL can hide leads that never become sales conversations. Read it next to lead quality and cost per opportunity.
Cost per opportunity
Cost per opportunity is spend divided by the sales opportunities a channel or campaign produced. It’s slower to measure than cost per lead, but it’s closer to what the business pays for. Always state which attribution rule produced the number. See how to connect LinkedIn Ads to pipeline.
CPM (cost per thousand impressions)
CPM is what you pay for 1,000 ad impressions. It rises with competition for the same audience, seasonal demand, pricier formats and lower predicted relevance. See how to fix a CPM spike.
F
Frequency
Frequency is the average number of times each person saw your ad in a period: impressions divided by unique reach. On its own it doesn’t prove a problem. It matters when response falls as frequency rises. See how to manage LinkedIn ad frequency.
I
Impression share
Impression share is the impressions your ads received divided by the impressions they were eligible to receive. It’s a Google Ads and Microsoft Ads metric for search campaigns. Low impression share tells you there’s demand you’re not reaching.
Insight Tag
The Insight Tag is LinkedIn’s website tracking code. It records conversions, such as form fills, and builds website retargeting audiences. If it’s missing from a page or not linked to a campaign, conversions don’t show up in Campaign Manager. See how to fix the LinkedIn Insight Tag.
L
Learning period
The learning period is the time an ad platform needs to calibrate delivery after a new campaign or a significant change. Results can swing during it, so don’t judge cost or efficiency until it ends. Google says it typically takes one to two conversion cycles, and changes to budget, bid strategy or conversion settings can restart it.
Lost impression share (budget and rank)
Lost impression share explains why Google Ads search campaigns missed impressions. “Lost IS (budget)” is the share missed because the budget ran out. “Lost IS (rank)” is the share missed because of low Ad Rank, which comes from bids and ad quality. Google defines both in its impression share help page.
M
MQL (marketing-qualified lead)
An MQL is a lead that meets your marketing team’s agreed bar for sales follow-up, such as the right job title plus enough engagement. Each company sets its own definition. Agree it with sales, or MQL counts won’t mean much.
O
Opportunity
An opportunity is a deal in your CRM that sales has agreed is real and worth pursuing. Its value counts toward pipeline. In HubSpot it’s called a deal; in Salesforce it’s an Opportunity record.
Over-pacing
Over-pacing means spend is running ahead of plan and will finish the month over budget. Single-day spikes are often normal, because Google Ads, for example, can spend up to twice the average daily budget on a given day. Watch for a pattern over several days. See why Google Ads is overspending.
P
Pipeline per dollar
Pipeline per dollar is the pipeline value a channel created divided by what you spent on it. For example, $8 of pipeline per $1 of spend. It’s an easy way to compare channels on business outcome rather than clicks or leads.
Primary Campaign Source
Primary Campaign Source is a field on a Salesforce opportunity that names the one campaign credited with it. Under the Primary Campaign Source model, the default in Salesforce’s Customizable Campaign Influence, that campaign gets 100% of the credit. If the field is wrong or overwritten, paid channels lose credit for the deals they sourced.
Q
Quality Score
Quality Score is a 1 to 10 rating Google Ads gives each keyword, based on expected CTR, ad relevance and landing page experience. Google says it’s a diagnostic tool and not an input in the ad auction. A component rated “Below average” shows you where to improve.
S
Sourced vs influenced pipeline
Sourced pipeline is pipeline where a channel created the first touch, usually the lead’s original source. Influenced pipeline is pipeline at accounts the channel reached before the deal was created, whoever got the first touch. Report both, labeled, because they answer different questions.
SQL (sales-qualified lead)
An SQL is a lead that sales has reviewed and accepted as worth pursuing. It sits between MQL and opportunity. A low MQL-to-SQL rate from one channel often points to targeting or offer problems, not the sales team.
U
Under-pacing
Under-pacing means spend is running behind plan and the month will end under budget. Common causes are an ad stuck in review, bids set too low, a small audience or restrictive settings. See why your LinkedIn campaign isn’t spending and why Google Ads isn’t spending.
UTM parameters
UTM parameters are tags added to an ad’s landing page URL, such as utm_source, utm_medium and utm_campaign, that tell analytics and your CRM where a visit came from. Values are case-sensitive, so “LinkedIn” and “linkedin” count as two sources. Google lists the parameters in its campaign URL guide. See how to fix broken UTMs.
How these terms show up in PipeHalo
PipeHalo checks every campaign every morning for the problems behind many of these terms, from under-pacing to broken UTMs. Each flag explains the problem in plain English, with the money at stake and the steps to fix it. See the full list on the features page, or browse every problem on the paid media troubleshooting hub.
To see the metrics on real-looking numbers, try the live demo.