CPM Meaning & Advertising Glossary (A–Z)
What Does CPM Meaning in Advertising?
This advertising glossary explains the CPM meaning along with other essential advertising and monetization metrics used by publishers, advertisers, and digital marketers. Each definition is written in clear, practical language to help you better understand ad performance, revenue optimization, and campaign effectiveness.
This glossary covers commonly used terms such as CPM meaning, RPM, CPC, and CTR, as well as advanced advertising concepts relevant to AdSense users and website owners.
A–Z Advertising Glossary
A
Ad Blocker
An ad blocker is a software or browser extension that prevents advertisements from being displayed on websites. Ad blockers can reduce impressions and negatively impact publisher revenue.
Ad Click
An ad click occurs when a user actively clicks on an advertisement. Clicks are commonly used to calculate CPC and CTR metrics.
Ad Fill Rate
Ad Fill Rate represents the percentage of ad requests that successfully return an advertisement. A low fill rate may indicate limited advertiser demand or inventory issues.
Ad Impression
An ad impression is counted each time an advertisement is displayed on a webpage, regardless of whether the user interacts with it.
Ad Inventory
Ad inventory refers to the total number of ad impressions available for sale on a website or application.
Ad Network
An ad network connects advertisers with publishers by aggregating ad inventory and delivering advertisements across multiple websites.
Ad Placement
Ad placement describes the location where an advertisement appears on a webpage, such as above the fold, within content, or in the sidebar.
Ad Revenue
Ad revenue is the income generated by a publisher through displaying advertisements on their website or platform.
Ad Server
An ad server is a technology platform that stores advertisements and delivers them to websites while tracking impressions, clicks, and performance data.
Ad Viewability
Ad viewability measures whether an advertisement was actually visible to users according to industry standards, rather than simply loaded on a page.
Advertiser
An advertiser is a company or individual that pays to display ads in order to promote products, services, or brands.
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is a monetization model where publishers earn commissions by promoting third-party products or services through tracked links.
Auction
An auction is the process by which advertisers bid in real time to display their ads to users, commonly used in programmatic advertising.
B
Bid
A bid is the maximum amount an advertiser is willing to pay for an ad impression or click.
Bid Strategy
A bid strategy defines how advertisers set and adjust bids to achieve specific campaign goals, such as maximizing clicks or conversions.
Bounce Rate
Bounce rate is the percentage of users who leave a website after viewing only one page without further interaction.
Brand Awareness
Brand awareness refers to how familiar users are with a brand, often measured through impression-based advertising such as CPM campaigns.
C
CBC (Custom Bid Cost)
CBC is a non-standard term sometimes used internally to describe customized cost-per-click bidding models. This metric is not officially recognized by major advertising platforms such as Google Ads.
Click
A click occurs when a user selects an advertisement by clicking on it.
Click Fraud
Click fraud refers to invalid or fraudulent clicks generated intentionally to manipulate advertising costs or revenue.
Click-Through Rate (CTR)
CTR is the percentage of users who click on an advertisement after seeing it. It is calculated by dividing clicks by impressions and multiplying by 100.
Contextual Advertising
Contextual advertising displays ads based on the content of a webpage rather than user behavior or personal data.
Conversion
A conversion occurs when a user completes a desired action, such as signing up, purchasing a product, or submitting a form.
Conversion Rate
Conversion rate is the percentage of users who complete a conversion action after interacting with an ad or landing page.
Cost Per Action (CPA)
CPA measures how much an advertiser pays when a specific action is completed, such as a sale or registration.
Cost Per Click (CPC)
CPC is the amount an advertiser pays each time a user clicks on an advertisement.
Cost Per Mille (CPM)
CPM refers to the cost an advertiser pays for one thousand ad impressions. It is commonly used to measure reach and brand exposure.
Core Web Vitals
Core Web Vitals are performance metrics defined by Google that measure loading speed, interactivity, and visual stability, which can influence ad performance and user experience.
D
Demand-Side Platform (DSP)
A DSP is a platform that allows advertisers to purchase digital ad inventory automatically across multiple ad exchanges.
Display Advertising
Display advertising involves visual ads such as banners, images, or videos shown on websites and apps.
Domain Authority
Domain authority is a metric used by SEO tools to estimate a website’s overall ranking potential based on backlinks and content quality.
E
eCPM (Effective Cost Per Mille)
eCPM represents the effective earnings per 1,000 impressions, regardless of the pricing model used. It allows publishers to compare monetization performance across different ad formats.
Engagement Rate
Engagement rate measures how users interact with content or advertisements, including clicks, time on page, and other actions.
Earnings
Earnings refer to the revenue generated by a publisher from advertising, affiliate marketing, or other monetization methods.
F
Fill Rate
Fill rate measures the percentage of ad requests that are successfully filled with ads. A higher fill rate generally leads to increased revenue potential.
First-Party Data
First-party data is information collected directly from users by a website, such as analytics data, subscriptions, or on-site behavior.
Floor Price
A floor price is the minimum CPM a publisher is willing to accept for serving an advertisement. Floor pricing helps protect inventory value.
Frequency Capping
Frequency capping limits the number of times a specific ad is shown to the same user within a defined period.
G
GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation)
GDPR is a European data protection law that regulates how personal data is collected, stored, and processed by websites and online services.
Geotargeting
Geotargeting delivers advertisements to users based on their geographic location, such as country, region, or city.
Google AdSense
Google AdSense is an advertising program that allows publishers to earn revenue by displaying ads served by Google on their websites. https://support.google.com/adsense/answer/9274015
Google Analytics
Google Analytics is a web analytics service that tracks and reports website traffic, user behavior, and engagement metrics https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/6004245
H
Header Bidding
Header bidding is an advanced programmatic advertising technique that allows multiple demand sources to bid on ad inventory simultaneously before the ad server is called.
High-Value Traffic
High-value traffic refers to website visitors who are more attractive to advertisers due to location, engagement level, or purchasing intent.
I
Impression
An impression is recorded each time an advertisement is displayed to a user, regardless of whether it is clicked.
Invalid Traffic (IVT)
Invalid traffic refers to impressions or clicks generated by fraudulent, automated, or non-human activity. Advertising platforms actively filter IVT to protect advertisers.
Inventory
Inventory represents the total available ad space a publisher can sell on their website or application.
L
Landing Page
A landing page is the webpage where users arrive after clicking on an advertisement. Landing page quality can significantly impact conversion rates.
Lifetime Value (LTV)
Lifetime value estimates the total revenue a user is expected to generate over the duration of their relationship with a website or business.
Load Time
Load time measures how long it takes for a webpage to fully display. Faster load times improve user experience and ad performance.
M
Monetization
Monetization is the process of generating revenue from website traffic through advertising, subscriptions, affiliate marketing, or other revenue models.
Native Advertising
Native advertising is a form of paid media that matches the look, feel, and function of the content on the platform where it appears.
Net Revenue
Net revenue refers to earnings after deducting fees, commissions, or costs associated with ad serving or monetization platforms.
O
Optimization
Optimization involves improving ad performance by adjusting placement, formats, targeting, and pricing strategies to increase revenue and engagement.
Organic Traffic
Organic traffic consists of visitors who arrive at a website through unpaid search engine results.
P
Page RPM
Page RPM represents the estimated earnings generated per 1,000 page views. It reflects total page revenue from all ads displayed on a page.
Pay Per Click (PPC)
Pay per click is an advertising model where advertisers pay each time a user clicks on an ad.
Programmatic Advertising
Programmatic advertising is the automated buying and selling of digital advertising inventory using real-time bidding and algorithms.
Publisher
A publisher is a website owner or content creator who displays advertisements to generate revenue.
R
Reach
Reach measures the total number of unique users who are exposed to an advertisement during a specific period.
Real-Time Bidding (RTB)
Real-time bidding is an auction-based system that allows advertisers to bid on ad impressions in real time as pages load.
Referral Traffic
Referral traffic comes from users who visit a website by clicking a link from another website.
Revenue Per Mille (RPM)
RPM measures how much revenue a publisher earns per 1,000 page views. It is commonly used to evaluate overall monetization performance.
S
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
SEO is the practice of optimizing websites to improve visibility and rankings in organic search engine results.
Session
A session represents a group of interactions a user takes on a website within a specific time frame.
Smart Pricing
Smart Pricing is a Google AdSense mechanism that adjusts CPC based on the likelihood of user conversion.
Sponsored Content
Sponsored content is paid promotional material designed to blend naturally with surrounding editorial content.
Supply-Side Platform (SSP)
An SSP allows publishers to manage, sell, and optimize their ad inventory across multiple demand sources.
T
Targeting
Targeting refers to the process of delivering ads to specific audiences based on demographics, interests, behavior, or location.
Third-Party Cookies
Third-party cookies are cookies placed by external services to track user behavior across different websites.
Traffic Quality
Traffic quality refers to how valuable website visitors are to advertisers based on engagement, behavior, and geographic location.
U
Unique Visitors
Unique visitors represent the number of distinct individuals who visit a website within a given time period.
User Experience (UX)
User experience refers to how users interact with and perceive a website, including usability, design, and performance.
V
Viewability
Viewability measures whether an ad was actually visible to users rather than simply loaded on a page.
Visitor
A visitor is an individual who accesses a website, regardless of frequency or duration.
Y
Yield Optimization
Yield optimization is the process of maximizing ad revenue by improving pricing, demand competition, and inventory performance.
Z
Zero-Click Searches
Zero-click searches occur when users find answers directly on search engine results pages without clicking through to a website.
Learn More & Tools
Want to calculate CPM, CPC,CTR OR RPM for your website or advertising campaigns?
Use our free advertising calculators to analyze your ad metrics, or explore detailed guides and educational content in our Blog to improve monetization and advertising performance.