Google Adwords Terminology explained

Keyword
The keywords you choose to use are what will trigger your advert.  For example, one of the keyword we would target is “internet marketing agency”.  If we had this keyword and a Google user searched for this then our advert would be likely to appear. 

Campaign and Ad Group
All Adwords accounts are set up using campaigns and ad groups.  Campaigns are where you will select all of your settings including budget and your targeting preferences.  You may have different campaigns for different products or services.  One or more ad group can be created within a campaign.  These ad groups include keywords, sets of adverts and placements. 

Impressions
An impression is simply how many times your advert has appeared on Google or the Google Network.  Your impressions tell you how many people have seen your advert. 

Click
If somebody sees your advert and clicks on your advert then this is recorded on your Adwords account as a click. 

Cost Per Click (CPC)
You can choose the maximum amount you are willing to pay per click for each keyword.  This is called maximum cost per click or max CPC.  Your max CPC will play a major factor on your adverts ranking on the page. 

Cost-per-thousand impressions (CPM)
In some cases you can choose to pay impressions of your advert rather than clicks.  Your max CPM is the most you are willing to pay per thousand impressions.  This facility is only available if you are targeting the content network. 

Quality Score
Quality score is a dynamic variable which is calculated for every keyword.  The better your quality scores are the less you tend to pay per click.  To understand more about how quality score work please read my recent blog on quality scores.  You can view the blog here How Google Adwords calculates quality scores.