A Comprehensive Glossary of Meta Ads Terminology

Advertising on Meta’s platforms, including Facebook and Instagram, involves a unique set of terms and concepts. Understanding this language is crucial for building effective campaigns, reaching the right audience, and achieving your marketing goals. This glossary breaks down the essential terminology into logical, easy-to-understand sections.

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Core Concepts & Account Structure

This section covers the fundamental hierarchy and foundational elements of the Meta Ads ecosystem.

Term	Definition
Business Manager/Business Suite	A central hub to manage all of your marketing and advertising activities on Meta. It allows you to manage ad accounts, Pages, pixels, and user permissions in one place.
Ad Account	The account used for managing and paying for all of your advertising on Meta platforms. An ad account contains all your campaigns, ad sets, and ads.
Campaign	The highest level of your ad structure. At the campaign level, you set a single advertising objective, such as building awareness, driving traffic, or generating sales.
Ad Set	The second level of the ad structure, housed within a campaign. At the ad set level, you define your audience, placements, budget, and schedule for a group of ads.
Ad	The individual advertisement that users see. This is the creative level, where you design the visual and text elements of your ad, including images, videos, headlines, and calls-to-action.
Objective	The goal you want to achieve with your campaign. Meta organizes objectives into categories like Awareness, Traffic, Engagement, Leads, App Promotion, and Sales. Your chosen objective influences your bidding and optimization options.
Meta Pixel	A snippet of code that you place on your website. It tracks visitor activity, allowing you to measure conversions, build audiences for retargeting, and optimize your ads based on the actions people take on your site.
Conversions API (CAPI)	The goal you want to achieve with your campaign. Meta organizes objectives into categories like Awareness, Traffic, Engagement, Leads, App Promotion, and Sales. Your chosen objective influences your bidding and optimization options.

Bidding & Budgeting

These terms relate to how you manage your ad spend and compete for ad placements in the auction.

Term	Definition
Budget	The maximum amount you’re willing to spend on a campaign or ad set. You can set a Daily Budget (the average amount spent per day) or a Lifetime Budget (the maximum amount spent over the entire duration of the campaign/ad set).
Advantage Campaign Budget (CBO)	A setting at the campaign level that automatically and continuously distributes your budget across the best-performing ad sets in real-time. This is now the default and recommended budget optimization method.
Bid Strategy	Determines how Meta bids for you in the ad auction. Common strategies include Highest Volume (aims to get the most results for your budget) and Cost Per Result Goal (aims to keep your average cost per result around a specific amount).
Bid Cap	A bid strategy where you set a maximum bid you’re willing to pay to get an action or result. This gives you more control over your cost per result but may limit delivery if your bid is too low
Cost Per Result Goal	A bid strategy where you tell Meta the average cost you want to achieve per result. Meta will then aim to get you the most results possible at that average cost.
Auction	The system Meta uses to determine the best ad to show to a person at a given point in time. The winning ad is the one with the highest total value, which is a combination of the advertiser’s bid, estimated action rates, and ad quality.

Ad Formats & Placements

This section covers the different types of ads you can create and where they can appear across Meta’s apps and services.

Term	Definition
Ad Creative	The visual and written components of your ad, such as the image, video, ad copy, headline, and call-to-action button.
Placements	The locations where your ads can appear. This includes Facebook Feed, Instagram Stories, Messenger Inbox, Audience Network, Reels, and more. Advantage+ Placements automatically deliver your ads across all eligible placements to maximize results.
Carousel Ad	An ad format that allows you to showcase up to 10 images or videos, each with its own headline, description, and link, within a single ad unit.
Collection Ad	A mobile-only ad format that features a primary video or image with a collection of four product images below it. When tapped, it opens into an Instant Experience, a full-screen landing page within the app.
Instant Experience (Canvas)	A full-screen, mobile-optimized destination that opens instantly from a collection ad or other ad formats. It can feature a combination of videos, images, text, and product catalogs.
Lead Ad (Instant Form)	An ad format that allows you to collect information from potential customers directly on Meta’s platform using a pre-filled form, making it easy for users to submit their details without leaving the app.
Dynamic Ads	Automatically promote products from your catalog to people who have shown interest on your website, in your app, or elsewhere on the internet. It shows relevant items to the right people at the right time.
Call-to-Action (CTA) Button	The button on your ad that prompts users to take a specific action, such as “Shop Now,” “Learn More,” “Sign Up,” or “Download.”

Targeting & Audiences

Reaching the right people is fundamental to success on Meta. This section explains how you can define and target your audience.

Term	Definition
Core Audiences	The primary targeting option where you define an audience based on demographics (age, gender, location, language), interests, and behaviors.
Detailed Targeting	A feature within Core Audiences that allows you to refine your audience by including or excluding specific demographics, interests, and behaviors.
Advantage Detailed Targeting	A feature that allows Meta’s system to reach a broader group of people than you defined in your detailed targeting selections if it’s likely to improve performance.
Custom Audience	An audience you create based on your own data. This allows you to retarget people who have already interacted with your business, such as website visitors, app users, or customers from a contact list.
Lookalike Audience	An audience created by Meta that is similar to an existing “source” Custom Audience. Meta identifies the common qualities of the people in your source audience and finds new people who “look like” them.
Advantage Lookalike	Allows Meta’s system to deliver ads to people outside of your defined lookalike audience if it’s likely to improve performance.
Audience Saturation	The point at which your target audience has seen your ad multiple times, potentially leading to ad fatigue and diminished returns.

Metrics & Performance Measurement

These are the key indicators you will use to analyze and optimize the performance of your advertising campaigns.

Term	Definition
Reach	The number of unique people who saw your ads at least once.
Impressions	The total number of times your ads were displayed on screen. This number can be higher than your reach, as one person can see your ad multiple times.
Frequency	The average number of times each person saw your ad. It is calculated as Impressions divided by Reach.
Click-Through Rate (CTR)	The percentage of times people saw your ad and performed a click. A high CTR is a good indication that your ad creative and targeting are relevant.
Link Clicks	The number of clicks on links within the ad that led to destinations on or off Meta platforms.
Cost Per Result (CPR)	The average cost for each desired outcome (e.g., lead, purchase, or link click). It’s calculated by dividing the total amount spent by the number of results.
Return on Ad Spend (ROAS)	A metric that measures the total revenue generated for every dollar spent on advertising. It is calculated as Revenue divided by Ad Spend.
Conversion	An action that a person takes on your website or in your app that you have defined as valuable to your business, such as making a purchase or completing a registration.
Attribution Setting	The time window during which conversions are credited to your ads after someone clicks or views them. The default setting is typically a 7-day click and 1-day view window.