Glossary · updated 2026-10-03
Glossary of ads in AI assistants
Short, plain definitions of the terms used in AI advertising, tracking and AI search visibility. Platform-specific terms link to the source they are based on.
- Ads in AI Overviews
- Google text and Shopping ads from Search, Shopping and Performance Max campaigns that appear inside Google’s AI Overviews in 12 English-language markets, including the US. Advertisers cannot opt out, and Google does not report this placement separately. Source: Google Ads Help: About ads and AI Overviews, 2026-10-03.
- Ads in Copilot
- Microsoft Advertising ads that appear in Copilot conversations, created automatically from existing campaign assets. Eligible campaigns are opted in automatically, and there are no Copilot-specific metrics. Source: Microsoft Learn: About ads in Copilot, 2026-09-02.
- AI Mode
- Google Search’s conversational mode, which answers with AI-generated responses. At Google Marketing Live in May 2026, Google announced new ad formats for AI Mode, such as Conversational Discovery ads and AI-powered Shopping ads. Source: Google: A new generation of ads for the AI era of Search, 2026-05-20.
- AI visibility
- How often and how prominently a brand appears in AI-generated answers to the questions its customers ask, compared with competitors. It can be organic (the assistant names the brand) or paid (an ad shown with the answer).
- ChatGPT ads
- Sponsored units that OpenAI shows below ChatGPT answers for adult users on the Free and Go plans, labeled as sponsored. OpenAI states that ads do not influence the answers. Advertisers buy them on a CPM or CPC basis. Source: OpenAI Help Center: Ads in ChatGPT, 2026-10-03.
- ChatGPT Ads Manager
- OpenAI’s self-serve tool at ads.openai.com for creating and managing ChatGPT ad campaigns, launched as a beta in May 2026. The billed business must be based in a supported country. Source: OpenAI: New ways to buy ChatGPT ads, 2026-05-05.
- Context hints
- Free-text descriptions at ad-group level in ChatGPT ads that describe the conversations an ad fits. They replace keywords but are not exact-match targeting rules and do not guarantee delivery. Source: OpenAI Help Center: Create Ad Groups for ChatGPT Ads, 2026-10-03.
- Conversion tracking
- Measuring which ad clicks or views lead to valuable actions on your site, such as a purchase. Ad platforms use these signals for reporting and for automated bidding.
- Conversions API (server-side tracking)
- A server-to-server connection that sends conversion events from your own systems directly to an ad platform. It complements the browser pixel and is less affected by ad blockers and browser restrictions.
- CPA (cost per acquisition)
- Ad spend divided by the number of conversions such as purchases or sign-ups. It only means something if conversions are tracked reliably.
- CPC (cost per click)
- A pricing model in which the advertiser pays each time someone clicks the ad. The actual price per click usually results from an auction and the advertiser’s bid.
- CPM (cost per mille)
- A pricing model in which the advertiser pays for every 1,000 ad impressions, whether or not anyone clicks.
- Event deduplication
- Making sure a conversion reported by both the pixel and the server-side API is counted once, usually by sending the same event ID through both channels.
- Generative engine optimization (GEO)
- Work that makes a brand more likely to be named and cited in answers from AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity or Claude – through content, structured data, crawler access and presence in the sources those assistants rely on.
- Mention rate
- The share of AI answers to a set of buyer questions that name a brand. Because AI answers vary, it is measured by asking each question several times.
- OAI-AdsBot
- OpenAI’s crawler for checking ad landing pages. Landing pages of ChatGPT ads must not block OAI-AdsBot or OAI-SearchBot. Source: OpenAI: Ad policies, 2026-09-01.
- ROAS (return on ad spend)
- Revenue attributed to ads divided by the ad spend that produced it. A ROAS of 4 means $4 in attributed revenue per $1 spent.
- Tracking pixel
- A small script or image from an ad platform that runs in the visitor’s browser and reports page views and conversions back to that platform.
- Wasted ad spend
- Budget that buys clicks or impressions with no realistic chance of converting – for example irrelevant search terms, broken landing pages or campaigns optimizing toward conversions that are not tracked correctly.