From A/B test to target ROAS: the technical terms from Google Ads and B2B lead generation — explained with an eye on real-world practice in industry.
The direct comparison of two variants — say ad copy or landing pages — under real conditions. The data decides which variant delivers more qualified leads, not personal taste.
The share of leads or quotes that turn into an order. Together with margin and order value, it is the basis for calculating what a lead is allowed to cost — the starting point of any serious budget planning.
Additional elements of a search ad such as sitelinks, callouts or structured snippets. They enlarge the ad, take up more space in the search results and convey trust arguments — in B2B, for example, certifications or manufacturing depth.
The organizational unit below the campaign: thematically tight keywords with matching ads and landing page. Clean ad groups are the prerequisite for search query, ad and landing page fitting together.
The value that determines an ad's position and delivery in the auction — from bid, Quality Score and the expected impact of the ad formats. This is why relevance often beats the higher bid.
The assignment of a conversion to the advertising touchpoints that preceded it. Crucial in B2B with its long buying processes: without clean attribution the last click takes all the credit — and the campaign that created the first contact is wrongly switched off.
The actual revenue that resulted from a lead — fed back from the CRM into the Google Ads account. The toughest yardstick for campaigns: it shows which search term brings orders, not just forms.
The report that shows who you actually compete with in the auctions — including overlap rate and the competitors' impression share. The factual answer to the question 'Where do we stand in comparison?'.
The intent behind a search query, read from wording and context: is this a buyer with a procurement mandate — or a private customer, student or job applicant? Filtering by search intent is the core of profitable B2B campaigns.
The strict separation of search queries for your own company name (Brand) and generic product searches (Non-Brand). Without this separation brand searches subsidize the statistics — and the real new-customer performance stays invisible.
The group of people involved in a B2B purchasing decision: purchasing, engineering, production management, executive board. Campaigns and landing pages have to convince several of these roles — not just the person doing the googling.
The total cost of winning a new customer — across all channels and including sales effort. The metric that justifies marketing budgets to the executive board.
The revenue or contribution margin a customer brings over the entire business relationship. In B2B with long-standing supplier relationships often a multiple of the first order — and the strongest argument for higher allowable lead costs.
Google's method of tying tracking to users' cookie consent and modelling missing data. Mandatory in the EU since 2024 — implemented incorrectly, accounts lose a considerable part of their measurement base.
A defined target action: lead, call, catalogue download, order. What counts as a conversion — and what only counts as a soft secondary action — determines what the algorithm optimizes for. Defined wrongly, the account optimizes past the business.
The share of clicks that leads to a conversion. Often lower in B2B than in B2C — but a single lead can quickly represent a five- or six-figure order value.
The technical recording of target actions via Google Tag, GA4 and Tag Manager. The foundation of any steering: without reliable tracking, all the numbers in the account are decoration.
The cost per click on an ad. In industrial B2B, depending on the niche, anywhere between a few cents and double-digit amounts — but CPC only becomes relevant in relation to the quality of the lead behind it.
The cost of generating a lead. The more important metric is the price per qualified lead: what may a contact cost that fits your margin and close rate?
The connection between the customer system and Google Ads. It turns 'lead received' into the information 'order worth €80,000 won' — and lets campaigns learn from what matters.
The share of ad impressions that leads to clicks. An indicator of the fit between search query and ad — but not a success metric: a high CTR on the wrong audience is expensive.
The path from first contact to order. In B2B often weeks to months with several people involved — campaigns and measurement have to reflect this long cycle instead of optimizing for the instant purchase.
Google's standard attribution model: each click's contribution to the conversion is weighted via machine learning instead of crediting everything to the last click. Useful — but only as good as the conversion definitions underneath it.
Revenue minus variable costs — what an order really contributes to the bottom line. The more honest figure than revenue when it comes to the question of what a lead may cost.
A Google campaign type for visual formats on YouTube, Discover and Gmail. Usable as a complement in B2B — but the purchase-ready demand sits in the Search Network.
Google's network for banner advertising on millions of websites. High reach, but to be used with caution in B2B: without strict exclusions, budget ends up on gaming apps instead of with buyers.
The privacy-compliant enrichment of tracking with hashed first-party data (e.g. email from the form). Significantly increases measurement accuracy in times of cookie restrictions.
Data that your company collects itself — form entries, CRM history, newsletter. With the end of third-party cookies, the most important currency for precise targeting and measurement.
The model of the buying journey in phases: problem awareness (Top), solution comparison (Middle), vendor selection (Bottom). In B2B, Google Ads budget works most strongly at the bottom of the funnel — where people are searching for concrete solutions.
Google's analytics platform for website and campaign data. Configured correctly, the bridge between user behaviour and campaign steering — configured incorrectly, a source of misleading numbers.
The regional control of ad delivery — from the DACH region to the radius around the company location. Important in B2B for delivery areas, service radii and the exclusion of regions without sales coverage.
Product ads with image and price, fed from the Merchant Center data feed. For B2B online shops and technical trade often the strongest campaign type — with its own logic of feed quality and price competition.
The management system for tracking codes on the website. It enables clean, maintainable measurement without a developer marathon — and is the technical basis of almost every conversion recording.
The precise description of the ideal target customer: industry, size, need, procurement behaviour. The sharper the ICP, the better search intent, exclusions and ad language can be aligned with it.
The share of possible ad impressions that your campaign actually receives. It reveals untapped potential: how often was a purchase-ready buyer searching — and your ad wasn't there?
The number of ad impressions. A pure reach figure with no quality statement — unsuitable as a success metric, but quite useful as a diagnostic value (together with impression share).
The control of how exactly a search query has to match the keyword: exact, phrase or broad. The more open the option, the more reach — and the more control search term management needs.
Google's tool for search volume, competition density and click-price forecasts. Good for surveying the market — but the most valuable B2B niche terms are often only revealed by your own search terms report.
Google's AI-generated answers above the classic search results. It noticeably changes search behaviour — ads increasingly appear in and next to AI answers, which challenges structure and measurement anew.
The page a click lands on. In B2B it decides whether the expensively bought visitor turns into a lead: technical substance, references and a clear next step instead of advertising prose.
Specific, longer search queries like 'CNC turned parts small series stainless steel'. Less search volume, but high purchase intent and little competition — in industrial B2B often the most profitable search terms.
Marketing Qualified Lead and Sales Qualified Lead: the stages of lead qualification between marketing and sales. A clean handover definition decides whether both departments are speaking about the same numbers.
Search terms to be excluded, for which ads should not appear — 'used', 'build yourself', 'apprenticeship', 'private'. The most important tool against wasted reach and the ongoing duty of every B2B account.
Feeding back events that happen outside the website — quote sent, order won — from the CRM into Google Ads. This is how the algorithm learns which clicks turned into orders.
Google's automatic account rating (0–100 %) together with recommendations. To be treated with caution: many recommendations serve budget expansion, not your return — blindly adopting them is one of the most common account mistakes.
An automated campaign type across all Google channels (Search, Shopping, YouTube, Display). Powerful in e-commerce — in B2B, without strict signals and exclusions, a common source of B2C wasted reach and unusable leads.
The overview of all open sales opportunities with value and phase. Connecting campaign data and pipeline shows which search terms produce not just leads, but real chances of closing.
The distinction of which target actions steer the bidding automation (primary) and which are only observed (secondary). One of the most effective levers in the account: whoever counts newsletter clicks as primary lets the algorithm optimize for trivialities.
A lead that fits the target customer definition: right company, right need, realistic volume. The distinction between qualified and unqualified is the basis of honest success measurement.
Google's rating of keyword, ad and landing page (1–10). A higher Quality Score lowers the click price — relevance is literally rewarded with a discount by Google.
Reaching out again to visitors who have already been on the website. Useful in B2B with its long decision paths — provided the lists and messages match the phase in the buying process.
Revenue in relation to advertising spend. Only meaningful when actual order value is measured — a ROAS based on form submissions is an estimate, not a metric.
The standard format for search ads: up to 15 headlines and 4 descriptions that Google combines dynamically. The art lies in making every combination make sense — in the language of technical decision-makers.
Paid search engine advertising — in German-speaking B2B practically synonymous with Google Ads. The channel through which purchase-ready demand actively searches for providers.
The organic sister of SEA: visibility in the unpaid search results. Valuable long-term, but slow — Google Ads, by contrast, delivers controllable, scalable demand from day one. The two work most strongly together.
The results page of a search query — with ads, organic hits, AI answers and shopping results. Whoever doesn't know the SERP of their most important search terms doesn't know their shop window.
Tracking processing via your own server instead of directly in the browser. More robust against ad blockers and browser restrictions, cleaner in terms of data protection — the technical standard for companies that take measurability seriously.
Google's automated bidding strategies (e.g. Target CPA, Target ROAS) that learn from conversion data. As good as the signals they get: whoever counts soft actions as a conversion trains the algorithm on the wrong users.
Advertising budget that pays for clicks from people who can never become customers — private individuals, job applicants, students, wrong regions. In B2B the biggest budget eater and the first thing an audit makes visible.
The list of the actual search queries that triggered ads — not the booked keywords. The most honest data source in the account and the basis for negative-keyword maintenance and new campaign ideas.
The core of Google Ads: text ads on active search queries on Google. This is where the purchase-ready demand sits — people who are searching for a solution at this very moment.
The monthly frequency of a search query. In industrial B2B often low — and that is exactly the opportunity: 30 searches from buyers with a procurement mandate beat 30,000 searches from end consumers.
Clicks with no real advertising value — bots, accidental multiple clicks, click fraud. Google filters automatically and credits detected cases; conspicuous patterns should nonetheless be monitored.
Add-ons to URLs that make campaign, source and ad identifiable in analytics and CRM. Inconspicuous, but essential: without a clean UTM system, the chain from click to order breaks.
Smart Bidding strategies with a concrete target value: maximum cost per conversion or targeted revenue per advertising euro. Effective when the target values are derived from margin and close rate — not from gut feeling.
Hints to automated campaigns (especially PMax) about which user groups are relevant — such as customer lists or website visitors. Indispensable in B2B to give the automation direction instead of letting it guess.
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