Glossary
Commonly used policy terms
Below are commonly used policy terms and what they mean. Filter the table with one or more keywords to find reporting terms.
Note: Some policies may define policy terms differently than this glossary. Where a policy term is defined differently, it will be indicated in the specific policy page. If there is a conflict between the definition in this glossary and the specific policy page, the policy page will control.
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
| content | Everything presented to users by the publisher, including publisher-generated content, syndicated content, user-generated content, organic search results, ads and links to other sites or apps. |
| screen |
The surface where a user interacts with content including but not limited to web pages and app screens. |
| ads | (without the “Google” qualifier) Any advertising, whether served by Google platforms or not. |
| display |
The user visible portion of the screen with which the user is interacting at a given moment.
|
| Google Ads | (capitalized “Ads”) Refers specifically to advertising provided by the Google Ads product. |
| Google-served ads | (lowercase “ads”) Advertising served by Google platforms including DV360, Authorized Buyers and DCM360. |
| low-value content | Unintelligible content that has no value to the user (e.g., filler text or "ipsum lorem" text). |
| personal data | Includes PII as well as per-user identifying information such as pseudonymous identifiers |
| publisher-content | Everything presented to users that is created or managed by the publisher including materials managed by the publisher on behalf of the original creators including user generated content, but not including ads, site navigation and related content links. |
| In-stream | A video or audio ad played within the stream of video or audio content, where the video or audio content is the focus of the user's visit or explicitly requested by the user. Example: A video ad that is played before, in the middle of, or after the stream of a user-requested video content. |
| Accompanying Content | A video ad played within the stream of video content accompanying the main content of the user’s visit, where the video content is neither the focus of the user’s visit nor explicitly requested by the user. Accompanying Content placements must load within the body of the page, and muted by default. Example: A video ad that is played before, in the middle of, or after the stream of muted video content that takes up a small portion of a primarily editorial page. |
| Interstitial | A video ad played without the presence of any other streaming video content in a transition between content, where the video ad is the primary focus of the page and takes up the majority of the viewport. Example: A video ad that is independent of any other streaming video content, and that is placed in full view in a natural break or transition between content. |
| Standalone | A video ad played without the presence of any other streaming video content, where the video ad is not the focus of the page. Example: A video ad that is independent of any other streaming video content, and that is placed in a banner at the right rail of an article page. |
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