# Glossary

> Short definitions of the ad platform and Roasby terms used in these docs, from ROAS and Quality Score to guardrails and user actions.

Short definitions of the terms these docs use, with a link to where each one is explained.

## Ad terms

- **ROAS** (return on ad spend): conversion value divided by spend. A ROAS of 4 means 4 of value for every 1 spent. See [Dashboard](/docs/dashboard#performance).
- **Impression share**: the share of the searches your search campaign could show for where it did show. What it missed is lost to rank (bid, ad quality, competition) or to budget. See [Impression share](/docs/campaigns#impression-share).
- **Quality Score**: the ad platform's score from 1 to 10 for how relevant a keyword, its ads and landing page are. See [Quality Score and first page bid](/docs/campaigns#quality-score-and-first-page-bid).
- **First page bid**: the bid the ad platform estimates your ad needs to show on the first page of results. See [Quality Score and first page bid](/docs/campaigns#quality-score-and-first-page-bid).
- **Search term**: what a person actually typed before your ad showed. It can differ from your keyword. See [Search terms](/docs/search-terms).
- **Negative keyword**: a word or phrase that stops your ads from showing for searches that contain it. See [Search terms](/docs/search-terms#excluding-a-search).
- **Conversion action** (Google Ads) or **conversion goal** (Microsoft Ads): something valuable a person does after a click, such as a purchase, that the ad platform counts. Primary ones count toward bidding. See [Conversions](/docs/conversions).
- **Bidding strategy**: how a campaign sets its bids, by hand (manual cost per click) or automatically toward clicks, conversions or conversion value. See [Bidding and goals](/docs/bidding-and-goals).
- **Learning period**: the one to two weeks after a bidding change in which automated bidding learns again, so results can swing. See [Bidding and goals](/docs/bidding-and-goals).

## Roasby terms

- **Workspace**: the place that holds ad accounts and the people who work on them, each with a role. See [Workspaces](/docs/workspaces).
- **Ad account**: one Google Ads, Microsoft Ads or ChatGPT Ads account connected to a workspace. See [Ad accounts](/docs/ad-accounts).
- **Sync**: Roasby reading an ad account into its own copy, on a schedule or with **Sync now**. Numbers are as fresh as the last sync. See [Syncing](/docs/ad-accounts#syncing).
- **Guardrail**: a limit people set on each ad account (max daily budget, max bid, max target CPA, min target ROAS and the max rise per step) that a change must stay within once it is set; cuts are never held to the step, except a target ROAS, whose fall counts as a rise. See [Budget and bid guardrails](/docs/safety-model#budget-and-bid-guardrails).
- **Max bid change per step**: how far, in percent, one change may raise a bid; a larger rise takes several steps, and a cut takes none. See [Budget and bid guardrails](/docs/safety-model#budget-and-bid-guardrails).
- **Paused by default**: everything Roasby creates (campaigns, ad groups, ads, keywords) starts paused, so nothing spends until you enable it. See [Everything new starts paused](/docs/safety-model#everything-new-starts-paused).
- **Preview and confirmation token**: before any change, your assistant previews it and gets a token that works once, for 10 minutes, for that exact change. See [Your assistant previews every change](/docs/safety-model#your-assistant-previews-every-change).
- **Batch**: many items of one ad account changed together, with one preview, one confirmation and one revert. See [Batches](/docs/safety-model#batches-many-items-in-one-change).
- **Revert**: a new change that puts back the value before an earlier change, or pauses what it created. See [Change log](/docs/change-log#revert-a-change).
- **`user_actions`**: the steps only a person can do, listed in a tool's result with what, why, where and a link. Your assistant explains them and never says it did them. See [Steps only a person can do](/docs/safety-model#steps-only-a-person-can-do).