Found yourself lost in a sea of technical jargon? Don't worry, in this article we'll list some of the most frequently used terms surrounding the platform. If there's something you think we've missed, please let us know.
Glossary
The Platform
"The platform" refers to the Marin platform, and includes a web-based interface, an API connector for each publisher, a reporting store, and supporting code and databases to make it all work seamlessly.
Marin Client Account (MCA)
An MCA, or Marin Client Account, is essentially a "sub-account" within your main Marin platform account. If you're a single business, you might need the one MCA; however, you can also add additional MCAs if required. For more info about this, please read our help center article.
Publisher Client Account (PCA) Or Search Engine Account
A PCA, or Publisher Client Account or Search Engine Account,, is a single publisher account (such as Google Ads). You can add PCAs for any supported publisher, including Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo! Gemini. If necessary, you can also add multiple PCAs for the same publisher. Your PCA credentials will allow you to sync all campaigns and objects from the publisher to the platform via the linking process. The platform synchronizes with Publisher Client Accounts.
Grid, Side Navigation, And The Filters Section
The grid is the largest part of the interface, and where you'll spend a lot of your time. The grid includes 20 rows of data (or more, depending on your preference) and a variable number of columns. The grid presentation is controlled by the user through column addition and removal, filtering in the columns and the filters section, and clicking through top-level navigation. Presentation of data in the grid is used both for campaign management in the platform and report setup and distribution. The Filters section to the left controls date ranges in the grid. From the Filters section, a user can set date ranges for data displayed in the grid and select specific publisher or search engine data amongst other things. The side navigation allows you to navigate to your publisher or search engine hierarchy more quickly.
Posting
The platform uses the API to post to the publishers. When a user creates new keywords, creatives, groups etc. or alters the existing ones in the Marin platform, this creates automatically a post operation to send this information to the publisher/search engine through the API
Synchronization
Just as the platform posts, the Search Engine or Publisher Accounts synchronize. The platform synchronizes once a day automatically, picking up changes and new items from the Search Engine or Publisher Accounts. A user can also initiate synchronization with the click of a button in the platform.
API
API is short for Application Programming Interface. The platform uses APIs to communicate with our Search Engine And Publisher partners. Using APIs, we can pass valuable information back and forth and change settings in a Search Engine or Publisher Account based on a post from the platform.
Attribution
Site visitors don’t always purchase immediately, they may click, then leave to compare your offering with others before purchasing from you. As site visitors leave and return, the pixel continues to track that visitor’s behavior. Marketers can view each visitor’s series of clicks to the website. Depending on strategy, the marketer may decide to apply the purchase to the first click, last click, or credit some percentage of the sale across clicks to the site. This attribution defines the dollar return on each click cost. Two different attribution strategies on the same campaign could show very different results!
Dimensions
Dimensions are a feature of the Marin platform which enables tracking, reporting, and managing campaigns, groups, creatives, and keywords independent of account structure. Objects can be tagged with multiple dimensions; these tags exist solely within the application and will never be pushed to the publisher.
Interface
The interface refers to the the platform’s presentation in your web browser. The interface includes data presented in the web browser and the buttons you use to change the presentation to your needs.
Pixel
Tracking pixels are small pieces of code designed to track user behavior on a website. The pixel working in conjunction with the visitor’s browser sends information to the pixel owner about each visitor every time they visit the site. Many people use pixels to track the arrival of a potential client on the site and later any purchases that client might make. There are two types of pixels, on-page pixels and redirect pixels. On-page pixels are placed on the web page. Visitors to sites using on-page pixels travel straight from the creative to the site. Redirect pixels are placed on a remote server. Visitors to a site using redirects travel from the creative to a server housing the pixel, and then to the website.
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