Google Advertising Acronyms Explained

Google advertising and marketing products explained in very short, (nearly) plain English. I’ll include a link when approriate and while I’ll take into account Google’s formal explanation of things, I’m going to use my own explanation as often as possible.

Update 6/27/18: Much of the below is set to change! Google has announced naming changes and the unifications of tools in their advertising ecosystem.

GMP: Google Marketing Platform

What is it: The 2018 umbrella for Google’s ad products, like Analytics, Data Studio, Optimize, Data Studio, Tag Manager, Surveys, Ads. This includes free and 360 (enterprise) versions.
Note: No one uses this acronym.

GCP: Google Cloud Platform

What is it: The umbrella for Google’s cloud products, like BiqQuery, Dataflow, App Engine, Compute Engine, Pub/Sub, Cloud Storage, and many others. This also includes the API service for Google Maps and the G Suite productivity/IT tools.
Note: People do use this acronym.

DDM: DoubleClick Digital Marketing

What is it: The old umbrella for Google’s ad products.

DFP: DoubleClick for Publishers

Use: Ad inventory management and reporting
Formerly known as: Google DART
Replaced By: Google Ad Manager

DCM: DoubleClick Campaign Manager

Use: Google’s 3rd party ad server, the beating heart of DDM

DFA: DoubleClick for Advertisers

Use: Now known as DCM (ad server)

DSM: DART Sales Manager

Use: Order management
Integrated into: DFP
Replaced by: XSM (part of DFP)

AdX: DoubleClick Ad Exchange

Use: Advertiser and publisher marketplace that allows real-time buying and selling of ad inventory. It’s literally an exchange for ads.

DBM: DoubleClick Bid Manager

Use: A demand-side platform (DSP) for making bids on ad impressions

DDP: DoubleClick Data Platform

Use: How data providers (DMPs, etc.) pipe audience segments into DFP, DBM, etc.

GPT: Google Publisher Tag

Use: This isn’t even a site, it’s the Google ad tag that works with DFP

GA: Google Analytics 360

Use: Website traffic tracking. The main component is still Google Analytics, but there are other components, like GTM and Data Studio.
Formerly known as: GA Premium

GTM: Google Tag Manager

Use: A management tool for 3rd party site tags.

Not acronyms, but these come up all the time…

Google Adwords

Use: Where you buy Google’s text ads, like those found on Google.com search results. This is the side there you spend money.
Will soon be: Google Ads

Google Adsense

Use: The publisher side of Adwords. This is the side where you make money. Most YouTube monetization is officially handled through Adsense, but that’s changing in the future.

Google Ad Manager

Use: The combination of DFP and AdX.
Explained: On June 27, 2018 Google announced changes to their ads platforms and naming.

Notes of interest

• DCM and DFP are two sides of the same tool, but they often don’t match
• This infographic is helpful but only partially complete
• DFA vs DCM? DCM replaced DFA

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