Creative
The image or video in the ad — the part that makes people stop scrolling.
Example: A 15-second video of someone using the product is the creative; the text above it is the copy.
Glossary
Paid ads glossary
The terms people who work with ads use — from the creative to the checkout — each with what it means and an example. Every term has its own link, to send to whoever needs it.
The ad
What shows up on screen: the image or video, the text and the button.
Copy
The text that sells, in the ad and on the page: what it promises, to whom and why.
Example: “Still paying credit card interest?” as the first line is copy pulling on the pain of someone in debt.
In Spymine: Search looks for the word in the ad text and in the page text.
Hook
The first seconds of the video, or the first line of the text: what holds the attention of someone scrolling past.
Example: A video that opens with “Stop washing your hair like this” uses the mistake hook.
Angle
The path the ad takes to persuade: pain, desire, fear, social proof, authority, curiosity, offer or novelty.
Example: Two ads for the same English course: one talks about the embarrassment in a meeting (pain), the other about the dream trip (desire).
In Spymine: The “Angle” filter in search sorts ads by these eight paths.
CTA (call to action)
What the ad asks for: what the person should do now — in the text and on the button.
Example: “Learn more”, “Shop now” and “Send message” are CTA buttons, and each one leads somewhere different.
In Spymine: The “Ad button” filter shows only the ads with that button.
UGC
A creative that looks made by a customer (user-generated content): an ordinary person talking about the product to a phone camera.
Example: A customer filming her skincare routine in the bathroom, with no studio and no visible script.
Carousel
An ad with several cards people swipe through, each with its own image or video and its own link.
Example: A store shows five sneakers, one per card, and each card leads to that sneaker’s page.
In Spymine: The “Format” filter separates video, image and carousel.
Versions
The same ad with small changes — another text, another headline, another cut of the video — running at the same time to see which works best.
Example: The advertiser uploads the same video with three different headlines: three versions of the same creative.
In Spymine: Each card shows how many versions the ad has, and search can sort by the most.
The numbers
The math that tells whether a campaign works. Only the advertiser sees these numbers — from the outside, the best signal is how long the ad has been running.
CPM
Cost per thousand impressions: what it costs for the ad to be shown a thousand times.
Example: $300 spent on 20,000 impressions is a $15 CPM.
CTR
Click-through rate: out of every hundred times the ad is shown, how many turn into a click.
Example: 20,000 impressions and 300 clicks are a 1.5% CTR.
CPC
Cost per click: what was spent divided by the clicks.
Example: $300 for 300 clicks: a $1 CPC.
CPA
Cost per acquisition: how much each sale cost in ads — or each contact, when the campaign is after leads.
Example: $300 that brought 10 sales: a $30 CPA.
ROAS
Return on ad spend: the sales divided by what was spent on ads.
Example: $1,000 in ads that brought $4,000 in sales: a ROAS of 4.
Conversion rate
Out of every hundred people who reach the page, how many do what it asks: buy, sign up, send a message.
Example: 1,000 visits and 20 sales: a 2% conversion rate.
Average order value
The average value of each sale. Order bumps and upsells exist to raise it.
Example: $10,000 from 100 sales: a $100 average order value.
LTV
How much a customer spends with the business over the whole time they stay (lifetime value) — and so how much you can pay to win one.
Example: A $50 monthly subscription a customer keeps for 10 months: a $500 LTV.
The funnel
The path from the click to the purchase — and the pages in between.
Funnel
The path from seeing the ad to buying: the ad, the page, the checkout and what comes after.
Example: Ad, quiz, sales page and checkout: a quiz funnel.
In Spymine: Every ad shows its funnel step by step, and the “Funnel” filter sorts ads by type.
Sales page
The page the ad leads to, built for one thing only: selling. Also called a landing page.
Example: The long page with the promise, the testimonials, the guarantee and a buy button at the end of each block.
In Spymine: The page behind every ad, on mobile and on desktop.
VSL
The video that makes the whole sale (video sales letter): the page is almost only the video, and the buy button shows up later.
Example: A 20-minute video that tells the story of the method and only shows the buy button at the end.
Quiz
The question funnel: people answer a few questions, get a result and, with it, an offer made for them.
Example: “Find your skin type in 5 questions” — and, at the end, the recommended routine, with the kit for sale.
Opt-in page
The page that trades a free resource for the person’s contact — email or WhatsApp. Whoever leaves their contact becomes a lead.
Example: “Download the free guide”, with an email field and a button.
Checkout
The payment page: the price, the installments, the ways to pay and the purchase form.
Example: The payment platform’s page where the person picks card or PayPal and completes the purchase.
In Spymine: The checkout platform and the price, read without clicking buy.
Order bump
The extra offer on the checkout itself: a box to tick before paying.
Example: “Add the recipe guide for $19 more”, right above the pay button.
In Spymine: The checkout reading shows whether the offer has an order bump.
Upsell and downsell
The upsell is the bigger offer right after the purchase; the downsell, the cheaper one, for whoever turned down the upsell.
Example: After the course, the mentorship (the upsell); whoever says no gets the recorded version for less (the downsell).
Ad spying
How to look at other people’s ads — and tell the ones that sell from the ones that are just running.
Ad spy
The tool that shows other people’s ads — your competitor, your niche, your market — with what the library doesn’t show: how long each one has been running, the versions and the page. Also called an ad spy tool.
Example: Before launching, the media buyer looks up the niche’s ads that have been running for months.
Ad library
Meta’s public library with the ads each page is running right now.
Example: Searching a store’s name and seeing all its active ads, with the date each one started.
Swipe file
A collection of references — ads, copy, pages — kept to look at when it’s time to create.
Example: A folder with the best video hooks in your niche, each with a note on why it works.
Winning ad
The ad that gets results. From the outside, you recognize it by the signals: it stays up a long time, gains versions and leads to a page others also advertise.
Example: An ad running for six months with dozens of versions: no one pays for months for an ad that brings no return.
Days running
How long the ad has been running, since its first version — the strongest sign that it sells.
Example: An ad with “90+ days” has paid for itself for three months in a row.
In Spymine: The “90+ days” badge on each card and the “Days running” filter.
Ad mining
Searching, among thousands of ads, for the ones that are working — by the signals: days running, versions and ads leading to the same page.
Example: Filter the niche, sort by most days running and open the page of the first ones on the list.
Scaling offer
An offer that is growing: more and more ads, from more pages, leading to the same product.
Example: A course with 5 ads last month and 80 today is scaling.
In Spymine: Scaling offers, picked by the Spymine team.
Cloaker
The trick of showing one page to whoever reviews the ad and another to whoever clicks — against advertising rules.
Example: The reviewer sees a recipe page; whoever clicks lands on a page selling a remedy.
In Spymine: The possible cloaker warning, when mobile and desktop show different pages.
The market
Who advertises, what they sell and how they work.
Paid traffic
Visits that come from paid ads — to a page, a profile or WhatsApp. The opposite of organic traffic, which arrives without ads.
Example: Whoever clicks the ad and lands on the store is paid traffic; whoever finds the store in a Google search, organic.
Media buyer
The person who creates, monitors and adjusts the campaigns — from budget to creative. Also called a paid media manager.
Example: The media buyer launches three creatives, keeps the one with the lowest CPA and pauses the other two.
Info product
A digital product that teaches something: a course, an ebook, a mentorship, a community.
Example: An online baking course sold through a payment platform, with one year of access.
Affiliate
Someone who sells another person’s product through their own link and earns a commission per sale.
Example: An affiliate advertises an English course and gets half of every sale made through their link.
Nutra
Health and beauty products sold through direct response: supplements, teas, capsules, drops and ointments, almost always with a long page.
Example: A capsule sold in kits of 3 and 5 bottles, with a VSL on the page.
Local business
A business that serves a city or region: the clinic, the law firm, the real estate agency, the street shop. The ad almost always leads to WhatsApp.
Example: A dental clinic advertises implants to people who live in the neighborhood.
B2B
A business that sells to other businesses (business to business): software, services, wholesale.
Example: A management system for restaurants advertises to restaurant owners, not to diners.
White-label
A product or service delivered with the reseller’s brand, without the maker’s.
Example: The agency hands the client a report with only its own logo.
In Spymine: The white-label report in the Business plan: only your brand.
See the terms in real ads
In Spymine, every ad comes with its days running, versions, funnel and page — the signs that it sells.