The glossary

233 terms, each answered in one sentence, then explained properly with an analogy and a worked example.

A

Ad disclosure: Ad disclosure is the clear labelling of paid content as advertising, so people know when a link or listing is an ad before they click.
Advertiser opt-out (search partners / parked domains): Advertiser opt-out is an advertiser's ability to stop its search ads appearing on partner sites, and in 2025 to 2026 on parked domains, outside the search engine itself.
AFS program policies: AFS program policies are Google's rules for anyone showing its search ads on their own site, covering where queries come from, how ads are placed and what traffic is acceptable.

Compliance: Compliance in search arbitrage means running ads, landing pages and traffic in a way that satisfies the feed's rules, the traffic source's rules and the law, all at once.
Consent management (CMP): Consent management is the process, usually a cookie banner run by a consent management platform, of asking visitors for permission before using their data for ads.

Feed suspension (account termination): A feed suspension is when the search feed owner or feed provider stops serving ads to a publisher, pausing or permanently ending its ability to earn from that feed.
FTC Act (deceptive advertising): The FTC Act is the US law that empowers the Federal Trade Commission to stop unfair or deceptive acts or practices in commerce, including deceptive advertising.

GDPR: GDPR is the European Union's data protection law, which requires a lawful basis, such as consent, before a business processes personal data.

Implied functionality: Implied functionality means an ad or page element pretends to do something, such as play a video or download a file, when a click really opens ads.
Incentivised click: An incentivised click is a click or search someone makes because they were offered a reward, not because they wanted what the ad sells.

Made-for-arbitrage (MFA): Made-for-arbitrage describes a site or page built mainly to turn bought visitors into ad clicks, with content that exists only to carry the ads.
Misleading ad: A misleading ad promises or implies something the landing page does not deliver, tricking people into a click they would not otherwise have made.

Native ad disclosure: Native ad disclosure is the label that tells readers a headline or article styled like editorial content is actually paid advertising.

Placement exclusion: A placement exclusion is an advertiser's instruction that its ads must not appear on a named website, app or category of sites.
Policy violation: A policy violation is any breach of the rules set by a search feed or traffic source, from a misleading creative to non-compliant traffic or a wrongly declared parameter.

Restricted vertical: A restricted vertical is a topic area, such as gambling, adult content, drugs or certain financial and health offers, where ads are limited, need permission or are banned.
RSOC policies: RSOC policies are Google's rules for the related-search unit on content pages: real standalone content, honest search terms, honest upstream ads and a fully declared ad creative.

Trademark policy: A trademark policy sets out when an ad may use someone else's brand name, and gives brand owners a way to complain when it is misused.
Traffic source approval: Traffic source approval is a feed provider's sign-off that a particular place you buy visitors from is allowed to send traffic to its search feed.