# Glossary

Key terms in click fraud and ad protection, explained.

- [What are IPs and IP ranges](https://www.clickguard.com/help/glossary/what-are-ips-and-ip-ranges.md): An IP range is a group of consecutive IP addresses grouped under a single definition. Internet service providers (ISPs) keep reserved ranges and assign addresses from them to users on their networks. Ranges can be written in several formats, like a start and end address or CIDR notation, and blocking one covers every address inside it.
- [What are ISPs and ASNs](https://www.clickguard.com/help/glossary/what-are-isps-and-asns.md): An ISP is the company that connects a visitor to the internet. An ASN identifies the network an IP address belongs to, like an ISP, a data center or a hosting provider. Both help tell real visitors from automated traffic.
- [What is IP usage](https://www.clickguard.com/help/glossary/what-is-ip-usage.md): IP usage shows what kind of network each ad click came from: Consumer, Corporate, Hosting or Reserved, or a dash when no type is known. Add it as a dimension in Analytics to see where bad traffic comes from. Hosting traffic comes from data centers and is almost always bad.
- [What is a ClickGuard workspace](https://www.clickguard.com/help/glossary/what-is-a-clickguard-workspace.md): A ClickGuard workspace is your central hub for everything in ClickGuard: the websites you protect, their ad accounts, your team members and your billing. You can own several workspaces, each with its own subscription, which makes them handy for keeping each client or business separate, and you can invite team members to each one.
- [What is the difference between IPv4 and IPv6](https://www.clickguard.com/help/glossary/ipv4-vs-ipv6.md): IPv4 and IPv6 are the two versions of the Internet Protocol that give devices their addresses. IPv4 uses 32-bit addresses like 201.54.112.60, which allows just over 4 billion of them. IPv6 uses much longer 128-bit addresses, created because the internet was running out of IPv4 ones. ClickGuard tracks and blocks both.
- [What is an ad placement](https://www.clickguard.com/help/glossary/what-is-an-ad-placement.md): Ad placements are the websites, mobile apps and videos on Google's Display Network where your display ads can appear. A placement can be a whole website, specific pages, a single ad unit or an app. You can choose managed placements to target specific places, and exclude placements that send you invalid traffic.
- [What is a proxy, VPN, or Tor](https://www.clickguard.com/help/glossary/what-is-proxy-vpn-tor.md): A proxy, a VPN and Tor all hide a visitor's real IP address, so their traffic looks like it comes from somewhere else. People use them for privacy or to reach region-locked content, but fraudsters use them too, to click your ads again and again from what looks like different places. ClickGuard detects all three.
- [What are invalid clicks](https://www.clickguard.com/help/glossary/what-are-invalid-clicks.md): Invalid clicks are clicks Google considers unintentional or coming from malicious software, like its own ad bot checking your landing page. Google filters many of them out, so they don't appear in Google Ads and you aren't charged. ClickGuard still records them, which is one reason its numbers can differ from your Google Ads reports.
- [What is a MAC address](https://www.clickguard.com/help/glossary/what-is-a-mac-address.md): MAC stands for Media Access Control, and a MAC address is a unique identifier assigned to a network interface controller (NIC). A NIC can be part of an Ethernet adapter, Wi-Fi module, or Bluetooth module used to connect a device to a network. Essentially, a MAC address serves as the hardware address of the network adapter.
- [What is a GCLID](https://www.clickguard.com/help/glossary/what-is-a-gclid.md): GCLID stands for Google Click Identifier, a unique tracking parameter Google adds to every ad click when auto-tagging is on. Google uses it to pass click information between Google Ads and Google Analytics. ClickGuard uses it too, to identify each individual ad click, so it can monitor and analyze every visit from your ads.
- [What is an IP address](https://www.clickguard.com/help/glossary/what-is-an-ip-address.md): An IP address, short for Internet Protocol address, is the address of a device on a network, like a computer or router. It's what lets devices find each other across the internet. ClickGuard logs the IP address of every ad click and checks it against fraud data, so it can spot and block bad sources.
- [What is Google Ads' tracking template](https://www.clickguard.com/help/glossary/what-is-google-ads-tracking-template.md): The tracking template is a setting within Google Ads that makes it possible for users to track ad clicks. It’s an instruction to Google Ads on how to form ad URLs.Configuring the tracking template in Google Ads is required in order for ClickGuard to track ad clicks.
- [What is parallel tracking in Google Ads](https://www.clickguard.com/help/glossary/what-is-google-ads-parallel-tracking.md): Parallel tracking sends people who click your Google Ads straight to your landing page, while click tracking runs in the background through your tracking template. Pages load faster, so fewer visitors leave before they arrive. ClickGuard fully supports parallel tracking, so you don't need to change anything for ClickGuard to keep tracking every click.
- [Standard Google Ads account vs manager (MCC) account](https://www.clickguard.com/help/glossary/standard-vs-manager-mcc-account.md): A standard Google Ads account is an advertiser's account with Google, used to advertise one or more websites across Google's range of advertising channels.A manager (MCC) account is a Google Ads account that you can use to view and manage multiple Google Ads accounts, including other manager accounts, from a single account.
- [Manager (MCC) access vs Google OAuth access](https://www.clickguard.com/help/glossary/mcc-access-vs-google-oauth-access.md): ClickGuard can access a Google Ads account in three ways: directly through your Google account with OAuth, through manager (MCC) access, or through a linked MCC account. All three are valid and safe, and each lets ClickGuard protect your account. Manager access is the preferred option for advanced, data-driven users.
- [What is CIDR notation](https://www.clickguard.com/help/glossary/what-is-cidr-notation.md): CIDR, short for Classless Inter-Domain Routing, is a way to write an IP address or a whole IP range in one short form, like 192.168.0.0/24. The number after the slash says how many bits identify the network, which sets the size of the range. It works for both IPv4 and IPv6.
- [What is ClickGuard's tracking code](https://www.clickguard.com/help/glossary/what-is-clickguards-tracking-code.md): ClickGuard's tracking code, or tracking pixel, is a short snippet of JavaScript you install on your website and landing pages. It records what visitors from your ads do after they click, like their device and behavior on your site, which helps ClickGuard tell real visitors from bots and other invalid traffic.
- [What is server-side tracking](https://www.clickguard.com/help/glossary/what-is-server-side-tracking.md): Server-side tracking sends ClickGuard's tracking data through a subdomain of your own website instead of a third-party address. Ad blockers and browser privacy features don't block it, so ClickGuard sees almost every ad click and visit and spots fraud earlier. It's available on the Pro and Custom plans.
- [What is device ID in ClickGuard](https://www.clickguard.com/help/glossary/what-is-device-id-in-clickguard.md): ClickGuard tracks unique devices across multiple ad clicks and browser visits. Every individual device is assigned a unique device ID that is stored in the visitor's browser for tracking purposes.Tracking devices makes it possible to show detailed analytics for each device within Click Reports > Devices, as well as linking multiple paid or organic clicks to unique devices.
- [What is visitor behavior tracking in ClickGuard](https://www.clickguard.com/help/glossary/what-is-visitor-behavior-tracking.md): ClickGuard's monitoring and tracking extend well beyond the initial click on your ad. To empower you with data for making informed decisions, ClickGuard allows you to track visitor behavior after they land on your website and throughout their browsing session—without relying on browser cookies.
- [What is an IP address threat level](https://www.clickguard.com/help/glossary/what-is-ip-address-threat-level.md): An IP address threat level is ClickGuard's rating of how risky an IP address is. ClickGuard checks each IP against anti-fraud, geolocation and blacklist services to learn whether it's an anonymous proxy, a known attacker or another source of fraud, and uses the result to decide which sources to block.
- [What is AI-Driven mode in ClickGuard](https://www.clickguard.com/help/glossary/what-is-ai-driven-mode.md): ClickGuard's AI-driven mode utilizes cutting-edge algorithms and machine learning to elevate your defense against invalid and fraudulent ad clicks. By automatically analyzing click patterns, device behaviors, and various other data points that signal potential threats, this advanced system allows for the real-time detection and prevention of fraudulent activity.
- [What is Google Ads' final URL suffix](https://www.clickguard.com/help/glossary/google-ads-final-url-suffix.md): The final URL suffix is a Google Ads setting that adds tracking parameters to the end of your landing page URL when someone clicks your ad. ClickGuard uses it to know which campaign, ad group and keyword each click came from.