Cost Per Click (CPC)
Date created: Dec 9, 2019 • Last updated: Feb 2, 2022
What is Cost Per Click?
Cost Per Click (CPC) is the price an advertiser pays a publisher for each click on a link. The publisher is typically a search engine (search advertising) or website owner (display advertising) where users are directed to the advertiser’s website each time their ad or link is clicked.
Alternate names: Pay Per Click, PPCCost Per Click Formula
How to calculate Cost Per Click
If your ad receives 10 clicks in total, and 2 of the clicks cost $0.50 each, 3 of them cost $0.40 each, and the remaining 4 cost $0.20 each (for a total cost of $3.00), then your Average Cost Per Click would be; $3.00 / 10 clicks = $0.30 CPC.
Start tracking your Cost Per Click data
Use Klipfolio PowerMetrics, our free analytics tool, to monitor your data. Choose one of the following available services to start tracking your Cost Per Click instantly.
What is a good Cost Per Click benchmark?
The global average Cost Per Click is $2.69 for search and $0.63 for display advertising, while the average Facebook Ads CPC is $1.72.
Cost Per Click benchmarks
Average Facebook Ads Cost per Click by Industry
Cost Per Click (Search) by Industry
Cost Per Click (Display) by Industry
How to visualize Cost Per Click?
There are a couple ways you can visualize your CPC data. Use a bar chart to segment your CPC by campaign. You can also use a summary chart to compare your current CPC with a previous time period.
Cost Per Click visualization examples
Bar Chart
Summary Chart
Cost Per Click
Bar Chart
Here's an example of how to visualize your Cost Per Click data in a bar chart to observe segmented data.More about Cost Per Click
The term Cost Per Click (CPC) is often used interchangeably with Pay-Per-Click (PPC), though PPC is generally thought of as the advertising model whereas CPC is the specific dollar cost.
It's important to know the difference between the two major PPC types - Search and Display. Search, which displays advertisements within the context of search engine result pages, is a high-intent, higher-cost advertising medium. Display has a broader context in that ads will get seen significantly more but, because user intent is weaker, Click Through Rates (CTR) will be lower. As a result, CPC for Display will be lower than for Search.
It’s important to know what type of visibility or clicks you are aiming for. Are you looking for brand visibility or "ready to buy" users? Make sure you test your messaging and your landing pages and invest the time to improve your quality score (a system Google has developed to reward "good" advertisers).