What is CPC?
Cost per click is media spend divided by the clicks it bought. On search it is the auction price of a visit. On social it is the effective cost, since the platform charges for impressions and the click rate turns that into a cost per visit. Max CPC is what you are willing to pay; average CPC is what you actually paid.
Why it matters
CPC is the entry ticket to your site. Multiplied by the conversion rate on the page, it becomes your cost per acquisition. Two accounts with the same CPC can have a CPA three times apart, which is why CPC only makes sense next to what happens after the click.
What moves it
- Competition and intent: a purchase keyword in finance costs more than a curiosity search in cooking.
- Relevance: on search, a higher Ad Rank buys the same position for less.
- Creative: on social, a higher click through rate lowers the effective CPC, so the ad is the lever.
- Audience and placement: narrow audiences and premium surfaces cost more per visit, sometimes for good reason.
The honest view
A low CPC is a cheap visit, not a good one. Optimise CPC in isolation and you end up buying curiosity at scale. Read it with the conversion rate and the value of what converts, and be ready to pay more per click when the clicks are worth it.
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