CPC (Cost Per Click)

CPC = Ad Spend ÷ Number of Clicks.

Spent $500 on Google Ads and got 250 clicks? Your CPC is $2.

It's the dominant pricing model in paid search and paid social because it ties cost to at least one measurable action (a click). Compare to CPM (cost per thousand impressions), which just pays for eyeballs, or CPA (cost per acquisition), which pays per conversion.

Rough benchmarks by platform (lots of variance by industry):

• Google Search Ads: $1–8 average; $20–80 in legal, insurance, SaaS enterprise
• Meta (Facebook + Instagram): $0.80–3 average; $5–12 in B2B finance
• TikTok Ads: $0.50–2 average; surprisingly cheap for top-funnel
• LinkedIn Ads: $6–15 average; regularly $20–40 in B2B targeting

A "good" CPC isn't the lowest — it's the one that produces the cheapest customer. A $20 CPC on LinkedIn that buys a $10,000 contract is better than a $1 CPC on Meta that buys nothing.

Ads are priced by auction. Your position in the auction depends on bid × quality score. To lower CPC without losing position:

1. Increase quality score — make your ad more relevant to the keyword; make your landing page match the ad copy.
2. Tighter keyword targeting — broad keywords attract more bidders; long-tail keywords have less competition.
3. Dayparting — bid less during low-intent hours (e.g., 2am).
4. Negative keywords — excluding "free", "DIY", "cheap" can drop your CPC 20%+ in many categories.