Cost per click
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How much you pay each time someone clicks your ad. The basic unit of cost in pay-per-click advertising.
CPC is the price you pay for each click on your ad. If you spend $1,000 on a Google Ads campaign and get 200 clicks, your CPC is $5.00.
CPC varies dramatically by keyword, channel, and industry. B2B keywords on Google can cost $20-100+ per click. LinkedIn clicks typically cost $8-15. Display ads are cheaper at $1-5 but the traffic quality is lower.
CPC alone is meaningless. A $50 CPC that converts to a $200k deal is a bargain. A $2 CPC that never converts is waste. Always connect CPC to downstream metrics: cost per lead, cost per opportunity, and ultimately cost per customer. Optimizing for the lowest CPC often means attracting the lowest-quality traffic.
Examples
A high CPC that makes sense.
Keyword: '[competitor] alternative.' CPC: $45. Click-to-demo rate: 12%. Demo-to-close rate: 25%. Average deal size: $80k. Cost per customer from this keyword: $1,500. LTV/CAC on this channel: 53x. The expensive clicks are the most valuable ones.
Optimizing CPC ruins quality.
The team reduces CPC from $25 to $8 by bidding on broader, less specific keywords. Clicks triple. But click-to-lead conversion drops from 8% to 1%. Cost per lead increases from $312 to $800. Cheaper clicks generated worse traffic.
CPC budgeting.
Target: 100 SQLs per month from paid search. Historical conversion: 2% of clicks become SQLs. Required clicks: 5,000. Average CPC: $20. Monthly budget: $100k. Cost per SQL: $1,000. If ACV is $30k, the math works.
In practice
Read more on the blog
Frequently asked questions
What is a good CPC for B2B?
It depends on the channel and deal size. Google Ads: $15-50 for B2B SaaS keywords. LinkedIn: $8-15 per click. Display: $1-5. The question is not whether CPC is 'good' in isolation but whether the downstream conversion math works. A $50 CPC that produces $100k deals is better than a $5 CPC that produces nothing.
How do you reduce CPC?
Improve ad quality score (Google rewards relevant ads with lower CPCs). Narrow your targeting to reduce competition. Use long-tail keywords with lower competition. Optimize landing page relevance. Improve CTR (platforms reward higher CTR with lower CPCs). But be careful: reducing CPC sometimes means reaching less qualified audiences.
Related terms
The cost per 1,000 ad impressions. The standard pricing unit for display advertising and brand awareness campaigns.
The percentage of people who click your ad or link after seeing it. Clicks divided by impressions. Measures how compelling your message is.
Revenue generated per dollar spent on advertising. A ROAS of 5:1 means every $1 in ad spend generated $5 in revenue.
Paying for ads that appear in search engine results. Google Ads is the primary platform. Instant visibility but stops when you stop paying.
Any marketing channel where you pay for visibility: search ads, social ads, display ads, sponsorships, and paid content placements.
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