[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]With all the digital marketing acronyms out there, it’s no surprise that most people are a little confused about the meaning of some of them. That’s especially true of PPC and CPC, two terms that sound similar both as acronyms and in their original form. So, what’s the difference between Pay Per Click and Cost Per Click?
Pay Per Click: A Type of Advertising
Pay Per Click is a type of advertising, most often associated with Google AdWords but also with Facebook and other platforms. In a PPC ad campaign, you bid to get your website to show up at the top of the search results for a particular keyword. PPC is called Pay Per Click because you only pay when a user clicks on your ad. The search engine will only show your ad to users it considers relevant, so the key is to pick the right keywords for your business. You want to pick relevant keywords that don’t cost too much for your advertising budget. If you can get a lot of clicks without spending too much, your ad campaign is doing well.
Cost Per Click: A Way to Measure Performance
Where PPC is a type of advertising, CPC measures the Cost Per Click. For example, if you spent $500 on your PPC campaign and got a total of 1000 clicks, then your CPC is $500 divided by 1000, or .50 cents. In other words, Cost Per Click is a performance metric – a way to measure how well your ad campaign performed. The goal is obviously to get as many sales as possible while keeping your CPC as low as possible, although there are exceptions. For example, some companies will accept a higher Cost Per Click if it allows their ad to consistently outperform their top competitors.
The CPC of Your PPC
The average CPC for Google Ads varies quite a bit from one industry to another. If your CPC is higher than average for your industry, you can adjust your strategy by focusing more on long-tail keywords – longer phrases fewer customers will be searching for. Bidding on long-tail keywords should lower your CPC while improving your conversion rate. If your CPC is lower than average for your industry, then your ad campaign is doing well, and you might want to try a more popular keyword for your next campaign.
There’s obviously a lot of strategy involved in any PPC campaign, so it’s always good to have expert help! Digital Visibility Concepts employs certified Google AdWords and Bing Ads experts to create unique ad campaigns with high click-through rates and high conversion rates. Contact us today to find out what we can do for you with our Pay Per Click advertising services![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
