Cost per click, also known as CPC, is a term used in paid search to indicate the actual price you pay for each click in your campaigns. For example, how much you pay when a user clicks on your Google Ad and visits your landing page.
Cost per click, or CPC, is the amount you pay for each click on one of your PPC ads in platforms such as Google Ads or Bing Ads. Your CPC is an important metric because those clicks, and costs, add up fast. If your CPC is too high, you won't be able to achieve a return on your advertising investment (ROI).
If your CPC is too high, you can work to improve your click-through rate, keyword relevance, ad copy, and landing page quality, all of which will improve your quality score and lower your CPC.
How to calculate
Cost per click is calculated by dividing the cost of a paid advertising campaign by the number of clicks. If you want to use a popular online advertising tool like Google Ads and bid on keywords in order to display paid ads, these tools will often show CPC for target keywords.
Cost per click = spend / number of clicks