What Is CPC, or Cost Per Click?
Cost per click (CPC) is the amount an advertiser forks up each time a user clicks on a compensated advertisement. Pay-per-click (PPC) marketing, a type of online advertising in which you pay for the visibility of your website on websites and in search results, includes CPC. The cost of your advertising can affect how well your campaign performs. We’ll go over how to calculate and optimize your CPC in this article so you can cut costs on your advertising campaigns.
How Cost Per Click (CPC) operates
You can determine the effectiveness of your search advertising efforts by paying attention to your CPC. And if any of your campaigns are underpaying or overpaying. You must bid on your target keywords if you want to appear on relevant search engine results pages (SERPs). Your ad’s placement on the results page is influenced by your bid, among other factors. This has an impact on your click-through rate. Google Ads is the most popular platform for managing these kinds of advertising campaigns. You can establish “ad groups” (i.e., collections of linked ads) on your account, create specialized campaigns, develop ad copy, and make bids for specific keywords.
How to Determine Click Cost
The cost of an advertisement is divided by the number of clicks it receives to determine the cost per click.
However, you can use more precise CPC figures to evaluate your ad plan. which comprise:
- Maximum click-through rate
- The typical price per click
- Actual click-through rates
- Manual click-through rate
Depending on your individual objectives, you can also select particular bidding tactics.
What Is the Highest Price Per Click?
The maximum CPC that you will accept is the cost per click. This is a setting that you make in your Google Ads account. When selecting your max Cost Per Click (CPC) bid, select the greatest sum you believe each click to be worth. You won’t pay more than your maximum CPC if someone clicks on your advertisement.
However, as long as you outbid your competition, you usually just need to pay the minimum amount. A larger bid normally helps your ad show in a higher ad position on the page.
How Much Does a Click Typically Cost?
The average cost per click is calculated by dividing the total cost of all of your clicks by the total clicks. Consider that your advertisement received two clicks, each of which cost $1.00 and $3.00 respectively. For both clicks, you will pay a total of $4.00. Your entire cost, $4.00, is equal to $2.00 when you divide it by the total number of clicks, 2. Therefore, in this instance, the typical CPC is $2.00.
How Much Does a Click Actually Cost?
The final price you pay for a click is your actual cost per click (actual CPC). Usually, you’ll spend a lot less than your highest CPC bid. You simply need to spend the very minimal amount necessary in order to outbid rivals that are directly below you.
(If your ad’s quality satisfies the Ad Rank requirement, or if your ad is eligible to participate in an ad auction.)
Here are the top two elements that Google looks at when assessing advertisements:
Your ad’s SERP placement (or lack thereof) is determined by its Ad Rank score. An auction’s competitiveness, ad quality, bid amount, and users’ search intentions are some of the variables that affect this score.
Your CPC ad’s Quality Score compares it to those of competitors. A higher quality score (measured from 1 to 10) indicates that people will find your advertisement and accompanying landing page more beneficial than those of your rivals.
Expected CTR, ad relevance, and landing page relevancy all contribute to Quality Score. So, if your ad fits the quality bar and you’re placing a high enough bet, there’s a chance it will appear above rival ads.
What Does Manual CPC Mean?
For each ad, you run and the keyword you want to target, manual CPC bidding allows you to specify your maximum CPC. If you already know which keywords generate the most clicks and conversions, manual bidding is a terrific strategy. Set a bigger budget manually for those keywords.
What Does Enhanced CPC Mean?
By automatically altering manual bids if a click appears to have a higher chance of resulting in a sale or conversion, Enhanced CPC (ECPC) enables you to get the most out of your manual CPC approach.
Manual bidding and Smart Bidding are both used in ECPC. This is a bidding method that maximizes conversions and conversion value using machine learning. For the best possibility of a conversion at the best price, ECPC adjusts bids based on the browser, location, and time of day.
Automated Bidding: What Is It?
Through the use of automated bidding, Google can establish bids depending on the likelihood that your ad will generate a click or a conversion. For instance, if you’re in the top three spots, Google may automatically set a bigger budget for competitive keywords.
Numerous automated bidding techniques aid in boosting clicks, visibility, and conversions.
How to Calculate a Keyword’s CPC
You need to know the average CPC for your keywords in order to launch a PPC campaign and establish the appropriate budget. The average cost per click for specific keywords can be discovered in a few different methods. Let’s start with
Google Ads’ Keyword Planner.
How to Use Keyword Planner to Determine a Keyword’s Cost Per Click
The Google Keyword Planner was created especially to monitor and gather Google Ads data. It’s also free and simple to use. The Keyword Planner dashboard is a wonderful place to start your target keyword research because of this. Then log into your advertising account. If you don’t already have one, click “Create account” and adhere to Google’s instructions.
Two alternatives will be shown to you on a form: “Start with keywords” and “Start with a website.”
Keep on the “Start with keywords” tab and type in the search terms you want to use.
As an illustration, we searched for “shoes,” “hiking shoes,” and “running shoes.”
You’ll arrive at the Keyword Results Page after clicking the “Get Results” button (or pressing the enter key). It displays keyword information in a table.
On the right side of the table, beneath two columns, you can find the CPC for each keyword:
- (Low range) Top-of-page bid. the lowest price that advertisers have ever spent to appear first on a results page.
- High-range bid at the top of the page. the most price that advertisers have ever spent to appear first on a results page.
How to Discover the Target Ad Keywords of Your Competitors
Utilize the Advertising Research tool to get a sense of how much your rivals are willing to pay for clicks. By doing so, you can determine whether you’re overlooking any keyword chances.
In the tool, type the domain of one of your rivals, then click “Search.”
Scroll down to “Paid Search Positions” once your results have loaded to see the keywords your rival is bidding on, where their ads are appearing, and what the estimated average CPC for each of those phrases is.
Compare your own keyword list to theirs. And add to your list any terms that appear like promising chances.
6 Guidelines for Improving CPC for PPC Ads
Your aim may occasionally be to spend less on PPC advertisements. And occasionally you want to strategically invest money to reach as many clients as you can.
The following advice will help you get the most out of your marketing.
1. Gain a Higher Quality Score
Your CPC is directly impacted by the Quality Score. This is so that Google can assess how pertinent (and helpful) your ad is in comparison to other ads vying for the same keyword.
By enhancing the CTR, landing page experience, and relevancy of your ads, you can raise your Quality Score.
Click on the “Campaigns,” “Ad groups,” or “Keyword” tabs on the Google Ads sidebar to get your Quality Score. Next, select “Columns” from the menu.
This brings up a menu where you can change the columns your report should contain.
Find “Quality Score” by scrolling through your options, then click the arrow to enlarge the area.
Select the Quality Score metrics you want to view. Next, click “Apply.”
Let’s look at how you can raise your Quality Score now that you are aware of it.
Increase the Relevance of Your Ads
Your chance of getting in front of viewers who are interested in seeing it increases with how relevant your advertisement is.
Therefore, stay away from wide ad groups that include several keyword groupings and concentrate on developing highly focused ad groups.
For instance, divide the ad group that targets the general keyword “running shoes” into several smaller ones. Have a collection of ads for
• Shoes for running in the rain
• Running shoes for female athletes
• Toe boxes on running shoes that are broad
Even more targeted keywords should be the focus of each of those ad groups.
For example, the keywords in your “waterproof running shoes” ad group should include “waterproof running shoes for winter” and “waterproof running shoes wide fit.”
This will probably result in the creation of new ad groups and advertising. The benefit of this trade-off is that it will make your advertising more pertinent to the keywords you’re bidding on, which can raise your Quality Score.
Make Your Landing Page Better
According to Google, the performance and cost of your advertising can be significantly impacted by the caliber of your landing page.
Here are several Google-endorsed best practices for landing pages that can raise your Quality Score:
• Be pertinent. Visitors who click on your advertisement ought to be directed to a page that is pertinent to their search. The user can quit right away if the page is irrelevant.
• Produce concise text. Create content that succinctly conveys your page’s goal, and establish credibility by including reviews or testimonials.
• Keep it basic. Avoid making consumers click numerous links in order to locate what they are looking for. (Also, remember to keep everything mobile-friendly.)
• Offer a positive user experience. Make sure your landing page is clear and matches the tone of your advertisement. To look for problems with page load, you may also utilize Google’s Page Speed Insights tool.
Advice: After creating a strong landing page, test various aspects of it using Split Signal. like your value propositions, headlines, and CTAs (calls to action). In this manner, you can learn more about how your audience responds.
Boost Your CTR
If your ad is successful, it will have a high CTR, which raises your Quality Score.
Here are some methods to raise your CTR:
• Use assets to add extra details to your advertisement, such as call buttons, geographical data, and links to particular sections of your website.
• Include negative keywords to prevent investing in pointless keywords
• Use a call to action (CTA) like “buy,” “order,” or “sign up” to persuade users to click.
• Add value to ads by emphasizing benefits like free shipping or special offers.
• Match user intent by writing ad copy that responds to the targeted query.
The Advertising Research tool also allows you to examine the advertising copy of rival businesses to learn more about their tactics:
Start by entering the domain of your competition in the advertising research tool.
Afterward, select the “Ads Copies” option.
You’ll discover a list of the advertisements and supporting material from your rivals. Additionally, the number of keywords that each ad’s copy targets.
Look through the commercials of your rivals to determine what strategies they are employing. then decide how to differentiate yourself.
2. Find Long-Tail Keywords & Place Bids
Long-tail keywords are simpler to rank for but have a lower monthly search volume.
Here are a few instances:
It’s simple to get sucked into only targeting high-volume keywords. However, since everyone wants their ads to rank for those competitive, high-volume keywords, doing that will raise your CPC.
Despite having lower search numbers than “money keywords,” targeting long-tail keywords has two main advantages:
- They face less opposition. Fewer advertisers will place bids on a phrase, resulting in a lower CPC.
- Compared to broader phrases, they often have higher conversion rates. You may gain from a higher return on ad spend (ROAS) as a result of this.
You may see a noticeable rise in ad relevancy when you combine several long-tail keywords in pertinent ad groupings.
This is not to argue that you should never aim for highly competitive, popular keywords. You should aim for highly relevant, competitive keywords for your goods. But doing that can quickly raise your CPC. costing a lot more for your advertisements.
Therefore, we advise you to diversify your PPC strategy by focusing on both high and low-volume, low-competition keywords.
Use the Keyword Magic Tool to identify long-tail keywords that can increase the conversion rate of your advertising if you’re seeking more keywords to incorporate into your campaigns.
First, do some research on the term you wish to use. Do “hiking shoes” once again.
After that, select “Advanced filters” and change the “Word count” setting to two or three.
This ought to produce a list of long-tail keywords associated with your target term.
To retrieve all relevant question-related keywords, you can alternatively choose the “Questions” keyword type.
Read our comprehensive guide on the advantages of focusing on long-tail keywords to find out more.
3. Effective Use of Negative Keywords
Negative keywords are words you omit from search engine marketing efforts.
Utilizing them may lower your CPC. As a result, you won’t be placing bids on useless keywords. or generic, competitive words.
Even if your advertisement were to rank for a keyword that is unrelated, you might not get the outcomes you were hoping for.
Because if your ad doesn’t match search intent, your Quality Score won’t be very high. Consequently, your CTR is generally not going to be that high either. Additionally, a Quality Score can raise CPC.
To ad groups, a larger campaign, or your entire account, negative keywords can be included.
Log in to Google Ads first. Then, in the sidebar navigation, select “Keywords” and then “Negative keywords.”
Right next to the sidebar, there is a round, blue button with a plus symbol on it. You can add negative keywords from a menu that appears when you click on them.
In the aforementioned illustration, these negative keywords would stop your advertising from appearing for searches that contained the terms “cheap,” “free,” or “fake.”
4. Schedule your ads.
Bidding involves more than just keywords. You can accomplish two things by scheduling your ads:
• Run advertisements during periods of the day when more people are likely to be online.
• Modify your bid at specific periods of the day.
You can create a unique ad schedule using these insights. By increasing conversions from your budget, while maintaining and improving your average CPC, this strategy will benefit you.
Scroll down the sidebar menu on your Google advertising account to schedule advertising. Additionally, select “+Show more,” “Ad schedule,” and “Ad schedule” once more.
then select the pencil icon located directly next to the sidebar navigation. then choose a campaign from the drop-down menu that appears.
Set your timetable and then click “Save.”
Employ geotargeting
A radius surrounding a location, specific regions inside a country, location groupings, and countries themselves can all be targeted. Location groups may comprise tourist attractions or the sites of your company.
Apply bid modifications after that to modify bids according to users’ geolocation. Where it makes sense, you can modify your strategy to increase awareness if a certain location has a lower conversion rate.
Consider that you want your adverts to specifically target a certain nation.
Go to your Google Ads dashboard first, then select the “Campaigns” tab from the sidebar. And then choose the campaign for which you want to configure location targeting.
At the top of the page, click “More details” after that.
This ought to display a summary of your advertising effort. On the summary page, click the “Edit in settings” button in the top right corner.
Hit the down arrow next to “Locations” once you’ve scrolled down through the various settings options.
Set your target locations in the menu that appears by following the instructions. Once you click “Save,” you’re done.
A country’s borders as well as an area’s vicinity can be targeted. Or you can use a single ad to target several areas.
Here is a guidance from Google on how to set up various location targeting options.
5. Utilize a variety of keyword match types
The level of targeting for the search queries that cause your adverts is determined by the keyword match types.
To display your advertisement to a larger range of searchers, you may, for instance, utilize broad match keywords. Or, if you want to target a more narrowly defined group of users, you may utilize exact-match keywords.
The more exact match (targeted) your keywords are, the more expensive your CPC is probably going to be.
Consider including keyword match types in your campaigns so you may be more (or less) targeted with your ads.
You can use the following common keyword match types in your ad groups:
• Broad match: Your keyword-related searches may see ads.
• “Phrase match”: Ads may appear when a search includes your keyword’s definition
• [Exact match]: Advertisements may appear on queries with the same meaning as your keyword
Below, Google clarifies the distinction using the keyword “lawn mowing service” as an illustration:
For the best results (conversions, conversion value, etc.), choose a broad match rather than any other match type. This is because broad match allows Smart Bidding to learn which approaches are most effective for you.
6. Use Device Modifications
You can change your maximum CPC on mobile, tablet, and desktop devices in addition to modifying bids based on location or time of day.
Using Google Ads, start by analyzing how your clients behave on each platform. For instance, mobile devices could generate more clicks and impressions, but you might discover that users are merely browsing rather than making a purchase.
Hit “+Show more” in the sidebar navigation, then select “Devices.”
A report with further information on your ad performance per device is displayed.
In this case, you may use a negative bid adjustment to lower your CPC on mobile and a positive bid adjustment to increase your CPC on desktop.
Enhanced CPC will perform this task for you automatically.
Make sure to thoroughly analyze your data to draw conclusions about the actions of your audience.
