← Glossary
Cost Per Click (CPC)
Cost per click is what you actually paid for each click, which is set by the auction rather than by your bid.
Why it matters
It is the price of entry, and it sets the arithmetic for everything downstream - at a given conversion rate, cost per click determines cost per acquisition.
What people get wrong
Treating a rising cost per click as bad news on its own. If it rises while cost per acquisition falls, you are buying better clicks. The number only means something next to what those clicks did.