What Is Cost Per Click Advertising?
The cost-per-click advertising model is exactly what it sounds like — companies that place an ad pay a set fee every time someone clicks on it. This is contrasted with the cost-per-impression model, where sites charge advertisers a fee based on the number of times their ad is displayed.
Google and other major search engines use a bid-based form of cost-per-click advertising in which the advertiser sets a maximum amount they want to pay per each click. Then, this number, along with the advertiser's quality score, determines whether or not the search engine will display the ad when a user queries a specific keyword.
What Are the Benefits of Cost Per Click?
A well-managed cost per click campaign provides great value for the spend. Some of the most commonly cited benefits associated with CPC advertising include:
- Value:
With CPC, you only pay when people click through to your website. This makes it the best value, particularly for companies with a limited advertising budget.
- Transparency:
The CPC advertising model thrives on metrics — you'll know exactly how your ad is performing and see how many click-throughs are leading to sales or downloads.
- Speed:
A CPC ad campaign can begin right away — unlike SEO and content marketing initiatives, there's no need to wait for results.
- Specificity:
CPC advertising puts you in control of the audience you want to reach and how. Use different keywords to target a specific demographic that's most likely to enjoy your product.
Of course, CPC advertising is just one way of promoting your product. For best results, it should be used in combination with other forms of outreach.
