Definition: Cost per click (CPC) is the amount an advertiser pays for each click on an ad, either as the price set in a pay-per-click auction or as total spend divided by clicks.
Also called: CPC, pay per click, PPC
Updated October 11, 2026
Average CPC = ad spend ÷ clicksIn auction-based ad platforms you set a maximum CPC, the most you are willing to pay for a click. The price you are charged is the actual CPC, which is often lower than your maximum and, per Google Ads’ help centre, will not exceed the maximum CPC bid you set. Average CPC across a campaign is what most reports show.
Social ad platforms may count different kinds of clicks: link clicks, clicks on the profile, or any click on the ad. For traffic campaigns, calculate CPC with link clicks only, and check those clicks against UTM-tagged visits in your analytics tool.
A CPC only makes sense next to what a click is worth. Multiply your conversion rate by the average value of a conversion: that is the most you can pay per click and still break even.
A LinkedIn ad spends $900 and gets 300 link clicks, so average CPC = 900 ÷ 300 = $3.00. If 4% of visitors buy a $120 product, each click is worth 0.04 × 120 = $4.80, so the campaign makes money at a $3.00 CPC.
Click-through rate is the percentage of people who clicked a link in a post out of everyone who saw it.
CPM, or cost per mille, is the price an advertiser pays for 1,000 impressions of an ad, used both as a way to buy ads and as a metric for comparing campaign costs.
Conversion rate is the percentage of people who completed a goal, such as a purchase, sign-up or download, out of everyone who clicked or visited from a given source.
Social media ROI (return on investment) is the value earned from social media activity, minus what it cost, expressed as a percentage of that cost.
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