Cost Per Click (CPC)
Cost Per Click, or CPC, measures what you pay for each click on your ads.
Divide ad spend by clicks. That is CPC: the market price of one click. It matters because clicks are what you actually buy, so this is your unit cost. Just remember cheap clicks from the wrong audience are the most expensive traffic you can buy.
Signal Type
Metric Role
Metric Type
The Formula
Worked example
Benchmarks and interpretation
Where the number actually comes from
When to use it
Common Mistakes
In the REACT framework
CPC prices the Reach-to-Engage handoff: the click that turns audience into visitor. It is a cost input, never a success measure. The question is always what the click was worth, not what it cost.
Related metrics
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Cost Per Click?
Cost Per Click, or CPC, measures what you pay for each click on your ads. It prices the click so you can judge what the click turned out to be worth.
How do you calculate Cost Per Click?
Use the formula: CPC = Ad Spend ÷ Total Clicks. Keep both inputs in the same reporting period and avoid mixing users, sessions, events, or customers unless the formula calls for it.
What data do you need for CPC?
You need ad spend and total clicks, pulled from the relevant connected sources and computed for the same period.
What mistakes should you avoid with CPC?
The trap is optimising for cheap clicks. Low CPC from the wrong audience is expensive traffic in disguise. Judge cost per click with value per click, never without it.
When should marketers use CPC?
Use CPC when planning budgets and auctions, then decide nothing on it alone. The pairing that matters is CPC against what those visitors did next.
What is a good CPC?
CPC levels are set by auction competition, so good is relative to your keywords, audience, and market. A higher CPC that delivers converting visitors beats a cheaper one that bounces.
Sources and methodology. CPC formula and definition derive from standard marketing analytics practice and platform reporting conventions. REACTIQ360 harmonises source data from Platform APIs, Content taxonomy, Harmonisation layer and applies a consistent same-period computation methodology.
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