The Search Engine Land Guide to PPC

At its most basic, PPC advertising is an auction-based method of buying digital advertising on a pay-per-click (PPC) basis. Advertisers only pay when someone clicks on (or engages with) an ad rather than paying when an ad impression is served or viewed on the page. Digital marketing is famously jargon-heavy, and companies often try to coin their own names for products and features. (The terms “remarketing” and “retargeting” refer to the same thing, as just one example.) Cost per click (CPC) is the reporting metric name used by the ad platforms. CPC refers to the bid price an advertiser sets (Max CPC) and the price an advertiser pays (reported in aggregate as Avg. CPC).