CPC (Cost Per Click)

What is CPC?

CPC (Cost Per Click) is the price an advertiser pays for a single click on a paid social ad. The math is simple: total spend divided by total clicks. Spend $200 and get 400 clicks, and your CPC is $0.50. It's one of the core ways paid social platforms (Meta Ads, LinkedIn Ads, X Ads, TikTok Ads) price campaigns, alongside CPM.

CPC is a paid-media metric. It only applies to ads you pay to run; organic posts don't have a CPC because nobody is charged per click.

Why CPC matters

CPC tells you how efficiently a campaign turns budget into traffic. A low CPC means you're paying little for each visitor; a high CPC means clicks are expensive, which eats into your return on ad spend. Marketers watch CPC to compare ad creatives, audiences, and placements: the same offer can have wildly different CPCs depending on who you target and how the ad is written.

It's most useful for click-driven goals (site visits, sign-ups, product views). For pure awareness, CPM is usually the more relevant cost metric.

CPC vs CPM

These are the two pricing models you'll see most in paid social, and they answer different questions.

• CPC charges per click: you pay only when someone acts, which suits traffic and conversion goals
• CPM charges per 1,000 impressions: you pay for exposure regardless of clicks, which suits awareness goals
• They're linked: a high CPM with a low click-through rate produces a high CPC, since few of the impressions you paid for converted into clicks

What drives CPC up or down

• Click-through rate: better-performing creative earns clicks more cheaply, so a higher CTR usually lowers CPC
• Audience competition: bidding for the same high-value audience as many other advertisers raises the price
• Relevance and quality scores: platforms reward ads users engage with by charging less per click
• Placement and format: feed, stories, and search-style placements each price differently