Pay-Per-Click (PPC) is a billing model in online advertising where the advertiser only pays when a user actually clicks the ad. Impressions alone are free.Open glossary entry → is a common billing model for online advertising, for example in search or display ads. Costs do not arise from showing the ad, but only when a user clicks.
Key characteristics are:
- the price per click (cost-per-click, CPC) often depends on competition and ad quality,
- budgets can be controlled per day and per campaign,
- success is easy to measure, since clicks and follow-up actions are tracked.
PPC is a core part of Search Engine Advertising (SEA) means paid ads in the search results, usually billed on a pay-per-click basis.Open glossary entry → advertising within Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is the umbrella term for all marketing activities within search engines. It covers both paid search advertising and organic search engine optimisation.Open glossary entry →. Unlike Search Engine Optimization (SEO) covers all measures that help a website become more visible in unpaid (organic) search results.Open glossary entry →, PPC takes effect immediately but incurs ongoing costs: once the budget ends, so does the ad visibility. A clear A call-to-action (CTA) is a targeted prompt designed to move users towards a specific action. Examples are buttons or links such as "Start free trial" or "Get in touch".Open glossary entry → and a suitable landing page are crucial so that clicks are not wasted.