Online marketing can seem intimidating when you first discover it. In addition to the wide range of acronyms, it can be difficult to understand, recall, and differentiate them. In that regard, there is no difference between the acronyms PPC and CPC. 

What is the difference between CPC and PPC? How do they relate? In what ways can we tell the difference between the two?

WHAT IS Pay Per Click (PPC)?

The term “PPC” stands for pay per click. Essentially, it is a form of online advertising where advertisers pay for each click made on their advertisements. In some cases, this amount is fixed and cannot be changed. 

As a result, most advertisers allocate a certain amount of their budget to an advertising campaign every day or week to achieve the best possible results.

Search volume, competition, and bids will determine the cost per click.

A PPC campaign can be divided into several types with common elements. Along with the CPC, other factors like copy and CTA are also important when creating a PPC campaign.

HOW DOES A PPC (Pay Per Click) CAMPAIGN WORK?

PPC campaigns are based on bidding. For their campaign, advertisers create ad groups triggered by specific keywords. Additionally, they will select certain landing pages that will be linked to the ad once clicked. 

Additionally, depending on the scale of the campaign, the advertiser may have a variety of landing pages and ad groups.

Having set everything up, the advertiser bids on the keywords they believe are relevant to their campaign based on their research. Because of the level of competition, popular keyword search terms are more expensive to target. 

It is cheaper to use less popular terms. PPC campaigns that find cheaper keyword search terms that can generate results are the best.

For each search term, you can set a maximum bid that automatically adjusts based on your competitors’ bids, or set a fixed bid. Generally, the highest bid will be displayed on a platform. However, PPC ads don’t just come down to who bids the highest. Also, they are determined by the algorithms that are used on the platform. 

PPC campaigns are also judged based on how well they meet search intent. Ads that are relevant to the search intent, as well as equally relevant landing pages, will have a greater chance of being seen as these will match the search intent. Landing pages and ads that are irrelevant are likely to have a high bounce rate, which will lead to the platform ranking them lower.

As an example, Google selects PPC ads by their Google Ad Rank. Ranks are computed based on the advertiser and advertisement quality scores. In addition to the CPC bid, this is determined by the quality and relevance of the ad, landing page, and keyword combination. 

Additionally, quality score calculations include factors such as click-through rates and bounce rates. Using this system, advertisers are motivated to create high-quality, accurate ads. 

WHAT ARE THE USES OF PPC ADS?

Online advertising uses PPC ads. These ads are most commonly associated with Google, but they are also becoming increasingly popular on Amazon and social media platforms, such as the Facebook Ads platform. 

Across all of these websites, they can be found in a variety of places, from sidebars to feeds to videos to even search results.

TYPES OF Pay Per Click (PPC) AD

In PPC advertising, there are a few different types of campaigns across various platforms, such as:

  • App ads
  • Dynamic advertisements 
  • Shopping advertisements
  • Search ads
  • Sponsored product adverts
  • Product listing ads
  • Headline search ads
  • Video ads
  • Product display ads
  • Sponsored brand advertisements 
What DOES CPC STAND FOR?

A CPC is an acronym for cost-per-click. An advertising campaign that focuses only on costs per click is, however, just a small aspect of the broader area of pay-per-click advertising. 

Using this metric, you will be able to determine the cost-per-click of your PPC advertisements and you will be able to determine if advertising certain keywords are worth the cost-benefit analysis. In this way, you can then calculate how you can get a higher return on your investment by calculating the best way to do so. 

As a result, cost-per-click is heavily influenced by the keyword, level of competition, and frequency of a given search term to determine the cost-per-click.

A GUIDE TO CALCULATING CPC AND TESTING ITS EFFECTIVENESS

It is easy to calculate cost-per-click. After you have your campaign up and running, divide the total funds spent by the number of clicks. In this way, you can calculate your cost per click.

By knowing your cost-per-click, you will be able to determine the true effectiveness of your campaign. Having a high CPC may indicate that your ads are not relevant. 

Through trial and error, you can gradually lower the cost-per-click of your campaigns by using A/B testing.

Your CPC should decrease after each calculation if you have made the correct changes to the variables in your campaign, so you should see a reduction in your CPC after each calculation.

KEY DIFFERENCES BETWEEN PPC AND CPC

In a summary, PPC is an advertising strategy, whereas CPC is merely one of its metrics.

The ads in pay-per-click campaigns are organized into ad groups, which appear for specific keywords.

Using cost-per-click, you can measure the performance of such campaigns and see if any changes have been beneficial.

Changes to PPC campaigns, such as alternate landing pages, keywords, or copy, can be measured using cost-per-click.

CONCLUSIONS

With a clear understanding of the difference between PPC and CPC, you can devote your resources to maximizing the effectiveness of your advertising campaigns. 

It is important to keep in mind that PPC advertising involves much more than just cost per click. 

Ensure that all aspects of your advertising are optimized, from your copy to your landing page. 

In this way, your PPC advertising should be more effective.

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