--- title: Pay-Per-Click (PPC) — definition for local advertisers | Siite description: "Pay-per-click explained: how click-based billing works, what decides the price in a local auction, and how PPC compares to pay-per-lead ads." url: "https://siite.co/dictionary/pay-per-click" type: static generatedAt: "2026-10-22T08:21:10.829Z" --- Paid Media # Pay-Per-Click The advertising model where you pay each time someone clicks your ad rather than when it is shown — the billing basis behind most search advertising. Also goes by PPC, Cost per click [![Siite](/images/layout/logo.svg)Written by Siite](/about/)Updated September 8, 2026 ## Entry contents [All Terms A to Z←Browse the full dictionary](/dictionary/) In a pay-per-click model, showing the ad is free and the click is billed. What one click costs is decided by an auction that runs every time somebody searches, and the price depends on who else wants that search, how relevant you look, and what a customer is worth to everyone bidding. > **Briefly explained** > > - Impressions cost nothing. Clicks cost money. > - The price is set live, in an auction, not by a fixed rate card. > - It buys the top of the page immediately and stops when you stop. > - A high click price is only a problem next to what the click produces. ## How does the billing actually work? You set a maximum you are willing to pay. You rarely pay it. The auction charges what was needed to hold the position you won, which is usually less than your ceiling. Two things follow. Raising a bid does not raise what you pay on every click, and lowering one does not reliably save money — it often just moves you down to traffic that converts worse. ## What decides the price? - **Competition:** How many others want the same search, right then. - **Relevance:** How well your keyword, ad and page answer it. See [Quality Score](/dictionary/quality-score/). - **Value:** What a customer is worth in that market. High-ticket work has expensive clicks for a reason. - **Timing and place:** The same keyword costs differently at 2pm on a Tuesday in one town and at midnight in the next one over. ## How does it compare to paying per lead? Both exist on Google, and they behave differently. - **Pay-per-click:** You pay for the visit. Whether it becomes an inquiry is down to your page, your offer and your phone. - **Pay-per-lead:** [Local Services Ads](/dictionary/local-services-ads/) charge when someone contacts you. Simpler to read, less to control, and disputes are part of the routine. Neither is cheaper by nature. Per-click wins where your page converts well; per-lead wins where it does not, or where you want a floor under the risk. ## What makes it profitable? Rarely the bid. Four things, in this order. - The clicks are the right searches, in the places you serve - The landing page answers that exact search - Somebody answers the phone during the hours the ads run - Conversions are tracked well enough to cut what is not working A business with a strong page, fast answering and clean tracking can pay more per click than a competitor and still make more per customer. ## What do the terms mean? - **CPC:** Cost per click, what one click cost you. - **Max CPC:** Your ceiling, not your usual price. - **Ad rank:** Bid and relevance combined. What decides your position. - **[Impression share](/dictionary/impression-share/):** How much of the available traffic you captured. - **[Cost per lead](/dictionary/cost-per-lead/):** Spend divided by the inquiries it produced. The first number worth reading after CPC. Owner questions ## What owners ask us about Pay-Per-Click ### What decides how much a click costs? +An auction that runs every time someone searches. Your bid and your relevance are weighed against every other advertiser wanting that search, which is why the price moves by season, hour and area. ### Is PPC the same as Google Ads? +Google Ads is a platform. Pay-per-click describes how you are billed, and plenty of platforms bill that way. Local Services Ads sit on Google but bill per lead instead. ### Why are some keywords so expensive? +Because one job is worth a lot. When a converted click can produce a five-figure sale, advertisers bid accordingly and the floor rises for everyone in that auction. ### Can I pay less per click? +Sometimes, by improving relevance rather than lowering the bid. A page that matches the search can hold the same position for less. Lowering the bid usually just moves you down the page. ### Is a high cost per click a problem? +Only next to what the click produces. An expensive click that books a large job beats a cheap one that books nothing, which is why cost per booked job is the number that matters.Put this to work ## Guides that use this Step-by-step playbooks from the team, written for owners doing the work themselves. No sign-up and no email required. [### LSAs vs Google Ads for Austin plumbers: when each one wins Local Service Ads pay per lead, Google Ads pay per click. The right answer for a plumber depends on the season. The math from $6.7M in observed spend. Read the guide→](/articles/lsa-vs-google-ads-austin-plumbers/)4.9191 reviewsWhere this turns into work ## Clicks measured in booked work We build the campaigns, the pages they land on and the tracking that connects them, then report on what a customer costs rather than what a click costs. [See the service→](/services/google-ads/)[Ask us about it](/contact/) ![Mikkel Friis, Marketing Manager at Siite](/images/team/panel/mikkel-friis.webp) *Our marketing manager* ## Related entries - [### Google Ads Google's advertising platform, where businesses bid to appear on search results, Maps, YouTube and partner sites — most often paying per click.](/dictionary/google-ads/) - [### Quality Score Google Ads' 1-10 diagnostic estimating how relevant your keyword, ad and landing page are to a searcher — better relevance generally means a lower cost per click.](/dictionary/quality-score/) - [### Cost Per Lead What you spend to generate one inquiry — total marketing cost for a channel divided by the number of leads it produced in the same period.](/dictionary/cost-per-lead/) - [### Local Services Ads Google's pay-per-lead ad format for local service businesses, shown above the Local Pack with a Google Guaranteed badge, where you are billed per lead rather than per click.](/dictionary/local-services-ads/) [All terms A to Z Browse every term A to Z Open the dictionary→](/dictionary/)