Cost Per Click (CPC)
The actual price you pay per click, set by a live auction, not a fixed rate.
The Tradie Take
Think of CPC as the going rate at a trade auction, not a price tag on a shelf. Every tradie bidding on "electrician [suburb]" is in the same auction at the same moment, and what you actually pay depends on who else is bidding and how relevant Google thinks your ad is. Two electricians running near-identical campaigns in different suburbs can pay completely different rates for what looks like the same click.
Definition
Cost Per Click (CPC) is the price of a single click inside a Pay-Per-Click campaign. It is not a fixed number on a price list - it is set by a real-time auction against every other advertiser bidding on the same keyword, weighted by your Quality Score and how competitive that search term is. A "blocked drain" search in a capital city might cost $15 a click. The same search in a small country town might cost $3. Same keyword, completely different price, because the auction is local and live.
How It Works
- 1 You set a maximum bid - the most you are willing to pay for a click
- 2 Google runs an auction between everyone bidding on that keyword, right as the search happens
- 3 Your actual CPC is usually lower than your max bid, set just above the next-best competitor
- 4 A higher Quality Score lowers your CPC - Google rewards relevant, well-built ads with cheaper clicks
Tips for Tradies
- A low CPC means nothing if the click never turns into a call - track conversions, not just cost
- Improve your Quality Score to bring your CPC down without lowering your bid
- Use negative keywords so you are not paying auction prices for searches that were never going to call you