Google Ads · Metric
What is Average CPC?
Average CPC (cost per click) is the total cost of clicks divided by the number of clicks: the average price paid for one visit from an ad. Its sibling, average CPM, is the cost per thousand impressions, the price of being shown rather than clicked.
Cost divided by clicks: the average price of one click.
- Data source
- Google Ads
- Type
- Metric
- Formula
- Average CPC = cost / clicks
Why it matters
It is the price of attention in a market. It rises with competition for the keyword, with the quality of the ad relative to the others in the auction, and with the bid strategy; it is why the same click costs cents in one industry and tens of dollars in another.
How to read it
A lower average CPC is not automatically better: cheaper clicks from broader matches often convert worse, so read it with conversion rate and cost per conversion. Compare it across campaigns of the same type, because Display and Search CPCs live in different worlds.
In a Data Studio report
In a Data Studio (formerly Looker Studio) report average CPC is a small trend chart on the overview beside average CPM and cost per conversion, and a column in the campaign and time tables that shows whether the price of a click is drifting month to month.
Where to find it in Google Ads
Google Ads: Campaigns, then the Avg. CPC column; Avg. CPM beside it for Display and Video.
