Pay per Click (PPC)

Pay per Click (PPC) is a billing model in online marketing where advertisers pay for each click on their ad. Unlike other models, such as Pay per Impression (PPI), the advertiser only pays when a user actually clicks on the ad, which often leads to a landing page or a specific destination page.

A central aspect of PPC is the direct measurability of costs and effectiveness. Advertisers can precisely track how much they pay for each click (Cost per Click, CPC) and how many of these clicks lead to conversions. This makes PPC an extremely transparent and controllable advertising format, as the budget can be precisely aligned with the success of the campaign.

Another important aspect is bidding on keywords. PPC campaigns, such as those running on Google Ads, require advertisers to bid on specific keywords that are relevant to their target audience. The position of the ad in search results or on partner websites depends on the bid amount and the relevance of the ad. Higher bids and relevant ads typically result in better placements.

Example: An online shoe store could run a PPC ad for the keyword "buy running shoes." When a user searches for this term and clicks on the ad, the store will only be charged for that click, regardless of how often the ad was shown.

PPC also offers flexible budgeting. Companies can set how much they want to spend per day or per campaign, and adjust, pause, or stop the campaign at any time based on performance. This makes PPC ideal for businesses of all sizes, as it is scalable for both large budgets and smaller advertising expenditures.

In summary, Pay per Click (PPC) is a popular and effective advertising model that allows advertisers to target potential customers specifically and only pay for actual interactions. Through bidding on keywords and the ability to manage the budget flexibly, PPC offers high control and transparency, making it one of the preferred methods in digital marketing.