What Is PPC?

Date First Published: 17th September 2022

Topic: Web Design & Development

Subtopic: Web Advertising

Article Type: Computer Terms & Definitions

Difficulty Level: 5/10

Learn more about what PPC is in this article.

Stands for pay per click. PPC is a paid online advertising method where advertisers are charged each time a visitor clicks on one of their ads and is directed to the advertiser's website. It is an efficient advertising method as advertisers only have to pay when their ads are clicked on, not each time they are loaded on a website, SERP page, app, or a software program. Banner ads, popup ads, interstitial ads, and other types are very commonly pay-per-click and can be used to generate website traffic and brand visibility for the advertiser and advertising revenue for the publisher. For example, the ads displayed on Google above the organic search results are pay-per-click ads.

Advertisers can place a bid for the maximum amount of money they are willing to pay per click on an ad. Their costs will vary depending on what they are advertising and the keywords. They can set it to manual, where they choose the maximum bid for their ads or enhanced, which enables the bid to be automatically adjusted based on their goals, clicks, and conversions.

Because advertisers are charged for each click, PPC ads can be vulnerable to click fraud. However, most advertising networks can detect and prevent advertisers from paying for fraudulent clicks by recognising suspicious amounts of clicks coming from a single IP address or at regular intervals, such as at 10 am every day, and blocking their IP address.

Difference Between PPC and CPC

PPC (pay per click) and CPC (cost per click) are not the same things. PPC is a paid advertising method and a pricing model where advertisers pay a certain amount of money each time their ad is clicked, whilst CPC is a financial metric that gives a measure of the cost of each ad click for the advertising campaign. CPC measures the overall cost of PPC ads, whilst PPC is simply a paid online advertising method.

History

A number of websites claim to be the first PPC model on the World Wide Web with a lot appearing in the mid-1990s. In 1996, the first known version of a pay-per-click ad was included in a web directory called Planet Oasis, a computer application that contained links to informational and commercial websites. It was developed by Ark Interface II, a section of Packard Bell NEC computers. However, commercial companies were originally doubtful of Ark Interface II's 'pay-per-visit' model. By the end of 1997, over 400 brands were paying between £0.0043 to £0.22 per click along with a placement fee.

In December 1999, Google began search engine advertising, allowing advertisers to create ads that could be placed at the top of the Google search engine. The AdWords system was not introduced until October 2000 and the PPC was not introduced until 2002, so at that time, advertisers were charged per one thousand impressions (CPM).

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