Muze AIDefinition
CPC (cost per click) is ad spend divided by clicks. It measures what you pay for attention, not for results. CPC is set by auction competition, your audience, and how well your creative earns engagement, which is why a strong creative can lower CPC without any change to bidding.
How it is calculated
CPC = Ad spend ÷ Clicks
What to know
A rising CPC is usually competition, audience saturation, or creative fatigue. It is not automatically a problem: a higher CPC that brings better-qualified traffic can produce a lower CPA.
CPC on its own should never be an optimisation target. Cheap clicks that do not convert are the easiest metric in advertising to win and the least useful.
Related terms
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