Cost-per-click is a hugely important metric in AdWords. Columnist and Googler Matt Lawson dives deep into Google’s perspective on Average CPC.
It stands to reason that when you’re running pay-per-click ads on Google, you want to know the price that you’re paying for those clicks. Here’s an important consideration, though: Average CPC is often not the price you’re paying for each of your clicks.
This sounds more obvious than it actually is, but average CPC is only the average of what you’re paying. There are a whole bunch of other considerations that go into the actual price you pay across each of those clicks, depending on factors like the user’s exact query, their device, their location and the time of day.
Whether it’s for brand terms — keywords that you bid on in AdWords that resemble or incorporate your brand name — or more generic keywords regarding products or services you offer, it’s important to understand some of the different factors that go into average CPC.
Original article by Matt Lawson, http://searchengineland.com
