Marketing & agency
Cost Per Click (CPC) Calculator
Works cost per click, where the click price is set by an auction you share.
Result
Cost per click matters far less than cost per booked job. A cheap click that never converts is more expensive than an expensive one that does.
Get a Free Business AuditHow the calculation works
Total spend divided by clicks. On auction-based platforms the price per click reflects what competitors are willing to pay for the same audience and how relevant the platform judges your ad to be, which means it is not a price you set and it moves with competition.
What moves the number
- Competition for the same audience or keywords.
- Ad relevance as the platform assesses it.
- Click-through rate, which affects the auction.
- Targeting breadth and placement.
Where this one goes wrong
Cost per click is a means rather than an end, and optimising it in isolation leads to buying cheap clicks from people who will not convert, which is the most common way a campaign looks efficient while producing nothing. Optimise cost per acquisition instead. Improving relevance usually lowers the click price on auction platforms, which means better creative and tighter targeting are cheaper than bidding more.
Before you quote
- Optimise cost per acquisition, not cost per click.
- Improve relevance before raising bids.
- Compare against your own history, not an industry figure.
Questions
About this calculator
Why did my cost per click rise?
Usually competition for the same audience, since the price reflects what others are willing to pay. Platform relevance assessments also affect it, which is why improving creative and targeting can lower the price without changing bids.
Should I try to lower cost per click?
Not in isolation. Cheap clicks from people who will not convert make a campaign look efficient while producing nothing. Cost per acquisition is the figure to optimise, and a higher click price can be the better outcome.
Can I control the click price?
Partly, through relevance, targeting and bidding, and not fully, since it is an auction. The controllable part is mostly relevance: a more relevant ad to a tighter audience generally costs less per click than a broader one.
The formula
CPC = ad spend ÷ clicks
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Please keep the attribution line. It is the only thing we ask in return.
How to use this calculator
- Ad spend ($). Enter your own figure; the page starts at $4,800.
- Clicks. Enter your own figure; the page starts at 1,500.
- Conversion rate on those clicks (%). Enter your own figure; the page starts at 6%.
- Average job value ($). Enter your own figure; the page starts at $780.
The result updates as you type, so you can try a figure, see what it does to cost per click, and change it back. Nothing you enter is sent anywhere or saved.
A worked example
These are the figures the calculator opens with. Every number in the results column below is produced by the same calculation the page runs, so you can follow it through before putting your own figures in.
What goes in
| Input | Value |
|---|---|
| Ad spend | $4,800 |
| Clicks | 1,500 |
| Conversion rate on those clicks | 6% |
| Average job value | $780 |
What comes out
| Result | Value |
|---|---|
| Cost per click main result | $3.20 |
| Cost per conversion | $53.33 |
| Conversions | 90.0 |
| Revenue generated | $70,200 |
At $3.20 per click and a 6% conversion rate, each booked job costs $53.33 in ad spend against a 780 average value.
How sensitive the answer is
Holding everything else steady and changing only ad spend, this is what happens to cost per click. It is worth knowing which of your inputs the answer actually hinges on, and which barely move it.
| Ad spend ($) | Cost per click |
|---|---|
| $2,400 | $1.60 |
| $3,600 | $2.40 |
| $4,800 example above | $3.20 |
| $7,200 | $4.80 |
| $9,600 | $6.40 |
Every other input is held at the example value while this one changes, which is not how a real job behaves. Treat it as a guide to which number matters most, not as five separate quotes.
What each figure means
- Ad spend ($)
- A money amount, starting at $4,800.
- Clicks
- A number, between 0 and 100000000, starting at 1,500.
- Conversion rate on those clicks (%)
- A percentage, between 0 and 100, starting at 6%.
- Average job value ($)
- A money amount, starting at $780.
What the results tell you
| Result | What it is |
|---|---|
| Cost per click | The headline result. A money figure. |
| Cost per conversion | A money figure. |
| Conversions | A decimal figure. |
| Revenue generated | A money figure. |
Attribution is the weak link
Return and cost-per-lead figures depend on knowing which enquiries came from which source, and most home-services businesses do not track that reliably. If the source data is guesswork, so is the return.
Keep going
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Most businesses lose more to a slow site and slower follow-up than to bad targeting. The free audit shows you which is costing you most.