# Pay-per-click advertising

Concept · [Business and metrics](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/business)

Also called: PPC, pay per click, paid search, search ads, CPC, cost per click

[Online ads](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/online-advertising) where you pay each time someone clicks, most often shown beside search results.

**For example:** A plumber bids on 'emergency plumber Tulsa' and pays only when someone clicks the ad.

## Connects to (6)

- [CPM](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/cpm): Cost per thousand impressions.
- [Geotargeting](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/geotargeting): Showing ads or content only to people in a chosen place, such as a city or a few miles around a store.
- [Search engine optimization](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/search-engine-optimization): Making a website easier for search engines to understand and more likely to show up when people search for what you offer.
- [Programmatic advertising](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/programmatic-advertising): Buying and selling online ad space automatically through software, often in auctions that run in a fraction of a second as a page loads.
- [Campaign budget optimization](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/campaign-budget-optimization): An ad platform setting that shares one budget across several ad groups and moves money automatically toward whichever is performing best.
- [Google Ads](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/google-ads): Google's advertising service.

Map view: https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/ppc