Pay per click (PPC) is an online advertising model in which advertisers pay a fee each time one of their ads is clicked. It is a way to drive traffic to a website rather than earning those visits organically. In a PPC campaign, advertisers bid on specific keywords relevant to their target audience. When a user searches for those keywords on search engines like Google or Bing, the ad appears at the top or bottom of the search results page.

The “pay per click” part means that advertisers are only charged when a user clicks on their ad, not when the ad is displayed. The cost per click (CPC) can vary based on the competitiveness of the keywords and the overall quality of the ad campaign. PPC can be an effective marketing strategy as it allows advertisers to target specific audiences, control their budget, and measure the success of their campaigns through various metrics like click-through rates (CTR) and conversions.