PPC advertising stands for Pay-Per-Click advertising, it is a type of advertising where the advertiser or marketer pays each time a consumer clicks on the ad. Most often the ads on search engines are referred to as this even though other types and formats of online advertising are based on how much advertisers pay for a click.

Search Engine ads do not have to charge on a per click basis either to be known as PPC advertising. For example a PPC ad on Google Ads might actually be based on conversions but still be referred to as “PPC” by the professional performing it. Today most professionals refer to any type of advertising performed via an advertising server or platform owned by a search engine as PPC Advertising.

If you’re purchasing PPC advertising from a marketing agency or a freelancer, then make sure you’re clear on what they mean. Most often, however, they’ll be referring to Google Ads or Microsoft Ads or some other form of search engine advertising or advertising powered by a platform owned by a search engine.