CPC goes up when the ad auction has more competition or your ads and landing page look less relevant than what searchers want, and PPC gets expensive when you have to pay premium clicks plus spend extra budget on waste, testing, and fixes to turn those clicks into real leads.
In Google Ads, you are not simply “buying” a click. Every search triggers an auction where your bid competes with other advertisers, and Google also weighs expected performance signals (ad relevance, likely click rate, landing page usefulness, and the expected impact of ad assets). That is why two businesses can target the same keyword in Orlando and pay very different amounts per click.
What affects CPC
| What changes CPC | Why it can raise costs | What we do to control it |
|---|---|---|
| Competition in your market | More advertisers bidding for the same searches pushes the auction higher, especially in high-call-intent categories like legal, dental, HVAC, roofing, pest control, and emergency services in Central Florida. | Split campaigns by service, tighten geography, and separate brand vs non-brand so budget flows to the searches that turn into booked jobs. |
| Keyword intent and match type | Broad terms (or broad match used too loosely) can pull you into pricey auctions and unrelated searches, which inflates average CPC and wastes spend. | Build a tight keyword set, add negatives weekly, and use phrase/exact where it fits while keeping expansion under control. |
| Quality Score signals | If expected click rate, ad relevance, or landing page experience is weak, you often pay more to compete for the same position. | Write ads that match the search, organize ad groups cleanly, and improve the landing page content, speed, and clarity. |
| Landing page conversion rate | Even with a reasonable CPC, low conversion rate makes every lead expensive because you need more clicks to get one form fill or call. | Improve the page offer, trust elements, and friction points. A strong page is part of our web design work for lead generation. |
| Geo, schedule, and device | Downtown and high-income zip codes can cost more than the edge of the metro; peak hours can be pricier; mobile-only behavior can change click rates and lead quality. | Use location targeting and exclusions, dayparting, and device adjustments based on booked-lead data, not just form fills. |
| Goal and bidding settings | If you chase top-of-page visibility or set aggressive automated targets before you have clean conversion data, bids can climb fast. | Start with clean tracking, then choose bidding that matches your unit economics (cost per qualified lead, close rate, and margin). |
Why PPC can get expensive (even when it “works”)
Costs usually spike for three reasons. First, the auction gets tougher (a new competitor, seasonality, or a local event that increases demand). Second, targeting is too loose, so you pay for clicks that were never going to hire you. Third, the funnel is leaky, so you pay for plenty of traffic but too few qualified calls.
We see this a lot with Orlando service businesses running “set it and forget it” campaigns: broad keywords, no negative list maintenance, ads pointing to a generic homepage, and no separation between emergency and non-emergency searches. The campaign looks busy, but the spend feels painful.
How to keep CPC and spend under control
- Track what matters: calls, booked appointments, and qualified leads, then optimize to that outcome.
- Group by service and intent, not one giant campaign, so the budget does not get pulled into the wrong auctions.
- Maintain negatives weekly, especially for research terms, DIY queries, jobs, and “free” searches.
- Match ad copy to the search and send the click to the most relevant page, not a catch-all page.
- Review search terms, Auction Insights, and lost impression share so you know if cost changes come from the market or from campaign setup.
If you want help lowering CPC without starving lead volume, our PPC management service is built around clean tracking, tight targeting, and landing pages that convert. If you are still defining which searches are truly buyer intent, our FAQ on search intent types helps you separate “ready to hire” from “just browsing,” and our FAQ on what makes a good small business website covers the on-page basics that stop paid clicks from leaking out the back door.
