When it comes to advertising on LinkedIn, one of the most common questions businesses have is whether LinkedIn charges per click. The short answer is yes, LinkedIn does charge advertisers based on a pay-per-click (PPC) pricing model. However, there are some important details to understand about how LinkedIn’s PPC system works.
What is Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising?
Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is a model where advertisers pay a fee each time someone clicks on their ad. The “pay per click” pricing model means that advertisers only pay when their ad drives traffic to their site or generates leads, rather than paying simply for the ad to be displayed.
With PPC ads, advertisers bid on keywords that are relevant to their business. When someone searches on LinkedIn using one of those keywords, the ads may show up alongside the search results. Advertisers pay LinkedIn a small fee every time an user clicks on their ad.
PPC allows businesses to reach their target audience, gain valuable website traffic, and only pay when the ad delivers results. The cost per click depends on factors like the competitiveness of the keyword, quality of the ad, and relevance to the searcher.
How does LinkedIn charge for PPC advertising?
LinkedIn uses a bidding-style pricing model for their Sponsored Content PPC ads. Here’s how it works:
- Advertisers bid on keywords relevant to their target audience and business.
- When someone searches on LinkedIn, the platform runs an auction to determine which ads to show and their order.
- Advertisers with higher bids and more relevant ads generally get higher ad positions.
- The advertiser only pays LinkedIn when someone clicks on their specific ad.
- The cost per click is based on the advertiser’s bid as well as competition and relevance.
For example, Company A bids $3 per click on the keyword “project management software.” Company B bids $5 for the same keyword. If a searcher clicks on Company B’s ad, they would pay $5. If they click Company A’s ad, the cost is $3 per click.
In essence, LinkedIn runs a real-time auction each time a search happens to determine which ads to show and how much advertisers pay per click. Higher bids increase the chance of getting top ad position but also increase potential costs.
What factors impact the cost per click?
There are a few key factors that influence how much advertisers end up paying per click on LinkedIn:
- Bid amount: The higher the bid, the more an advertiser pays each time their ad is clicked.
- Competition: More competition for a keyword drives up the cost per click.
- Quality score: LinkedIn grades keywords and ads for relevance. Higher quality can decrease the cost per click.
- Targeting: More granular targeting like job title or company generally has higher CPC.
- Time of day/week: Clicks during peak business hours tend to cost more.
Optimizing these factors, such as crafting relevant ad copy or bidding at less competitive times, can help lower an advertiser’s average CPC. But in general, expect to pay more for high value, highly targeted clicks from your ideal audience.
Average LinkedIn CPC rates
The average cost per click on LinkedIn varies significantly based on factors like industry, keywords, targeting, and bidding strategy. Here are some benchmarks on average LinkedIn CPC rates:
Targeting Type | Average CPC |
---|---|
Broad keyword targeting | $1 – $3 |
More specific keywords | $3 – $7 |
Keywords with high commercial intent | $7 – $15 |
Targeting by job title or company | $8 – $20 |
As shown, targeting more niche keywords and professional demographics results in higher cost per click rates. But this increased CPC also brings higher quality traffic aligned with the advertiser’s ideal audience.
How does LinkedIn’s pricing compare to other PPC platforms?
LinkedIn’s CPC model generally costs more than advertising on Google Search but is more affordable than platforms like Facebook and Instagram. Here’s an overview of average CPC pricing across some major PPC platforms:
PPC Platform | Average CPC |
---|---|
Google Search | $1 – $5 |
$5 – $15 | |
$9 – $25 | |
$20 – $50 |
LinkedIn strikes a balance where CPC rates are affordable for most B2B companies but still provide fairly targeted professional demographics.
Tips for lowering your LinkedIn CPC
Here are some tips to help optimize LinkedIn PPC campaigns and lower average cost per click:
- Use negative keywords to avoid irrelevant clicks from broad matches.
- A/B test ad copy to improve clickthrough rate.
- Bid lower during evenings, weekends, and holidays when competition drops.
- Target long-tail, specific keywords to lower competition.
- Tightly define target job titles, companies, and industries.
- Design ads for mobile since most LinkedIn traffic is mobile.
Monitoring keyword bids and targeting more niche audiences takes effort but offers the best opportunity to decrease CPC. Avoiding the broadest, most general keywords and targets helps eliminate wasted spend.
Does LinkedIn offer a cost-per-impression model?
In addition to CPC, LinkedIn does offer limited impression-based advertising options. Impressions refer to the number of times an ad is displayed, rather than clicked on.
There are two ways to pay for impressions on LinkedIn:
- Sponsored Content: You can buy a set number of impressions for an article post.
- Display Ads: LinkedIn Display Ad formats like banners are purchased on impression-based rates rather than per click.
However, the majority of LinkedIn ad products use the CPC pricing model. CPC helps maximize ROI for advertisers since they only pay when an ad drives measurable results.
Conclusion
LinkedIn does utilize a pay-per-click pricing model, where advertisers pay a fee each time a user clicks on their ad. The cost per click varies based on factors like keyword competitiveness, targeting, relevance, and bid amount.
Average CPC rates on LinkedIn tend to fall in the $5 – $15 range, more than Google Search but less than Facebook or Instagram. By optimizing bids and targeting, advertisers can aim to decrease their LinkedIn cost per click over time.
While LinkedIn does offer some impression-based ad options, its primary advertising products use the CPC model. Paying only for clicks allows businesses to connect with professional audiences on LinkedIn in a cost-efficient way.