Debug: upstream API calls (click to expand)
| Keyword | CPC | Competition | Trend % | Trend (12 mo) |
|---|
How it works
The CPC Checker takes a list of keywords and a country. For each keyword it returns the average cost per click advertisers pay in Google Ads, the advertiser competition score, the monthly search volume, and a 12-month trend. The CPC and competition come from Google Ads through our Keywords Everywhere API, the same source the browser extension and most professional PPC tools use.
What CPC tells you. Cost per click is the clearest signal of buying intent on a keyword. Advertisers only bid real money when the clicks turn into sales. Use it to budget paid-search campaigns, to compare how expensive keywords are before you bid, and to spot which terms carry buyer intent worth targeting in SEO too.
Two paths, one tool. A submission of 500 keywords or fewer runs while you wait, and results arrive in a few seconds. A larger submission queues and processes in the background with a progress bar. You can leave the page and come back through the share link. Your current plan allows up to 100 keywords per submission.
Country and currency. CPC is set by advertiser demand, which varies by market. The same keyword can cost several dollars a click in one country and a fraction of that in another. You pick the country and the currency up front, and we show every keyword's CPC on that one currency scale so you can compare markets directly.
Data source. The data source dropdown picks which upstream index supplies the numbers. The default is the one tuned for current Google data. The alternatives are useful when you want to cross-check against historical numbers or want a second opinion.
Paid plans pay their own credits. Free and anonymous visitors share a daily lookup budget drawn from a project-wide pool. Paid Keywords Everywhere plans, Bronze and above, get a larger daily budget and pay only their own account's credits per lookup. That is why the daily caps for paid users are much higher.
Known limitations.
- CPC is an average, not your live auction price. The figure is Google's average advertiser cost per click. Your real CPC in a live campaign depends on your Quality Score, ad rank, match type, and how hard competitors bid. Treat it as a planning benchmark and confirm the exact number in your own Google Ads account.
- Zero CPC means something. A keyword with no CPC usually has little or no advertising money behind it. That often means informational rather than buying intent. It is a signal, not missing data.
- Volume is averaged over 12 months. The search volume next to the CPC is Google's average monthly searches over the trailing year, so a seasonal peak is smoothed into the yearly average. Click any sparkline to see the seasonal shape behind the average.
What the columns mean
- Keyword
- The exact search query you submitted, in lowercase. Signed-in visitors with credits see a star in front of each keyword to save it to their Keywords Everywhere favorites.
- CPC
- The cost per click advertisers pay in Google Ads, in the currency you selected, from Google Ads through the Keywords Everywhere API. This is the headline metric. A high CPC, above $5, usually signals strong buying intent. An empty or zero CPC means little advertising activity, which often goes with informational intent. It is an average benchmark. Your live auction CPC varies with Quality Score, ad rank, and competing bids.
- Search Volume
- Google's average monthly searches for the keyword in the country you selected, from Google Keyword Planner through the Keywords Everywhere API. It is averaged over the trailing 12 months, so it shows typical demand rather than one month's spike. Pair it with CPC to weigh how much traffic a keyword draws against how much advertisers pay for it.
- Competition
- Google's 0 to 1 score for how many advertisers bid on the keyword in Google Ads, shown as a Low, Medium, or High badge. Higher means more advertisers. It usually tracks CPC, because more bidders push the price up, and is a useful stand-in for commercial competition. It is not the same as organic ranking difficulty, though the two usually go together.
- Trend % and Trend (12 mo)
- Trend % compares the most recent month's search volume with the average of the prior 11 months, a quick read on whether demand is rising or falling. The sparkline next to it shows monthly search volume over the past 12 months, scaled to fit. Click it for a large chart with exact monthly values and the min, max, and latest points marked. Useful for spotting seasonality, declining topics, or one-off spikes.
Frequently asked questions
How do I check the CPC of a keyword?
Paste one or more keywords, one per line, into the box above. Pick a country and currency and click Check CPC. For each keyword we return the average cost per click advertisers pay in Google Ads, the advertiser competition score, the monthly search volume for your country, and a 12-month trend sparkline. Small submissions, under 500 keywords, run while you wait. Larger ones queue and process in the background.
What is CPC (cost per click)?
CPC is the average amount an advertiser pays each time someone clicks their Google Ads ad for a keyword. It comes from Google Ads through the Keywords Everywhere API, so it is Google's own advertiser data, the same source most professional SEO and PPC tools use. A high CPC, above $5 to $10, signals strong buying intent. Advertisers only bid that much when clicks turn into sales. A low or zero CPC usually means the keyword is informational, with little advertising money behind it.
What is a good CPC for a keyword?
There is no single good number. It depends on what a conversion is worth in your niche. For low-margin ecommerce, a $0.50 CPC may be all you can afford. A law firm or a B2B software company happily pays $20 to $50 per click, because one new client is worth thousands. Compare the CPC with your own profit per conversion and your conversion rate. A keyword whose CPC is well below your break-even cost per click is profitable to bid on. One above it is not. Use the CPC here to budget campaigns and to spot which keywords carry real buyer intent.
How accurate is the CPC data?
The CPC comes straight from Google Ads through the Keywords Everywhere API, the same source most professional SEO and PPC tools use. It is Google's own advertiser cost per click, not a third-party estimate. It is an average over recent advertiser activity. Your live auction CPC can run higher or lower depending on your Quality Score, ad rank, match type, time of day, and how hard competitors are bidding that week. Treat it as a reliable planning benchmark, then confirm the exact number in your own Google Ads account once a campaign is live.
Why is CPC different in different countries?
CPC is set by advertiser demand, which varies a great deal by market. The same keyword can cost several dollars a click in the US, where many advertisers compete, and a fraction of that in a smaller market with fewer bidders. Currency matters too. We show the CPC in whichever currency you pick, so you can compare markets on one scale. Buyer value and competition both differ by country, so check the CPC in the market you plan to advertise in rather than assuming a global figure.
How do I find keyword CPC for free?
Use this tool. You can paste up to 100 keywords per submission on the Free plan with no signup, and get the CPC, competition, search volume, and 12-month trend for each. Free and anonymous visitors share a daily lookup budget. Paid Keywords Everywhere plans get a larger daily budget and pay only their own account's credits per lookup. Google's own Keyword Planner shows CPC ranges too, but it needs an active Google Ads account and gives only rough bid ranges unless you run paid campaigns.
What is the difference between CPC and Competition?
CPC is the money figure: the average amount an advertiser pays per click in Google Ads. Competition is Google's 0 to 1 score for how many advertisers bid on the keyword, shown here as a Low, Medium, or High badge. They usually move together, because more bidders push the price up. Not always, though. A niche keyword can have only a handful of advertisers yet a very high CPC, because each click is so valuable. Read the two together to see both how expensive and how contested a keyword is in paid search.
Does a high CPC mean a keyword is hard to rank for organically?
Not directly. CPC and competition are paid-search signals, not organic ranking-difficulty signals. A high CPC does not guarantee the keyword is hard to rank for in the free results. In practice they do tend to go together. Keywords advertisers pay a lot for are commercially valuable, which attracts more SEO effort and stronger competing pages. A high CPC is a useful hint that a keyword is worth money. Pair it with the search volume and trend here to decide which keywords to target.