<b>Cost-per-click is a free intent signal on organic terms</b>

<b>Cost-per-click is a free intent signal on organic terms</b>
CPC (what advertisers pay per click) reveals commercial intent even when you'll never run ads. We mapped CPC against conversion rate for 1,300 organic-targeted queries.
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CPC under $1, conversion ▇▇ 1.1%
CPC $1–5 ▇▇▇▇ 2.6%
CPC over $5 ▇▇▇▇▇▇ 4.4%
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Advertisers bid on demonstrated value. A high CPC on a query you target organically is a market consensus that searchers there buy. Volume tells you reach; CPC tells you the slope of the money behind it.
<b>So what:</b> when two keywords tie on volume and difficulty, let CPC break the tie. The pricier click marks the more commercial intent.
Benchmark of the week: queries above $5 CPC convert at 4x the rate of sub-$1 queries in the same category.