What is the difference between pay-per-call and pay-per-click?
Pay-per-click charges for each click on an advert, whether or not the visitor makes contact. Pay-per-call charges only when a call of a qualifying length is connected, so you pay closer to the outcome. Pay-per-call costs more per event and shifts risk to the seller; pay-per-click is cheaper per event and puts the conversion risk on you.
What each actually charges for
Pay per click (PPC). You pay each time someone clicks your advert, whether or not they contact you. Turning that click into an enquiry is your job — your landing page, your phone number, your speed of answering.
Pay per call. You pay only when a call of a qualifying length connects. The provider carries the cost of clicks that go nowhere, and prices accordingly.
Who carries the risk
That is the whole distinction. Pay per click is cheaper per event and puts conversion risk on you. Pay per call is dearer per event and shifts that risk to the seller.
Which is better depends on how good your conversion already is. A Katy business with a fast, clear landing page and someone answering the phone will usually do better on pay per click, because it is not paying a premium for a risk it was managing anyway.
The definitions that decide the price
With pay per call, read the terms carefully:
- What counts as a qualifying call? Usually a duration threshold — 30, 60 or 90 seconds. A call answered and immediately identified as out of area may still be billable.
- Is the call exclusive? Or was the same enquiry routed to several contractors?
- What happens with repeat callers? The same customer calling twice may be charged twice.
- How are disputes handled, and within what window?
Those four clauses determine what you actually pay per booked job, and they are far harder to negotiate after money has changed hands.
Do the arithmetic first
Work out what a lead is worth to you before agreeing to any price. Average job value, times margin, times close rate, gives gross profit per enquiry. A $600 job at 45% margin closing one in four is worth about $67 an enquiry.
Anything above that ceiling loses money regardless of how the billing is structured.
Where each fits
Pay per call fits businesses without a decent landing page or the capacity to build one, and trades where every enquiry is a phone call anyway.
Pay per click fits businesses that can convert — a fast page, published prices, someone answering — because they keep the margin that pay per call charges for.
What it costs at BayouEdge
Paid search management sits inside Growth Engine — $5,500 setup, $1,500 a month and above, covering the account alongside the landing pages and tracking that decide whether a click becomes a job. Ad spend is paid to Google from your own account.
The honest read
If you are considering pay per call because your website does not convert, fixing the website is usually cheaper than paying a premium forever to work around it.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference?
Pay per click charges each time someone clicks your advert, whether or not they contact you. Pay per call charges only when a call of qualifying length connects, so the provider absorbs clicks that go nowhere.
Which is cheaper?
Pay per click is cheaper per event and puts conversion risk on you. Pay per call is dearer per event and shifts that risk to the seller. Which wins depends on how well you already convert.
What should I check in a pay-per-call contract?
What counts as a qualifying call and its duration threshold, whether the call is exclusive or shared, how repeat callers are billed, and how disputes are handled and within what window.
What arithmetic should I do first?
Average job value times margin times close rate gives gross profit per enquiry. A $600 job at 45% margin closing one in four is worth about $67 — anything above that ceiling loses money whatever the billing model.
When does pay per call make sense?
For businesses without a decent landing page or the capacity to build one, and trades where every enquiry is a phone call anyway. If the reason is a site that does not convert, fixing the site is usually cheaper.