What is RPC in search arbitrage?
RPC stands for revenue per click. It is the feed revenue you earned divided by the number of clicks. Check which click is meant. Some reports divide by paid ad clicks, others by visitors arriving from the traffic source. A feed RPC of $0.80 per ad click may be only $0.16 per visitor if one visitor in five clicks an ad.
RPC is the selling price in the arbitrage, the mirror image of CPC, the buying price. Because the industry uses the term loosely, careful teams separate revenue per monetised click from RPV, revenue per visit. Only the per-visit figure can be compared directly with what you paid per visitor.
RPC is set by the advertiser auction, not by the publisher. It reflects the bids on the keyword, the revenue share and any discount applied for traffic quality through smart pricing. It varies by vertical, country, device and time of year, which is why keyword-level reporting matters.