The money: unit economics

Search arbitrage is a business of small margins on large turnover. This track works through the sums with real arithmetic: what a click costs, what it earns, where the money leaks, why reported revenue is not final revenue, and why a profitable campaign can still empty the bank account. It ends with a daily profit and loss sheet you can build yourself.

intermediate · 7 lessons · 60 minutes

1. 01

   RPC, CPC and the margin maths

   One worked example, start to finish: what a visitor costs, what a visitor earns, and how to find the break-even price for a click.

   9 min
2. 02

   The metrics dashboard explained

   Every number an arbitrage dashboard shows, in the order a visitor creates them, with the formula for each and what a change is telling you.

   9 min
3. 03

   Estimated vs final revenue, and clawbacks

   The revenue on your dashboard is a forecast. Learn how it is finalised, why money is deducted for invalid traffic, and how to plan for it.

   8 min
4. 04

   Cash flow and payment terms

   You pay for traffic now and get paid for it weeks later. How net terms create a funding gap, how big it gets, and how operators finance it.

   9 min
5. 05

   Scaling without breaking

   Why doubling the budget rarely doubles the profit, the limits that appear as spend grows, and a step-by-step way to scale that respects them.

   8 min
6. 06

   Seasonality, Q4 and dayparting

   Click prices and payouts move with the calendar and the clock. How Q4, January, weekdays and hours change the sums, and how to plan around them.

   8 min
7. 07

   Building a daily P&L

   Put the whole track into one sheet: a daily profit and loss that counts spend, estimated revenue, a clawback reserve and overheads honestly.

   9 min

Test yourself: The money: unit economics quiz