PPC
The BrokerFold Team — Product + Engineering
Last reviewed
PPC is pay-per-click: an advertising model where you pay only when someone clicks your ad, with the price of each click set by auction rather than rate card. Search PPC — Google Ads bidding on queries like “homes for sale in Halton Hills” — is the version that matters most in real estate, because it buys visitors at the exact moment of intent. Impressions are free; the click is the product.
How the auction sets your price
Every search triggers an instant auction among advertisers bidding on that query. Your cost per click depends on competition and on quality — the platforms discount ads and landing pages that genuinely answer the search, and surcharge irrelevant ones. That’s the lever most self-managed accounts never pull: tight ad groups, honest ad copy, and a landing page about the thing the person searched. Click prices in Canadian real estate vary widely by market and keyword — the worked numbers, with every assumption stated, live in real estate PPC cost in Canada.
The three costs, and where deals come from
PPC budgets have three lines: ad spend to the platform, management (your time or a fee — ours is 10% of spend with a $350 monthly floor), and the landing infrastructure that turns clicks into signups. The third line decides everything. A click that lands on a fast map search or a valuation page with a working cost per lead becomes a contact in your CRM; a click that lands on a generic homepage becomes a bounce you paid for. Speed-to-lead then decides whether contacts become conversations. Before spending, size the machine with the Google Ads budget calculator — it converts spend into expected leads and appointments with visible assumptions.
Why the term matters for your marketing
PPC is rented attention with an on/off switch: instant traffic, precise intent, zero residual value the day you stop paying. SEO and owned content are the opposite — slow, compounding, yours. Mature agent marketing runs both and measures them in the same spreadsheet. If you’re deciding whether to delegate the rented half, start with what real PPC management for realtors should include — and what it should cost.
Frequently asked questions
Is PPC just Google Ads?
Google Ads search is the archetype and, for realtors, usually the workhorse — but the model covers any pay-per-click auction, including Bing and the click-priced formats on social platforms. When agents say PPC they almost always mean search ads against high-intent queries.
How fast does PPC produce leads?
Traffic starts the day campaigns go live, which is PPC's genuine advantage over SEO. Leads follow only if the landing pages convert, and closings follow only if follow-up is fast and persistent — the ad platform is the first third of the machine, not the machine.
Should I run PPC myself or hire management?
Run it yourself if you'll genuinely spend time weekly on search terms, negative keywords, and bids — neglected accounts burn budget quietly. Delegate it if you won't. Our management runs at 10% of ad spend with a $350 monthly floor, and either way the landing pages matter more than the bids.
Keep reading
- PPC management for realtors What PPC management includes, what it costs — 10% of spend with a $350 monthly floor — and how to judge any manager before you hire one.
- Real estate PPC cost Canada What real estate PPC actually costs in Canada — click prices, cost per lead, management fees, and worked CAD math with every assumption stated.
- Google Ads budget calculator Turn a monthly ad budget into estimated clicks, leads, cost per lead, and GCI.
- CPL CPL — cost per lead — is marketing spend divided by leads produced. Canadian real estate benchmarks, and why CPL alone can steer you wrong.