Platforms & Channels

Display Advertising vs PPC: Impressions or Clicks

In short: Display advertising names a format - banner and rich-media ads served across websites and apps - while PPC names a billing model - charged by the click. Most display inventory is sold and reported by the thousand impressions, not the click, which is the main reason display campaigns judged on last-click conversions usually look weak: the format is built for reach and retargeting, not for capturing an already-formed intent to buy the way a search ad does. Some display placements can still be bought on a cost-per-click basis, making that slice genuinely PPC, but treating the two as synonyms misreads what most display spend is actually buying. Judge display on view-based and assisted metrics; judge PPC on the click and what follows it.

By the AdFlint research team · Fact-checked against current Google and Meta platform behavior · Last reviewed July 2026

Display Advertising

Banner, image, and rich-media ads served on websites and apps, usually bought on an impression basis for reach and retargeting.

Visual ads served across publisher websites and apps, priced mostly per thousand impressions. It works best for retargeting people who already visited and for cheap incremental reach around a working search or social program. The common mistake is running cold prospecting display and grading it on last-click conversions, which will always look poor because the format interrupts rather than captures intent.

Full definition

PPC

A buying model where advertisers pay only when someone clicks the ad, covering search, shopping, display, and social inventory sold that way.

Pay-per-click describes any ad you are billed for by the click rather than the impression, most commonly search ads but also shopping and social formats. It suits businesses that need measurable traffic they can switch on and off. The persistent confusion is treating it as a synonym for Google Search ads; it is a billing model, and many platforms now bill by impression instead.

Full definition

Side by side.

The differences that actually change what happens in your account.

	Display Advertising	PPC
What kind of term it is	A format - visual ads served on publisher sites and apps.	A billing model - charged per click, independent of format.
How it is usually priced	By the thousand impressions, with cost-per-click available on some placements as an option.	Always by the click - if it is priced any other way, it is not PPC.
Best use case	Retargeting people who already visited, or cheap incremental reach layered around a working search or social program.	Not format-specific - PPC's job depends on which channel the click billing sits inside.
Why last-click metrics mislead it	The format interrupts rather than captures intent, so most viewers were never close to converting on that impression alone.	Not the same risk - a PPC click is at minimum an action someone chose to take, so last-click attribution fits it more naturally.
What a wasted dollar looks like	An impression shown to someone who never notices it - cost incurred with no engagement at all.	A click paid for that never converts - cost is at least tied to a deliberate action.
Typical role in the funnel	Reach and retargeting, supporting other channels rather than closing the sale directly.	Depends entirely on the channel - PPC on search often closes the sale directly; PPC elsewhere may not.
Reporting caveat	View-through and assisted conversions matter here, and both are easy to overstate without discipline.	Click and conversion data are directly attributable to a specific ad and keyword or placement.

What actually separates them.

Display is sold mostly by the impression, so cost is incurred whether or not anyone engages; PPC by definition only charges for a click, so an unengaged impression under true PPC billing costs nothing.

Judging a CPM-priced display campaign on last-click conversion rate compares it against a bar it was never priced or built to clear - view-through and assisted metrics are the honest yardstick.

A display placement bought on cost-per-click is simultaneously display by format and PPC by billing model - the categories describe different things and are not mutually exclusive.

Display's retargeting use case depends on an existing visitor pool, the same dependency that limits retargeting inside paid social and search remarketing - display is one more channel competing for the same warm audience.

PPC spans channels with very different intent levels - a PPC search click often signals someone ready to buy, while a PPC-priced display click usually does not - so the same billing model can carry very different buyer intent depending on where it fired.

Which one should you use?

Use Display Advertising when

You want to retarget people who already visited your site with a visual reminder.
You want cheap incremental reach layered around a search or social program that is already working.
You are running a brand or awareness push where being seen matters more than an immediate click.
You have creative assets - images or video - built for visual formats rather than text ad copy.

Use PPC when

You want every dollar spent tied to a click someone actually made, not an impression they may not have noticed.
You are comparing cost across channels and need a consistent per-click number to compare them on.
You are managing a budget where an unclicked impression is money you consider wasted.
You want direct control over the maximum price paid per click rather than paying for reach regardless of engagement.

Common questions.

Can display advertising be PPC?

Yes, on the placements where it is priced per click instead of per thousand impressions - that slice is genuinely both a display format and a PPC billing model at once. Most display inventory is still sold on impressions by default, so check the specific campaign's billing setting rather than assuming either way.

Why does my display campaign show a much lower conversion rate than my search campaign?

They are usually not comparable on that number. Search PPC catches people already searching for a solution, while display reaches people mid-scroll with no active intent, so a lower last-click conversion rate on display does not mean it failed - check view-through and assisted conversions before judging it, and compare it to what unassisted reach would have cost some other way.

Is display advertising worth it if it doesn't get many clicks?

Clicks are not the point of most display buys - impressions and the retargeting or reach they deliver are. A low click-through rate on a retargeting display campaign can still be doing its job if it is keeping the brand visible to people who convert later through a different, more direct channel.

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