Digital

PPC vs. SEO

PPC vs SEO: Which strategy is right for your business?

By Cecilia Ruiz

 

SEO and PPC are two different approaches that share a common goal of increasing website traffic and visibility. Before implementing any changes, it is important to have an understanding of the two concepts, as well as an understanding of how your website is performing currently and how you would like it to perform in the future. Establishing clear goals and objectives can help guide your decision on which strategy is best for you.

Pay-per-click advertising (PPC) is straightforward, as it involves paying for each time a user clicks on your advertisement. PPC is an auction. The most well-known kind of PPC advertising is search advertising. With search ads, you are fighting for a spot within the paid section of search results, which appear at the top of the page with the words ‘Ad’ or ‘Sponsored’ next to it. Whether you win the auction or not depends on your budget and bidding strategy, ad quality, and numerous other factors. On the other hand, search engine optimization (SEO) generates traffic organically. The purpose of SEO is to increase your ranking within the unpaid search results, which are listed underneath the paid section.

PPC

PPC advertising is highly effective when you want to generate leads quickly because you are reaching people who are actively searching for the services or products that your business provides. Once you start paying for advertisements, you will begin to see results almost immediately. However, this also means that traffic goes down just as quickly once you stop paying or when your campaign ends. The cost of PPC varies greatly depending on the competition in your target market. While PPC can be expensive and is largely dependent on budget, you will see better results at lower costs when your campaigns are well-optimized. Google takes into consideration the relevancy of your ads to the keywords in each ad group, the quality score of your keywords, how much you are willing to pay for a conversion, and more.

SEO

On the flip side, SEO takes much longer to see major improvements, sometimes even months. However, it is a highly effective strategy. Unlike PPC advertising, the success of your website is not entirely dependent on how much money you put into it. At first glance, SEO can be tempting because it’s “free.” Although there may not be a direct cost associated with SEO, it’s important to keep in mind that it’s a major investment of time and effort. SEO is a marathon, not a race. Those who want to see results overnight will not be satisfied with SEO.

The Takeaway

Luckily, you don’t have to choose one method over the other. SEO and PPC work better together. The data you receive from your PPC and SEO campaigns can help you strengthen both of your strategies. Search campaigns allow you to quickly see what users are searching for, and knowing that can help you create stronger SEO in much less time. Integrating the two provides both short- and long-term results, which ultimately leads to greater success for your website and your business.

 

 

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