admin / August 19, 2021
Just Imagine: You’ve created an excellent product and are excited to share this amazing new business with the world.
But, hold on!
How would you share this revolutionary product with mass target users as much as possible?
This question sounds obvious, isn’t it!
Like you, many businesses face similar problems regarding showcasing the product in front of potential customers.
And the solution to the problem boils down to choosing between the two marketing strategies: SEO (Search engine optimization) and PPC (pay per click)
But which method is best suited for your business?
Should I pursue an organic-first approach and find consumers through search engine rankings, or is it better to invest in advertisement on the top of the keyword result page?
In this article, we’ve explored in-depth what you can achieve from these two strategies and have given some examples to help you decide whether your business should go for SEO or PPC. So, let’s get started.
Do you want to know why SEO and PPC campaigns should be integral parts of your digital marketing strategy? First, let’s back this statement with some facts.
Even PPC statistics are fascinating. Let’s find out.
Search engine optimization and pay-per-click marketing are very crucial to get brand exposure. They are driving forces for your website traffic and offer superior ROI for each penny you spend.
But how does your business benefit from SEO and PPC strategies?
Let’s find it out.
Search engine optimization is the process of improving your brand’s visibility in organic search results on search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and Bing.
Here, a wide range of SEO activities like website optimization, content creation, GMB optimization, and on-page and off-page activities are performed to rank your web pages higher on search engine result pages (SERPs).
When you hire a top local SEO company, the experts will first understand your business nature. Next, they will discuss various business goals you have in mind. Then evaluate substantial aspects of your offerings, analyze your competitors and create a tailor-made comprehensive and highly efficient SEO campaign.
Some of the takeaways of your SEO campaigns are:
Continuous visibility in search engine results for your keywords will make you an authoritative entity online. In addition, it will make your brand a trusted name when people are looking for information.
If you keep offering informative, engaging, and original content, they will always look up to you when looking for industry information or news. With techniques such as Google My Business optimization, you can list your business in the eyes of Google and expect more customers to your business.
A dedicated SEO campaign will boost your website traffic with genuine leads. In addition, you will have an opportunity to turn these leads into your loyal customers with less effort.
Organic search traffic is accessible in one sense. However, you need to put time and effort into getting such kind of visibility online. It is not an overnight process. It takes time and continuous genuine efforts.
Return on Investment is the key factor while deciding marketing approaches, especially when you have a small business with a limited budget. Thankfully, you have an improved ROI compared to any other form of marketing approach for SEO.
SEO is cost-effective than other marketing tactics. But, also, it would be best if you did not forget about brand awareness and credibility gains while monitoring your success.
Eventually, the click-through rate would improve when you are constantly doing white-hat SEO for your brand.
Unlike paid search marketing, organic traffic does not fall down the moment you stop investing money. However, it is not the case with SEO. When you stop putting money on SEO, earlier efforts will drive more website traffic and results.
Though getting superior rankings in organic search is not as easy as it seems, you will give a tough time to your competitors who want to reach that level once you have made it there. All because of the trust and credibility your business has earned over time.
Paid search or PPC is a paid digital marketing technique in which an advertiser has to pay a certain amount of fee whenever a user clicks on the ad placed on the top of organic search results.
Here, you are buying visits, which in turn, is entirely the opposite of an inbound marketing technique such as SEO, where users visit the website organically.
One of the most crucial things to mention here is the placement of PPC ads on the SERP. A PPC ad is placed at the top of the SERP, which is beneficial for advertisers as users will first notice them compared to organic results far below the SERP. However, it does not guarantee that users will ignore organic results and click on your paid ads.
Each time a person clicks the ad, you will need to pay for the click. Some advertisers also go for the visibility model, where they pay when certain people have seen the post.
Some popular PPC advertising platforms are Google, Bing, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Amazon, and YouTube.
You need to take great care while hiring a PPC management company. The success of your PPC campaign depends on the expertise of the company. It is not easy to run a successful PPC campaign. The company must be able to read between the lines and have an eye on micro details. Select an agency that has the experience and a proven track record.
The best advantage of a PPC campaign is the position of the ad on the page. Paid search dominates the page by staying at the top of the SERP. Users who don’t know the difference between organic and paid results will likely click on paid ads first.
PPC ads offer you total control over the content. You can deliver your marketing message loud and clear in the way you want. You can add messages, calls, locations, site links, pricing, and other CTAs (Call to Action) effectively to get the user’s attention.
Another benefit of paid ads is Google allows you to add images when you are selling any product. As we all know, how visuals overpower the text, users will be more likely to click on paid ads than organic results. As a result, your click-through rate will improve excellently.
Even your PPC campaign run by a digital marketing company will offer good brand awareness and visibility. The right people who are interested in your offerings will see your brand. It will help you to create awareness.
You can precisely determine how much you want to spend per day. Then, you can fix the limits and have total control of the budget.
Yes, you have heard it right. PPC is also called a laser-targeted marketing approach as it offers tremendous scope of micro-targeting. For example, you can target ads by keywords, a specific time of the day, location, language, device, and particular days of the week. Such micro-targeting is not possible with your SEO campaign.
SEO takes time, while PPC does not. Developing organic visibility on SERPs takes time. Nevertheless, when you are looking for quick results, let’s say that you can always rely on PPC for your Christmas sales, as you will get quick hits in just no time.
What happens when you target keywords organically? It mostly hides keyword data for privacy concerns. However, it is not the case with your PPC ads. You can have precise data of keyword tracking and conversion tracking with software such as Google Analytics. You can have a detailed summary of which keywords are helpful and the total cost per keyword. You can use such detailed data in your SEO campaign to get superior results.
When a new Google algorithm update comes, it will affect your organic rankings. However, when it comes to PPC, this is not the case. You can manage changes easily, and they don’t hamper your traffic and campaign in a great manner.
Though there is a common perception about PPC being costly, that’s not always the case. When you manage your PPC account smartly and efficiently, you can have great benefits in the most cost-effective way. For example, if you target a local area with a specific set of keywords, you can get more leads in a minimal amount.
If you want to make the right decision whether to hire local SEO experts or a PPC agency for your business, you need to compare some statistics between these two players. Let’s do it.
Now, let’s discuss which approach to opt for when you have specific goals in mind.
If your goal is instant results to gain immediate sales, you need to hire a PPC management company. Search engine optimization takes time to offer you some fantastic results, while PPC can provide quick results in just no time.
Example:
If you plan to start a festival offer or holiday discount offer, going for a PPC campaign will indeed offer you more benefits than SEO.
When you are looking for superior exposure, SEO offers a competitive edge over PPC.
When you have a dedicated, comprehensive SEO strategy, you will be able to rank on SERPs of multiple search engines for numerous search queries. You might need to run various paid campaigns for the same goal, which is a costly affair.
With little effort and money, you can significantly expand your overall reach when choosing SEO over PPC.
When you know your audience and want to target them effectively, going for a PPC campaign will serve the purpose. You can target your audience on a micro level with age, location, gender, language, device, parental status, in-market interests, and others.
When you want to become an authoritative entity online, go for SEO.
There are some astonishing benefits SEO offers when it comes to brand visibility and credibility. Trust and authority are two significant drivers that determine the long-term success of any brand.
When you excel on EAT (Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) content, your business will get good rankings and improve your authoritative online presence. While money can put you on top of SERPs, you need to work hard and build trust to reach there organically.
Search engine optimization endeavors will compound over time, and hence, when scalability is the goal, you need to choose SEO compared to PPC.
SEO, when done rightly and adequately, you will be able to achieve those returns. But, on the other hand, paid ads have short lives, and when you stop paying, you will stop getting benefits. So, scaling your advertising efforts is quite impossible with PPC ads.
Having total control over your marketing efforts and operations is critical to design the best and highly effective strategies. Here, PPC wins over SEO as the former offers more control on your campaign compared to SEO.
Paid ads do not have any direct relation with Google algorithm updates. What you decide to spend will determine your campaign’s performance. Everything is in your control, from creative ad copy to location, bids, audience you want to target, and other parameters. So, if you’re going to alter your PPC campaign, you can hire a top local SEO company to manage your campaign effectively.
It will help if you go for SEO when you have a limited budget, as PPC requires more funding than SEO. When you hire local SEO experts, they might help you offer excellent results at a minimal cost. However, you will need a larger budget when you want to run a PPC campaign.
When you want to get a competitive edge over your rivals, you can have the deadliest combination of PPC and SEO. Without multichannel marketing, you will not be able to succeed in today’s marketplace. Unfortunately, most of your competitors focus on both approaches, and you should do the same to reap the benefits both methods have to offer.
For example,
1) You can get more traffic with your white-hat SEO techniques and remarket those visitors with your PPC campaigns.
2) Similarly, you can use detailed data you have acquired from your PPC campaign on your SEO efforts to get desired results.
3) Also, you can use those keywords which are running excellently in your PPC campaigns for SEO title tags and headlines to boost your SEO CTR.
Having such a collaborative strategy might help you to leverage the benefits of both digital marketing approaches.
If someone asks me which is the best digital marketing approach, I would say both are effective.
Both of these approaches can offer you the best ROI when you know how and when to use them for your business. Of course, it also depends on the business goals you want to achieve.
Generally, small, location-specific businesses hire local SEO experts due to budget constraints. It depends on the goals you want to achieve. If you want more quick sales, you can go for PPC. If you want more brand exposure and credibility, you can go for SEO in the long run.
Experts believe that the ideal way is to mix your PPC and SEO efforts to gain a competitive edge and dominate the industry. With this technique, you can accomplish all your business goals.
