If you’re ready to invest in digital marketing, you might be looking for the best way to get your business known online. Some might say that organic is the only way. The others will advise you on the best pay-per-click strategies. Whereas the best advice would be to get to know both, SEO and PPC, so you’ll know which one you need the most. The reality is that you should combine both to achieve the best possible, long-term results.
SEO explained
If you have a website and you want to be found through Google Search, your website has to be search engine friendly. This means that you need to have a website that is optimised and easily found through search.
There’s a list of techniques an SEO specialist might use to ensure your website is fast, optimised and adequately formatted so Google also sees it as valuable. In other words, just hiking someone to build you a website and write all your contact information on a page isn’t enough.
PPC explained
PPC or Pay Per Click is a paid marketing strategy where you as an advertiser, pay for a relevant click that takes visitors to your website. This is achieved by bidding on the most relevant keywords for your business.
When a person searches for a string of words that match the keywords you’re bidding on, your ad will appear at the top of the Google Search Results Page. However, your ad might not be the first result, as other competitors are bidding on the same keywords and are willing to outbid you.
That’s why you need to have a skilled PPC specialist tailor the marketing campaign to deliver the best possible results that fit your assigned budget. In simplest terms, whenever someone clicks on your Google ad, you will pay for that click to Google.
Difference No 1 – Position in SERP
The goal of both SEO strategy and PPC strategy is to get your website on the first page of the search engine results page. Ideally, your goal is to be number one, as people are more likely to click on the first result they see.
The attention span of people is slowly but surely decreasing, so catching the first seconds of a person’s attention span is everyone’s goal. However, both of these appear differently in SERP.
Paid results can appear above organic search engine results or below. Where you appear depends on how much you’re willing to bid for a specific keyword and how much that keyword matches search intent.
Organic results appear right after paid results. In practice, this means that your website can be the third or fourth result, even if you’re ranked as the first organic result. If three different competitors are bidding for that search term, their ads will appear first and people are more likely to click on the first result.
While some people are instantly dissuaded when they see Ad written next to the block of text, others won’t even notice it.
Difference No 2 – How fast you can drive traffic to your website
Both SEO and PPC drive traffic to your website. But, one is faster than the other. If your niche is highly competitive, you should use both to drive traffic to your website and get the business ball rolling. Let’s consider Australia as a perfect example – from micro to big businesses, everyone is aware that they have to be present online if they want to drive revenue. That’s why they talk to an SEO agency from Sydney to have a properly optimised website from the beginning and have a PPC campaign in place to drive relevant traffic to their website.
This is because SEO takes some time to drive traffic to your website. But, if it’s done right and if it’s a long-term strategy, it will drive the most relevant, organic traffic. But until you start seeing a continuous flow of traffic, you should jumpstart it with paid marketing efforts. Especially since you’ll achieve a constant traffic flow and convert visitors into customers.
Difference No 3 They both reveal areas of improvement
Let’s say that you’ve been optimising your website for six months and you’re happy with your organic results. You know that your website is fast, reliable and provides value to visitors. Now, you want to introduce Google Ads campaigns and target your audience through paid marketing.
PPC campaigns can tell you a lot about user experience. If people click on ads but somehow they don’t convert, this is a clear sign that your website needs more improvement. This takes you back to your on-page SEO efforts – you need to optimise relevant landing pages for a better user experience.
Once you do, you can test new landing pages through Google Ads and measure your efforts. If your conversion rate improves, you’ve improved user experience. This only proves that both SEO and PPC can work seamlessly together to help you achieve desired marketing results.
Why you need SEO
SEO is a must for any business as it helps to attract, retain and multiply organic traffic. All of the SEO efforts, from on-page, and off-page to technical SEO are there to help you build a user-friendly, fast and reliable website that is search engine friendly. The goal is to get your website as high as possible in organic search results for the most relevant keywords for your business. It’s an essential marketing tactic to build brand awareness as visitors will see your website in organic search results.
Why you need PPC
PPC can help you target a specific target audience, drive traffic to your website and get you on top of search engine results fast. Seeing what works and what doesn’t is easy, so you won’t waste your time and money on running campaigns that don’t convert. Lastly, it’s a great way to achieve website traffic and increase brand recognition and support brand awareness efforts.
In conclusion
Every marketing effort counts in the long run, but only if you implement, plan and deliver it the right way. You need both SEO and PPC for your business, but it is up to you to decide whether you’ll start with both or with just SEO.
