If you are wondering about where your business should be in the SEO vs PPC debate, you’re at the right place to find the answer. It doesn’t matter whether you are new to the world of internet marketing or old. The choice between SEO and PPC is one that will be for every site, company, and situation.

SEO vs PPC: Which one you should pick?

Search engine optimization (SEO) and Pay per click (PPC) advertising are popular techniques to drive traffic to your website. Both of these tools have the same goal, to drive traffic to your website. But which one is best for you?

Sometimes, the answer to SEO vs PPC is actually PPC and SEO working together.

First of all, it is really important to understand the concepts and purposes of SEO and PPC.

SEO is the process of getting traffic from the “free” or “natural” listings on search engines, such as google or bing. SEO is like a long race, where it takes a lot of time to see the results of your hard work. Your website is modified or improved to help it appear higher in the organic listings.

These listings of ranking positions are determined by factors such as the popularity of your links and the relevancy of your content, but changes definitely won’t happen overnight.

PPC advertising allows you to display ads in the sponsored results section of each search engine results page., and when that ad is clicked, you are charged a fee.

If you want immediate traffic to your website, PPC is a much shorter way. Because you can immediately start appearing on the first page of results.

Your ranking with PPC is determined by how much you bid, the quality score of your ads, and the landing pages hat the ads point to.

The main factor in deciding between the two is the kind of budget you have to work with.

Let’s dive in-depth on which is the best online marketing technique appropriate for you, We will take a look at the pros and cons of SEO vs PPC;

PPC Pros and Cons

PPC Pros

1. Immediate Results

• If you are first launching a website or even a brand new company, you want to get your new site/name out there as soon as possible. PPC works a lot faster in the short race of SEO vs PPC, but faster doesn’t always mean long term.

• This is also beneficial if you have special promotions or events that need exposure and cannot be planned months in advance.

.

2. You are in control

• With PPC ads you have the control over which page the user will be sent upon clicking.
• By having control over the landing page, you are also to make sure that the visitor is seeing the most relevant information to what your ad was displaying.
• The ads that are displayed are written by you and you are able to test them to see which ad performs the best, which landing page is better for visitors, etc.

3. Flexibility

• You have the ability to chose which keywords you want to bid higher on, how much you want to spend in a day, and even the ability to pause your campaign if you are running low on your budget.
• You are also able to set the placement of your ads and the location where you want your ad to be shown.

PPC Cons

1. Limited Long Term Benefits

• Once the money stops, the ads won’t show up. While you may gain some branded traffic down the road, that unbranded search traffic will completely disappear when the ads stop running.

2. Bad Reputation

• PPC listings look like ads because of an “Ad” label and are purposely placed where they are.
• Many people dislike ads, refuse to click on them, or frankly just have no idea what they are and do not trust them.

3. Costs Add UP

• Even though you have the ability to control your PPC campaign budget, costs begin to pile up and you may end up spending more money than you originally planned.
• Traffic to your site with PPC is completely dependant on the money you pour into it. If the keywords you are targeting are highly competitive, they may be expensive and can drain your budget quickly.

SEO Pros and Cons

SEO Pros

1. Trustworthiness

• Organic search results are more trusted. 86% of search engine users report that they trust organic search results over paid search results. In fact, it’s been said that searchers simply get annoyed with the advertisements that come up during searches and do not even think about clicking on them.

2. Long Term Benefits

• Once all the SEO best practices are implemented- such as creating quality, keyword-rich content and a strong linking profile- the results will outlast your efforts. The return on investment for SEO will continue to climb long after PPC has peaked.

3. Relevant, Targeted Traffic 

• SEO allows for the use of long-tail keywords, which are three to five-word phrases that define a search term to be more targeted.
• For example, someone who is searching for ”birthday cakes” probably is jus doing some casual browsing or looking for ideas.
• Someone who is searching for a “birthday cake cost calculator” is someone who is further along in the buying process. With long-tail keywords comes more relevant traffic.

4. Forced Website Improvements

• The main difference when it comes to SEO vs PPC is that with PPC, you pay for the visitors, but with advanced SEO, you earn visitors by improving a lot of work, but it’s a good thing in the long run because of the improvements to your site’s usability.

SEO Cons

1. Ever Changing Google Algorithms

• A complaint about SEO is that all of the work you put into your site to get your website on the first page results could be affected completely if Google releases new algorithm changes.

2. Required On-going Maintenance

• Keyword research, content updates, link building and more are all the factors of SEO that need to be regularly monitored and updated in order for your site to maintain rankings or to increase them.

3. Time Lag

• Compared to the quick results of PPC, when you are comparing SEO vs PPC the time lag with SEO can be a downfall.
• If it can take anywhere from one to three months to see an increase in rankings or traffic. This also depends on how much optimization is needed for your site to even be ready to launch.

SEO vs PPC: Decide your marketing Channel

So should you start with SEO or PPC? That question is up to you to decide.

Both types of digital marketing need to be considered, them from there, you can determine whether SEO. PPC or even both options are the best fit for your needs, goals, and budget.

If you are ready to start driving traffic with SEO, PPC or both SEO and PPC, VIvid Techno provides expert SEO Services and PPC Services to client across the country.

{jcomments on}