Introduction
Continuing the topic of paid vs organic digital marketing we’ll touch upon search engine ads known as PPC and search engine marketing methods commonly known as SEO. Many modern digital marketers implement SEO and PPC in their online marketing strategies. These two methods aim to achieve online growth and attract a broader audience for organisations, however, what splits these two tactics is their approach. They are viewed as different marketing strategies and therefore many brands invest resources into one or the other. Either focusing on organic SEO or paid advertising PPC. The neglect of a website to utilise both marketing strategies in conjunction can be a debilitating mistake which thwarts a website of reaching it’s full potential on SERP’s. (Search Engine Results Pages) In this blog we will touch upon SEO and PPC and how while each marketing strategy approach is different they can still build upon each other. We will also look at how these two digital marketing approaches can not only be used in conjunction to get the most out of your digital marketing campaign but how they are reliant on one another, providing valuable data which can mutually improve the performance of both. In order to better understand how the symbiotic relationship between these two online marketing approaches can help your brand earn a higher spot on search engines we will look closely at SEO and PPC, analysing their differences and similarities in depth, and exploring the ways to get the most out of these two marketing methodologies.
What is SEO and PPC?
SEO is a common acronym for Search Engine Optimisation. It refers to the process in which search engines “crawl” web pages to determine if the content will attract traffic. This allows search engines to assess various factors on a website (including tags, link titles, keywords) and rank the website according to its capacity to attract organic traffic. This rank is determined by a variety of additional factors. When applying an SEO strategy you can optimise your website to fulfil these factors and appear higher in SERP’s where the majority of organic traffic is. This marketing approach should be a vital part to any digital marketing strategy. Because of the influence of search engines on the Web it is becoming essential that all digital marketers have knowledge of SEO and apply it to some capacity for their website. For brands trying to rank on search engines it can consume time and resources to master SEO and apply the technical ability to fulfil all the ranking requirements which is where SEO experts provide services minimising labour and maximising results. PPC refers to “Pay-Per-Click” advertising. These are pages that are promoted by advertisers to appear at the top and the sides of search engines such as Google, Bing, or when people search social media networks such as Facebook or Instagram. The name “Pay Per Click” is derived from the fact that brands only pay for ads once they are clicked by online users. PPC is one of the main ways online brands and digital marketing companies acquire new leads and customers. The cost can be affordable when wanting to expand the brand’s reach beyond organic traffic but the cost to bid on certain words or phrases varies. Less competitive keywords are more affordable while those with more competitors and high demand can costs up to hundreds of pounds per click. PPC is often referred to as SEM but they are not necessarily the same thing. SEM refers to Search Engine Marketing and is a broader descriptor of the different types of paid search advertising. If done well, search engine advertisement can catapult websites to the top of search engines, increase brand recognition or target specific customers and bring certain leads to your website. The drawbacks of PPC or SEM are that it requires a significant amount of resources more than SEO. This is not limited to the financial investment towards PPC and SEM research but also special knowledge and tools – from Google Ads to Meta Business Suite. Online brands not versed in these digital marketing areas would benefit from hiring SEO and PPC can be referred to as two sides of the same coin. SEO focuses on an organic approach to generate traffic while PPC seeks to rank higher while focusing on paid keywords. While their actions and approaches are different their overarching goals are the same. In fact, digital marketers often use SEO and SEM interchangeably to reference a similar set of marketing activities done online. However, with their similarities also come a few key differences..
The Relationship Between SEO and PPC
Can SEO affect PPC or Can PPC affect SEO?
New digital marketers often ask whether their SEO approach can directly affect their PPC ads or vice versa. The answer is technically they cannot. When investing resources into PPC you cannot affect your website ranking organically. Likewise strong SEO cannot affect PPC ads. However, PPC and SEO can work together to create a strong overall digital marketing plan. Although directly there are no SEO benefits when using PPC ads, there are still benefits to be reaped indirectly to affect your website’s performance. Let’s check out these benefits.
How SEO and PPC can Work Together To Benefit Your Website
Here is a summary of some of the benefits of combining these two online marketing approaches:
- Increased search engine presence
It is clear for any experience digital marketer that utilising SEO in the right way can mean your website reaches the top of the search results organically for a particular keyword. Likewise, with a high enough bid towards PPC advertising you can also rank your website near the top of a search results page when certain keywords are searched. With a combination of both approaches, your optimised website as well as your paid ad can dominate the top of the search results and have the highest chance to entice clicks from potential customers.
- PPC allows new keywords to be tested for your SEO campaign
Search engine optimisation can often require an investment of time, finance, and research to run campaigns and appeal to customers successfully. It can be challenging when wanting to target specific keywords to see if the will fit with your online presence as applying them to your pages can drain resources. This is where you can use PPC to test new keywords. Simply run a campaign using the new keywords and monitor the progress. If the results for the new keywords are well received implement them into your website. This is an effective method to test if new keywords should be optimised for your site without the need to invest abundant resources.
- PPC helps recover interest from searchers
It can be a common assumption that if your brand is organically ranking first on a SERP keyword, purchasing additional PPC ads for the keyword to appear twice on a search engine page would be a waste. Research studies done by Google showed that when PPC ads for a keyword were paused, as much as 89% of the generated traffic was not replaced by the high ranking organic links. This means when you pause PPC campaigns you may actually negatively affect your traffic. This also means PPC ads can pick up clicks where organic searches wouldn’t have. This may be because 25.8% of the time people naturally click the very first link they see on a SERP.
- Remarketing campaigns give opportunities to reach previous visitors
There are a number of benefits for Ecommerce companies who are already drawing in customers using SEO but who are not converting to sales. You can combine your SEO efforts with PPC ads in a process referred to as “remarketing.” For instance, remarketing can be applied to customers who have left your site without making a purchase. By purchasing ad space from sites on the Google network you can show them ads based on the products that they want to purchase therefore reaching former visitors and encouraging them to convert into a lead. Without the application of remarketing, these potential leads who simply needed time to think about their purchase might have been lost to another client.
- Combining PPC and SEO provides information to improve decision making and strategy
One of the main ways SEO and PPC can benefit your marketing strategy is to provide you with an abundant source of data to help your brand create long term strategies. When drafting campaigns there are similar metrics to be found, analysed, and compared on both SEO and PPC such as:
- Time on Site
- Conversion Rate
- Clickthrough rate
- Bounce and exit rates
You can use this data to understand which keywords are most effective for you in generating sales. You can also look at the keywords which are most effective at creating leads or sales. This will help you better understand your market segment, target customers, and help you make smarter digital marketing decisions. It is worth noting that you can acquire this data solely by using either PPC or SEO but, when utilising both, you have the potential to acquire double the data.
Conclusion
So which digital marketing approach should you take? Each method should provide their own benefits and challenges for building traffic to your online pages. We delved into what both SEO and PPC offer and what their benefits are. We also looked at approaching both of them at the same time and what they can offer as a combined strategy. Our conclusion is that it pays to combine SEO and PPC, it pays to have the most search engine space as possible especially if you can reach the first page. 75% of internet users click only on results from page one of a SERP and 28.5% of the time people only click the first link making it truly important to control either the top paid ad position or the first organic listing as the probability of customers clicking on your site increases tremendously. If you want more tips, in our previous article we mentioned how focusing on social media can help you dominate SERP space by taking up multiple spots on page 1 results. Never settle for one approach of digital marketing. Focus on a holistic strategy which incorporate more than SEO or PPC because you could be leaving a lot of things on the table. Why not try out video marketing, display ads, guest posting, or social media marketing too. Focus your communications where your target customers are with the right language, right location and right time to see what works for you.
