With so many ways to approach pay per click marketing, and even more when it comes to building an SEO strategy, it can be difficult to assess which one provides the better return on investment (ROI).

Both drive traffic to websites through search engine marketing, one generates organic traffic and the other paid. Both are important to consider; according to Jupiter Research 81% of users reach their destination website through a search engine.

Multi-faceted approach with an SEO strategy

The face of SEO is changing and evolving almost constantly, thanks to regular updates to Google’s complex algorithms which decide what pages of a website are indexed.

Increasingly there is more focus on quality content and while this is arguably a longer way around than pay per click management, it does provide a more stable ROI in the long-term as you build a stronger domain authority and organic presence online.

SEOMoz also published an article that cited research which found that organic search results are 8.5 times more likely to be clicked on than paid results.

One of the most interesting things about SEO is that there are so many ways to approach a strategy, it can be highly immersive and provide businesses with a platform from which to build their reputation. You can even take the approach of marrying SEO with another digital marketing strategy to make the most of lead generation.

Impressive results with PPC

That’s not to say the PPC doesn’t have a place; after all a lot of people spend a lot of money on it. The results it can yield are extremely impressive and it’s a surefire way for fledgling businesses to get their name out there to boost brand awareness.

While it’s not an easy option by any stretch, timed right, pay per click management can increase conversions. Big brands use PPC despite already having the authority and reputation, which just goes to show how vital some marketers view it in terms of SEO ranking.

Both PPC and SEO have their merits, and in many cases they work in tandem. This is particularly salient advice if you are just starting up a business, or moving your marketing efforts to the digital space; you can utilise the power of PPC to ignite brand awareness and longer term SEO strategies to maintain visibility as you build a solid reputation through good SEO practice.

SEO wins the day

An example of this would be to increase organic traffic with an SEO campaign that leads to an email sign-up conversion. You can then utilise email marketing to further explore the relationship you have instigated with little or no incremental cost.

Lower costs overall

Research estimates that around 87% of search engine currency is spent on pay per click marketing, while just 11% is spent on SEO strategy.

This represents a huge disparity in overall spend, but with the long-term results from quality SEO work being more stable, it’s fairly reasonable to suggest that the ROI is rather more positive with SEO.

Conclusively however, statistics on cost and results would suggest that search engine optimisation is the better option for value and ROI.

It is more affordable, and with an emphasis on quality content, all you technically need to do is to make sure that your website is home to unique, high quality content to start making waves in the rankings.

Of course algorithms continue to change and often catch marketers off guard, but in the grand scheme of things this is an opportunity for businesses to ensure they are always sat on the cutting edge of digital developments in marketing.

Stuck? Get in touch with us now to find out how we can increase your website conversions.