Both PPC and SEO are Effective Tools, so Which is the Best For You?
While both PPC and SEO are undoubtedly effective, those who have a limited advertising budget may naturally wonder which type of online advertising is the better option. The truth is there is no hard and fast answer. A lot depends on the nature of your business, your target audience, your marketing budget and how quickly you want to see results. As a Search Marketing Agency, we are providing the following as a fact-based comparison of PPC vs. SEO for your consideration.
Search Engine Results Research
Research has shown that very few people look past Google’s first five search engine results. This means that any business owner who wants large quantities of traffic will need to be on the first page of search results for relevant queries. Given the fact that this is nearly impossible to obtain unless you are an established business or an SEO expert with a lot of time on your hands, you will probably need PPC advertising to create an awareness of who you are and what you have to offer, at least at the beginning.
PPC advertising is not as expensive as many people believe, especially if you customize or optimize your campaign. You can choose who sees your advertisements geographically and when they see them. You pick which keywords are used and determine how much you will bid for the keywords you want. Furthermore, your Google advertisements appear not only on relevant searches but also numerous websites that use Google Ads. This means that potential customers are regularly exposed to your company’s advertisements, thus increasing the likelihood of your websites getting both traffic and sales.
At the same time, even newbie companies can’t discount the use of SEO. As an SEO Agency, we know optimizing your website from the get-go is far easier than having to optimize it at a later date. Important aspects of SEO for new business for SEO include choosing an optimized URL, picking relevant, targeted Meta keywords and choosing keywords for a PPC advertising campaign.
Search Marketing Long-Term ROI
Perhaps the biggest downside of using PPC long-term is that it only works if you have money. If you stop investing money in your advertising campaign, it’s over. You can cut back on PPC spending by only advertising at certain times of the year or when you want to promote a special offer; even so, the fact remains that you need to continually invest money in PPC advertising to gain results.
Search engine optimization; on the other hand, provide free advertising and results long after your company has exhausted its advertising budget. Your optimized website will continue to retain its place or even rise in Google’s search engine if it contains relevant content that customers need and appreciate. Optimized, regular blog posts will keep customers coming back to your site to benefit from your expertise. Optimized social media content will gain likes and shares as others essentially promote your business free of charge to potential customers.
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However, one important point to bear in mind is the fact that search engine optimization is not really “free” advertising. It takes a lot of time to create optimized website content. Furthermore, SEO is not something that you can simply do once and then forget about. Google is regularly updating its algorithm, which means that SEO tactics that worked today are no longer as effective as they were in times past. Conversely, new technological developments have created new SEO strategies that you may need to implement if you want your site to remain successful. In short, SEO is an ongoing task that you will either need to make time for or pay an SEO Agency to manage.
PPC or SEO, Which is Better For You?
Those who aren’t familiar with either SEO or PPC may want to pay a digital marketing agency to handle either (or both) forms of advertising. This means will need to calculate the cost of outsourcing your online marketing and ensure you have funds to pay the marketing company and cover PPC ads.
You need to know who to target before you plan any type of online marketing campaign. While PPC allows you to test many markets and messages, knowing your target demographic from the start can help you save both time and money. SEO is only successful if you choose the right keywords and this can only be done if you know exactly who you want to reach.
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Do careful research to determine which form of advertising is right for your company. Moreover, you should evaluate your online marketing campaigns on a regular basis. Knowing when to use PPC, SEO or both can help you reach customers while efficiently spending your advertising budget to maximize conversions.