Search Engine Optimization vs. Pay Per Click Advertising

Driving customers to your site is an important part of any marketing effort. There are a lot of different ways that you can get them there, but search engine optimization (SEO) and pay per click advertising (PPC) are some of the most popular methods. Each one has very distinct pro and cons. It’s important to understand the strengths of each marketing tactic so you can select the best option for your particular campaign. There is no one-size-fits-all solution in internet marketing, and no clear winner between these two strategies. The final decision must be based on your individual company and the specific campaign you’re running.

PPC is advertising that is customized to a certain audience. This allows for a very high conversion rate. With pay per click advertising, your company has a good chance of reaching interested customers. It’s important to remember, however, that PPC is still just advertising and many people are accustomed to ignoring online ads no matter how well-targeted they may be. PPC typically generates about 12 percent of a web page’s traffic, while the remaining 88 percent comes straight from SEO tactics. This is because SEO isn’t specifically used for advertising. SEO is simply a way of optimizing your page to better serve customers.

Search engine optimization can itself include many different tactics that are designed to increase your site’s search engine rankings. The better your SEO, the higher your page will rank when customers search related terms on pages like Google. The benefit of SEO is that it puts your page in front of your customers at the exact moment when they’re looking for it. The customer proactively searches for your content and is therefore much more likely to follow through and visit your page when it comes up. After all, that’s the reason they ran the search to begin with. The lead is warm long before it gets to your site.

The benefit of PPC is that it’s easy to customize and play around with. You can change your tactics and try different keywords at the click of a button. If you’re not sure which phrases will get the best results, it’s relatively simple to run multiple campaigns and find out. SEO is much more time-intensive. Content needs to be drawn up, web page code is altered, and the entire site is essentially built around your targeted keywords. Changing your SEO to target a new set of keywords is a monumental effort, making this tool less flexible. In the end, the smartest choice is a combination of both tactics.  For more information on Google tools including Googles pay per click advertising download my New Business Start Up Guide.