Pay per Click vs. Search Engine Optimization
{{stephanie}}The Showdown: Should your company do Pay per Click (PPC) or Search Engine Optimization (SEO) ?
A common question that I get asked regularly by potential customers is “Should I sign on to do Search Engine Optimization (SEO) or Pay per Click (PPC)? While every company’s situation is unique, there are some general points to remember.
SEO has been described as a popularity contest where the search engines spend time reviewing each website to identify which ones are most relevant to a user’s search. There are many factors that help the search engines identify a websites’ popularity. To learn more about these different elements look back at our older blog posts. As most of you know from being in high school…you don’t get popular overnight. In fact, it can sometimes take a few months for people to know your name. That is exactly how the search engines work. They take their time to identify you as being popular. Sometimes they might consider your popularity and change their mind. The key thing to remember is that this is a long term strategy. When you sign up to do SEO you are signing up to give your company credibility and presence; this isn’t achievable overnight. However, once credibility is established, the rewards are amazing and your business will $ee tremendous value from it.
PPC is also considered search engine marketing but it is very different than SEO and many different rules apply. PPC is a paid program that allows an ad campaign to be built for the search engine results on specific key phrases of your choice. These ads appear on the right/top of the search engine results page. This type of campaign receives less attention from users than SEO; however, it can easily be changed and manipulated to suit a companies needs. The ability to geographically target your ads, turn your campaign off/on when needed. Use the ad to qualify potential visitors and direct visitors to a page of your choice. PPC is a proven method for generating qualified traffic and leads.
Which one do you choose?
Well, in most cases, we would recommend both. The main reason we would recommend both to you is quite straight forward. With any business, you want the most visual presence possible. Well, if you are on the first page of the search engines through SEO AND PPC…your company appears twice. Two times the chances of getting a lead and sale!
Going a little bit deeper, by participating in both PPC and SEO you are expanding your overall reach and giving your company a strong online presence. PPC might focus on a variety of key phrases that represent the peripheral key phrases related to your business’ products/services whereas SEO might touch on your core business and your general industry. There are many strategies like this and my advice to you would be to consult with an internet marketing professional who can analyze your business for specific information on your company needs.
There is more that could be said about this topic so if you have a specific question, please feel free to ask. Likewise, feel free to add your wisdom.
~Steph
March 26th, 2008 at 8:27 pm
I think the decision really just comes down to two factors:
1. Time:
PPC will show results faster whereas SEO is more of a long term strategry.
2. Budget:
The size of budget you have to work with will affect which road you choose. While SEO should be cheaper it can get expensive if you’re paying for links.
March 27th, 2008 at 5:40 am
PPC is an excellent way to get traffic if you are a brand new site. PPC is okay as long as you don’t rely on it too much. I know a lot of business’ that do a lot of PPC but put little effort into SEO.
March 28th, 2008 at 5:10 pm
i think it depends on how competitve the search terms are. but both would be good, if you can afford it o_O
~Mike
March 28th, 2008 at 8:24 pm
Or I forgot to mention you can always do well by having a domain name that lines up exactly with the search term you’re targeting:
http://www.chrisguthrie.net/ahhh-behold-the-power-of-a-great-domain-name-and-the-first-page-of-google/
You can see the above as an example.
March 29th, 2008 at 4:57 am
[...] reading an article Seo Vs Ppc http://www.sparkinternetmarketing.com/blog/pay-per-click-vs-search-engine-optimization/ I ended up writing the following comment, which turned into this [...]
March 29th, 2008 at 5:00 am
Paid per click has an immediate return – however without a decent Seo strategy in place, where is the brand development? We are constantly after brand development – repeat business. Of course PPC can offer this if done right! But at a constant cost per click until of course you develop you’re following.
I completely agree that both PPC and Seo work well together, however I feel that more emphasis must be given towards cost of Seo, in that it is still marketing and like any quality marketing there is a cost involved to get it right!
See my full article at http://www.ukbestwebmarketing.co.uk/seo-vs-ppc/
March 31st, 2008 at 10:11 pm
Agreed with Chris, really depend on Time & budget. In long run, I would go for SEO.
April 3rd, 2008 at 1:53 pm
SEO or PPC?
Test ROI!