PPC vs SEO – Which is Better?

Marketers are often required to make decisions about how to invest their time and online marketing money. While doing the same, there are some important things to be considered including the difference between PPC ads and SEO rankings.

Any strategy applied to improve search engine optimization can enable the Google Search ranking to go up by making a page much more relevant to the users. The search listings are free, and Google does not let anyone pay to get a better ranking because of the simple reason that Google is committed to keeping the content reliable and informative.

On the other hand, the PPC ads just like Google Ads are paid online advertisements that appear next to the relevant searches and other content on the internet. Simply running a Google Ad campaign will not be useful for improving the SEO ranking as opposed to some common myths and claims. That said, PPC ads are known to be very helpful in connecting with a wide base of an audience on the internet.

Often, many companies contemplate on what they should use for their business, PPC, SEO, or both? In this blog, we will explore how things work and the benefits that both SEO and PPC are capable of offering.

Search Engine Optimization

Search engine optimization is the simple practice of optimizing a website or a webpage for increasing the quality and quantity of its traffic from organic search results. The common benefits of SEO include free and passive traffic to a website that comes month after month.

There are a couple of things that must be looked out for when it comes to improving a website’s SEO. The first and most important thing is to make sure that the writing on a website is useful and descriptive. You can explain your topic in simple and easy-to-understand language. It will also pay off to include the words that a user might look for while searching for something online.

In case you include some terms in a website’s copy, it is also important to ensure that you are still talking to the people you hope should see your site. You should not clutter your page with too many search items to ensure that users do not ignore your site. In addition, do not use text images for links, content, and titles that Google does not recognize. Instead, you must focus on what is easy for a user to see and understand.

Why SEO?

Organic SEO can be used as one of the most affordable methods for improving a website’s visibility while placing you right in front of your target audience at the time they come on the internet with a query. Organic clicks are absolutely free and do not cost any money. It takes time to see SEO results but there are no costs associated with every click. If the marketers focus on doing SEO in the right way then free traffic is assured.

After search engine optimization has been used optimally to achieve good rankings, seeing sustained results becomes easy. The business is shown to the potential audience. In essence, SEO ensures more stability. The rankings can stay pretty consistent when you optimize your website in the right manner.

One of the most important standpoints of a good SEO strategy involves creating informative and useful content. When companies focus on creating content that targets a different audience, it becomes easy to get more traffic.

SEO is also pretty cost-effective. You can either an agency for getting search engine optimization services or you can hire a team member. In both cases, the overall cost comes out to be pretty nominal and worth the results that you see in the long haul.

Related Read: Most Common Mistakes of SEO And How To Avoid Them

Pay Per Click

Pay-per-click is actually an advertising model in which you pay for clicks. It works when you buy some clicks from Google or any other search engine. Essentially, PPC advertising is a method that is used to quickly leverage search engine traffic by either paying or bidding for keywords that are related to what you are selling or a service that you might be providing.

In PPC ads, you are only supposed to pay when someone clicks on your ads, visits your websites, or also calls your business. The PPC ads give you an opportunity to be noticed by a wider audience. You can change your ads anytime for reaching a specific group of people or promoting a deal or a product. This acts as a resource for companies that cannot update their SEO frequently for promoting sales or seasonal changes in their products or services.

Google Ads also gives you an option of marketing your business outside of Google Search by getting displayed on the Google Display Network. Choosing PPC ads will not let you have the same results as SEO, and it will not improve your search engine rankings. However, with the flexibility they offer, Google Ads can help many businesses attract attention from people who matter right at the moment when they are looking for a business like yours.

Why PPC?

PPC is an advertising method that helps to see immediate results. You can start seeing what it is capable of offering right after you can make your PPC campaign go live. The PPC ads are directly related to seeing traffic, clicks, and conversions.

The PPC ads are placed right at the top of a SERP page. Running and managing a PPC campaign only needs an experienced paid search specialist, and also a good writer who can compose informative content, attractive ads, and landing pages. When you use pay-per-click ads, you have an option to target customers with search ads, shopping ads, Gmail ads, and much more.

All you have to do is use the right advertising tools for reaching your audience and encouraging them to buy from you or even make an inquiry. When you run a PPC campaign, you get access to a wide range of data on the ads and keywords which the customers can click on before making any purchase. This also signifies that you can make changes to a campaign for optimizing it and improving the investment rate that is spent on ads.

It is rather simple to run A/B testing with the help of Google Ads and run a campaign to drive continued improvements and get better returns. You can also implement a targeted approach to offer ads that cater to specific customers. Irrespective of whether you wish to target searches on location, device, time, and other factors, you can use a PPC campaign for reaching out to people who are more than likely to buy.

Finally, when you use PPC ads, there is no need to monitor the Google search algorithm updates. This is because you bid on the top spot, so your organic rankings do not matter as much.

PPC v/s SEO – What Should You Use For Your Business?

The answer to this question depends completely on you. However, it will always help considering that both the SEO and PPC can help in different ways. These days, people look online when they want any kind of recommendation. In this scenario, both SEO and Google Ads can help in connecting with these people when they are looking for something that they need.

Search engine optimization is considered a standpoint for successful digital marketing processes. It gives your business a great chance to be found and that too with organic search. On the other hand, your customers can be reached almost immediately with the help of Google Ads no matter how small or big your business is. In addition, your campaigns can be customized while they are progressing. Basically, SEO and PPC can help you in different ways to make your digital marketing successful.

Notes:

• The first and foremost responsibility of a search engine is to use the most suitable results. In case businesses would have been able to pay for higher rankings in the search results, they would not have been getting any information that they are looking for. Hence, PPC marketing does not help to improve SEO results.
• Google Ads offers a suite of tools that can be used for understanding how to optimize a website. For example, a keyword tool can help in forming a list of items that are related to a business and generate a lot of searches that can be integrated into a website’s content. Moreover, Google Ads can also be used to track tools for measuring any changes in the website and ad campaigns that can lead to more conversions. Google also provides non-Google ads to many small businesses for free. Google Analytics can track which queries bring more visitors to a site even when Google Ads is being used.

Both PPC and SEO can be used together to get the best results in bringing more traffic to a website and enhancing a business presence for long-term success. However, there can be some situations in which you can use either PPC or SEO. They are:

1. Launching a Creative Product or Service: If you want to get more organic traffic, it becomes important to target topics that most people are looking for already. However, when you are working for a company that caters to offering innovative products and services, it is probable that almost no one is looking for it.

When you bring a new and creative product or service to the market that has not been offered before, people don’t know if they need it or not. You have the power to make them realize the difference that a product or a service might offer.

Hence, if you are bringing a never seen or heard product to the market then it will be best if you use the power of PPC ads for building awareness. This will help in seeing almost immediate results. After you have achieved a certain standing in the market, you can begin using SEO or a mix of SEO and PPC.

2. Preparing For a Launch: In case you are preparing for the launch of a product or promoting something in a one-time event then search engine optimization is not going to do the job. You need immediate responses and greater awareness and to get that you will have to use the PPC ads.

If you use search engine optimization then you have to be aware that it will take its time. The launch event that you are preparing for will get over by the time you see your ranking. Hence, it is best to consider PPC ads or other digital marketing options such as influencer marketing.

3. Gaining Organic Reach: The organic search equates to the search results of a search engine that are not related to paid advertising. They are ranked on the basis of their relevance to the search keywords. Acquiring a good organic reach needs consistent SEO best practices.

In case you are in no hurry and you wish to create a long-term reach and popularity about your business then you can use SEO for gaining organic search. This is an excellent method for staying at the top and helps considerably in converting more and more leads. The only thing is that the SEO practices take some time to show their results.

Conclusion

To conclude, we would like to mention that rather than worrying which one out of SEO and PPC is better, the focus should be on figuring out a strategy that combines SEO and PPC so that the best digital marketing outcome can be obtained. You can form a strategy that targets the right keywords and use them for both SEO and PPC.

However, it is also important to remember that every channel is different and it always makes sense for them to be managed that has the experience. Both SEO and PPC require different skills and knowledge to see some tangible results. Therefore, make sure that an experienced person handles it for you.