The Relationship Between SEO & PPC
The Relationship Between SEO & PPC
You might’ve heard that PPC is a short time strategy and that SEO is a long-term strategy.
Yawn.
I get it, SEO is long-term in that it generally takes a long time to get page 1 ranks, whereas you can fly to the top of page 1 with a PPC campaign.
That’s great, but a guarenteed page 1 position doesn’t equal sales and revenue. PPC also takes time to refine campaigns that actually serve your business.
It’s not a question of PPC or SEO. These powerful marketing tactics should be executed together and for the long term as long as they bring their own ROI. Both PPC and SEO have complementary goals and objectives.
Let’s explore the relationship between SEO and PPC.
In this article:
What is SEO?
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation.
SEO is a marketing tactic that aims to serve users searching on Google. Through SEO we increase website visibility in search, earn clicks through well optimised and well written title tags and then convert those clicks into enqurires or paying customers on well designed pages fit to serve the search intent.
Pros of SEO
Efforts compound over time
Once you’ve put in the hard work, written the blog, earned the page 1 rank your article is generally easier to maintain and keep in those to-spots. As you continue to build out pages on your site you earn more visibility and clicks.
Data-driven marketing funnel
The data that SEO provides all of marketing is incredible. Through keyword research and competitor analysis you will have a deep understanding of your user, the problems they are trying to solve exactly what you need to create to get in front of them in Google.
It’s inbound
Once your page is live and ranking in Google your audience is going to come to you. All you need to do is set up your funnel correctly.
Cons of SEO
It can take time to see results
SEO is a long-term strategy and generally takes time to see results. You will often hear the industry sharing that the results take 3-6 months. From experience this is a good estimate. Granted some individual keywords will rank within the day, yep, whereas other could take as much as a year or mor. There are so many factors but one thing that is truth is that 3-6 months helps both parties manage expectations.
It’s not just about keywords
SEO is synomomous with keywords and keyword research. If you want to rank for something, just use the keyword. If only it was that simple. With SEO you need to be intentional, applying keywords to pages that actually have the best chance of ranking. It’s highly strategic and requires an understanding of keywords, SERP analysis, the consumer, the competitor landscape, technical SEO and more.
When to use SEO
You should always be thinking about SEO. It is, in my opinion, one of the most important marketing tactics, however there are questions on how much time and money you invest into SEO. This is highly dependant on the business, the audience and the state of the website.
Graph shows clicks and impressions increasing from an SEO strategy.
What is PPC?
PPC stands for Pay-Per-Click. PPC is a form of digital marketing where you, the advertiser, pay Google (or social media) every time your ad is clicked.
Pros of PPC
Instant feedback
With PPC you are rewarded with instant results and therefore a fast feedback loop. As soon as you publish an ad, it’s live, providing the budget is set correctly. You can see within weeks how successful your ads has been, whether people are clicking on it and even what revenue was generated as a result of your efforts.
You’re in control
You can set a budget that you are comfortable with and easily adjust this as you need to get your desired results. If it doesn’t work, you can turn them off. Simple.
You can taget specific audiences
PPC is highly targeted. You can target (and retarget) exactly the types of people you need on your site.
Cons of PPC
You have to spend money
PPC comes with a cost. If a business owner wants to go at SEO and PPC alone then all SEO is going to cost is time. PPC on the other hand does require adspend. If you make a mistake PPC can get very costly.
When to use PPC
Consider PPC as soon as your website is ready for it. That means that your conversion landing pages are actually converting and ready for users to land on them. Use PPC to test keywords to see if they’re worthy of the SEO investment, also.
When should use SEO and PPC together
Always!
Well, alright, maybe not always, but likely you should at least be trying both of these marketing tactics. And you shouldn’t be undertaking PPC until SEO is ranking and can do the heavy lifting.
Having ads and SEO working together increases your visibility in SERPs, thus increases CTR. Think about it, with SEO and PPC you could appear in SERPs serveral times:
- Once at the top with an ad
- Within the map if it’s a local listing
- Within PCC
- One organic listing
What’s more is that those 4 ranks for your site are 4 opportunities that your competitor is not visibile, nice!
The relationsip between SEO and PPC is not truly understood. There’s a reason why this LinkedIn post was one of my most successful posts pulling in 8,166 impressions, 115 reacts, 66 comments and 2 reposts.
Your SEO vs PPC questions answered
How is ranking different when comparing PPC vs SEO?
PPC ads rank at the top and bottom of Google SERPs. Ranking factors that influence PPC ads showing up include: ad quality, ad relevancy and ad spend. SEO ranks in Google and can be found in featured snippets like PAA or local listeings in the map. SEO ranks are also the organic ranks under the PPC results. The algorithm for SEO is complex and although we don’t know everything that plays a role in SEO ranking we do know that quality content, meeting search intent, keywords, backlinks and more play an important role.
How does PPC affect SEO?
PPC can positively impact SEO. Sometimes, just for having an ad there, SEO CTR can increase. You’re probably at least familiar with people who like to avoid the ads and opt for an organic result. Nevertheless, the ad builds the brand and blocks a competitor rank.
Also, successful PPC campaigns can target very specific audiences and if the actions they take on your website are positive, Google will see that page is serving users and potentially bolster SEO efforts.
Is PPC better than SEO?
For some brands perhaps PPS is the better option, but generally we think that both SEO and PPC are incredible marketing tactics in their own right. The question should never really be is PPC better, rather how I can I use SEO and most effective, together.
