PPC or SEO – Which Do You Need? (UPDATED)

A frequent question customers ask is: which is better PPC or SEO for your website promotion?

The short answer is: you need both! Let me explain.

What is the difference between SEO and PPC?

Have you heard the story of the tortoise and the hare? The case of SEO and PPC is like that. You need to start with an effective SEO (Search Engine Optimization) program.

What is Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)?

According to Wikipedia Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is the process of affecting the online visibility of a website or a web page in a web search engine’s organic results—often referred to as “natural”,  or “earned” results.

Optimising your website can be divided into two on-page optimisation and off-page optimisation. On-page optimisation as the name suggests involves everything that you do directly on a page to optimise it such as editing its content, adding content, doing HTML or another coding.

All these and more are done to both increase its relevance to specific keywords or topics and to remove barriers to the indexing activities of search engines.

Off-page optimisation is activities conducted outside of your web page (hence the name off-page) to promote your web page or site such as creating inbound links (backlinks) to the content of your web page.

SEO may target different kinds of search. For instance, your SEO may focus on targeting image search, video search, news search.

While most organisations that do SEO focus on Google since it is the dominant search engine, this does not mean that your SEO cannot focus on other search engines such as Bing, Yahoo and so on.

SEO has evolved a lot in recent times. Gone are the days when organisations focused on keywords alone.

These days with Google’s recent Rank Brain algorithm change, your focus needs to shift from targetting keywords to becoming an authority or thought leader on specific topics.

Benefits of SEO

Have you heard the story of the tortoise and the hare? The case of SEO and PPC is like that. You need to start with an efficient SEO (Search Engine Optimization) program.

While SEO is slow and steady like the tortoise, it is critical to your success online. The reasons are:

• 8 out of 10 users are more likely to click on your natural or organic listing rather than a PPC or sponsored listing. Organic listings are the first search results on Google, Yahoo!, and so on. PPC sponsored listing is usually on the top or right-hand.
• Unlike PPC ads, your website is the hub of your online presence. It must remain visible to all potential prospects and customers everywhere they are searching.
• Generally speaking, websites that follow a consistent SEO program drive more traffic. Users usually have a better experience.

What is Pay-per-click (PPC) Advertising?

According to Wikipedia, Pay-per-click (PPC), also known as cost per click (CPC), is an internet advertising model used to direct traffic to websites, in which an advertiser pays a publisher (typically a website owner or a network of sites) when the ad is clicked on. A pay-per-click advertisement is associated with search engines such as Google Ads and Bing Ads.

PPC “display” advertisements, aka “banner” ads, are shown on sites with related content that have agreed to show ads and are typically not pay-per-click advertising.

Social networks such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest and so on have also adopted pay-per-click as one of their advertising models.

However, other prominent sites can offer PPC ads too. Websites that utilise PPC ads display advertisement when a keyword query matches an advertiser’s keyword list that has been added in different ad groups, or when a content site displays relevant content. These type of ads are generally referred to as sponsored links or sponsored advertisements.

Benefits of PPC Advertising

So what about Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising? Like the hare in the story, PPC is quick-hitting adverts that drive traffic to your website. A few key reasons for PPC advertising are:

• PPC is the most cost-effective form of advertising today.
• Unlike SEO that takes some time to build your ranking, PPC ads take effect immediately. It can vault you to the first page of the search results.
• PPC ads can also focus on a specific area/region, tested and measured for effectiveness.

How to use SEO and PPC the right way?

We all know who wins the race between the tortoise and the hare. An effective SEO program will drive more visits to your website more cost-effectively. But, the hare sure created a lot of excitement along the way!

So get in the race and use these two strategies properly to maximise your online presence.

Conclusion

Sound simple? It is! But to succeed, you need to work with a digital marketing professional. Outsource your search engine optimisation and pay-per-click ads management to us today. Schedule a meeting to get started.

Related Article(s)

• What is Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)?
• Why SEO for Business Owners in Nigeria Is Important
• How to Select an Awesome SEO Agency That’s Right for Your Brand
• 10 Reliable Tips for an Effective SEO Strategy This Year
• How to Explain SEO to Someone Who Knows Nothing About It
• 10 Myths about SEO That You Should Stop Believing
• 5 Reasons SEO Is the Strongest Link
• Influence of Social Media on SEO
• Our Five Step SEO Process
• How Can Mobile Optimization Improve Your SEO?
• SEO for Small Business Websites
• Why and How to Start Using Search Engine Optimization Now

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Updated January 2019