internet design blog website:

SEO vs PPC

when to use which digital marketing strategy

31 August 2021, by Pen Hunt

LIKE us on FB

SEO optimisation vs PPC digital marketing strategy.

SEO and PPC advertising are two of the most common forms of digital marketing in the world. They both offer a lot to growing businesses, but you may be wondering which is better?  Well, it's essential to understand their differences, so you know what works best for your company.


What is SEO?

Search Engine Optimisation is a process that can help you rank high in search engines such as Google. Achieving top ranking will attract organic traffic from these powerful platforms and increase the likelihood of potential consumers finding your products when they make their own searches for keywords related to what it is you offer.

While most SEO optimisation strategies center around Google because it holds 92.24% of the search engine market share, Yahoo and Bing have 18.98% and 3%, respectively. Therefore, you'll need to learn about their ranking factors too if you want your website to appear higher up on these pages as well.

What is PPC?

Pay-per-click is a form of marketing that lets advertisers pay for ads only when someone clicks on them. It's an effective way to reach people who are already interested in your offer, as you're paying for conversions and not wasting money for awareness.

Search engines are the primary source for PPC advertisers. Bidding is done on certain keywords related to specific marketplaces and products searched online. You might have noticed top search result pages tagged with an "Ad" marker because of PPC advertisement. 

PPC advertising should only be used as a more extensive digital marketing campaign with SEO or social media components. This way, it doesn't become too expensive and allow competitors to overtake organic rankings.


Advantages of SEO

optimisation is cheaper in the long run

Despite the costs of hiring an SEO service, you will spend less money in the long run when using organic search engine optimisation. With your content ranked higher on Google and other search engines, it wouldn't take long for customers to find your website. Also, one can argue how scalable an organically driven SE optimisation campaign comes with little overhead. If a target customer clicks through from a blog post, then there's still plenty more who haven't seen it yet.

target different funnel stages

With SE optimisation, you can communicate with your customers at all stages of the sales funnel.  If they're just getting to know about your company and what it offers, show them content that demonstrates why their lives will be better once they purchase.  For those already lined up ready for checkout, create blog posts that teach readers how to use products or services so as not to feel like blind shoppers when making future purchases.

more stable search traffic

When you rank on Google, it is easy to ensure your site has free traffic because the algorithms will continue ranking them. Instead of an off-and-on switch like PPC, where there's only a set budget for each month, SEO keeps your website live as long as you optimize it.

builds brand authority

SE optimisation is not just about getting on the first page of Google. It's also about keeping your spot there since it builds trust and brand authority with potential customers, which signals to Google that you are an expert in this area.


Advantages of PPC:

delivers quick results

Optimisation for search engines can be a long, drawn-out process, but PPC campaigns are much more immediate. You could see results from your SEO strategy in months or years, while a few hours of work on the right ad keywords will give you an instant ROI.

performs better than organic ranking

When you run a Pay Per Click campaign for your target keyword, the competition is put to shame. Your website will likely appear first on page one of search engine results, AKA Google rankings. This makes it very easy for potential clients and customers to find information about your products or services.

 can pinpoint your target audience

Targeting your desired audience is one of the critical components of successful PPC advertising. Using various options, you can identify specific groups like people from certain areas or particular age ranges and interests that will have an excellent chance for conversion down the road.

allows A/B testing on ads

The art of the PPC campaign is to see what turns out best when you run two different ads simultaneously. Depending on your goal and situation, the only thing that changes is a few elements like ad copy or location targeting. You can always make adjustments if they don't work as well for some time by running another test with one aspect changed before deciding whether it needs adjusting again or not.


Digital Marketing: final thoughts

Digital marketing can be confusing, but the answer to search engine optimisation or pay-per-click lies in what your business needs. If you want to go with either or both, it's really up to you and what best suits your situation based on budget, goals and time constraints.


  Back to Internet Design Blog
 Phishing: What to Do About Email Scam

want digital marketing?

TALK TO WEB DESIGN AUCKLAND