SEO vs PPC

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) vs. Pay Per Click Advertising (PPC)

Which one is Better for your Business?

I’ll start with my favorite little analogy for explaining the difference between SEO vs. PPC.

Freight Trains and Light Switches

SEO is like a freight train. It takes a lot of effort to get it going. But once it’s going, it continues gaining momentum and takes off! There are several reasons for this, mainly because Google takes awhile to trust websites. Your website has to earn “authority” to be deemed a trustworthy resource for Google to serve to users.

Paid advertising, on the other hand, is like a light switch. As soon as it’s turned on (ahem, as soon as you start giving Google money), you will see results almost immediately. As soon as it’s switched off, or your budget runs out, you will no longer see any results from it.

Which is more beneficial?

First, let’s get the universal answer out of the way: It depends. We’ll dive back into this in a moment.

Short Term: Paid Advertising
Long Term: SEO

Best Approach?

SEO + Paid Advertising = Great Combo!

A holistic approach integrating Paid Advertising and a strategic SEO campaign is the best approach to bring instant growth while also focusing on long-term growth. Bring in instant leads and revenue from your Google Ad Campaigns so you have the capability to invest into long-term SEO growth.

A Little Case Study to Demonstrate the Value of SEO Over Paid Advertising

SEO aims to increase the Organic traffic to your website. Your hired SEO professional will be able to report to you how much it would cost IF you were paying for the same amount of traffic in Google Ads. For instance, this client is ranking for 5,700 organic keywords. Many of those are highly competitive keywords. So, if they had only focused on Paid Advertising, they would be paying roughly $26,000 per month for the same amount of traffic. That’s bananas. And that’s why SEO is the most recommended digital marketing strategy.

How Long Does SEO Take?

SEO grows exponentially over time. But it takes skill. While you could do it yourself, you will need to invest a considerable amount of time into learning all the nitty gritty that goes into it.

SEO requires a long-term commitment, but as long as you are strategically implementing the proper on-page and off-page optimizations, your rankings on search engines will begin to increase and you should start seeing results about 6 months in. The more effort you put into making your website SEO-friendly, you will begin to increase your domain authority, and ranking new webpages or blogs will gradually become easier and easier.

For instance, the client whom the data above belongs to has been investing in SEO for eight years.

The Overlap

If you are investing into SEO, it typically includes some sort of content creation as well. Content is an important part of SEO, and content is also important for your Paid Advertising campaigns.

Here’s a couple things to consider if you don’t have the resources to invest in both SEO and PPC.

1. Budget

2. Will you be outsourcing the work or doing it yourself?

3. What are your goals?

1. What is your budget?

What’s your overall marketing budget? Do you prioritize short-term or long-term ROI? SEO requires a higher short-term cost but an incredible long-term value and ROI.

2. Do you have time to wait for results (leads) or do you want them instantly?

Because organic traffic takes awhile longer to build, it will take awhile before you see results from your investment. How long it takes to see results depends on many factors, such as the competitiveness of your industry. Typically, you can expect to really start seeing results around 6 months.

The Trustworthiness Factor (Quantity vs Quality of Traffic)

Just think of your own experience: Do you typically trust the organic results or paid results more? Most people, approximately 90%, click on the first organic results opposed to the paid ads (even though the ads appear first).

SEO Requirements:

-Patience

-Higher trust

Look at it this way. Almost everyone researches a product or service online before visiting or making a purchase. The statistics for online are rapidly growing and not likely to decrease any time soon. Investing into growing your website’s content and traffic is a necessity. All of your marketing budget should be devoted to digital. Studies have shown that traditional marketing is no longer a thing.

If your company is in trouble and needs marketing to boost sales and leads right now, SEO is not the tool for you.

“You know SEO is important, perhaps critical, for your business, but you’ve got 100 other things that are also critical. You’ve got a to-do list a mile long and an inbox with hundreds of unread emails. You rely on your team to handle SEO…” -Josh Steimle, Forbes

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