Pay per click and SEO can be seen as the two sides of a coin. Each of them help in boosting website traffic in their own way. The only major difference between PPC and SEO is the expense. PPC by Google AdWords and Yahoo Search Marketing can be a bit heavy on your pockets. You will have to pay the marketing experts and you will have to pay for the keywords you wish to rank for.
SEO is something you own website marketing team can perfect over time, without accounting for any added expenses. SEO is basically free for the smart webmasters who know how to achieve high ranks by using trending keywords. Search Engine Optimization is an ongoing process that helps search engine spiders spot your website in the maddening crowd.
On the other hand, in case of PPC, you need to pay a fee whenever a user clicks on your ad displayed above or beside SRLs.
Now that we have the basics of each approach cleared out, the old question remains. “Which approach is better?” there is no unanimous answer to this question. The better method depends on the nature of your needs and your immediate budget. However, if you want to know which one is best for your business, you should be asking these 3 questions:
- What is your website ad budget?
The key factor that will primarily determine your method of website marketing is your ad budget. It is always a good idea to start with $5 to $10 per day. This is the basic budget most websites adhere to for PPC.
PPC is more recommended for smaller companies with a flexible budget. You will get multiple benefits, including:
- Faster outcomes: PPC can help you test your website variables faster. When you are running a website, you need to see which parameters help you achieve higher conversion rates and which ones generate higher CTR. You can purchase traffic through PPC advertising to generate faster results.
- SEO algorithm update protection:SEO algorithm changes more frequently than Lady Gaga’s costumes. If your website is optimized to old SEO algorithms of Google search engine, then you will not enjoy as much website traffic as the old days. Your SEO Companyneeds to keep your website updated to stay in tune with every Google algorithm update.However, with PPC, you are paying for traffic, so you will not have to worry about the changes the search engines make in their algorithms.
Just like SEO, PPC is a learning curve that helps you move on to campaigns that are more complicated. For best results, you should add your PPC campaign(s) to your Google Analytics account.
- How high is your Cost-per-Click?
Cost-Per-Click or CPC is the fee you need to pay for a single keyword click. It is not homogeneous and the cost usually varies from industry to industry and keywords.
You can usually bid on keywords for per click. If you want to rank for “SEO techniques 2017”, then you would use the Google Traffic Estimator and check the average CPC for the phrase.
Average CPCs can be quite high. They can be in the neighborhood of $30 for popular, high volume keywords. This makes it quite difficult for all advertisers to see a profit fast from PPC advertising. If you want to have a higher margin of profit, we will suggest you to go with SEO. Unless you want help from SEO experts, the cost of optimizing your website should be nil.
- How populated are the SERPs in your industry?
You need to check how competitive your SERPs are before you go with PPC. Simply enter your selected keywords into your Google External Keyword Research Tool and check the estimated competition level. Using this tool, you can also check the average number of advertisers currently bidding on your targeted keywords. The popularity of your SERPs will greatly determine the prices of the PPC services.
Again, if you do not want to spend more and earn less at this moment, SEO is the smarter option for you and your company.
You may have already noticed how difficult it is to rank for target keywords in your industry. There are a few dominant authority websites who always occupy the first few places of the SERPs. It is impossible to displace them unless you invest significant amount of money and time in your marketing efforts. In these cases, it actually makes more sense to pay for generated traffic via PPC rather than wait for organic traffic to discover your website.
More importantly, SEO and PPC do not have to be pitted against each other when it comes to website marketing. You can combine the working principles of both for the best results. These three questions can also help you find the right balance between PPC and SEO that’s optimal for your website.
