Both PPC (Pay Per Click) advertising and SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) have long been recognised as two unmissable opportunities for businesses, large and small, to market their brand.
However, whilst the two can and do complement each other, a clash of the titans style rivalry continues to brew between those who solely believe in organic traffic, and those who prefer to put their faith in a solution that offers almost instant exposure. But can companies afford to be so narrow-minded?
Internetlivestats.com reveals that, on average, Google will process more than “40,000 search queries” every single second. Though this is good news for firms relying on e-commerce solutions and digital marketing to bring in the majority of business, it also provides a small yet invaluable insight into how competitive being online actually is.
With this in mind, on top of the prospect of battling it out for a good yet maintainable listing with the world’s biggest brands, perhaps an overlap in strategy doesn’t seem so bad after all.
Whilst your goals as a company may not change with a blend of PPC and SEO, whether that blend is to generate more enquiries or sales, both offer different benefits and, in some ways, can play to each other’s strengths.
Below, we have explained how PPC and SEO can work hand-in-hand and have revealed a handful of benefits associated with each marketing titan.
A short-term alternative
SEO campaigns can and have done immensely well in the past. But whether it is fluctuations in rankings, a predictable ‘out-of-season’ loss of traffic, or stagnant results, sometimes retracing your steps and identifying ways of encouraging a surge of visitors to your site is the best and only way.
Unfortunately, whilst you’re sat brainstorming creative solutions in the meeting room for what may be weeks on end, you could be losing out on valuable customers.
That is where PPC comes in. In the event that your SEO campaign isn’t performing the way you envisaged, PPC can offer a short-term answer to ensuring your campaign has the exposure it needs through paid advertising. Of course, if you do turn to Pay Per Click advertising here, it’s also important to consider factors like onsite content quality and relevancy to the ad, to optimise results.
So, why do I still need to think about organic traffic?
Whilst PPC can drive a flow of traffic to your site, with a cost per click for this paid advertising solution, organic traffic still needs to be considered in the bigger picture. Using both can not only significantly improve exposure on Google, helping you to establish your brand in the industry, but it can also affect credibility if you have good organic rankings. In fact, studies show that almost 80% of all searchers click on organic results.
Plus, a combined approach means that you cater for, well, almost everyone, whether they are a little tap-happy on paid search ads or tend to stick to organic listings.
What other ways can SEO and PPC work in synergy?
One huge benefit of both PPC and SEO is their versatility. By this we mean there are so many different ways to use these two types of marketing to their full potential, whilst establishing a balance between the two. One notable example of how they can work in synergy is through social extensions.
Enabling social extensions on your pay per click campaign means that users will be able to see how many Google+ followers you have on the ad itself.
However, it isn’t as easy as just connecting with as many people as possible to build your following though the latter is important. Google also states that if your page consists of “recent, high-quality posts” among other factors, the extension will appear with no set-up, which is where content marketing comes in.
In theory, using social extensions and regularly sharing quality content may just help you show users you’re reputable and in the know when it comes to your particular industry.
So, are PPC and SEO really a clash of the Titans or can they work together after all? i3 will let you decide.