One mistake that many business owners need to correct is approaching search engine optimisation (SEO) and pay-per-click (PPC) as separate digital marketing strategies.
The truth is, even with their distinct methods, both of these strategies enhance online visibility and increase audience growth. While SEO focuses on organic search results, PPC involves paid advertisements.
Developing a comprehensive strategy for combining SEO and PPC can give you a competitive advantage. This blog post will combine these two powerhouse marketing strategies to maximise your business’s impact.
Understanding SEO and PPC
SEO and PPC are the twin pillars of digital marketing that business owners need to know about. These are two strategies to generate leads, increase brand growth, and drive revenue.
SEO stands for search engine optimisation. It is a strategy for increasing website visibility and content in SERPs, or search engine results pages. It consists of activities that will enhance the user experience and make it a search engine-friendly platform.
To understand SEO better, visit your search engine and type a keyword or phrase. Once you click “enter,” all websites related to your query are shown. These are called organic search results, unpaid listings that a search engine puts in order of relevance to your search query.
That is where SEO comes into play. It ensures your site will be as high as possible in these organic search results using your chosen keywords.
PPC, on the other hand, is known as pay-per-click advertisements. You usually see these ads at the top of a search results page. It aims to improve the website’s visibility and that of partner sites by putting these ads at the top of search engine results pages.
PPC is usually done through bidding and keyword targeting. For example, if you want an advertisement every time someone searches for “chocolate,” you can bid 5 cents per click. The key to winning this bid is to have the most relevant advertisement and bid the most money. After getting the bid, you will be charged each time someone clicks on your advertisement, hence the term “pay-per-click.”
The Independent Benefits of SEO and PPC
Both SEO and PPC bring you different benefits that align for the same purpose in the end. As two different approaches, SEO and PPC can give you advantages independently.
SEO Benefits
Having the right SEO strategy will allow you to enjoy numerous benefits, like the following:
Organic Search Traffic
The main objective of SEO is to enhance traffic to your site. Ranking on a search engine’s first page is crucial and would bring customers to the table.
It also increases brand awareness and showcases that you’re a trustworthy site that can drive revenue in the long run.
Ahead of Competition
Identifying and understanding your competitors’ SEO strategies will allow you to outrank them on web pages.
Investing in SEO will also help you rise in the SERPs and make your business the top choice for your target audience.
Better Long-term ROI
SEO is the only choice for the best ROI. It is relatively affordable compared to other marketing strategies.
It also generates leads and boosts conversions, making its return on investment (ROI) considerable.
PPC Benefits
PPC is another strategy that brings many advantages to the business. Some of these benefits are:
Gives Budget Control
A PPC strategy allows business owners to control their budget and the keywords they want to target.
It is also a strategy that you can start and stop at any time. This way, business owners have discretion over how much and how they spend their money.
Better Targeting
PPC can allow you to reach your target audience at the right time. It has numerous demographic, location, and time specifications that you can use to address your advertisements well.
PPC allows you to direct your ads, which will minimise costs and narrow your focus to those you want action from.
Time-Based Projects
Speed is one of the primary highlights of PPC.
Business owners can get results from their endeavours quickly and rapidly issue information to the public.
PPC ads appear instantly on search engines, so you can ensure your audience can see them immediately.
The Power of SEO and PPC Combined
While SEO and PPC can substantially benefit your business independently, combining these marketing strategies can produce more successful results. Unlock the power of these two powerhouses and obtain the benefits of having a synchronised marketing approach.
Dominating the SERP
Using both strategies and SEM campaigns will allow you to appear in both organic and paid results, increasing your business’s online presence. SEO and PPC will link paid ads to your website’s landing page.
It doubles your exposure and your chances of increasing traffic.
Sharing Keyword Data
SEO and PPC running alongside each other allow businesses to target the same keywords with different approaches.
Running PPC ads can help you determine the keywords for your website to appear in organic results. At the same time, SEO can reduce reliance on PPC by driving organic traffic.
Brand Awareness
Your target audience should know your brand. Using organic and paid results together will lead to a higher click-through rate, your ads ranking higher, and more people seeing them.
Quality Score
Quality score is vital in Google Ads; it measures how well your advertisements are doing in the competition. It affects your position in search rankings and your keywords’ cost per click.
Get Ahead of the Competition
Search engine results pages are becoming more competitive daily as businesses become digital. Using both strategies efficiently can give you an edge over the competition, allowing you to dominate the first page of SERPs and increase your visibility exponentially.
These two approaches complement each other, with PPC giving you short-term results and SEO offering long-term ones. Having an understanding of both is the true secret to dominating the competition.
Keeping Up with Google’s Evolution
Google is the world’s top search engine and continues to dominate. It’s recorded to have the highest global market share of around 85.53 per cent, making it an obvious choice to focus on in regards to SERP ranking and online visibility because, the thing is, if you’re one of the top-ranking sites in Google, you have higher chances of gaining traction.
Since 1997, Google has focused on providing a better user experience. Its search algorithm constantly evolves and accounts for factors such as page quality, number of links, and relevance to a user’s search query.
Some notable updates that Google had were the introduction of mobile-first indexing, voice search, and featured snippets. Its most recent update was its March core update, significantly impacting search rankings. This update aims to improve the general quality and relevance of search results. Due to this, some sites experienced drops or gains depending on how well their content aligned with the new algorithm.
Keep up with these updates by letting PPC and SEO work together. As such, PPC campaigns can test new strategies and quickly adapt to algorithm updates. Insights gained from these campaigns can be integrated into SEO, allowing businesses to optimise their websites for the latest search trends and user behaviour.
Other than that, it’s also important not to get pressured into adapting and making instant changes to your website. Take one step at a time, keep updated on the news, and have a recovery strategy in case Google updates negatively affect your website.
Why Relying on One Strategy is Not Enough
In today’s competitive digital landscape, having only one strategy is never enough. SEO and PPC have their advantages but also come with many challenges.
While SEO provides organic visibility, seeing significant results will take a long time. PPC can also be costly to focus on in the long run, as more traffic may be required to build.
Combining these two strategies allows business owners to enjoy the benefits of both. Creating a digital marketing strategy where SEO and PPC complement each other is the most appropriate way.
PPC can provide immediate visibility and traffic, while SEO can build a strong foundation for success. Together, they can generate consistent results, enhance your brand, and adapt to changing market dynamics.
With careful planning and a strong understanding, you can make the most of these two strategies and experience the best of both worlds.
The Shift to Mobile
By adapting to the latest trends and updates in our digital landscape, business owners should know how to cater to mobile users using their SEO and PPC strategies.
Mobile users often see ads first on search engine results pages and may need help distinguishing between paid ads and organic search results. Due to this, there should be special considerations when integrating SEO and PPC for mobile marketing.
For SEO, businesses can focus on making their websites mobile-friendly. It can enhance visibility, improve user engagement, and increase organic search rankings. Businesses can also take advantage of mobile-specific ad formats and targeting options for PPC. Creating mobile-responsive advertisements with persuasive text can quickly capture the attention of mobile users.
Leveraging PPC campaigns with compelling calls-to-action (CTA) is also ideal for the strategy. You can also align SEO to provide relevant and concise information that can give immediate answers and solutions for users.
Moreover, as every business is different, having an in-depth study and making a unique strategy is the best way to adapt to mobile devices and other trends in the future. Understanding which keywords, ad copy, and landing pages perform best can refine your content and align your brand with the needs and preferences of mobile users.
Integrating SEO and PPC into digital marketing strategies brings many benefits, making it crucial for businesses to maximise their digital marketing impact.
So if you want to dominate search engine results, adapt to Google’s evolving algorithm, cater to mobile users, and drive growth, then start creating a marketing approach that combines the power of SEO and PPC now.