SEO & PPC: Search Engine Success for Your Business
Search engine marketing is vital for improving your business’s online visibility. While a well-made, fully responsive website may be receiving some traffic from social media and other platforms, the majority of a website’s online traffic will be driven by search engines. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Pay Per Click (PPC) are two different marketing channels that businesses can utilize to become more visible on search engines, such as Google. Carefully crafted SEO and PPC are both surefire paths to success in attracting more attention to your website, increasing traffic, and ultimately bringing more potential customers to your web pages!
SEO vs PPC – Which One is Right for Me?
While SEO and PPC offer different benefits, both of these core components of online marketing are essential for success on any search engine. Both are guaranteed to improve the visibility of your website in search result pages. Both will drive more traffic to your website. Both will require ongoing monitoring and adjusting, and deliver a worthwhile return on investment!
What is SEO?
SEO provides your business the ultimate opportunity for successful online marketing: to be seen. This tool offers your web pages a better chance of being found by putting time and attention into adding strategic keywords to each of your web pages. By implementing an SEO strategy, over time your business is sure to climb higher in ranking in online search results! With this niche-specific strategy, not only does the quantity of website traffic increase, but the quality of traffic will increase as well. With more website traffic comes more opportunities to turn prospects into long-term customers. At the end of the day, SEO is all about making sure that those who are looking for what you offer, will find you! It is critical to the success of any modern business.
SEO Benefits:
- Makes your website more search-engine friendly
- Competitive advantage: better ranking in local searches
- Improves user engagement rates
- Cumulative results: continues to improve over time.
- Leaves lasting results, increasing quality of traffic
SEO Drawbacks:
- Takes longer to see results
- Must be updated regularly
What is PPC?
PPC is a method using paid strategy to gain visibility on search engines. Utilizing paid ads, PPC allows your business’s products and services to appear in online search results when queries are made using the ad’s specific keywords. Unlike SEO which assists your website’s rank with organic tactics, PPC advertising utilizes tools such as Google Ads to reach your desired audience with pay-per-click ads. PPC allows you to determine who your ads appear to, and even when they appear, making it possible to boost your website traffic in a flash!
PPC Benefits:
- Gain immediate results
- High return on investment
- Boosts brand recognition
- Generate local leads through geo-targeting
- Gain the top spot on a search result page
PPC Drawbacks:
- Does not contribute to website ranking in search results
- Every click comes at a cost
Which One Should I Choose?
While it’s up to you to determine what is best for your business, remember that both SEO and PPC offer unique advantages. One difference to take into consideration is that PPC paid ads will be at the top of the page, above the organic listings. Also, while SEO-driven search results are free, PPC comes at a cost for each click. Another important factor to consider is that SEO can take months to garner results, while PPC can deliver clicks and conversions almost immediately.
Most importantly, keep in mind that SEO and PPC work best when integrated into a larger digital marketing strategy. Utilize them together to drive visibility, increase traffic, and create more conversions!
If your brand is ready to establish a strong online presence and be discovered by the modern customer, SEO and PPC are certainly for you. Adding these methods to your digital marketing strategy will undoubtedly set you up for search engine success!
