In a Search Engine Marketing (SEM) campaign, we like to think of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) as being the strategic approach to online marketing and Pay-per-click (PPC) as being your tactical, fast response mechanism.
When first embarking on a Search Engine Marketing (SEM) campaign, you may be confused about the difference between SEO and PPC and where you should allocate your marketing budget. Over 85% of Internet users will go to their favorite Search Engine first when looking for products or services, but 95% don’t look past the first three search results pages, so SEM should play an important part in your overall SEO marketing strategy.
What Are SEO and PPC Exactly?
With an SEM campaign, Search Engine results pages are divided into two main parts: organic SEO results and PPC advertising. Research shows that around 70% of Internet users click on SEO (natural or organic search) results and only 30% of users click on PPC (paid search results).
SEO or Search Engine Optimization
This is the process or art of making a website achieve high rankings on Search Engine results pages (SERPs) for given keywords.
PPC or Pay-per-click
This is where an advertiser bids on keywords associated with an advertisement in order to achieve a higher position on Search Engine results pages (sponsored links section) for searches on that keyword. Other options for advertising include Google’s display network (banner ads), remarketing (which serves ads to users who have previously visited your site), shopping ads (which appear as product listings next to a search result), and Google Maps. Map ads (ads for physical locations delivered in the Google Maps tab)).
What are the Key Differences Between SEO and PPC in an SEM Campaign?
Position
SEO focuses on natural or organic search results which are displayed in the main body of the SERP. PPC listings are displayed as the ‘sponsored links’ on the top and bottom of the page (in addition to the other types of ads previously mentioned). Organic search results include all web pages which the search engine determines to be relevant to the query. While PPC reflects a targeted SEM campaign and may show results only in a specific geographic area, to certain audience demographics, or be time-specific.
Promotion results
With an organic SEO campaign, a new website or Web page may take up to three months to show up on Search Engines, as Google takes time to index and rank a site. However, SEO results in continuous traffic over a longer period of time. PPC can give an initial boost in traffic and is useful when launching a brand-new website which is not yet appearing in organic results. However, when a PPC campaign is stopped and the budget is removed, any paid traffic stops immediately.
Perception
Organic ranking positions that happen as a result of an SEM campaign are seen to be unbiased and have a higher level of credibility. SEO rankings are unpaid and based on the relevance of the page to the keyword, but with PPC, the more you bid on a given keyword, the better your position in the search results. For both organic and PPC SERPs, a higher position is more trusted by searchers and will get more clicks.
Price
With an SEO and/or a PPC campaign, there may be an initial set-up and ongoing fee if you engage an SEO company or PPC Management company to create a campaign for your business. With an SEO campaign, there is no cost per individual click or visitor, only the costs incurred during the efforts of your in-house team or SEO vendor. However, with a PPC campaign, there is an ongoing cost per click or visitor – the greater your budget, the more traffic your website will receive.
Professional advice
Ideally as part of an SEM campaign, both SEO and PPC require an SEO expert or PPC specialist to manage the campaign. Make sure that you have selected the best keywords within your budget and that your marketing campaign delivers the desired results. You can manage the campaigns yourself, but you cannot be assured that you will get the desired results.
What are the Advantages and Disadvantages of SEO and PPC Advertising?
Credibility
Research shows that around 70% of Internet users click on natural search results and only 30% of users click on paid search results. Organic results are seen to be unbiased and have a higher level of credibility because they are not paid for.
The higher the position on the SERP page (organic or PPC), the more trusted it is by searchers; the more clicks it will get. PPC was implemented to offer more high-position opportunities on a single given SERP; basically, the more you bid on a given keyword; the higher your advertisement is displayed for that search.
Cost
With an SEO campaign, there may be an initial set-up fee as you engage an SEO company to create an SEO campaign for your business, but there is no cost per individual click or visitor. With a PPC campaign, the initial set-up cost may be lower, but there is a cost per click or visitor. You set your daily (and therefore monthly) bid, as well as individual bids on a keyword level. The greater your budget, the greater the traffic to your website will receive.
An SEO campaign ideally requires an SEO specialist or company to analyze the website, map out a strategy, implement the strategy, track the results and be accountable for your business. Using a SEO company to implement your SEO campaign frees your time and while your SEO company takes care of the campaign, you can spend your time managing and running your business.
With PPC, you can manage the campaign yourself but, but ideally you require a PPC specialist to manage the campaign to make sure that you have selected the best keywords, you are within budget and your campaign delivers the desired results. PPC campaigns are not a set-and-forget marketing tool. You actually do need to monitor the performance and make adjustments from time to time.
Control
With an SEO campaign, there is no direct control over the ranking of a search engine and there is higher risk as there is no guarantee that you will improve your search engine ranking nor retain any improvements achieved. With PPC, you can have direct control over the position on the page depending on the outlay.
SEO shows all markets in the geographic area and displays results over a 24-hour basis while PPC can target just your geographic area and can be time-specific and targeted e.g. midday to target people online during their lunch break
Changes to PPC campaigns are effective immediately, whereas changes to an SEO campaign can take several days to change.
SEO cannot split test pages or track a click-through rate, whereas a PPC campaign can track click-through rates and have different testing pages.
Campaign results
With SEO, popular keywords may take some time to get rankings – but you will benefit from longer tail keywords. For example, ‘plumbers’ is a main keyword and will take time to rank, but ‘blocked drains cleaning Sydney’ is a longer tail keyword and can rank quicker. However, SEO results in continuous traffic over a longer period of time.
PPC can give an initial boost in traffic and is useful when launching a brand-new website which is not yet appearing in organic results. However, when the campaign is over, the traffic stops immediately.
Whether you choose to invest in an SEO or PPC program will ultimately depend on your marketing strategy. When launching a new website, you may need to see fast results and use a short-term call-to-action PPC campaign, but over the long term, an SEO strategy will return more money on your SEM investment. Ultimately, if budget allows, both mean you have more exposure on that first page of Google, meaning you are more likely to entice a customer to your site. Contact us to find out more about SEO/PPC and what strategy will best fit your SEM campaign objectives.
