Traffic is the bloodline of any online undertaking. The success of your digital presence greatly depends on the amount of traffic it can generate for its pages.
When it comes to boosting traffic on your website, there are two basic options you can consider: pay-per-click (PPC) advertisements or search engine optimization (SEO).
To include digital marketing in an advertising campaign for your brand, especially if you are just starting out, there’s always the question about SEO vs PPC, the advantages and disadvantages of both, and more importantly, which suits your marketing method for maximum profit.
The general consensus is that PPC costs money and it brings immediate results, while SEO is free but takes time to show results.
What Is SEO?
SEO is all about getting relevant organic search traffic to your website through search engines like Google.
Good SEO results can take a while to show results depending on your industry and the amount of competition your brand has.
The good thing about SEO is that once you get to the higher ranks, you tend to stay there, as long as your competitors aren’t actively engaging in SEO strategies to beat you.
SEO can also prove to be cost-effective if you have the expertise to do it yourself or to take SEO services by SEO experts. On the other hand, if you bring in professionals to handle it for you, it can cost you anywhere between a few hundred to thousands a month.
This number may sound like a lot, but when you consider the traffic and conversions you will get on your website, you still make a profit.
What Is PPC?
PPC is all about getting instant results and visitors from relevant keywords on search engines. You can set up a PPC campaign and watch visitors come to your website in a matter of minutes! Setting up a campaign may be very easy, but if you want to see good results, then you need to put in a lot of planning and effort.
PPC services providers use this kind of marketing to get highly targeted visitors to come to your website. Not only can you narrow down on your audience’s location, but you can also include their age, background, and income. Of course, laser targeting users comes at a high price.
With more competitive keywords as targets, you can easily reach hundreds of visits on your website in no time.
Difference Between SEO and PPC
| SEO | PPC |
| Pros | Pros |
| Cheap | Instant results |
| Results compound over time | Adaptable |
| Drives more clicks | Buyer-oriented |
| Brings organic traffic | No uncertainty |
| Cons | Cons |
| Takes time | Expensive |
| Depends on volatile algorithms | Requires constant tweaking |
| Requires ‘expert’ content | Needs startup costs |
| Less buyer oriented | Not for brand awareness |
When To Choose SEO?
- When you want to rank higher:
SEO refers to a group of techniques that are aimed to propel a website ranking to the first page of major search engines. Getting there won’t happen overnight or even in a week. However, once your website gets there through SEO, you will enjoy sustained traffic.
- When you want to build an authority site:
SEO also builds up a reputation until it becomes popular enough to dominate its niche market.
- When you want to increase the value of your website:
You also increase the value of your website. Having a digital asset that looks good to the search engines will eventually pay off.
A website that generates a good amount of traffic, that ranks high on search engines, has a robust backlink profile and extraordinary content is the easiest way to attract new leads and businesses.
When To Choose PPC?
- When you want to promote or sell something:
PPC delivers results fast. You can count the minutes before a rush of visitors come cascading to your pages. PPC is a no-nonsense solution.
- When you want more targeted traffic:
PPC drives in more targeted traffic, the kind that homes in on conversions rather than just massive traffic. No matter what platform you use, you will be able to play around with demographic data like age, gender, education levels, income bracket, and even marital status.
- When you have a novel product
PPC doesn’t require relevant content to be tracked by search engines, just a few targeted keywords in the title. Social media PPC, in particular, is really good at building awareness for unrecognizable and novel products.
An integrated search strategy that looks at both SEO and PPC together is the optimal approach. Results are improved in each channel by utilizing both paid and organic.
For high-growth, aggressive marketing, you will want to develop a holistic search engine strategy rather than look at SEO or PPC in isolation. If you are new at all this, consider getting in touch with professional SEO and PPC experts.