The SEO versus PPC debate
There is a constant debate at various conferences, forums and discussion groups about SEO versus PPC. Both internet marketing solutions have their pros and cons when looked at individually.
But is this really the way one should look at SEO or PPC?
This approach is so completely wrong. The truth is that both are important online marketing mediums and both complement each other if done right. Both SEO and PPC can easily benefit off each other and help you grow your business.
We look at the 3 key benefits that each provides to the other. There may be others which only justify the point made.
How PPC benefits SEO
PPC is the best option to quickly test out what works and what doesn’t. You can start a campaign right away, setup your keywords, ads and landing pages. From the first day, PPC helps you get valuable data in your reports and instant traffic.
Benefit 1: Getting data on keywords that work
Over time as you refine your campaign with better working ads, landing page tweaks and keyword refinements you gain a lot of insight about keywords that work. Some of these keywords are perfect to target for organic results. You can incorporate some in your existing website and you can add pages to cover others.
Benefit 2: Action Phrases that work
As ads in PPC have limited space, they also make perfect titles for your action regions on your pages whether banners or call to action titles. This is perfect to experiment and improve conversions.
Benefit 3: Getting backlinks to your website
Some of those visitors from PPC are likely to bookmark, recommend or take some action on or about your website. All this benefits your SEO goals as you get an extra bunch of backlinks.
How SEO benefits PPC
SEO helps improve your website. The SEO process forces you to take an all encompassing view of your website. This includes error corrections, correct internal linking and site structure, better navigation, improving conversion, better content and much more.
Benefit 1: PPC Cost Savings
You can reduce PPC costs for keywords where you are ranking really well in organic search. Even with the expanding result footprint of paid ads, organic search still drives far more traffic per page of results.
Benefit 2: PPC Campaign expansion
By ranking well organically for certain keywords, you can focus your PPC campaigns on weaker areas of your site and target a different set of keywords, especially useful for a limited budget.
Benefit 3: A Second line of defense for capturing visitors
Even if a user skips your paid ad, there is a chance he may click the organic result instead. You increase the probability of a visitor landing on your website when you use both SEO and PPC.
Conclusion
Look at both SEO and PPC holistically and incorporate them into your overall online marketing strategy. Improve both your campaigns by using the complementary strengths of both search engine marketing mediums.
Related Post: Balancing Website Design and SEO