Many businesses rely on internet search results to drive potential customers to their websites. It is estimated that over five billion searches are done on Google per day. Companies can use SEO (search engine optimization) or PPC (pay-per-click) advertising to drive these results. However, some company managers may be confused about whether they should utilize SEO, PPC, or both. SEO and PPC can either be performed by an in-house marketing team or through a digital marketing agency. In this blog post, we will discuss the differences between SEO and PPC and the benefits of both types of marketing techniques.
What is SEO?
Search engine optimization is a process in which marketers improve a website’s visibility in search engines such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo. The better visibility a company’s web pages have in search results, the more likely it is that the business gains attention from prospective and existing customers.
Search engines use bots to crawl pages on the web to collect information on web pages and group similar ones together. For example, someone could look up a phrase such as “best pizza near me” and would then get search results from these crawled pages. The more relevant a page is for the searched phrases, the higher it will appear in the search results. Businesses cannot pay for their websites to appear in SEO results; the web pages instead have to show up organically. These organic results can include home pages, news articles, images, videos, and local business listings that include any relevant keywords.
What are the Benefits of SEO?
There are several significant benefits to using SEO. These benefits include increasing website traffic, improving the company’s credibility and trust, and helping the company reach its target audience. Most people are unlikely to go beyond the first page of search results, so utilizing SEO makes it more likely that people will visit the website. A business is also seen as more credible when appearing on the first search page. Companies can also reach more audiences when they utilize several different keyword combinations to reach more people. SEO is also long-lasting since the site will remain optimized and continue to maintain its position in search rankings even after the primary campaign has ended.
What is PPC?
Pay-per-click advertising is when advertisers pay a fee each time one of their ads is clicked. In other words, PPC advertising allows companies to pay for traffic to their website via placement on search engines such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo. Marketers can bid for ad placements in the sponsored links that show up when someone searches for relevant keywords. Companies can research the keywords that are most relevant to them and will bring in the highest amount of visitors. For example, a cleaning services company can bid for the keyword “house cleaning” to get their ads to show up in Google and Bing results.
Companies can use tools such as Google Ads and Microsoft Ads to conduct PPC advertising campaigns. Social media networks such as Facebook and Instagram also offer pay-per-click advertising options. PPC advertising can also be used when displaying banner ads on websites related to products or services that the company offers. These tools allow marketing teams to target PPC ads to potential customers based on demographics such as age, gender, location, and interests.
What are the Benefits of PPC?
There are several benefits to using PPC advertising techniques. First of all, the company only has to pay for the number of visits it receives. The marketing team then receives a lot of information and analytics about the ad’s performance. With this information, marketing teams and managers can see which ads and keywords drive the highest clicks and visitors. Any keywords that are not performing well can be removed from the campaign. Marketing teams can also use segmentation options to ensure that the ads are only reaching the company’s desired demographics. Another benefit of using PPC advertising is that paid ads appear on the top of a search results page, giving the company further visibility.
Should Companies use SEO or PPC?
Whether companies should use SEO or PPC strategies is up to management to decide. Both strategies help companies gain more website traffic and potential customers.
A company may decide to use SEO if it wants to have long-lasting results. A company may also decide to invest in an SEO strategy if its main priority is to bring in organic traffic. Also, companies can save money on an SEO campaign, so they won’t have to pay for search engine placement. However, a smaller company may struggle to gain SEO results over larger, more well-known competitors.
A company may decide to use PPC advertising if it wants to get quick and fast results since paid search results will show up before organic search results. PPC advertising is also ideal for companies with more money to spend on marketing campaigns. For this reason, companies with a smaller budget should find alternatives to PPC advertising since they might not get what they are looking for.
Overall, to drive the best results, companies should utilize both SEO and PPC marketing strategies. Companies should consider their budgets and primary competitors before deciding on a marketing strategy. The marketing team should also see where they rank on search results before starting an SEO or PPC campaign. Managers can also see whether their competitors focus more on SEO or PPC. Regardless of which campaign is chosen, it is important to constantly monitor and maintain these campaigns to ensure that the company is reaching its ideal audience.
Conclusion
SEO and PPC advertising strategies are some of the most important internet marketing strategies that companies can use. Company managers can decide whether they want to use SEO, PPC, or both and whether these campaigns should be handled by an in-house marketing team or by a digital marketing agency. SEO and PPC campaigns can help bring in more traffic and potential customers for all sorts of companies.
If organizations want to improve their SEO and PPC strategies, they should consult an agency. Zorbis is a top-rated SEO company located in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. For more information on how Zorbis can help companies with SEO and PPC strategy, visit https://www.zorbis.com/ to schedule a meeting with a team of experts
