The top pros and cons of SEO and PPC
As you may remember, we discussed the difference between SEO and PPC and how they fit under the SEM umbrella a few months back. Now, we want to dive into the pros and cons of each platform, especially since Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Pay per Click (PPC) are both effective search engine marketing (SEM) strategies. We’re going to lay out the details for you and help you determine which search engine marketing method, SEO or PPC, is best for you.
Search Engine Optimization - The organic process of getting ranked through search terms, keywords, meta data, title tags, link building, and consistent content production.
SEO Pros: If you are producing high quality, authentic content, your credibility and authority in your niche will greatly increase with a proper SEO strategy. Website visitors will feel more confident about your ability to provide a high quality product or service once they arrive to your website. Landing on the first page of organic search results can lead to enormous growth in website visitors, as 70-80% of search engine users will ignore paid listings and go straight to the organic search results created by your SEO. An increase in organic traffic tends to convert more leads because customers are searching for a genuine solution to their problem. It has been proven that organic SEO holds a 14.6% close rate as compared to email marketing or print advertising
SEO Cons: SEO takes time and patience. It takes commitment to build up your online reputation for the search engine algorithms and crawlers to recognize your website as a credible source so you land on that front page. Given the mentioned time commitment, the process is not totally “free” as it will either take time out of your day to create content, or you will need to pay an SEO expert or content marketing company to assist in producing content on your behalf. SEO requires an investment to be competitive in your niche. There is no guarantee of getting on the first page of search results, and this is vitally important to every business’s SEO strategy as 75% of search engine users will most likely never scroll past this very first page.
Pay Per Click - A way to “buy” space at the top of search engine results given the website ranking isn’t strong enough or you just want to appear on top.
PPC Pros: With PPC you have more control over your ad placement and use of keywords. Just buy your spot on the search engine ranking list for the keywords you prefer and bit on any keyword or keyword phrases you want. The results are pretty immediate, without the time and investment of SEO and content development. This allows you to test different strategies and analyze your return on investment in a much quicker timeframe. You have more control over your budget - as long as you set your restrictions properly. You can monitor and watch the results of your campaign immediately then make adjustments to your budget as necessary.
PPC Cons: PPC can be a complex process. An expert will spend time testing your keywords and researching the analytics constantly in order to produce a top performing strategy. When you get really serious about PPC, it can be expensive. Plus, in order to have a highly successful campaign month after month, you will also have to pay month after month, or your campaign will be shut down. The downside is that clicks don’t necessarily mean conversions when using the PPC strategy. Although you may be paying to bring lots of traffic to your site, if you don’t have compelling and credible content, you will lose your customer’s trust and won’t get the conversions you need to make a sale and earn money.
Both PPC and SEO cost money when you outsource the services to someone else. So how do you choose between them? Given the above pros and cons, you should have enough to get started deciding which, if any, marketing tool is right for you. Need additional assistance? Contact us and we’ll help you thoroughly analyze your options and proper strategies for your search engine marketing needs.