Stop Paying Google! SEO vs PPC
1st December 2008
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The question of SEO vs PPC is really about budget allocation. If an advertiser has X dollars allocated for Search Marketing, then how much of that should be allocated for SEO vs PPC? This is often the case when a small business wants to try Online Marketing. We can look at this question from another angle. Long Term vs Short Term? If I only have a finite amount of marketing dollars then where will I get the bigger bang for my bucks? Let’s start with PPC. Say for example a client has a monthly budget of $10K. If they throw that into Google Adwords for a 30 day campaign, that breaksdown to a daily budget of $333. Depending on the competitiveness of the keywords, the budget could run out within the first few hours of the day. And, even if it is spread out evenly throughout the day, it certainly wouldn’t be served for every search query. Then, once they decide to stop running the campaign…poof! Their ad disappears. Done. Finished. Finito. As opposed to an SEO campaign. You can take that same $10K, and with a properly built SEO Strategy and campaign, you not only will accomplish top keyword rankings. But long after you stopped spending money, your listing (not ad) will still appear in the Search results. A strong SEO campaign you can “own” the top results. And, if implemented properly, a solid SEO campaign can have long-lasting results because the advertiser is NOT paying Google for every time their ad appears in the SERP’s. Think of it as the “Long Tail of Clicks”. Because, your listing will appear in the top positions, and receive clicks long after you’ve stopped spending dollars. It really all boils down to what’s the business objectives. Rather than only using one type of search channel (SEO or PPC), it could be that there needs to be an immediate appearance in the Search Results. In that case perhaps it might make sense to split the budget 50% to SEO and 50% to PPC. Here’s a nice analogy to think of the difference between SEO/PPC. Additionally, in the present economic situation, it’s a good time to focus on SEO when many of your competitors may be cutting back. Bottomline, if you have invested a lot into your website, and you’re in the game for the long-run, then SEO is where your advertising dollars are best spent. Additional Reading: No related posts. |
December 1st, 2008 at
Hi Shimon,
You raise some good points on the benefit of both SEO and PPC, but I’m not sure that SEO on it’s own provides the best return on your advertising dollars in the long run.
I’m also not sure that both SEO and PPC are to be treated as mutually exclusive search marketing strategies for companies with limited budgets.
SEO AND PPC WORK BEST TOGETHER
From experience working closely with many SEOs, I’ve seen the best results come from a combined effort where having a strong SEO and PPC strategy in place simultaneously works best.
As you said, SEO has staying power that brings in residual clicks, but PPC works to complement SEO by covering holes (keywords and geographical areas where an advertiser doesn’t yet rank well for/in). And the two together have been proven in several studies to produce incremental traffic and results than in possible by using SEO or PPC alone.
And aside from being able to build rapid awareness via PPC, you have ability to better control the messaging (in text ads) and the reach via keyword selection and advanced geographical targeting strategies.
USE PPC DATA TO IMPROVE YOUR SEO STRATEGY
The information from your PPC campaign can also prove to be a highly valuable source for refining an SEO strategy as emphasis can be placed on keywords that actually convert rather than keywords that bring lots of traffic but little to no conversions.
MEASURE YOUR ROI WITH ANALYTICS
At the end of the day tracking and measurement are critical to measuring the ROI of both channels and how they perform individually and collectively. That said, having in place a web analytics solution to track and benchmark performance should give advertisers a clear picture of what’s working and what’s not.
With analytics in place, a decision can be made as to which strategy works best in each individual case with the resources available.
Shimon, this is a great topic that is especially relevant in today’s tougher economic times - thanks for bringing it up!
December 1st, 2008 at
While I generally agree with most of this, there is one point I would like to make.
“A strong SEO campaign you can “own” the top results”
You can have a very good SEO campaign and rank on the first page or possibly even the top five for awhile but then suddenly appear on the second page for apparently no reason. In other words just because you get to the first page there is no guarantee you will just stay there forever. Search engine results pages fluctuate I have seen this happen many times. Also it can takes several month to get search rankings even with the best SEO plan so in the meantime there would be no search engine traffic if you go 100% to SEO.
On the other hand I don’t think it’s a good idea to spend all of your resources on PPC and not establish a natural presence because you will then have to continue to pay forever to have a presence in the search results.
I’m more inclined to go with the 50 50 mix idea. I think get some search results with PPC now and spend some money so you will have some SERPs rankings later.
December 2nd, 2008 at
Absolutely Brilliant
“PPC = renting the land
SEO = Owning it.”
Consider that analogy stolen
or permanently borrowed.
Oh… and Agreed! SEO is what I would suggest. But as with all things each does have it’s merits.
December 2nd, 2008 at
Well put, this image by elliance might also help establish your argument. http://searchengineoptimization.elliance.com/search-marketing-resources/seo-infographics.aspx?title=Long-Term-Organic-Versus-Paid-Performance&Category=
December 2nd, 2008 at
Paying SEO to optimize your website is definitely cheaper than paying Google Adwords.
December 3rd, 2008 at
Good post - but I think the issue of ROI is more complicated - depending on the target sometimes SEO just won’t make sense, and sometimes based on budget PPC won’t make sense.
I’ve seen KW’s that requires so much SEO for very little traffic that SEO would be a waste of money because after all the effort you’ll put in there and afterwards to maintain you might as well have been paying people to buy your product. On the flip side sometimes in order to be consistent and competitive in PPC a large budget is required and may just not be available providing you with little chance to out bid your competitor or play the “numbers game” out - however the inadequate ppc budget might be sufficient for a competitive organic campaign and would be more worth while to invest it on that side.
I think its more complicated then just one or the other or just 50/50 split - you have to understand the competition, the landscape, client business goals and targets.
February 23rd, 2009 at
Indeed a nice analogy. I lchoose for owning the land!
January 30th, 2010 at
Both they are very necessary and they must go in line together like part of a marketing strategy. At the outset he is recommendable to use PPC to obtain immediate results, while the positioning in finders works.