People have been discussing the benefits of paid search advertising (PPC) for many years compared to regular search engine marketing (SEO), and vice versa.
What is better? If specialists have already had an answer to this question for a long time, then the question remains open for clients.
1. Paid search cannot replace organic (and vice versa)
Paid search and search engine marketing are two different things.
One is not a substitute for the other.
Each has its strengths and weaknesses.
For example, PPC is really good for attracting unbranded traffic to your site.
Here is the classic PPC scenario: the user knows nothing about your brand. They are looking for a product that they want to buy.
Your ad appears at the top of the search results page. The user clicks on your ad to see what you are offering.
In doing so, they become better acquainted with your brand and move further along the path of conversion.
Can organic search do it? May be. But even the highest result of organic search in this case will not be displayed at the top of the page. At best, it will be displayed in the middle of the page.
Organic search is good for driving traffic to a brand site.
Classic SEO script: the user knows your brand. They are looking for your brand.
Your site is displayed at the top of the organic search results. The user clicks on your list and goes to your site.
Can PPC do it? Yes, so you should also bet on the brand in PPC.
But what if your PPC ad is the only thing that is displayed without an organic list? This may cause the user to question the reputation of your brand. So ideally, both channels should be involved.
Read the same article on this topic:
5 reasons not to invest only in contextual advertising
2. Neither SEO nor PPC are free
A common argument against PPC is that it is expensive. You have to pay every time someone clicks on your ad. And if your accounts are professionally managed, you also have to pay for it.
But any SEO expert will say SEO also takes time, money and experience.
If you want it to be done well, you have to pay for it - whether you pay your own SEO manager or a third-party promotion company.
3. SEO and PPC do not replace each other
People think that if you stop investing in one channel, the other will take over all the traffic.
SEO and PPC do not take traffic from each other. Instead, they get results from different sources.
4. Statistics can be deceiving
In the “competition” between SEO and PPC, supporters of one or the other side will often put forward their evidence of correctness in the form of statistics.
But you should carefully look at these statistics before drawing any conclusions. For example, it is possible that traffic from PPC to the site was not detected because the ads are configured to call the company, rather than visiting the site.
In addition, there can be problems in the statistics itself, and read about it in this article.
SEO or PPC? Choose both!
When people ask if they should choose SEO or PPC, give the argument that they should not make a choice at all.
Because no one can replace the other. Moreover, PPC often plays into SEO! But this is a topic for another article!
Futureinapps company is engaged in integrated promotion of sites on the Internet. Contact us for SEO and contextual advertising!
