SEO vs PPC

SEO (search engine optimization) vs PPC (pay-per-click) ads?  Both search engine marketing strategies share the same goal: increasing visibility in search engines, either by getting free organic search traffic to your website through an ongoing SEO strategy or paid traffic through online advertising on Google or Facebook and other social platforms where an advertiser pays every time someone clicks on the ad.

Investing in an organic SEO strategy vs running a PPC campaign really depends on your overall marketing goals and your budget. If you want to drive traffic to your website fast for a marketing campaign, you might consider investing in a paid online media campaign with Google Ads or social media ads. The main benefit of running a PPC campaign is your website appears first on the search engine result page (SERP). This top ranking allows for increased brand awareness of your product or service before the user scrolls to see other search results on the page.

However, when your paid ad campaign ends your brand is out of sight. With a well-executed on-going organic SEO strategy your target audience will have access to your brand 24 hours per day, 7 days a week. This helps build trust and brand authority for your product or service, an important SEO ranking factor. Google favors websites that demonstrate expertise and authority on a subject. And once you start ranking on Google, you’ll get free traffic to your website if your content continues to match the user search intent.

The optimal scenario is investing in both SEO and PPC. Both marketing strategies work best when supporting each other to help achieve your marketing goals.