The question of whether to invest in paid search advertising or organic search has been the subject of long-running debate for marketers and business owners. Many people question where their resources should go and which kind of search will contribute to the best results and bang for buck. The truth is, you to invest in both, both understandably clients often question where to throw most of their weight, especially when budget is limited.
Here are a few important points to keep in mind when it comes to the SEO and PPC debate.
They serve different purposes
Paid search and organic search are completely different; you can’t substitute one for the other. Both have their own value when it comes to your business. Paid search is perfect for driving non-branded traffic to your website – you really can’t overstate the importance of this. A common scenario is that users who are unfamiliar with, or who have never used your brand will find their way to your website with paid advertising. Whilst organic can do the same effect it’s less likely, paid ads will always appear at the top of the page. Even in a top ranking position you’re organic ads are not going to be in the very first spot. Organic search is excellent when a user is already familiar in some way with your brand, branded search terms and branded search is the friend of organic search. Again, you can achieve the same with PPC, which is why you would still want to bid on branded ads, but without anorganic listing a user is likely to question your brands legitimacy and not click on your ad – wasting your investment.
Whilst you can achieve similar goals with both methods, the best results come from using both to complement each other.
They both require investment
A common argument is that PPC is expensive, since you have to pay when people click on your ad, and because professional management of your ad accounts cost money too whilst there is a misconception that SEO is free. To the contrary, effective SEO takes consistency, time and considerable effort and expertise – this is why we have SEO Sydney experts! If everyone could do it there wouldn’t be any need for specialists. There is no point doing things by halves, it’s a recipe for wasted PPC investment or SEO that doesn’t work, if you want to get good result you’ll need to invest in professional services.
Results come from different places
The results and engagement you get from PPC and SEO tend to come from different mediums and audiences. Some people assume that investment in one area’s will result in the other naturally picking up steam. That’s not true. Dropping drive or investment in one area isn’t likely to result in the same leads being picked up by paid or organic methods; you need to cover all your bases.
Summarising SEO or PPC?
The important thing to recognise when considering whether or not invest in search engine optimisation or paid advertising is that one is not a substitute for another. The truth is that they’re both necessary for producing the best results when it comes to traffic and lead conversions. Consider your business needs and where your business is at. Professional services will be able to help you come up with an effective strategy that suits your budget and optimises results. At the end of the day user behaviour is complex and it takes a village to get the most from online opportunities. So there you have it, the short answer is a balance is best for business!
