Clash of the Titans: SEO vs. PPC, which is better?

As an SEO consultant we have come across this question several times: Which online marketing strategy is better for businesses: Search Engine Optimization or Pay per Click marketing?

A very simple answer would be: Depends on the end results you expect from your online marketing strategy. Let’s get down a bit more into the details to understand this dilemma.

When you purchase visitors or "clicks" from a search engine, this is called "pay-per-click" (PPC) search engine advertising (or PPCSE). One of the highest recognized PPCSE is Google Adwords. Pay-per-click search engine advertising allows you to quickly leverage search engine traffic by "bidding" (paying) for high-value keywords related to your product or service.

In the other corner we have "Organic" or "Natural" search engine optimization (SEO). Generally speaking, organic SEO consists of optimizing your web pages to enhance their position in the naturally occurring search results. Organic SEO consists of On-page and Off-page optimization.

Organic SEO as an internet marketing strategy requires patience, but the rewards when reaped are plentiful. Although organic optimization is not the first choice for many (depending on the brand and business model) organic search does have inherent benefits that are unparalleled by sponsored or paid advertising tactics. The benefits and results last for longer period.

As per the latest stats on marketing budget spent versus the results :

SEO drives 75%+ of all search traffic, yet garners less than 15% of marketing budgets for SEM campaigns. PPC receives less than 25% of all search traffic, yet earns 80%+ of SEM campaign budgets. Surprising?

One of the major reasons for quick adoption of PPC strategy is that it is very similar to traditional paid advertisement strategy and business owners can manage such campaign on their own. Whereas SEO requires a pre-requisite set of skills to ensure your website reaches the top rankings on search engine search through various on-site optimizations and off-site organic search engine optimization strategies.

Another reason why businesses, prefer PPC is that they have better control over the entire program and they know exactly how and where their dollar is spent and results for each dollar spent, can be seen through subsequent Ad words report. They also do not have to change their tactics each time the search engines change their algorithms, which can prove a real headache, especially for those who are only interested in quick, short term results. Organic SEO might seem like too much of work, with absolutely no guaranteed results for short term goal seekers.

While a PPC campaign can deliver leads with relative ease, it can be a big money drain and has no real longevity -- once you stop shelling out the cash, the website traffic goes away. SEO and link building require a lot more creative effort, but can have more sustainable results. It also allows a business to target a larger base of users, as most studies reveal that 75 - 80% of searchers click on organic listings as opposed to paid listings.

As time goes on, web surfers are less prone to clicking PPC links on the right side of Google’s results or in the top sponsored links section. Why? In the past web surfers didn’t understand the difference between sponsored and non-sponsored links. Now web surfers are much more net savvy. The result is that a growing number of web surfers will click on non-sponsored links on the first page of results because they think: if that site made it into the top ten without paying for it, they must really be the best sites.

Organic SEO is fine if you;

1. Have a product that you can dedicate 300-750 words to describe its value.


2. Can exhibit supporting materials images, references and materials that emphasize the products benefits.


3. If you can shroud it in essentially keywords consumers might use to find it in enough frequency, that it can leverage a high-ranking organic search result.
   
4. If you are patient enough for 2-6 months to hold out for long term sustainable results

If you have a product that has a high price point, where there is some wiggle room for how much you are willing to spend to keep the cost per sale within bounds, then by all means pay per click advertising is a viable solution.

At Analytix Solutions our SEO experts will suggest a marketing plan only after analyzing your goals and what results you expect from your online marketing. During tight credit crunch it is advisable to increase reliance on free organic SEO strategies rather than PPC. A hybrid plan (combination of SEO +PPC) is another alternative for those who seek quick results and suffer from very poor rankings, as SEO will ensure with time regular traffic builds for your site, while PPC will bring serious buyers to your site through banner ads, to get the ball rolling for your business. Once SEO tactics picks up, the budget spent on PPC can be minimized and then totally withdrawn, if required.

Beauty of search engine marketing lies in the Flexibility & Control it offers which is very difficult to achieve with traditional marketing tools. Finally, the selection of best online marketing strategy is obviously upto you....

Are you a reasonable SEO client?

There is lots of confusion when it comes to what should you expect from your search engine optimization program. Generally clients are disillusioned and dissatisfied when they have overblown expectations while hiring SEO services. This could happen when either the SEO Vendor has misrepresented what services they will offer in order to close the deal faster or when the clients are themselves not sure what goals they aim to achieve from their SEO exercise.

Understanding what reasonable expectations to have as an SEO client will help to resolve many such conflicts. Read below the factors that should be strictly considered in order to be termed as a reasonable or an understanding SEO client:

Increase in rankings: This is the basic result for every SEO plan. You need to select the relevant keywords you want top rankings and ask your SEO consultant to start cranking to bring it to top. But remember to check whether you chosen keywords are too highly competitive. If so, results will be slow in trickling down. If your site is brand new, again you need to give reasonable time to your SEO vendor. Ask your SEO expert to provide a basic research report on your sites current state, competition for your keywords and industry scenario before mapping out how soon you want to get that top 10 rankings.
Increase in traffic: This is another result which as a client you are justified to expect. The point to remember here is obsession with traffic can blindfold you to the real target. Increasing traffic with no noticeable change in output is useless. Emphasize on quality rather than quantity. Tell your vendor what type of traffic you want to visit your site and what action you expect those visiting your site to take. Be very explicit and clear in your goals from visitor. You can judge this by understanding the visitors surfing trends and the amount of time spent on your site.

Increase in conversion rate: This is most desirable result client should expect when hiring an expert SEO. Be sure to define how you measure conversion. Is it conversion when visitor fills your contact us form or inquiry form or is it when they subscribe to your newsletter or email or when they fill membership form or when they buy from your online portal? Define what conversion is for you and be sure you are on the same page with your SEO specialist when explaining this.

Increase in ROI: Last but not the least you can only continue with your SEO project if the return on investment is more than the cost. Every investment needs time to start giving returns. Be sure to give your SEO pro the time they need to get the program up and running.

SEO is gaining tremendous importance and scope with the current market crisis that has forced a lot of businesses to slash down their marketing budgets. SEO is a great alternative as it is quite cheap compared to spending large amount of dollars on advertising. The results are measurable compared to traditional marketing. But like any other marketing activity, remember to make relationship as a center of focus. You need to give support, co-operation and help required by your SEO vendors to help you get what you want. SEO plans fail when a client gets unreasonable, demands too much too soon, does not follow the changes recommended by SEO pro and pulls out too quickly before results can begin flowing.

How do I search your website? SEO Rules you cannot ignore.

Recently I was searching one of my friend’s Website on virtual consultancy service. I knew she had a site, but could not remember the web address nor could find her business card anywhere. All I had was her name. So I thought of searching Google for her website basis her name. Result = Nada! Determined to find her website, I searched basis ‘virtual consultant Boston’ & ‘virtual consultancy services Boston’. Again I could not find her business. Well if you are in the consultancy business, I think it’s kinda obvious that your name should link back to your website. Search keywords describing your service for the respective geographic area such as “virtual consultancy services Boston” should also shoot results of your website. But here nothing of the sort was happening. I finally had to go through all my old emails and find her contact information. Upon speaking to her, I pointed out how difficult it was searching for her business website online. To which she replied in not so many words “Well, my Web designer said that people have to pay to be on the top and I don’t really want to pay for that.”

I was baffled. So as per what her designer said, you can only be found, if someone knows your name or your business name? But cannot be found if someone is searching for a virtual consultant in Boston? Sounds ridiculous! Well as a small business owner you need to immediately wake up and smell the coffee! People who go online to search are generally looking for answers to their problems. Most won’t know your name or your business name. How do you ensure they find you before you competitor?


Organic Search Engine Optimization does not require you to pay the search engine owners to bring your site to the top rankings. What organic SEO does, is makes your website more search crawler/robot friendly and follows the white hat ethical SEO rules laid down by top search engines. Generally good search sites like Google keeps updating its algorithm to improve search results and a good SEO firm will update and follow such guidelines accordingly.

Some basic must-dos to make your website SEO friendly:

• Ensure your website coding is clean. Remove extra CSS and Javascript. Get your site W3C (www.w3c.org) validated to make it search friendly. There are 100% validated websites out there, so trust me it can be done!
  
  
• Spend some time right at the onset to do a thorough keyword research. Believe me this is the basic ABC of SEO. Look for keywords in programs like Keyword Discovery, Overture, WordTracker and website logs. You should know which keywords; users will use to do a search for you. Like I typed ‘virtual consultant Boston’ to search for my client’s website.
  
  
• Now that you know which keywords to optimize write your content them. Ensure to write SEO friendly content. Use 2 or max 3 keywords phrases per webpage. Don’t confuse the search crawler by using too many different types of keywords and diluting all. To understand more about keywords read my previous post about The Tango between Keywords & Search Engine Crawlers Part I & Part II
  
  
• Make sure to include the keyword phrase in the title, the alt tags, and the body of content. Bold it; use it in links, in H1 tags
  
  
• Start building relevant incoming links to your website. This is part of organic SEO, and ensures more number of relevant linking to your site, will make your site more popular with search bots. You can do this via article posting, forums, blogs, reciprocal linking, directory submissions etc. All this is very time consuming and tedious, but essential for your long term Search Engine Optimization strategy. Above all be patient. It takes time but following the above basic steps will work in winning the war and being found online.

Go and type your site’s preferred keywords on search engine. Can you find your business in the top 10 listings…. Nope? Then you definitely need to pull up your socks and take SEO help from experts.

Write to me at mark@analytixsolutions.net to discuss any further questions you might have about how to get your website SEO done.