Search engine optimisation (SEO) and pay-per-click (PPC) advertising are two of the most popular digital marketing methods used to boost the online visibility of a brand or website. When used together, SEO and PPC can create a powerful combination that delivers remarkable results.
In this article, we will explore how these two strategies interact with each other, and how they can be used in tandem to help your brand achieve greater levels of success online.
Difference Between SEO & PPC
SEO and PPC are two distinct digital marketing techniques with different objectives – and in order to understand how they can work hand in hand, we need to understand the details and distinctions of each.
In the simplest terms, SEO is an organic approach to improving your website’s visibility and rankings for relevant search terms in the search engine results pages (SERPs). PPC, meanwhile, is a paid advertising method whereby sponsored ads are placed at the top of search engine results pages and on other websites.
The main difference between the two strategies lies in the speed at which each delivers results. SEO is a long-term strategy, typically taking months or even years to achieve maximum visibility and ranking for a given brand.
PPC, on the other hand, is renowned for delivering immediate short-term impact, as it allows the given brand to quickly begin appearing in front of the eyeballs of its target audiences.
Some of the most important elements to consider with SEO include:
- Optimising your website’s content and structure to make it easier for search engines to crawl and index, as well as making it more engaging for human visitors.
- Creating backlinks from other websites or blogs in order to generate more traffic to your site.
- Using keywords throughout your pages that match the terms people are most likely to use when searching for products or services like yours.
Meanwhile, the most important elements of PPC include:
- Creating ad campaigns that are tailored to specific key phrases and demographics.
- Setting a daily budget for your campaigns, ensuring that you get value for money by only paying when someone clicks on an ad.
- Monitoring results and adjusting your campaigns accordingly in order to maximise returns.
As you can see, there are some clear differences between the two strategies, but the fact that they can be used together is one of the factors that makes them so powerful.
There are a number of ways that these two can be combined, and we explored some of the most significant considerations below:
Aligned Keyword Strategy
A key factor to consider when using SEO and PPC in tandem is an aligned keyword strategy. Essentially, this refers to the practice of targeting the same keywords or phrases in both SEO and PPC campaigns. This helps to ensure your website’s visibility is maximised across all channels, such as search engine result pages (SERPs), social media platforms, and other websites.
The alignment of keyword strategy can involve both SEO and PPC, as PPC campaigns can help to boost organic search visibility. For example, if you use an SEO campaign to target a specific keyword or phrase, your PPC campaign can be used to ensure your ad appears when someone searches for that same keyword or phrase.
This helps to create brand recognition and can ensure that your website is visible in multiple places on the SERPs, increasing the chances of someone clicking on your ad or landing page.
Brand Awareness
Brand awareness refers to how well-known and recognisable your company is to potential customers. Sure enough, one of the best ways to boost brand awareness is to combine SEO with PPC.
Combining SEO and PPC can have a significant impact on your website’s visibility and, ultimately, the success of your business. SEO helps to build brand awareness by increasing the quantity and quality of organic traffic that is attracted to your website. PPC, on the other hand, can be used to quickly drive targeted traffic to specific pages on your site or to generate leads and conversions.
By combining both strategies, you will be able to attract more visitors and target people with relevant ads, thus maximising your chances of achieving higher brand awareness – and with it, conversions of visitors into paying customers.
Enhanced Decision Making
Combining SEO and PPC also has the potential to give you a better understanding of how visitors interact with your website. By tracking the performance of both strategies, you can identify which campaigns and keywords are performing best, and make changes accordingly. This information can be used to inform decisions about content creation and marketing campaigns, allowing you to maximise your return on investment (ROI).
Access to data and analytics that help you to make better-informed decisions is a crucial element of a successful marketing strategy, and can play a major role in driving your business forward.
Tracking & Measuring Performance
As we mentioned, it is essential to track and measure the performance of your SEO and PPC campaigns. Metrics such as website visits, click-through rate (CTR), cost per click (CPC), bounce rate, and more can help you identify areas for improvement and inform your decisions on how you use your finite online marketing budget more wisely.
By using the information that you gather, you can optimise your campaigns and make sure they are delivering the best possible results.
Final Thoughts
Even used in isolation, SEO and PPC are two of the most powerful digital marketing strategies available today. However, when used together, they can offer an especially effective approach to boosting website visibility, increasing brand awareness, generating leads and conversions, and helping businesses to reach their goals. With the right strategy in place, SEO and PPC can work hand in hand to deliver impressive and sustained results for your brand’s online presence.
Are you keen to learn more and to start improving the results your own brand achieves from its efforts online? In that case, you should never underestimate the power of professional help.
Contact a skilled and experienced SEO consultant in Essex from the Mr SEO team today, so that they can help take your marketing efforts from average to amazing, with the associated benefits for your organisation’s all-round sales, revenue, and growth.
