How Do SEO and PPC Work Together in Digital Marketing?

There is a never-ending debate about SEO vs PPC which one is better. SEO brings you organic traffic, but it takes time. On the other hand, PPC is faster but is a little bit costly and complex process. So, which one is greater than the other? The answer is, “Rather than trying to compare the two, they are both efficient for digital marketing.” Yes, many people treat SEO and PPC as separate digital marketing strategies, whereas they can be used together for better performance.

Sometimes brands only focus on one of them as they are considered as substitutes for one another. However, these two strategies can be utilized together for a site to reach its fullest potential in the SERPs.

SEO and PPC work differently, but their goal is the same, which is to increase traffic to your site. If they work together, your business could get both organic and paid traffic, which will be great for the growth of your business. In this blog, we will be discussing the differences and similarities between SEO and PPC and some strategies to work them together in digital marketing.

What is SEO?

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, a very popular term in the field of digital marketing. It is a technique for improving organic traffic to a website by enhancing exposure and site authority. If we place our keyword naturally into web pages, blogs, and landing pages strategically, then the website will become optimized for ranking on search engine results pages (SERP). The more a webpage or blog piece is liked by Google’s algorithm, the higher it will rank when a user searches for the corresponding keywords.

SEO focuses on boosting ranks in organic – often known as non-paid search results. It is the most cost-effective way of digital marketing in Bangladesh. Keyword plays a very vital role in SEO. They determine how the web content is ranked. When searching for a keyword associated with your website or blog, if your website shows up at the top page of Google, then your SEO is successful. As the top page listed in a Google search has an average click-through rate of 32%. (Source: inter-growth)

What is PPC?

PPC stands for pay-per-click, a very well-known factor of digital marketing. It is a type of digital advertising that marketers pay each time a user clicks on one of their adverts. PPC advertising comes in a variety of forms, but one of the most frequent is the paid search ad. These adverts display when individuals search for items online using a search engine like Google – particularly when they make commercial queries, indicating that they are looking to buy something.

This might range from a mobile search (someone looking for a “coffee shop near me” on their phone) to a local service search (someone looking for a doctor or a cab in their region) to someone purchasing holiday tickets or a high-end item such as gold jewelry or a diamond ring. All of these queries result in pay-per-click advertisements. Over 7 million advertisers invested a total of $10.01 billion into PPC ads in 2017 and paid advertising returns $2 for every $1 spent – a 200% ROI rate. (Source: smallbizgenius)

Differences between SEO and PPC

PPC and SEO are the two most frequent strategies for attracting website traffic. The difference between them is pretty significant. Such as-

1. The most notable difference between the two is that SEO uses organic traffic, a free source of traffic, and PPC uses in organic traffic, which must be paid for. 
2. The traffic potential of SEO is far greater than that of PPC. 
3. Conversion rates in SEO are also lower as opposed to PPC. 
4. The greatest difficulty with SEO is that it necessitates a significant amount of effort to ensure that the material on the site is consistently indexed to the top. The popularity of a specific keyword determines the cost of PPC. If a certain term is extremely popular, the cost of the PPC ad campaign will be prohibitively expensive.
5. Results are quick and predictable with PPC, but the return on investment is average. The potential benefits of SEO are slow and somewhat unexpected, but the return on investment is substantially higher.

Similarities between SEO and PPC

While PPC and SEO are not the same in many aspects, they do have some obvious similarities. 

To begin, both strategies attempt to attract visitors to a website and are frequently focused on creating conversions. While one accomplishes this through sponsored means and the other through the difficult process of organically climbing the SERPs, the end aim is the same. 

Secondly, both SEO and PPC are keyword-focused methods. While PPC advertisers will do keyword research to discover profitable words to bid on and irrelevant ones to remove via negative keyword lists, SEOs will also undertake keyword research to understand how to optimize titles, content, technical factors, and other crucial on-site characteristics.

With the distinctions and similarities of these two methods established, let’s look at how combining SEO and PPC may lead to search engine success.

SEO and PPC Working Together

When SEO and PPC work together, you will be rewarded with miraculous insights, learnings, and results that neither of them could achieve alone. These services are not supposed to be separated, and aligning them is one of the most underappreciated methods to boost your entire digital marketing success.

Indeed, PPC is one of the most effective SEO strategies – and vice versa. Here are some strategies for succeeding in both SEO and PPC combinedly.

Maximizing SERP coverage

As you are probably aware, optimizing your website with SEO service increases your chances of ranking on the first page, or perhaps in the #1 position, for one or more keywords that you are targeting. Furthermore, by bidding high enough on PPC advertisements for the same phrase, your ad will show towards the top of the page when someone searches for that term.

If you do both things for that specific keyword—optimize your website and purchase PPC advertising —you ensure that your brand dominates the search results and has a higher chance of collecting those essential clicks.

SEO can benefit from the Paid Search team’s keyword data

The Paid Search team will have a wealth of up-to-date keyword data. That is actual keyword data, not tool guesses. These keywords’ volume is smaller and more efficient compared to tool guessing. During these periods, the SEO team can use the Paid keyword data to make optimization decisions. Similarly, using PPC data to optimize website content might result in a lower cost-per-click. 

If you are operating both channels and your SEO team is not talking with the PPC team, you might be passing on some fantastic chances.

PPC lets you test new keywords for SEO

Search engine optimization sometimes takes a significant amount of time, study, and money. There may be instances when you consider targeting a specific term with your SEO efforts but are unsure if it would be worthwhile. PPC is one method for “testing” the feasibility of a keyword for SEO.

Simply choose a keyword that you believe you have a good chance of ranking high for and should be able to convert for (that is, one that is highly relevant to your products or services) and spend money on PPC advertising for it. Keep an eye on the results for a time to observe how your website performs. If you do well, it may be a sign that you should start optimizing your site for it as well. If your PPC efforts fail, you should avoid SEO for this term.

Because PPC is usually highly affordable, this is one approach to test the waters on a search engine without investing a lot of time or money in altering your website for search engine friendliness.

PPC and SEO give you more data for smarter decision-making

One way that SEO and PPC may collaborate to your advantage is by providing you with a vast supply of data for decision-making purposes. The following factors can be examined from your SEO and PPC efforts – 

• Rate of clickthrough
• Exit and bounce rates
• Conversion rate
• Time spent on site

You may use this data to evaluate which keywords are most efficient at generating sales or which are delivering people to your site who are unlikely to make a purchase or become a lead. This will allow you to make more informed decisions regarding your marketing and future website updates.

Increased Brand Awareness

When a customer clicks on a PPC advertisement, they are sent to a landing page where they may learn more about a company and its offers. They may then examine a site more to gain a better sense of the brand. In other cases, they may become distracted and leave the page.

While this may appear to be discouraging, the consumer has only just been aware of the firm and what it has to offer due to the PPC ad. When that person searches for comparable items or services in the future, he or she is likely to recall their contact with the company’s website and click on its organic listings.

As potential consumers get more acquainted with a brand, they are more inclined to engage with organically listed content, resulting in increased traffic and (possibly) conversions.

Finally, even if prospects do not convert right away, PPC advertising serves to raise awareness for a company, leading to more organic traffic in the future.

A Good Digital Marketing Campaign Requires both Mediums

Because SEO and PPC are vital components of a digital marketing strategy, they should be used together. There is no scenario in which organic rankings will eventually render PPC obsolete, saving the brand in question a significant amount of money on advertising.

As SEO and PPC compete for the same advertising area which is the SERP, they should share their information. It is possible that a lack of communication will result in insufficient results for both channels. If a collaborative plan can include channels that complement each other, the optimal outcome for expenditure will always be achieved.

Take your Digital Marketing to the next level

If you must pick between the two, go for both and combine your SEO and PPC efforts to enhance your digital marketing strategy and get the most out of your online presence. There are many renowned and trustworthy digital marketing agencies that are always there to help you the growth of your online presence through SEO and PPC services. They are well aware of the benefits that businesses will get if SEO and PPC strategies are combined. Expert teams collaborate with each other so that they can create a well-organized route for your digital marketing success. You can contact a reputed digital marketing agency to grow your business to the next level with the help of digital marketing.

FAQ

How much does SEO cost?

Ans: If you seek an expert, it depends on how adequate the agency is.

Once I start SEO, how long will it take to get rankings?

Ans: SEO isn’t a strategy that can be implemented quickly. It can take anywhere from 3 to 9 months for new ranks to appear, depending on your website.

Do people really click on online PPC ads?

Ans: Yes! Ads in search results account for more than 45 percent of page clicks.

Should I do PPC?

Ans: Pay Per Click (PPC) is an excellent way to augment your SEO efforts and increase relevant visitors.

Is it compulsory to do both SEO and PPC to increase traffic to my website?

Ans: It is not compulsory, but it sure is advised to do both SEO and PPC for remarkable growth in your online presence.