There’s a question that keeps coming up whether you’re new to marketing or have been doing it for a while: is SEO (search engine optimization) better than PPC (pay-per-click advertising)? What brings more success to your business while also remaining cost-effective?
Before understanding the difference between the two terms, it’s essential to grasp what the two mean.
WHAT IS SEO?
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) refers to the process of optimizing a website’s pages to make them appear higher in results on search engines such as Google and Bing. This means that people will be more likely to find your site when looking for similar stuff online. The organic – or non-paid – search results are what SEO is all about.
SEO PROS
- Cost-effective: While SEO isn’t free (or easy since it requires constant effort), it is cost-effective than PPC, which has continuous click charges.
- Long-Lasting: As SEO brings organic traffic to the site, its effects will not automatically disappear. If properly optimized, the site can stay high up on the search results long after a PPC campaign ends, thus delivering long-
term benefits. - Better ROI: SEO traffic can provide a better ROI than traditional paid media forms and outperform PPC.
- Strategic advantage: Organic search visibility is challenging – which is both a plus and a minus. Having established yourself in organic results, your competitors can’t simply buy their way in (assuming you’ve done everything right).
SEO CONS
It’s not all good though. SEO, like anything, has its cons.
- Continuous process: You can never expect to optimize your site thoroughly and just be done with it. It’s an ongoing process and the more work you put into it, the better optimized your site will be.
- Takes time: SEO will not provide instant results. It might take weeks or months to see results and even longer get to a significant spot on the search page. At the same time, the process itself is very time-consuming if you choose to do it yourself. You could hire an expert like Warren Digital, an SEO specialist in Sydney, do the work for you, though.
WHAT IS PPC?
- Heightened Visibility:
Since you’ll be at the top, your brand will have increased visibility above all the rest of the results, and the right people will see you. - Produces Quick Results:
Your efforts will deliver immediate results, and you’ll see better traffic numbers. With SEO, it can take months before you get tangible results, but here, there’s no delay once you’ve begun a PPC campaign. - Allows Total Control:
You have complete control over the page the user will land on once they click on your ad. So you can ensure the content you’re displaying has been through rounds of trial & error and thus, is relevant and valuable. - Better Flexibility:
You can choose which keywords to bid higher on, how much you want to spend per day, and you can even pause your campaign if your budget runs low.
PPC CONS
- Constant Investment:
Once you stop the money, your traffic will stop as well. It’s similar to how it won’t take much time for you to get results. It won’t take much time for traffic to stop if you decide to stop spending on the ads. On the other hand, SEO is slow, but it is long-lasting and only gets better with time. - Costs can add up:
PPC management campaigns can be controlled, but costs do start piling up. Take PPC management in Sydney, for example. It would cost about $1.8 for a click, and that might seem like a small amount, but with time it can pile up, which may lead to you spending more than you anticipated.
SEO VS PPC IN A NUTSHELL
- SEO:
SEO drives organic, relevant, and targeted traffic while also encouraging a user-friendly website. It also provides a long-term strategic advantage along with better sustainability. But at the same time, it is an ongoing process that requires frequent maintenance, and it takes a considerable amount of time to achieve tangible results through SEO. - PPC:
PPC delivers quick results and offers heightened visibility on the search page. Along with providing complete control, it also provides added flexibility. But it requires constant investment, and costs can pile up with time.
CONCLUSION
There are advantages and disadvantages to both SEO and PPC. If you have to choose one, SEO would probably be the best choice. Compared to PPC, SEO is more cost-effective. This is due to SEO’s ability to generate long-term website traffic and revenue at a more cost-effective rate than PPC. But If you’re looking for quick results, you may want to look more into PPC. The best option, however, is to use both as they work best when applied together. This won’t hold for every business, though, so it’s essential to keep your short-term and long-term traffic goals, budget, and other factors in mind.
