The main difference between Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Pay Per Click (PPC) is that traffic coming from SEO (organic) is without any sort of cost paid to the Search Engine while traffic generated from PPC comes with a certain cost which the client needs to pay to the Search Engine (as the name implies you have to pay a cost per each click on the link). So now you know what these two terms organic search engine results and paid search engine results (or Paid Search Advertising – PSA) means.
For PPC there are many search engines like Google Adwords, Yahoo Search Marketing and others who provide the service of Paid Marketing for any keyword you opt to bid for. They enable you to display your website content in the paid results section of each search engine’s results page i.e. SERP. The fee you pay is completely based on how common and often used your chosen keyword is. Thus, whenever a search engine user clicks on the paid link and surf through your website you have to bear a cost that is fixed with the Search Engine once you set up a campaign. The payment is to be made not concerned to whether the person who clicked on the link has made the purchase or not.
On the contrary, you can get traffic without bearing a penny by achieving a higher rank in the search results that are displayed next or below to where the paid results are featured. To achieve a rank in the SERP without paying to the search engine you will need to do a lot of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) practices to try to get your site featured on these search result pages more often. SEO is a long term activity and it is not a shortcut to get to the top, it may take a little long to reach the top of the SERP, but once you start getting results of all the activities, the resulted traffic will probably prove to be well worth the time and investment. Now let’s have a quick look at the pros and cons of SEO and PPC:
Pros and cons of SEO and PPC:
One major drawback of SEO is that the search engine algorithms change very frequently to improve the quality they serve to the users. So when that happens, sites that have been optimized in a wrong way or if the algorithm thinks that the site doesn’t have quality content. Then the site may lose rankings and profits eventually or sometimes overnight. But there is no connection between the paid results and algorithm so when you pay for traffic, you can rest assured a steady stream of visitors, no matter what changes all these search engines like Google and Yahoo makes.
One thing you need to know is PPC has a learning curve. You should always initiate with small, highly targeted campaigns and never miss to tie your PPC campaign to your Search Engine Analytics account like Google Analytics for Google. It will give you detailed and regular reports on which conversions are from PPC visitors and whether your ROI & Conversion rate is positive or negative.
It is even possible to have all the details you want for your campaign, but there is one disadvantage of PPC and that is its cost. It happens very often that the business you generate from PPC may not be worth the cost you are spending on the campaign. While SEO is a free approach and your only investment is time and the effort you make to optimize your website.
If you compare traffic and cost of first page resultants for SEO and PPC traffic, you will agree that organic traffic is far better. There are some studies suggesting that PPC ads get more clicks than organic but this also translates to a bigger cost and obviously doesn’t mean that it leads to higher conversion and sales.
PPC’s true strengths are its instant ranking and higher reach. With a PPC campaign, you can be on the first page for a multitude of targeted terms within a span of a day. However, the cost you might have to pay can be anywhere from pennies to many dollars per click depending on the number of bidders for the keyword you target; also, for a PPC campaign to be done correctly, it’s usually best to hire an agency that can manage it full time and have a Google Partner or Premier Badge. This can mean that PPC campaigns sometimes can get very expensive.
Sometimes the Problem that clients face is people are savvy nowadays and are aware of the PPC and they avoid clicking on the paid link. Thus, the SEO efforts might take time but people know that Google trusts these links and so there is a high chance of getting better returns at cheaper rates.
Thus it depends on what is your goal you want to achieve and on that you can choose between SEO and PPC. If you wish for quick results and are confident enough to get a decent ROI and Conversion from the clicks you get, opt for PPC but if you wish to go for an affordable and durable business, opt for an SEO agency.
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