There's this one question that we often asked in Digital Marketing - "SEO or PPC?" And if you don't already know, SEO = Search Engine Optimisation and PPC = Pay-Per-Click. In this post, we will find out:
What are the relationship between these two search strategies? Is one better than the other or do they work better together?
similarly, two sides of the same coin.
While they are key differences in the two of them, they actually lead to more successful search efforts when both efforts complement each other! But before I continue, it'll be good to understand each individual right? :)
I did a casual search on Google on "marketing agency Singapore", and we can visibly notice the difference between SEO and PPC. Read on to know more below~
What is SEO?
It's also often referred as 'organic results', and it's a strategy which website used to increase the visibility of its web page by ranking better in searches for targeted keywords or phrases. There's no cost in appearing through organic results, however there are many factors and efforts involved in creating an effective SEO.
All about building on the foundation of keywords!
What is PPC?
It's the advertisements that we always see at the top/sides during Google/Yahoo/ Bing searches. Basically, companies will pay for the ads (based on the competitiveness of the chosen keyword) when they are clicked and be directed to their websites. This strategy will offer companies short term gains, however definitely not a cost-effectiveness solution in the long run!
It's simply a form of paid advertising!
To save cost, SEO certainly require lesser budget as opposed to PPC and is better in terms of the long-term aspect. However, is it really true that companies only require SEO and not PPC?
The truth - for the optimal results, it's best to have SEO and PPC to work together!
but it's still largely depends on your budget and needs.
(source)
So now, I will talk about two ways that the combination of SEO & PPC can complement each other to improve your website!
1. Increasing your online presence.
At the beginning, it will be the best to invest in both SEO and PPC because SEO takes a longer time to show results whereas, with a large amount budget invested in PPC, it can temporarily drive traffic to the website. As the organic traffic (SEO) builds, the budget can be cut for PPC however, the results will be pretty similar.
With the combined efforts, it can definitely dominate the search results.
2. To test before investing.
Testing the keyword with SEO takes up a lot of time and efforts, and it might not be paid off too. However, PPC let you test the chosen keyword for SEO with almost immediate results. Monitor the results, if all's good then you're good to go! However, if there's poor results, it saves a lot of trouble when you use SEO for it.
When combined, it can help to save a significant amount of time and efforts.
3. Bring back the visitors.
While you may have loyal consumers/visitors with the use of SEO, there will have this group of fickle-minded consumers that visit the websites but failed to have the next move of action. Hence, a use of PPC may serve as a reminder and encourage them to revisit the page!
Reach out to the past visitors.
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Overall, SEO and PPC may be different but they still derive from the same origin - SEM (Search Engine Marketing) and ultimately, both aim is to drive traffic to the website. So, in my opinion, it will be the best to combine both efforts together to achieve the optimal results.
What about you? :) After all these points, do you have any idea which approach is better or indeed they work better together? Let me know!
Hello Jia Yi! :D Thanks for the interesting post! I realised that I always ended up avoid clicking websites with PPC since paid ad is not as trustworthy as SEO websites. However, I agree that it would definitely be the best to combine both SEO and PPC instead of choosing one to benefit from both :)
ReplyDeleteHello Claire, thank you for your comment :) Yes, that's me too! I always have a mindset that SEO is a lot more reliable as compared to PPC as to me, usually the better ones will appear at the top results of SEO. But with the help of PPC, it definitely widen my search and found more alternatives :)
DeleteHi Jia Yi! What an insightful post! It is clear that both methods have their own pros and cons and never would I have thought of utilizing both! I have to agree that if a company is able to utilize both effectively and efficiently, not only will they be able to garner high traffic long term and short term, they are also able to use both methods for customer retention and acquisition!
ReplyDeleteHello Sean, thanks a lot for your comment! Actually, neither me have thought of utilising both before crafting out this post :) But it's definitely good to know more about this two different search engine methods and how it can complement each other!
DeleteHi Jiayi, in my opinion, I think it’s clear that both methods are good and bad in their own way. Example for SEO, it’s good in the long run but it takes ample amount of time but when combining together with PPC, not only it will be good for long term, but also efficiently have a high amount of consumers visiting the sites.
ReplyDeleteHello Eugene, thank you for the comment! You're right indeed! Thus, I feel that it's vital to have a well-thought plan crafted in order to benefit the company in the short and long term and maintain its online presence :)
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