PPC vs SEO – Pros & Cons

Generally speaking, boosting traffic to your website means you have two basic options: pay-per-click (PPC) advertising or organic search engine optimization (SEO).  The question is, which one is the right one for you and what are the Pros & Cons of each?

Take a look at any search engine results page (see the slider above) and you’ll see there are two types of results you’re seeing: Organic (not paid) and Sponsored (paid).  If you want your site to show up in the sponsored part of the result, you have to choose a series of key words.  If someone searches your keyword and your site appears relevant to that search, you come up — for free.  You only pay the search engine when a person clicks on the link in the ad.  Then, you’re charged whatever you were willing to bid for that click on that key word or phrase.  Simple enough idea.

Use PPC to analyze traffic potential for SEO. Don’t use PPC as a standalone marketing tool. It’s just too damn expensive.

I don’t know about you, but I rarely click on sponsored links.  Somehow I feel organic links are more relevant and much less likely to immediately try to sell me.  If I’m searching for how many cups in a pint, please don’t try and sell me a measuring cup.  If I had one, I wouldn’t be searching!

As I said, there’s also free, organic results.  I’m sure you’d like to come up higher — but it’s a battle.  Remember, EVERYBODY wants to be on the first page of Google.  Only 10 actually are for a given query.  To succeed, you have to have a page on your website that’s as (or more) relevant to a search than everyone else.  There’s tons that can be done (we talk a lot about SEO), but it can cost a lot in time and in treasure.

According to a MarketingSherpa study, half of respondents said they only get about 10% of total web traffic through paid search.   What I take from that little nugget is it’s better to use PPC advertising to analyze traffic potential for SEO.  Don’t use PPC as a standalone marketing tool.  It’s just too damn expensive long term.

Which is better for me: PPC or SEO?

Here are just a few Pros and Cons of PPC and SEO.  Personally, I prefer SEO over PPC.  I’ll explain why in a minute.

Pay-Per-Click (PPC) PROs:

• Faster Testing.  They say fail often and quickly.  PPC campaigns allow you to instantly test how well the introduction of a new offer, landing page, campaign message or keyword will perform without having to slowly make your way into the organic results.
• Protection from Organic Algorithm Updates.  Search Engines routinely update their relevancy algorithms.  Sometimes it works in your favor.  Sometimes it doesn’t.

Pay-Per-Click (PPC) CONs:

• Cost-Per-Click – uh – costs money.  Obviously, they don’t call it Pay-Per-Click for nothing.  You’ve got to pay for it.   It looks like just a few dollars here and there but over time it adds up.
• Low Conversion Rates Get you Fired.  When organic (free) traffic hits your site and doesn’t convert, no big deal.  You’ll get ’em next time.  When you’re paying for it, each and every lost opportunity is money you’ve wasted in the eyes of your CFO.

Organic SEO PROs:

• Free is always sexy.  Optimizing your site may not be free, but appearing in the organic results AND getting those clicks costs you zip, nada, zilch, goose-egg.  Is there a sexier word in the English language than ‘Free’?
• You can soften up your sell.  You didn’t pay for those visits, so soften up that sell.  You’ve got a little time to guide them through the purchase decision.  That’s unlike a PPC ad in which you want: Search >> Click >> Sale.

Organic SEO CONs:

• Sustained, top placement is impossible.  It’s just about impossible to achieve sustained, top placement in search results for competitive keywords organically.  Search engines will “reshuffle” the deck routinely with algorithm updates.
• SEO can be as slow as tar.  SEO is not a secret door only the chosen have learned to unlock.  It’s a teeth-grinding, soul-sucking, long-as-hell process of digitally proving that you’re the perfect resource for that search question.  You’ll need to talk about it all the time (in social media and blogs).  You’ll need people to link to you when they mention the topic.  You’ll need searchers to click on your organic results and return often.  It’s not impossible, but it’s a slow process.

Our Recommendation for PPC v SEO?

First off, it’s not an either/or decision.  You CAN run both PPC and SEO campaigns together.  In fact, Google Analytics will allow you to link your Adwords and Analytics accounts so you can measure them side-by-side.  Heck, link your Google Webmasters account too while you’re at it.

I recommend clients run a PPC campaign with a high daily budget for a short period of time and use that data to inform their longer-term effort toward ethical organic SEO — generally speaking.

You’re welcome to add your own specifics below in the comments and we’ll try to answer them all.  Otherwise, let’s grab a beer.  I hate speaking in generalities.