SEO and PPC ads are digital marketing strategies used to make online content more visible.
SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
SEO or Search Engine Optimization focuses on making content rank better organically in a SERP (Search Engine Results Page). Ranking high in a SERP is crucial in making your content visible and attracting traffic to your website.
Since search engines use algorithms to crawl the internet for content, SEO best practices act as a guide on how to improve visibility step by step.
PPC (Pay-Pay-Click)
As the name suggests, PPC or pay-per-click relies on payment in exchange for a favorable placement in a SERP. Pay is only delivered every time the advertisement is clicked on, thus the name.
In a way, it can be considered a premium advertisement service. A business or entity pays a website to appear on top of the SERP regardless of their site’s ranking and authority.
Comparisons
Despite having the same goal, each has its own strengths and weakness. Understanding what you need and what each can give is crucial in choosing which strategy to employ.
Direct Cost
SEO involves cost in the initial stages where the website is created and research is done. Once the strategies are in the works, the costs decrease dramatically.
In comparison, PPC is a probable potential expense until the advertisement is up and running.
Effort and Skills Required
SEO takes a lot of planning, improvement, and work. There are a lot of factors to consider for off-page and on-page optimization. SEO skills and training courses are offered specifically for this kind of need. Vishwas Thakkar provides SEO training in Hong Kong and proves to be one of the most reliable sources of such services.
PPC is much more straightforward. It only requires the user to come up with the best keyword to feature.
Flexibility
While SEO might dominate benefits on the online search platform, it does not directly affect social media visibility. This hurts SEO’s reach since social media is one of the most accessible digital marketing platforms today.
PPC is available on other platforms in different forms. SEO strategies cannot reach outside online searches, but PPC ads can. It also gives the user the option to reach a specific target audience.
Visibility Duration
SEO starts with low visibility and grows as it ranks more even without additional effort.
PPC ads lose visibility as soon as the ads are taken down.
Website Traffic
SEO provides a better source of website traffic since it involves linking multiple pages to one website.
PPC can produce a spike in website traffic when ads are clicked, but there is no collective traffic from different source pages.
Search Engine Ranking
SEO ranking accumulates over time.
PPC does not affect search engine ranking
How Long to See Results
SEO is a long game. Expect that there will be no immediate results. It takes at least half a year to show significant results and several years to see the results in full bloom. It takes time for search engines to crawl and index your content, and even longer to rank. This fact does not discount the benefits of proper SEO.
PPC provides instant results and even places the ads on top of organic search results. It’s perfect if you need instant visibility.
Conclusion
SEO in general can provide the best long-term cost-effective strategy, while PPC ads achieve results with not much effort and can launch campaigns faster.
Your choice will be based on your needs. If you are willing to invest time and effort in planning and building your website, choose SEO. If you have a specific product or campaign to launch and have enough resources to spend, choose PPC.
One strategy is obviously better than the other depending on the situation, but you can also choose to employ both for a more rounded approach.