In the world of digital marketing, there are many strategies one can do to increase the traffic and conversion rates on their website. Two such strategies that are popular are search engine optimization (SEO) and pay per click advertising (PPC).
Many companies have this notion that choosing between the two strategies is an either/or type of situation and it’s not surprising why they may think that way.
On one hand, you have a more organic, structured and content-driven approach in the form of SEO, while on the other you have a more resource-intensive and direct approach with PPC. There is an apparent clash of ethos, and that can make someone favor one method over the other as if they were choosing a side.
The important thing people have to know regarding PPC and SEO is that they can be used together, whether independently or synergistically, to make your online marketing efforts more successful. Let us see how you can use both methods to optimize your search engine marketing strategies.
Be open-minded when it comes to your strategies
As suggested above, it may seem that SEO and PPC campaigns can work against each other to divide the number of visitors that your site can get, but that is simply not the case.
Whether you’re limited by resources (money, labor) or your organization’s philosophy regarding your marketing efforts (favoring one over the other), it pays to keep an open mind when it comes to your strategy. Whichever the case may be, using both SEO and PPC must start with a conscious decision.
Consider the two methods as two separate roads that lead to the same location — your website! Being open-minded about your strategies means adopting both SEO and PPC when possible.For example, let’s say that your SEO efforts are paying off and your website is attracting a reasonable number of visitors. That does not necessarily mean that you are already converting these visits into actual sales. Sometimes, your online leads take a while to make up their minds and leave your site before making a purchase or availing a service.
This is where PPC can benefit you. By using an approach called remarketing, you can usher those previous leads back to your website at a later time when they finally make up their minds.
Sometimes, it can be the other way around, with SEO bringing them back to your website that they previously encountered through an ad. Either way, you are benefiting from using both strategies. With a bit of patience, using both can pay off in the long run because eventually, they will work together to build your brand and online presence.
Make use of the data you can get from PPC and SEO
Pay-per-click advertising is a great search engine marketing option for those who like looking at analytics and data. This is not to say that there are no analytical metrics that can measure the efficacy of SEO, but with PPC it is faster and more direct.
Keywords are the foundation of any search engine marketing strategy. PPC allows you to observe how well a keyword is doing in relation to your website. You can keep track of how many clicks, visits, and conversions your PPC strategy is generating and identify the keywords that are performing well and the ones that are not. You can then focus your SEO efforts on those specific keywords and help build more traffic.
Again, this can also work the other way around. With enough time, your SEO results can also yield valuable data that can benefit PPC. Look at the clickthrough, conversion, bounce, and exit rates of both strategies and use them to and make your overall approach more effective.
Consider where your company is in terms of development
If you have a startup business and you want to use search engine marketing to target local markets, pay-per-click advertising can be the most cost-effective way of going about it.
However, once your company starts growing and you want to tap into bigger markets, the costs of PPC will also rise. You might be inclined to think that bearing the increased costs is fine, but that isn’t the case. Sticking to one kind of online marketing strategy can end up costing you more and more money while generating marginal returns.
Once your company becomes bigger, try scaling down the PPC and putting more effort into SEO. Generating organic traffic helps you transition into bigger online markets without costing you a fortune. Don’t forget that once you stop paying for advertising, your search engine visibility can also drop. Consider making small-scale SEO efforts while making PPC your main strategy when you are still starting out.
One of the best things about using both SEO and PPC to generate your online presence and conversions is that it can support your company’s development at any stage.
Key Takeaway
Now that you know how to optimize your search engine marketing strategy, it’s time to put this into action.
Always remember that SEO and PPC are tactics that work better together, not separately. Keep an open mind, use valuable data meaningfully, and analyze where your company is in its life cycle. Aside from that, never stop researching new ways to make current strategies better. Only then can you give your company’s website the best chance of being successful.
