SEO vs. PPC – Which is better?

SEO or PPC?

“Which of either is the right choice for my business? Should my business be using PPC (Pay-Per-Click) ads or will SEO (Search Engine Optimization) benefit me more?”

Are you too confused on settling for an option amongst the two?
Well, you are not alone!!

As per our research, “Which is better, SEO or PPC”, “SEO vs. PPC”, “Should I take PPC or SEO”, are some of the most frequently asked questions by almost everyone who is looking forward to market his/her business online.

Believe it or not, we come across this question way too often. And every time, we are obliged to answer them stating the facts, requirements, pros and cons, approach, and strategies. So, we thought why shouldn’t we talk about this global concern in our next blog post. This will not only help our clients to understand both the approaches correctly but it will also make things easier for us.

So, here we are, talking about “How to choose between SEO and PPC”. Read along!!

SEO vs PPC – What is the right choice?

With regards to boosting traffic to your site, you have two fundamental choices: PPC ads or SEO.

But what’s the difference between the two?

If you are choosing PPC, you will have to pay to get the traffic to your site.

Google, Yahoo, and other search engines offer you the advertisement program to bring traffic to your website. They empower you to show sponsored advertisements in their search results pages. Then, you will have to pay a fee when a searcher will click on your ad. The fee depends on the competency of the targeted keyword on which you choose to sponsor your site.

And that means you will need a good budget before opting for PPC ads.

On the other hand, SEO helps you in getting free traffic to your site by optimizing your website on search engine results against the targeted keywords. However, you should be following SEO best practices to attempt to get your site on the top results of these pages. Also, you should keep in your mind that SEO is a time taking the process and it will take you a while to reach the top of the results. Once you will begin to get the organic traffic to your site, you will realize it worths all the efforts and hard work.

Now, coming to the main point, which is better; SEO or PPC, our answer will be, “It depends on your business requirements, budget, and end goal.”

Yes, the final answer to this question is neither a “Yes” nor a “No” but a conditional statement that will come to its final conclusion once all the conditions are analyzed and requirements are understood.

What are the conditions?

If you need traffic instantly and sufficiently and you are willing to pay for it, then PPC might be right for you. But if you’re operating on a shoestring budget, it may make more sense to invest time in chasing high search rankings through SEO.

Here are the questions to consider when deciding whether SEO or PPC is best for your business:

What is your budget

The first question that you need to ask yourself is, “What is my budget,? Could I be able to pay the required fees?”

You will need to understand the advertising budget your business can support. You can set your daily spending limit as low as you’d like, but it can be a good idea to start with an estimation of 7-10$ per day.

However, if you can’t support PPC then SEO is the right choice for you. It is time-consuming but when done correctly, it brings results.

Do you want quick results

The next question that you need to ask yourself is how quick you want results. If you are aspiring to get the desired traffic quickly and you have the budget to support PPC ads then opting for PPC could be very beneficial.

Are your targeted keywords competitive

You also need to determine the competitive nature of your target keywords. If your keyword is tough and there are already high DA sites sitting on that keyword that means the rivalry level is pretty high. In the most aggressive businesses, you may find that search result pages for your main keywords are commanded by big organizations. They can be almost difficult to dislodge without a critical venture of time and expense. In such cases, it might eventually bode well to pay for traffic by means of PPC ads.

What is the CPC (Cost Per Click)

You will need to take a look at what other people in your industry are paying for ads.

PPC platforms typically allow users to bid what they’re willing to pay for a single keyword click — a fee that’s referred to as “cost-per-click” (CPC). For example, if you are a chiropractor and want to appear on the top of the search engine when people inquire for the keyword “rehab doctors,” you could use the Traffic Estimator within the free Google External Keyword Research Tool and you will find out that the CPC for this keyword is above $100.

Normally, average CPCs can run above $25 and this makes it more difficult for new ventures to turn a profit from PPC traffic. In such cases, SEO will be a better choice for your business.

Integrate them

Maybe you are asking the wrong question. Maybe it’s not about SEO vs. PPC but SEO and PPC.

SEO and PPC?

Yes, SEO and PPC!

In a perfect world, we would suggest you integrate both SEO and PPC. They both have upsides and downsides and work best when supporting each other synergistically. Where you can get SEO and PPC cooperating, you will regularly have the capacity to drive results that are more noteworthy than their segmented parts.

To make you understand better, we are also adding the advantages of SEO and PPC working together. They are,

• It will increase the total volume of traffic. You will be getting quick traffic by targeting competitive keywords through PPC and organic traffic for high-performing keywords.
• The conversion data you will be getting from PPC can be sustained into SEO
• You can target the high-cost, high-volume, and low-converting keywords through SEO and high-cost, high-volume, and high-converting keywords through PPC.
• Sponsored ads allow you to stay at the top of the search engine results whereas organic search improves your visitors’ engagement with your site.
• You can test your keyword strategy in PPC before settling into a long-term SEO process.
• This will also help in increasing confidence and awareness amongst your customers and visitors by having both strong organic and paid visibility.

We would say with our experience with several organizations, integration of SEO and PPC is the ideal approach of all. Results are enhanced in each channel by using both paid and natural. This won’t be appropriate for every business, however, for high-development, forceful advertising, you will need to build up a strategy to take a take at SEO or PPC in segregation.