SEO vs. PPC – Knowing the Difference

Key PPC vs. SEO take-aways

While coming to conclusions about how create a marketing strategy and staying within a budget, there are a couple of significant differentiations to consider, including the distinction between PPC (pay-per-click) promotions and SEO (search engine optimization).

Enhancements to Search Engine Optimization can assist in ranking your website on Google Search by giving users relevant results related to their search. Whereas PPC ads, like Google Ads, are ads that businesses and website owners bid on to appear among specified keyword searches.

What is SEO?

Search engine optimization, often abbreviated as SEO, is the practice of placing content in order to improve the likelihood of appearing in search engine results, thus improving traffic and visibility.

There are various SEO tasks that help help improve your website’s ability to appear in organic search results. Here are a few tips to begin optimizing your site:

Ensure that the content on your site is clear and gives read value to the reader.
Introduce our topic in simple terms, no need to over complicate things.
Add keywords that you think a user might potentially be searching for, related to your offering.

There is a phrase known to SEOs are “keyword stuffing”, which is essentially trying to fit in as many target keywords onto a page as possible. Although this trick worked in the early days of SEO, search engines now see this as a deceptive practice which will hurt your chances of getting ranked. Just keep it simple, easy to read, and descriptive.

Appearing in organic search will not cost you anything, unlike PPC ads. It’s important to make changes to your website in order to improve your SEO, which will have a positive impact on your search rankings over time.

Search Console is a free tool by Google which helps webmasters track organic positioning. There are various paid tools that we use at SEOfly which help us track keywords and monitor search trends, such as SEMrush, Ahrefs, and MOZ, just to name a few.

Watch this video on how to hire an SEO.

What does “PPC” mean, and when should you use PPC ads?

Search engines often allow advertisers to bid on having their website appear among search results in a pay-per-click (PPC) forma. Essentially, the advertiser sets the dollar amount that they are willing pay every time someone clicks on their link.

With Google Ad, you only pay when someone clicks on your links or calls your business phone number – all impressions are free. Your ads can be tailored towards your target audience to promote specific products and services. You can target by age, interests, geographic area, estimated income, etc.

Google Ads also gives advertisers the option to showcase their company on third-party platforms via the Google Display Network (GDN). The GDN is a comprised of thousands of websites which help expand your audience reach. You can hand select which websites you do or don’t want your ads to appear, or you can allow Google Ads to automate the process, based on your target audience.

PPC doesn’t have the same results as SEO, and does not impact your organic search rankings. Both PPC and SEO are worthy investments into your business. Google Ads gives you the opportunity to display your ads to potential customers, at the exact moment they’re searching for you a product or services that your business offers.

Why Won’t Paid Google PPC ads help my SEO?

Google is a tech superpower that cannot be easily fooled or manipulated. In other words, you simply cannot buy your way to the top of their organic rankings. Google’s first responsibility is to provide users value by giving them the most relevant search results.

So should I invest in SEO or PPC ads?

The question that marketers often get asked, which works better – SEO or PPC ads? It all depends on what goals you are trying to achieve – both can be beneficial to your business in different ways.

SEO is an important aspect to any digital marketing strategy because it allows your business to be found without paying for ads. SEO takes time and patience, so look at it as a long-term investment into your business. On the contrary, PPC lets you reach customers immediately and gives you the ability to make adjustments on the fly.

In summary, if you want to achieve quick results and drive traffic in the short-term, PPC will be your focus. If you want to grow your business’ long-term presence and be able to generate “free” traffic for years to come, then SEO will be your focus.

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