When you create something, you want the world to see and appreciate it. The same goes for the websites you design. You want them to attract the target audience and rank at the top of search engines like Google. But what if it never pops up on the first page of any search engine? What if it gets hidden under several websites? Did your website ever exist? Traffic is like blood in our bodies. If the correct amount does not reach a particular organ, that organ eventually fails to work correctly. That is the same with a website and the amount of traffic it generates. If a website fails to generate huge traffic, it will lose value and fail.
So, if you want your business to get a boost, start effective digital marketing methods to drive traffic to your website. Today we will discuss two of these methods to make it easier for you to decide which one to use. Search engine optimization (SEO) and Pay-per-click (PPC). We will let you know how they work, and which one to choose from. Moreover, how you can use them both to drive many customers and build a strong foundation for your website. You can also search for e-commerce SEO services near you if you want your business to boost.
What is SEO?
Search engine optimization is an organic or unpaid type of digital marketing strategy. Furthermore, it is the process of optimizing your website in a way that it ranks at the top of search engines like Bing or google. Additionally, SEO helps you achieve the right quality and quantity of traffic your website needs.
For instance, when people type ‘recipe for brownies’ into Goole, they want an easy recipe, ingredients, and instructions on how to make it. Now, if you have written a blog or an article about the recipe for brownies, you would want people to find it, right? Hence you need to rank above all other websites with recipes for brownies. That is all SEO marketing is about.
Search engines use an algorithm that considers several factors when determining which search result to show for specific queries. Hence, SEO optimizes those factors and shows up relevant searches. SEO encompasses both onsite and offsite optimization. That includes the content and backend structure of your website. And in addition to that, factors like your social media sites. Furthermore, it also involves keyword research and technical SEO. That ensures people and search engines find your content when they search with specific keywords.
SEO is unpaid or organic, meaning these results will show beneath paid searches on Google and other search engines. Generally, people tend to ignore paid ads, so most online experiences start with search engines. Now, if you haven’t optimized your site for search engines, you will likely lose a lot of potential customers.
Furthermore, many businesses benefit from the traffic SEO sends their way. However, this is not the only marketing strategy to choose from.
When to use SEO: Pros and Cons:
SEO is essential for online businesses, as most of the traffic generated for any website comes from search engines. Most SEO campaigns target Google, the biggest and most used search engine. Now that we know what SEO is, let’s talk about when it is beneficial to use it.
Pros:
SEO can be used when you wish to work on a budget. It is highly cost-effective and gives you consistent results. Furthermore, it enhances your brand awareness and brings you sustained traffic for quite a while. SEO will help you build an authoritative website. It will drive traffic to your website and eventually build up a reputation making your business dominant in the competitive market.
In addition, SEO ensures that the trustworthiness of your website increases and that people see your website as a reliable source of information. If you want to increase the value and trust of your website, SEO is the best option for you.
Moreover, you can choose SEO when you want a return on small investments. It does not require you to put money into every keyword you want to rank. SEO proves to be a beneficial digital marketing method, however, it has some drawbacks as well.
Cons:
SEO drives a considerable amount of traffic, but there are some disadvantages that we cannot ignore.
SEO takes its time to show good results. If your website is new, you might not get instant results through SEO. It will not deliver instant results. Furthermore, it can take several months to see a significant difference. It cannot be a choice if you want traffic instantly. However, you should not avoid it. The quicker you start, the more long-term results you will reap.
Search engines change their algorithms numerous times. That means you have to keep a close check on your organic results and marketing strategy. Your SEO method should be monitored and frequently updated.
It requires constant investment. You have to update your website regularly and continue to publish new content. That will ensure you stay at the top of the ranking system in search engines. In addition, you must be precise to avoid getting penalized by Google. Do not try to cheat the system and stay on track. Once you get penalized, it’s hard to recover from it.
SEO requires a high level of skill and expertise. Anyone can do it, but becoming successful at it is entirely different. Google’s algorithm can be complex and take a lot of time. That is why it’s better to hire someone with SEO expertise.
Furthermore, constant optimization of your website is needed to ensure that it ranks at the top of any search engine. That might include removing old links and refreshing old articles. Moreover, there could be several technical issues that might hinder the process of ranking. Additionally, your competitor can outrank you at any time if you will not improve the quality of your website and optimize data properly.
Now let’s see the other side of the SEO vs PPC debate.
What is PPC?
Pay-per-click or PPC is a form of digital marketing that involves paid advertisement for ranking your website at the top of the search engine’s results page. In this type of marketing, you have to pay when someone clicks on your ad. That leads them to your website.
Furthermore, pay-per-click is controlled by many factors, including keyword research, ad creation, audience targeting, and bid setting. It is a highly budgeted way of reaching your target audience. Moreover, it delivers instant results and traffic from search engines.
Pay-per-click is a form of paid digital marketing used by several social media channels like Facebook, Instagram, etc. The most popular PPC advertising platforms include Google Ads, Bing Ads, and many more. PPC allows an advertiser to pay a publisher like Facebook or Google to rank their content at the top. Moreover, that only happens when consumers interact with the ads.
PPC ads appear alongside organic or SEO search results. Some businesses only run these search ads for a brief period. Furthermore, the cost of these ads depends on your industry. In addition, PPC advertising helps you stay in a competitive market and quickly gets seen by its target market. Now let’s talk about when it would be a great option.
When to use PPC: Pros and Cons:
Investing in organic search-like SEO is great but takes longer to stand out. So, if you want instant traffic on your website, PPS will help you achieve that.
Pros:
It delivers immediate results. Unlike SEO, PPC gives you instant results, and you do not have to wait for months or a year to get your website ranked at the top. In addition, it gives exceptional visibility. These ads are the first thing you see on any search results. Furthermore, PPC highlights vital information like your site links. Local SEO does not have this feature. Moreover, if you want to test a new product, you can easily do so by PPC.
PPC allows high-intent clicks. That means users who will click on your PPC ad will likely make a purchase. The paid visual ads further increase the chances of purchase. Furthermore, the services of PPC are easily measured. You can have a clear image of what your expenditure would be. Moreover, you will know how this drives data and the return on investment.
In addition to that, PPC allows you to promote the time-sensitive offer. You can market products or services with a fixed expiration date. Moreover, you can use PPC when your website is not registered for SEO. You can also use PPC to dominate search results for your keyword category. Furthermore, people tend to click on websites ranking in the top 4 to 5 search results. If you are not visible there, you are basically at a loss. That makes PPC a better option than SEO. Again, when you have the pros of using PPC, you will also face the cons of it.
Cons:
PPC advertisements are expensive. You have to pay for every click, and if your budget drops so do your target traffic. In other words, you need money to make money. In addition to that, PPC has lower profit margins. Moreover, PPC ads become boring after a while. That is because the competitive markets have similar keywords you are using.
Also Read: Unlock the Power of Magento with an Upgrade
SEO or PPC?
This question is not easy to answer. In reality, it should be SEO and PPC. SEO is long-term and much more cost-effective. PPC gives instant results and drives a lot of traffic. In addition to that, you can also rank for dozens of keywords with SEO. However, PPC does not allow that. But it will give good competition to a similar market.
Overall, using both SEO and PPC will boost your business. Moreover, they cancel out each other’s cons, which makes them the best marketing strategies to use.
