SEO vs PPC: Pros and Cons and Which is Best for Your Business

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization and is the process of optimizing your web pages for target search terms and keywords to help them appear in search results. 

The process of SEO typically spans four key areas:

• Keyword research – Finding the relevant search terms that users are inputting into search engines
• On-page SEO – Optimizing the content on your website for your target search terms
• Off-page SEO – Optimizing content outside of your website and building trust in your website and content
• Technical SEO – Optimizing your website’s settings to ensure search engine bots can find, crawl, and rank your pages

More Information

Discover more tips to improve your SEO strategy with our guide to anchor text and our list of the best free SEO tools on the market. 

PPC stands for Pay Per Click and is a type of marketing where you pay a fee each time a user clicks on your ad. 

You place an ad with the publisher (e.g. Google) which means your website appears at the top of search results for your chosen search term. Each time a user clicks on your listing and visits your website, you’ll pay. 

Ever noticed when you search something on Google that the first few results have “Sponsored” next to them? These are PPC ads that the brands have taken out to drive more traffic to their websites.

The cost of PPC ads will depend on a myriad of factors including your industry and how competitive the search terms are that you’re targeting.

A Google PPC ad campaign will usually involve the following:

• Keyword research – Discovering the relevant search terms that your customers are searching for online
• Bid setting – Deciding how much you’re willing to pay for each click
• Ad creation – Creating a relevant and compelling ad to appear in the search results
• Audience targeting – Choosing who you want to target with your ad

When it comes to the traffic that you drive to your website it falls into two categories: organic traffic and paid traffic. But what’s the difference between the two and which should you be targeting?

Organic traffic means the visitors that land on your website from unpaid, and therefore organic, search results. This will be the traffic you drive via your SEO strategy. 

On the other hand, paid traffic refers to the visitors who land on your website via paid-for search results. This is the traffic you drive through your PPC campaigns. 

Both have their own merits. Paid traffic can be a quicker way of attracting visitors to your website, but it’ll end up costing more in the long run. Organic traffic can take longer to build, but it’s usually the more sustainable option and can help to build trust in your brand. 

Below we’ve listed the pros and cons of SEO.

Below we’ve listed the pros and cons of PPC. 

Now that we’ve discussed SEO and PPC in detail, which is the better option? It all depends on your goals for your business and digital marketing ROI. 

Below we’ve listed the use cases for both SEO and PPC to help you work out which is the best choice for your business.

But remember, for the best online results you can combine the two. PPC and SEO campaigns can complement each other and help you to drive as much traffic as possible to your website. 

When to use SEO:

• You want to achieve consistent results over a longer period
• You want to build an established and authoritative website
• Your marketing budget is low
• You want to target customers at different stages of the sales funnel

When to use PPC:

• You want fast results
• You want to drive highly-targeted traffic from specific demographics
• Your offering is novel or time-sensitive
• You want to direct users straight to a sales page

Whether you choose to embark on an SEO or PPC strategy will all depend on your specific business needs. As you’ve seen in this article, both options can have amazing results and drive traffic to your website. 

Take the time to think carefully about PPC vs SEO to discover which will work best for your business and deliver the results you’re looking for. If possible, you can even integrate both into your online strategy!

For more ideas on improving your online presence, head to our digital marketing tips article next.