SEO Vs PPC – Comparing Two Internet Marketing Strategies

When embarking on an Internet marketing campaign it is wise to compare the main strategies.

Whether you embark on a Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) campaign, Pay Per Click (PPC) campaign or a combination of both will depend on your goals and objectives of your Internet marketing campaign. An SEO campaign is more of a long term strategy that is more cost effective but a PPC campaign may work well for a call to action strategy for a new website where immediate results are required which may offset the costs.

Let’s compare SEO and PPC side by side and how this can help your internet marketing campaigns.

SEO VS PPC
Search Engine Optimisation is the process and art of making a website achieve high rankings on Search Engine results pages (SERPS) for given search terms (keywords). SEO is a strategic, planned exercise.	Pay Per click is where an advertiser bids on keywords associated with their ad in order to achieve higher position on Search Engine results pages (sponsored links section) for searches on that keyword. PPC can be used as a tactical weapon.
Organic search results appear in the main search results only when a keyword search relevant to the website is made.	PPC advertisements only appear when relevant to search and only to the right or to the top of the natural (organic search results). This means ads in Search Engines do not generate as much traffic as websites listed in the SERP (Search Engine Results Page).
Research shows around 70% internet users click on natural search results.	Research shows only 30% click on paid search results.
SEO, when properly done, can have equally long term effects and results – even after stopping work with your SEO company. Stable positions over time result in continuous traffic.	Gives an initial boost in traffic and has a quick turnaround.  However, when the PPC campaign is over, traffic stops immediately.
Popular keywords may take some time to get rankings – but you will a benefit from longer tail keywords.	Useful for internet campaigns with brand new website, not yet appearing in organic results.
With this type of Internet marketing strategy, there may be an initial set-up fee as you engage an SEO company to create an SEO campaign for your business but there is no cost per individual click or visitor.	There is a cost per click or visitor with this Internet marketing campaign. Over time, bids can increase and costs per visitor increase. Each click or each visit to your site carries a cost determined by the keyword targeted (search term).Costs can be as low as a dollar to up to 30, 40, even 50 or more dollars per click depending on how competitive the search term is.
Organic rankings are seen to be unbiased and have a higher level of credibility as they are unpaid for.	People tend to trust high organic rankings as they are seen unbiased when they know that PPC spots were paid for.
All markets in the geographic get exposure (ie Australia), not just your local area (Sydney). Shows all the time 24 hrs per day.	Can support just your geographic area and can be time specific ie.  11am to 2 pm only Mon to Friday (for midday shopping at work).
No direct control over position on page in an Internet marketing campaign.	More control over position on page in an Internet marketing campaign.
Changes to titles and description can take up to 14 days to show on the Search Engine Results pages, maybe longer if your site is new.	Title and description changes immediately.
Only show on other sites as a link. However, your listing(s) can generate hundreds of visits to your site, at no additional cost.	Can show on other sites as an advertisement at an additional cost to you.
Cannot split test pages to see which one is better for a search term.	Can split test pages and track a click-through-rates.
You will need an SEO specialist or company to optimise your website for highly competitive keywords.	You can do it yourself – but can’t blame anyone when your ads cost you too much or don’t deliver the intended results for your Internet marketing campaign.

At the end of the day the choice does remain yours, but in our experience, embarking on a strategic Search Engine Optimisation campaign with a top SEO Company is a better long term, Internet marketing strategy than spending your dollars on every click you get through a Pay Per Click system. Contact us if you would like to know more about Internet marketing and how we can get you more for your marketing dollar.