SEO or PPC: Which Is the Best Strategy for Your Business?

With the advent of the internet, more and more people are using search engines like Google to look for the products and services they need. Search engines have become an essential medium that influences the purchasing decision of the buyer. The chances of people finding your website through search engines are much better than landing there directly. Therefore, a strong presence in search engine results become crucial for the businesses.

Search engine optimization (SEO) and Pay per Click (PPC) are the two most important marketing strategies meant to drive the visitor to the website.

SEO is a combination of various strategies and techniques used to boost the number of visitors on a website by improving its ranking in the organic results of a search. A higher ranking in the search engines implies a higher number of visitors, higher conversion rates and higher revenue thereby. SEO includes techniques like keyword research, SEO auditing, on-site optimization, off-site optimization, competition analysis and evaluation of the results.

PPC is one the most popular form of search engine advertising. Google allows the advertisers to display their ads in the sponsored results section. The advertiser pays a fixed amount to the search engine when their ads are clicked. The click directs the visitor to the advertiser’s website. So instead of earning the search visits organically, a business in a way purchases the visits to his site.

Both the methods aim to convince the users to visit and increase the traffic to your website.

Both the approaches have their merits and demerits, and before deciding on the better strategy for your business, you should consider following points:

1. The amount you want to spend on marketing should be taken into account. If you are working on a tight budget, then PPCs might not be a feasible option and add to your expenses. PPC allows benefits like:
   • The primary objective of any website is to drive traffic and increase conversion rates (CRs). And variables of the website have to be tested to work out on weaker points and improve CRs. PPCs can be used to buy the required traffic and reach the result quickly.
   • Search engine’s algorithm changes every now and then. Sites optimized for one type of algorithm suffer when the algorithm changes and the new update is instantly required. But while paying for each click, you are immune to the changes in the algorithm.
2. Cost per click(CPC) is different for different keywords and phrases. Use ‘Traffic Estimator’ tool to find out the average cost for any keyword/phrase. Ensure the average cost of your specific keyword is not too high.
3. Analyze how strong the competition in your target market is? Make use of ‘Google External keyword research tool’ to estimate the competition level in your industry.

You may find that the authority websites mostly command your specific keywords. Displacing such sites to make a place for your website in the market is a quite complicated job. Instead, it makes more sense to use PPC services in this case.

It isn’t necessary that only one of the two strategies has to be used. Both of them can be used in combination to have a powerful impact.

Source by Vineet Kumar Singh