There has been a notable and steady rise in the cost of PPC campaigns as of late, and it’s starting to pinch businesses where it counts. Larger businesses with deep pockets may be able to hold out longer but small business is struggling. Google is even noticing the slip, as they’ve sent out “coupons” giving away $100 credits for adword campaigns. It’s working though, as I even got one in the mail and was extremely tempted to use it.
The rise has caused a number of businesses to reevaluate how they get traffic, and where many put more time and budget into PPC they are now shifting funds for SEO. This isn’t about what’s better. It’s not about SEO duking it out with PPC. That would be comparing apples to oranges. Think of it more like a marriage, and you’ll begin to understand
Understanding the Waltz
You have to first recognize that PPC is never going to enhance your rank in standard search results. PPC ads are placed in special areas or featured spots to the side or over the regular search results. It may be nice to show up first, but recent studies show that the click-through rate on features results is sliding. 3 out of 4 individuals trust traditional search responses over featured listings. Is it any surprise, with how advanced the algorithms have become? They’re able to weed out smut like never before and the responses we get when we do a search are coming back extremely relevant.
PPC does nothing for your onsite business. It’s the equivalent of having someone shake a sign a large banner on the corner of main street while wearing a flashy costume. The Ad can speak a thousand words and the business itself can still be a letdown. If your site is poorly optimized before you begin your PPC campaign, it will remain that way afterwards. Likewise, the Cost Per Click (CPC) is dependent on the quality score of your page(s). If your site isn’t correctly optimized, you will be continually paying more for your PPC ads. It’s a kick to the tenders when your competition is paying far less for their PPC click-through simply because their site copy was written with SEO in mind.
A well-formulated plan for SEO will improve the organic rank of a site over time. In the end, you’ll find yourself with a finely tuned web site that clearly delivers the message of who you are what you’re offering, and why they should be throwing their wallets at you.
If you lack this information, and you don’t have keywords targeted in your onsite copy, then search engines will not find your content relevant – you won’t rank. There is a huge downfall here because when you stop paying for your PPC campaign and discontinue it, your site disappears. This is a dangerous game to play because search engines are raising the minimum bid requirements, and the charge for competitive keywords is only going to continue to increase. You may hold a spot now with a great keyword that keeps your traffic coming in, but bidding wars favor the advertisers with the largest budgets and when you hit the proverbial glass ceiling on what you can afford, you may find yourself suddenly dropping off the ad rotation… and into obscurity.
SEO should be part of your architecture and planning, in place from the start. This is a problem for business that have been around for some time that may instead need to update their content. It’s imperative that PPC takes a back seat to site optimization. Once you have established a good position with the search engines, you begin running your PPC campaigns so your paid traffic and nearly free traffic will complement one another.
SEO costs a tenth of what you’d pay for PPC and has the potential for creating for more traffic from organic listings. PPC may deliver smaller numbers depending on your market, but there is an increased chance of a lead and purchase with ad traffic. With good SEO in place and ad marketing, if that user doesn’t make a purchase but remembers something about your site it will be easier for them to find you later using the search engines.
Like many things, they operate separately but work best when paired together to complement one another. Like a good marriage, a ballroom dance, or Spam and Reese’s.
“Nobody puts SEO in a corner”
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Joerg Weishaupt is a 46 year old entrepreneur, software architect, search engine optimization and social media expert. Joerg has been building a lot of profitable Internet businesses since he put his first website online in 1995. He is also one of the founders and partners of Social Media Science LLC, where he launched a content syndication network called SYNND.
Joerg resides in a small, quiet community about 100 miles outside of Munich, Germany. If you ever seek to find him, look for where the cows gather.
