Imagine this classic dilemma: If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it actually make a sound? In a similar vein, if you have a revolutionary product or service but no one is aware of it, does your business truly exist? The answer to both scenarios is a resounding NO. Boosting your visibility on search engine results pages (SERPs) is crucial in today’s digital landscape. Ensuring that your offering is visible to everyone is key. When it comes to increasing your online presence, you essentially have two options: investing in pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns or prioritizing organic search engine optimization (SEO).
What Is SEO?
SEO involves the strategies and tactics aimed at enhancing your visibility on search engine results pages (SERPs). In essence, it revolves around optimizing your website to be as search engine-friendly as possible. Described as a marathon rather than a sprint by Steve Hoenig, Thrive’s SEO Engineer, SEO is viewed as a long-term investment. This form of digital marketing is geared towards boosting your website’s organic search engine rankings, leading to a steady flow of traffic, leads, and sales. When individuals surf the web, they are typically on the lookout for a range of things, from products and services to valuable information. Employing organic SEO techniques ensures that when people search for your business, they are able to easily locate it. As Hoenig points out, this approach requires patience as it is a long-term strategy that yields results over time.
How SEO Campaigns Look Like
Whether you opt to enlist the services of a search engine optimization consultant or embark on the DIY approach, optimizing for organic search engine rankings typically involves a series of crucial activities:
Keyword research and strategy: Pinpointing the most relevant words and phrases that potential customers use when searching for your products or services.
- Link building: Cultivating relationships with other websites and blogs to secure valuable backlinks that direct traffic to your site.
- On-page SEO: Enhancing your website’s content and structure to provide search engines with a clear understanding of your offerings.
- Technical SEO: Ensuring that your site’s hosting and architecture meet the necessary standards to facilitate effective crawling and ranking by search engines.
For businesses catering to local clientele, investing in local SEO campaigns can be instrumental in connecting with customers in your vicinity.
Consider the case of a multi-location residential foundation repair company, where a detailed analysis of its SEO campaign’s top five keyword performance over the years reveals substantial growth. The graph illustrates a notable increase from 409 top-five keywords in 2017 to 1,161 in 2021. Over the period from 2015 to 2021, the company achieved impressive triple-digit growth in various key metrics through its SEO efforts, including:
- New users (263.9%)
- Referral traffic (144.3%)
- Goal completions (126%)
What Is PPC?
PPC, unlike SEO, involves utilizing paid strategies such as search engine marketing and display advertising to generate traffic. This means that instead of earning clicks or impressions organically, you will be paying for them.
For instance, you participate in auctions to bid on specific keywords related to your business. When users search for these keywords, your ad will appear in the search engine results page (SERP). Upon clicking on your ad, you are required to pay the agreed-upon fee.
In the case of Google advertising, your PPC ad will typically consist of the following elements:
- Headline: A concise and captivating sentence intended to grab the user’s attention.
- Description: A brief section of text that communicates the essence of your offering.
- Display URL: The web address where users will be directed upon clicking the ad.
- Call to action: A compelling prompt designed to encourage users to take action, like “Learn More” or “Shop Now.”
Rewriting the quote:
In the words of Cuyler Franzke, a seasoned Paid Media Director and expert in search engine marketing at Thrive:
“It is crucial for advertisers to incorporate PPC into their strategy across all stages of their business, regardless of their current position in the business life cycle. Tailoring PPC campaigns to align with the consumer’s awareness level and their position in the customer journey is essential for driving success.”
What’s Inside a PPC Strategy
When it comes to managing PPC campaigns, similar to SEO campaigns, a PPC strategy comprises various components. Here are some key services typically offered by a search engine marketing company for their PPC services:
- Keyword research and strategy: Identifying the relevant keywords to target in your PPC campaigns, akin to SEO.
- Ads A/B split testing: Running two versions of an ad to determine the more effective one.
- Landing page conversion: Creating a high-converting landing page where users will arrive after clicking your ad.
- PPC management: Monitoring the performance of your campaigns and making necessary adjustments.
Cuyler Franzke emphasized, “PPC is most effective towards the bottom of the funnel and commonly serves as the final driver for conversions. In a broad context, if a business aims to generate leads or boost eCommerce sales, PPC should be an integral part of the strategy.”
An Amazon audio company took advantage of a search engine marketing agency’s PPC services to enhance sales growth and reduce advertising expenses. Prior to outsourcing their PPC campaigns, the company had only achieved 14,000 monthly unit sales despite showcasing 2,000 products.
To elevate their sales and optimize their advertising efforts, they engaged in activities such as keyword research, product listing optimization, and implementing promotional ads.
SEO vs. PPC: Pros and Cons
Now, let’s compare SEO and PPC strategies head-to-head. In order to make a well-informed decision between SEO and PPC, it is crucial to carefully consider the strengths and weaknesses of both approaches.
Advantages of SEO
1. Cost-Effectiveness
Although not a budget-friendly option, SEO campaigns are generally considered more cost-effective compared to PPC advertising. With SEO, you do not have to continuously pay for each click, allowing you to achieve long-term results. As stated by Hoenig, the objective of SEO is to enhance a website as an asset, with the efforts invested in it accumulating over time and boosting the value of that asset. This implies that you can obtain greater value for your investment in the future.
For optimal cost-effectiveness, it is advisable to engage the services of a search engine optimization consultant rather than attempting to manage it independently. By working with an SEO expert, you can achieve superior results and maximize the value of your investment in SEO.
2. Long-Term Results
Organic search engine rankings typically remain stable over time, even without constant SEO adjustments, apart from algorithm updates. This means that once a webpage achieves a high ranking on search engine results pages (SERPs), it is likely to maintain its position without the need for ongoing SEO efforts.
According to Hoenig, while it is beneficial to continue maintaining and enhancing the webpage, there may come a point where you can step back and still benefit from the leads generated for your business.
For example, franchise businesses can leverage brand-aligned franchise SEO strategies to enhance visibility in local markets. By focusing on organic search growth and the sustained high ranking of their webpage, they can potentially forgo the need to invest in paid search campaigns.
3. Increased Credibility and Trust
Both SEO and PPC strategies offer valuable visibility at the top of search engine results pages (SERPs). However, organic SEO results are often perceived as more credible and trustworthy by users. This is because people tend to have greater confidence in organic results, viewing them as more genuine and reliable compared to paid advertisements.
