In a world of tight marketing budgets, small businesses frequently grapple with the question of where best to invest their resources, and two of the best-known options are Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising. With both techniques offering a different approach to digital lead generation and sales, it’s understandable to compare them as distinct marketing strategies.
Depending on what you’re looking for, either SEO or PPC may be better suited to certain business goals and budgets than the other. However, when looked at through the lenses of cost effectiveness, efficiency, timeliness, and long-term value for money, the ‘SEO vs PPC’ comparison is a false one, because neither works particularly well independently, and both strongly complement each other when used together as part of a holistic marketing strategy.
So in this article, we will look at the advantages of both SEO and PPC, and why both are important for maximising your return on investment from your marketing budget.
SEO is considered to be the most cost-effective digital marketing channel, as it primarily focuses on increasing organic search results. Sales and leads come from increasing your search visibility on Google, which drives increased web traffic, so the thrust of SEO is to make your website and content more authoritative, relevant, and searchable to Google’s bots. By optimising your blog articles, webpages, and site design for search engine algorithms, you can improve your visibility to human customers without incurring direct costs per user visit or action – a well optimised blog, for example, is a gift that keeps giving, drawing visitors to your website for years. In the long run, therefore, investing in SEO can save you a considerable amount of money by reducing your reliance on paid advertising.
Appearing high on the Google first page for organic search results can enhance your business’s credibility and trustworthiness with customers. Although paid results are often more prominent than organic searches, Internet users frequently trust organic search results more than paid advertisements – therefore, assigning at least some of your budget to SEO will help you solidify your online reputation and improve your customer perception.
Once your website achieves high organic rankings on Google for important keywords, the benefits can be sustained over an extended period with minimal ongoing expenditure and effort. This lasting impact bolsters the long term returns from your marketing budget, and helps you establish a strong digital presence that outlives the impact of short-term advertising campaigns.
Do the long-term benefits of SEO mean that you can do without paid advertising? No. Unlike organic search marketing, which can take months or even years to produce tangible returns, PPC campaigns deliver immediate visibility and web traffic. This fast and often impressive turnaround can be especially valuable to cash strapped new businesses, and for businesses looking to capitalise on time sensitive campaigns and opportunities.
PPC platforms such as Google Ads, and paid advertising services on social media platforms like LinkedIn and Facebook, allow you to fine tune your targeting preferences based on your ideal buyer’s demographics, interests, and search intent. This level of precision ensures that your content gets seen by the most relevant audience, at the right time, ultimately increasing the chance of conversion and maximising your ROI. With PPC, you also have the flexibility to modify your advertising content and calls to action at short notice based on results, facilitating more effective messaging.
Pay per click advertising gives you access to comprehensive analytics that let you monitor the performance of each advert in real time and calculate your ROI more accurately. This wealth of data makes it more straightforward to identify successful campaigns and to allocate your budget optimally for improved results.
The key to maximising your marketing ROI comes from leveraging the advantages of each technique concurrently within a strategy designed around the needs of your business and its customers. For example, you may wish to invest in SEO to develop brand credibility, drive organic leads, and cultivate long-term interest in your business, while supplementing these slow burn efforts with targeted PPC campaigns during peak sales periods or product launches.
Consistent investment in SEO will help you to rank more highly for relevant keywords to your customers, attracting a steady flow of organic traffic. At the same time, you could invest some of your budget in seasonal PPC campaigns to promote discounts or exclusive products, driving quick bursts of highly targeted traffic to your business website or purpose designed landing pages. This combined approach helps you maximise returns from both immediate conversions and lasting organic visibility.
To find out more about how PPC and SEO work in tandem within a marketing strategy, and how you can use both to generate long-term value for your business, please call JDR today on 01332 343281.
Image source: Canva