Organic SEO or PPC? What’s best for marketing your business?

What does the choice between organic SEO and PPC involve?

A key consideration to think about, when planning a marketing campaign is whether a business needs organic content enriched with search engine optimisation (SEO) or pay-per-click (PPC) advertising. Essentially the difference is this:

Content marketing with organic SEO is:

• Blogs, news and other written content like case studies.
• It is ‘optimised’ to give it the best chance of appearing on the first page of search engine rankings pages.
• Optimisation includes relevant and popular keywords, relevant content, authority, the use of good images and videos, good backlinks (hyperlinks to relevant and frequently viewed external content) and more.
• This comes about ‘organically’ with your ranking building up as you produce more well-optimised content.
• If done well, you can reach the first page of the rankings in around six months (page 1 matters because few people search beyond the first page).
• The main benefit is it raises awareness of your business, its services and your story.
• There is no extra cost to it.

PPC however, works in a different way.

• You bid for ad space on the first page of search rankings, or on a social media site.
• You pay a certain fee every time someone clicks on the ad.
• This makes it very effective for gaining leads.
• You can set a budget by limiting your spend on a daily or monthly basis.
• You still need optimised content such as relevant keywords.
• You can establish a presence on page one of the search rankings right away.
• It fits well with other marketing tools like an email marketing campaign to follow up PPC leads.

How can you make the best choice between organic and PPC?

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Deciding on the best option in a campaign depends on priorities. Organic SEO is ideal if you have a smaller budget, regard awareness as a high priority and are not in a hurry to bring in new custom. PPC is ideal for bringing in leads, but you need to have sufficient funds available for a good campaign.

For this reason, companies choosing organic SEO are likely to be:

• New businesses with little profile or brand recognition, who need awareness.
• Have limited budgets.
• Not in a rush.

Those using PPC, however, will have a larger budget, and are either new businesses keen to hit the ground running, or more established businesses looking for a fresh boost.

Can you use both?

Of course, there is always the option of combining both tools. One way this can work for a business with a small or non-existent online presence to start with is through using PPC to gain leads at an early stage, while at the same time gradually building up SEO ranking. That way, the PPC budget can be focused on the first six months and then organic SEO can be the primary tool thereafter.

For a comprehensive SEO Audit and to discuss a tailored ppc campaign contact Jason