We all know by now how significant it is for your business to have a strong online presence. Think of some of the searches you have made on Google yourself when trying to find a product or service: “Coffee shops in Hertford” or “Best hairdryers for sale”. I think it’s safe to say you’re likely to have visited or bought from some of the businesses that Google put in front of you. This is why SEO and PPC can play a huge part in helping your business to thrive. But which one is right for your business, SEO or PPC?
What Is SEO?
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation. This is essentially the process of increasing your business’s visibility on search engines like Google and Bing. Think about it, the more visible your business is online when people are actively looking for your products and services, the more likely it is that you’ll catch their attention and ultimately win their business.
How Does SEO Work?
Search engines like Google use bots to crawl your website and put everything into an index. The moment you search for something on a search engine, it uses algorithms to analyse the pages within its index, taking into account a whole range of factors as to why your website is the best to show to the searcher for their enquiry.
Pros Of SEO:
High ROI – SEO marketing is a fantastic tool for your brand’s online presence, and the best thing about it is, it’s absolutely free. The purpose of SEO is to ensure your website shows up for people actively searching for it. This is great because SEO attracts high-quality traffic that’s most likely to convert because searchers are actively looking for your product or service.
Lasting Results – SEO is a long term strategy. This means the work you put in over time should reap rewards. SEO is a stable marketing strategy that will provide your business with continuous leads.
Cons Of SEO:
SEO is a lot of work – As we mentioned earlier, SEO is a long-term play and can mean slow traction and results for your business. The SEO team at Cariad Web Design anticipates SEO takes around 3-6 months before any real results begin to show.
No Guarantees – There are no guarantees that SEO will work for your business. We recommend staying away from any agencies promising you 1st page results; Google alsowarns the same thing.
The truth is that search engine algorithms are continuously changing. Elements Google factors as important for ranking one month may not be anywhere near as important the next month. This is why we always keep our ears to the ground for any algorithm changes, adapting our clients’ SEO strategies accordingly for best results.
What is PPC
PPC, also known as Pay Per Click Advertising, is an advertising tool that allows users to pay for and place Ads on search engines. These Ads are relevant to what people are searching for and are typically promoted above organic SEO results.
How does PPC Work?
Advertisers can use platforms such as Google Ads to set up their campaigns, choosing where and what keywords their ads should show up for. There are many factors that result in a paid ad being placed at the top of a search result (SERP); these include the quality of the ad, how much the advertiser is willing to spend to acquire a click, and the relevance and quality of their website or landing page.
Pros Of PPC:
Visibility – As PPC is a paid form of advertising and providing your ad is good quality, it should appear in the top position. This means your business will gain maximum visibility as potential customers search for your products or services.
Instant Results – Unlike SEO, PPC is like a tap. You have the ability to turn it on and start gaining traffic and leads straight off the bat in real-time, and turn it off whenever you no longer want it. With PPC you have the ability to serve highly targeted ads with control on how much you spend according to your marketing budget.
Cons Of PPC:
Expensive – Pay per click advertising is operated on a bidding system. This means if your service or product is competitive, your PPC campaigns can become very expensive and achieving an ROI becomes more challenging.
Pay to Play – Despite PPC driving traffic and visibility to your business, unlike SEO, the minute you stop paying for your PPC campaign your ads disappear from the search results. This means traffic and leads to your business will stop pretty much instantly.
So… What’s right for you, SEO or PPC?
By now you have a good understanding of the pros and cons of SEO and PPC and how they both work, but which one is right for you?
We strongly recommend SEO to every business – after all it’s free. Despite SEO being a lot of work and taking a while to have any real impact, it’s a long-term play and the benefits of good SEO will mean your website will produce a strong ROI in the long run. PPC is great if you have a budget in place to allow it. Results are instant and, providing you run your campaigns well, there is a great ROI to be had.
If your business has the budget, you will always maximise results by running SEO and PPC together. However, if you don’t have the budget, we recommend starting with SEO. If you are not sure where to start with SEO or PPC, or would feel more confident having a specialist SEO and PPC company run your marketing for you, then contact our digital marketing experts today.
