Both Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Pay-Per-Click (PPC) can be effective advertising approaches. If your advertising budget can't fund both strategies adequately, then it's best to concentrate your resources on one. Otherwise, you might split your funds on two weak efforts that both fail.

SEO Case Studies

Here are some typical client questions search advertising. Which sounds most like you?

"Which strategy has higher conversion?"
Users generally feel organic search engine results are more relevant to what they were looking for. Accordingly, the conversion rate (visits/purchase) for visitors from organic links is better than paid links on average. In contrast, many Pay-Per-Click (PPC) ads are clicked on by accident, or intentionally clicked by customers looking to compare (and not buy yet). Fewer conversions per paid click costs you money.

"Which strategy has more long-term costs?"
Once your PPC campaign is over, so are your results. SEO gives results that last beyond your investment. With optimized content on your site, SEO will keep paying dividends long after your bill to the search engine optimization firm is paid.

"Which strategy has more stable costs?"
PPC costs are rising in general, and can spike during the holiday season or when using high-demand keywords. Your search engine optimization firm is more likely to deliver consistently stable costs for medium to large advertising budgets.

"Do customers trust PPC links?"
Studies find that people are less likely to click on paid search ads rather than on results from organic SEO. Searchers are becoming more aware of PPC as advertising, and therefore don't trust them, or even worse, become "annoyed" by them. However, if you are several pages deep in the search results for your most important keywords using organic SEO, placement by PPC at a highly visual area on the search results page may be valuable to you as a short-term solution.

Pay Per Click (PPC) Case Studies

"I may want both"
PPC is the perfect testing ground for keywords. If you want to move slowly or have a new business, information gathered from PPC keywords can be used to start or supplement long-term SEO strategies in the future.

"I want fast results"
If you are promoting something imminent, temporary or seasonal, results from PPC advertising are immediately effective. A search engine optimization campaign will take up to three months or more for meaningful results to be apparent.

"I have a small budget"
PPC will almost always cost less in the short term. Although you may only spend, say, $75/month, if you choose your words carefully, the traffic generated will be a close match to your target audience and often create the intended result. SEO experts will cost more than that.

"I have a very specific niche with high average $/sale" If there is not a great amount of search activity, and keywords are well defined, the cost of SEO may not be justified compared to buying specific niche keywords. Also note that PPC can exclude keywords or phrases more effectively than organic SEO.

"I want to handle advertising in-house"
SEO requires technical knowledge that PPC doesn't. PPC is much easier to grasp and achieve meaningful results for the average person.

SEO professionals will point out that PPC can be the best option for certain cases. Every case is unique, but SEO has some compelling advantages for companies with the time and funding. Hopefully this post has helped you identify which kind of advertiser you want to be.

- Janice Nyland, Senior Developer