A number of our clients and leads here at Coronation Internet Marketing ask us both about search engine optimization and pay-per-click using Google Adwords. They ask “Which one is better?” or “Should I do both?”. These are both great questions. But, we feel that search engine optimization (SEO) is a better return on investment than pay-per-click (PPC) marketing.
What is Pay-Per-Click (PPC)?
It’s exactly how it sounds. You, the advertiser, agrees to pay the search engine like Google, Bing or Yahoo a pre-determined sum of money for each click the search engine receives on that ad that is then directed to your website. So, you are paying every time somebody clicks on your ad.
SEO vs. PPC
Advertising campaigns using PPC often need just as much time and effort to setup and get started as SEO does. PPC also requires ongoing management such as making sure you have bid enough to remain at the top of the first page. In comparison, SEO, when done correctly, has about the same initial setup, requires less monthly maintenance and delivers results consistently.
The biggest issue with PPC is that the prices are increasing all of the time. Your competitors who want to be found at the top of the first page need to outbid you to be in the position that you are or were. This can significantly reduce your return on investment for the keyword phrases you want to be found for. Whereas, there isn’t any bidding required to be found on the first page with SEO.
We have a large client that does SEO and PPC. They asked us about why the total clicks to their website from their PPC advertising had reduced this year over last when they were paying the same amount each month to Google for their PPC advertising. The reason for this was that the bidding had gone up for each of their keywords which means they are paying more for each click, thus getting less visitors to their website each month.
According to searchenginewatch.com, over 90% of clicks that come from the first page of search results are from natural listings and not PPC. This number keeps climbing due to people becoming desensitized to PPC ads. You will get much more traffic from SEO as people who are performing searches are clicking the natural search engine results versus pay-per-click ads.
You can get better conversions from natural/organic listings in search results. These listings convert up to 25% better than PPC listings due to things like click fraud and window shoppers instead of buyers.
Conclusion
Natural listings convert better. When SEO is done correctly it can deliver you more money over the long term than compared to the always rising costs of PPC.
So ask yourself “Which one do you want to focus on?”
