Organic SEO Vs PPC Campaigns: Which is Better?

Everyone knows – or should know – the importance of Search Engine Marketing (SEM) in order to boost traffic to a business website. These days, 81% of people are much more likely to land on a specific webpage based on a search query conducted via a search engine, like Google or Yahoo, as opposed to specifically typing the website’s URL into the browser. But 95% won’t look past the first 3 pages of the search results. Facts like these make it clear that creating a strong internet presence is critical.

But when talking about SEM, many become confused about organic SEO traffic versus pay per click (PPC), and which is the superior of the two. The truth is, they can both work really well for you when done right.

PPC

PPC is a process whereby advertisers bid on keywords linked to an advertisement in order to gain a high position on search engine result pages in the sponsored links section for searches on that specific keyword phrase.

The biggest advantage to PPC is that it generates instant results, and can bring in traffic almost immediately. Of course, PPC comes with a price – the more popular the advertiser bids are, the more money you’ll be paying. But done right, PPC can really take a lot of work off your plate, if you’re willing to pay for it. And if you are able to manage your budget effectively, you can measure your ROI quite easily with PPC.

SEO

SEO – or Search Engine Optimization – is basically the process of getting a website to achieve very high rankings in major search engines for specific keywords that people use when they conduct a search query on the internet.

While you might see some instant effects from a PPC campaign, the long-term effects of an SEO campaign last much longer. In fact, the ROI with SEO will keeping increasing well after PPC reaches its peak. When people start to see the same PPC ads appear over and over again, people will visually tune out these ads at some point.

So Which One’s Better?

Let’s keep a couple of stats in mind:

1. Organic results are more than 8 times more likely to be clicked on compared to paid search results;
2. Opportunities from organic search are 5.66x times that of paid search.

We could go on, but these two stats alone show that SEO is likely the superior way of sustaining long-term, loyal traffic to your website.

Either way, both an SEO or a PPC campaign needs to be carried out by an experienced and knowledgeable SEO specialist who can effectively execute and manage your campaign and ensure you’ve chosen the best keywords within your budget, and that your marketing campaign brings the desired results.