PPC vs SEO: Search Engine Marketing Explained

It is very true that SEO can be effective but our history working on SEO for our clients vs managing PPC for our clients gives some powerful results. One of the biggest misconceptions is that SEO brings tons of traffic. 

The truth is to get ranked for the top searched/traffic bearing keywords are soaked up by the large players because they spend mega-bucks to be there. The longer keywords (longtail keywords) often end up being so specific that the traffic they bring is not even measurable.

Do you think Google may realize this? I would say so. They profit billions of dollars every year ($36.5 Billion in 2011) from the broad single word PPC Keywords and the Longtail yet not to specific 2 and 3 word PPC Keywords.

This article discusses more about exactly this, with actual data to back it up.

The bottom-line is, only spend money to target SEO keywords that have traffic and generate leads. Pay for the larger traffic bearing keyword via PPC, and also make sure your track the keywords that BRING LEADS!

For more on tracking high vs low lead bearing keywords, PPC or SEO, click here.

~ Carter Rethwisch

04/27/12 at 01:43 PM | Published Under Internet Marketing by Andy Meng

If you aren’t already aware, most businesses can benefit from some form of Search Engine Marketing (SEM).  Search engines still generate a LOT of traffic to websites – much of it high quality traffic since search, by it’s very nature, means someone is looking for something – a “warm lead” if you will.  We call this “demand based” marketing, and if you’re not using it, you could be missing out on some of the highest ROI marketing you can do.There are two broad approaches to SEM -  organic (“free”) search and paid search (also known as Pay-Per-Click or PPC). Organic search results are the “free” results that appear in the left column on Google’s search results pages (all of this can apply equally to Yahoo and Bing). These search results display because the search engine’s ranking algorithms have scored each website based on its relevance to the search word or words.   Getting your website to come up on page 1 of the organic search results is the “holy grail” of SEM since it doesn’t cost a penny when someone clicks an organic link to your website.Click for a larger image.

PPC ads are those that appear at the top, and down the right side of the search results pages.  These ads, when clicked, cost the advertiser a defined click cost each time someone clicks on a paid search result.  Paid ads can range from as little as 50 cents a click, up to several dollars per click (the cost is determined by complex formulas).

So the obvious question is, why would ANYONE pay for clicks, when they can get them free through the organic links?

The answer is that organic search really isn’t free.  Getting the search engine’s ranking algorithms to show your website higher than a competitors in the search results doesn’t happen by chance.  It involves a process of “search engine optimization” (SEO) that takes time and experience to master. Since time and experience equate to money, getting a higher organic rank can actually be very costly in SEO consultant fees.  It can also take a long time to see results – weeks and months.

PPC, on the other hand, is a well defined and budgeted form of advertising, and it yields immediate traffic to the website.  Since you’re paying to have your listing show up when people search for specific words, you can very tightly control when your ad appears, the words in your ad,  and how much you spend on clicks.

So where should you spend your SEM budget – on PPC or SEO?  The answer is that it depends – on a number of factors including how competitive your business is online, the seasonality of your business, the nature of your website (ecommerce vs marketing focused), your marketing budget, etc.  In a perfect world you do both PPC and SEO – PPC for immediate traffic, and SEO for long term traffic.  The good news is, we have experienced professionals who have tools they can wield to help you make that decision.

These two graphs were created using one of our client’s website statistics.
Paid search accounts for only 47% of their web traffic but 72.5% of their web leads.
Traffic from paid search converts at a higher rate.

I’m often surprised at how many small business owners are opposed to, or intimidated by, a pay-per-click advertising model.  Many are perfectly content to pay commissions to their sales people for prospecting leads and closing sales, but are uneasy about paying for every single click / lead that comes from Google. Worse yet, they still spend hundreds or thousands a month on yellow pages advertising.    Don’t be afraid to try some PPC search engine marketing.  With the tracking tools, and with experienced analysis, we can determine very precisely if your PPC is paying off.  Because PPC is so dynamic, we can change the campaigns to target other keywords, geographies and budgets to make sure you’re getting the highest Return On Ad Spend (ROAS).

Here are some of the common objections we hear about PPC:

1. “I’m worried about competitors clicking on my ad over and over.”
   Google calls this “Click Fraud” and they’ve implemented safe guards to protect you against an unscrupulous competitor.  You will not get charged for multiple clicks from your paid ad.
2. “Organic is free.  I’d rather just focus my efforts on SEO so I’m not paying for each click.”
   As we discussed above SEO is not free.  The correct decision about PPC vs SEO will evaluate ALL costs and determine which would yield the greatest ROI.
   
3. “I can’t afford to pay for each click.”
   Affordability has to be measured in terms of ROI.  If you spend $1000 per month in clicks but you get $5000 net in return, you’d probably agree that that $1000 was well spent.  The amount you spend MUST be analyzed to determine the return on ad spend, not just the base cost of the clicks.
   
4. “I tried PPC on my own a few years ago and it was a huge waste of money.”
   Unfortunately, due to competition online, PPC has gotten very complicated to manage.  It takes a lot of time and experience to manage PPC campaigns and most people who try it on their own don’t do very well.  Hiring a PPC expert is usually worth the money and should be included in your overall budgeting decision – again, with ROI in mind.  Our marketing team members have spent years learning how to manage PPC and SEO efforts, including achieving Google certifications.  

If we can leave you with any single concept, it’s that you should not be afraid of PPC or organic search engine marketing.  They are both valid, trackable, marketing investments that are being used successfully by thousands of businesses to generate new and follow on business.  We’re more than happy to meet with you for a free consultation to determine if, and what kind of SEM is right for your business.

Read more: http://www.infront.com/blogs/the-infront-blog/2012/4/27/ppc-vs-seo#ixzz2GFLUf98x

http://www.infront.com/blogs/the-infront-blog/2012/4/27/ppc-vs-seo

Yep, Google launched the Disavow Tool a couple months ago. Sometime after they wacked all sites for having bogus spammy links. The infamous Panda and Penguin updates… Hmmmm…

This could ‘inadvertently’ push more businesses to use Google Adwords. It is a weird co-incidence. But another reason why we have helped so many clients learn how to play Google’s Game and CUT THE FAT!

Here is Google’s explanation about who should be using the Disavow Utility:

BID ON YOUR COMPANIES NAME! I have studied this with actual client data and it makes at least a 15% to 40% Difference!

“I rank organically for my brand terms. Why would I pay for ads on them?” How many times have you heard this? Or said it? Advertising on brand terms seems to be an ongoing discussion that still hasn’t been settled. So, I’m going to try to settle it now. At first, the argument that you don’t need to buy ads for your brand if you rank organically makes sense.

Why would you purposely buy ads that will (generally) be displayed above your organic positions and pay for clicks on keywords that you could get free clicks on? Why would you spend time and money managing a campaign with your brand keywords when you have organic positions for them?

But is this really true? Are you wasting your money on brand ads when you have organic positions? I’m going to convince you the answer is no. You should buy brand keywords, regardless of how strong your organic positions are.  

Here’s why…. Ads and organic positions have a symbiotic relationship. Many people think that paying for clicks on ads is a waste of money if they have an organic position on the keyword. But, while there’s no definitive case study on this, anecdotal evidence and observations of BlueGlass client statistics indicate that having PPC ads in combination with organic positions can actually increase sales 15 to 40%.

See this article: http://www.blueglass.com/blog/should-you-buy-ppc-ads-for-your-brand-keywords/

Here are some great tips about how to go about setting up SEO for your businesses site.

iWebprofit can show you exactly how to effectively market your product and service using the strategy and tactics that are listed below.

How To Approach SEO

Search engine optimization is a subset of marketing. It should fit into your overall marketing plan and not be your marketing plan. You can do everything wrong when it comes to SEO, never receive a single visitor from a search engine, and still have a very successful and profitable site. It might seem strange to read that in a post about SEO, but it’s important to understand.

Ironically if you take a step back and generally market yourself well some of the more difficult parts of SEO will take care of themselves. That’s not to say you should ignore SEO, but most of us don’t need to obsess over every little detail. There are many, many factors that determine where a page will rank in search results. Obsessing over one of those factors doesn’t make sense. Try to see the forest instead of staring intently at a single tree.

SEO is not a set it and forget proposition. It’s an iterative process. You do what you can, measure the results, and continue to improve. You can’t SEO a site in a day or month. As with marketing in general, SEO is never ending. It also changes daily and what works for one site may not work for another.

Fortunately the basic principles are fairly constant and building a solid foundation in SEO understanding will carry you much further that trying to exploit the tactic du jour.

That said, SEO can be generally categorized into 5 different aspects:

1. Keyword research
2. Search engine friendly site development
3. On-page SEO
4. Link Building
5. Analytics

Get the full article: click here

Here are some tips that can help you get ranked on the world’s second most used Search Engine, YouTube.com.

The Key To Top Video Rankings On YouTube & Google

Many of us in the SEO community obsess about Google algorithm changes, personalized search, Bing market share growth, and the myriad minutia that affects search engine behavior.

But for all of the attention that we give most of the major players in search, it remains a mystery to me why the second largest search engine is routinely ignored.

In case you hadn’t realized, in terms of share of search, YouTube remains ahead of Yahoo!, safely in the No. 2 spot behind Google, according to comScore.

Clients and colleagues frequently ask, “Why do some videos rank well on Google but not YouTube and vice-versa?” Just like all of life’s important questions, the answer is complicated. Therefore, I will concentrate only on the most important factors.

When it comes to SEO, most of us follow the general rule that what’s good for Google is usually good enough for other search engines. And considering that most clients would tell you that Google is their number one priority for organic traffic, many of us don’t spend tons of time looking at other search engines.

Unfortunately, the old adage (it’s an adage in my head anyway), “As Google goes, so goes the nation” doesn’t apply to YouTube, which has its own way of doing things. Which may sound weird as Google owns YouTube.

Read the full article here: http://searchengineland.com/the-key-to-top-video-rankings-on-youtube-google-35930

YouTube is now the #2 Most Used Search Engine. It passed up Yahoo as the second most used Search Engine. Read more…

YouTube Insight: Embedded Player Discovery

Video continues to be a powerful medium to work with online. YouTube recently eclipsed Yahoo as the 2^nd largest search engine. Participating in video for the purpose of promoting your business is becoming more important each day.  Whether it’s increasing brand exposure or simply getting across a “how-to” to your customer base, video communicates your message in a unique and lasting way.

Read the entire article here: http://www.blueglass.com/blog/youtube-insight-embedded-player-discovery/

Good SEO can be the most effective means of marketing available:
What is Good SEO?

Good SEO is not “cheating the system,” or “manipulating search results.” Good SEO is part of a marketing plan that makes it more likely that the good content you create will be found by people who might be interested in what your web site has to offer.

SEO should begin with an identification of the objectives behind a site and the audiences the site was created for, an understanding of the best way to present information for those audience members and allow them to complete tasks that they may have arrived at the site to fulfill, and research regarding the words and phrases that they might use to find that site and expect to see on its pages.

Reed More: http://www.seobythesea.com/2010/03/good-seo/

Ever wonder how often you will get a visit depending on what position your listing lands on page 1 of Google? Take a look! http://searchengineland.com/organic-click-thru-rates-tumbling-study-97338