Choosing Between SEO and PPC For One’s Website

Pay per click advertising and SEO are on two different sides of the traffic improvement spectrum for many webmasters. Search engines offer their clients the chance to bid for keywords and ad space on their results pages, having them pay fees when one clicks on those ads. The alternative is the natural results building techniques using free SEO practices.  So now does one decide which direction to gowith their search engine marketing efforts?

Budget

The first step to consider should be how large the advertising budget is. Those with a limited budget should stick to the free SEO practices, but with a little to spend, PPC may be the best bet. PPC advertising is advantageous because at a relatively low cost, it provides websites the ability to test various elements of their marketing, and look for new and better ways to focus on conversion. Also, SEO changes from time to time with every new algorithm update. However, when using PPC, the user is generally protected from the adverse effects of these changes. However, despite the relative ease when spending money, pay per click also has a learning curve. It is therefore advisable to start small and grow.

Cost Per Click

When deciding whether pay per click is the right way to go, do not just look at the overall budget. Take a look at what other people in the industry are paying for their ads. Most pay per click platforms allow users to bid only for what they are willing to pay. However, for one to make a profit from what they spend in terms of visibility, then they have to keep up with what the rest of the industry is spending. It is therefore not just a matter of being able to spend less, but being able to profit from what one spends.

Niche Competition

To determine which direction to go, it is equally important to determine just how competitive results for that niche are on the search engine results page. To do this, one should enter the keywords they are looking to bid for into the Google keyword research tool which can help in the understandingof the competition level. The Google Keyword research tool can also provide estimates of the number of advertisers bidding on the same keyword and the average costs per click. In most cases times, one will find that the keywords and results pages they are looking to invest in are dominated by the biggest industry players. Such situations might force the business to make a huge investment in order to displace them from the top.

It is important to remember that PPC and SEO, although fundamentally different, do not necessarily have to be an either/or choice when it comes to online and search engine marketing. If possible, it is perfectly understandable if one chooses to combine elements of both SEO and PPC in one campaign.