We are often asked which is better: SEO, PPC, or both. As you might expect, the answer really depends. What is your budget? How much time do you have? What do you want the lifespan to be? What are your general goals for the campaign? These are just a few questions that should be answered if you’re going to get rankings and results out of your internet marketing. The answers to these questions will help determine if you should do SEO, PPC, or, in many cases, both. Let’s go over the differences between SEO and PPC in relation to the questions above.
Budget
SEO deals with organic rankings. These are non-paid positions in the search engines but that doesn’t mean they are free. It can take a great deal of time and work to get good visibility organically. This translates into paying an SEO specialist to optimize your web site and manage an ongoing off-page strategy. The competitiveness of your market place will dictate how much time and money will be required for success. Consider, for example, how many companies there are who would like to rank number one in Google for the term “auto-accident.” Now consider how much more effective (and probably less expensive) it would be if you could narrow your playing field to “Los Angeles auto-accident” or even “Orange County auto-accident.”
In contrast, Google AdWords advertising can be a little more systematized. It’s PPC ads are paid positions, and, although you may only have a setup fee invested initially with a PPC management specialist, you will pay monthly for the visitors you receive through these ads. You can set a budget and spend as much as you want but when the budget is met, your ads are turned off. Essentially, you get what you pay for with pay-per-click.
Time
SEO takes time. It usually takes months to get results. There are many steps to on-page (website optimization and development) and off-page(link building, blogging, social networking, etc.) SEO. It takes time to research, optimize, build content and links, and to develop a social network. The tasks are potentially endless and must be maintained on a regular basis. SEO works best long-term.
PPC can essentially be setup quickly—ads can be up-and-running in a few hours. Unlike with SEO, with PPC you can compare results and make adjustments in days rather than months. PPC is the way to go if you are on a strict time frame and there are very specific goals.
Lifespan
SEO is a time investment. Positive results can fade away quickly if the effort used to achieve them is stopped. It’s important to keep an eye on your reports and not fall asleep at the wheel. Over time rankings will fall and you will be starting over again. For this reason it’s important to keep up Law Firm SEO management even after your goals are met. There is always more that can be done and more keywords to be targeted. SEO is an ongoing process.
PPC on the other hand is instant. It can begin within hours of entering your payment information and activating your ads. It also ends the instant you turn off your ads and stop spending. Once your PPC ads are turned off and you stop paying for visitors, your visibility is gone. The lifespan of Law Firm PPC is directly related to that of your budget.
Goals
it’s important to have set goals when going into internet marketing. If you are selling a seasonal service or product then PPC may be the best option. If you are marketing an item for a short period of time, then PPC is the way to go. However, if you are looking for long-term visibility on the web and do not wish to pay for every visitor along the way, consider SEO. Typically, service oriented businesses benefit greatly by SEO, but any company who wants to be successful today should have a plan for their SEO.
Whether you offer a service or product, if you are looking to drive the most traffic and get the most visibility possible on the web, then consider doing both. It may seem overwhelming to organize at times, but SEO and PPC working together will compliment each other and strengthen any branding strategy.
By Brad Hart