Tutorial Manthra

Both SEO and PPC are branches of internet marketing. Both are used to drive traffic to websites. It entirely depends on you and the type of website you have, the budget you have on which among this should be used.

Read also: What is Search Engine Marketing

SEM=SEO+PPC

SEO

SEO also known as search engine optimization is used to drive traffic to websites by using the organic, unpaid search results of search engines. In order to get a fair amount of traffic through the organic search results your website needs to be listed in the top listings for your keywords or at least in the first page. Because most of the users rarely visit the second page of a search results, as they get the answer they are searching for from the first page itself. There are a lot of factory affecting SEO. The age of the domain is a crucial factor. The older your domain, the more it performs well in search engines. Like that there are a lot of other factors affecting SEO.

Read also: What is Search Engine Optimization?

Advantages of SEO

• SEO is free– You don’t have to pay anything to the search engines to list your page on the top listings. If you can design your site in an SEO friendly manner, using good quality content and adding all necessary SEO codes eventually you will be listed in the top search engine listings.
• SEO is durable. Once you do SEO it lasts long without much effort.
• More ROI– Since SEO is durable if initially you spend an amount or work on SEO it will bring you more money in the long run.
• More Exposure-If you get listed in the first page your company has the opportunity to be visible all around the world. The value of your brand increases.
• More Reputation-If you get listed on top, your reputation increases and you are considered as the largest and top company in the field.

Disadvantages of SEO

• SEO is tough-It is very hard to get listed on top of search engine results. You need to work hard. Since the actual algorithm is unknown your position on SERP results are unpredictable.
• SEO is slow-It takes more time to optimize a web page and bring it to the top listing of search engines. It depends on a lot of factors like the competition of keywords you choose.
• No Guarantee– SEO cannot guarantee position in search engines. It entirely depends on the algorithm of search engines.
• Need continuous Work-In order to improve your rankings you need to continuously work on it for a long time.
• Can’t stop working-If you stop working on SEO your competitor will push you backwards.

SEO or PPC-Which is better

PPC

PPC stands for Pay per Click. It is a type of internet marketing in which you pay for each click you get on your ad or each visitor you get through PPC ads. Basically it is buying visitor to your site rather than getting visitor organically through organic search results. There are a lot of websites providing PPC services like Google adwords, Yahoo/Bing advertising network etc. The amount you pay for each click depends on a lot factors like the competition of keywords used by you and the position your ad on SERO results, the quality of your landing page etc.

Read also : What is PPC or Pay per click advertising.

Advantages of PPC

• Quick Setup– You can quickly setup a PPC campaign and get instant traffic in minutes. No need to wait for a long time to get traffic to website.
• Instant traffic– You get traffic to your website very quickly.
• Guarantee– PPC can guarantee a position in search engines. But in SEO there is no guarantee.
• No code change– You need to make any changes to the code of your website to get PPC traffic unless you are going to the advanced parts like retargeting and all.
• Highly measurable– You can measure the cost (CPC, CPM, CPA), ROI, traffic, and everything in PPC.
• Highly targetable– You can target the right kind of customers like age, gender, location etc
• Quickly test keywords– PPC can implement and test new and different keywords gaining visibility in minutes than months in the case of SEO. PPC can find the right keyword conversion to traffic or ROI and you don’t have to wait months optimizing and targeting on non performing keywords as in the case of SEO.
• Top position– PPC can take the top position since PPC ads are sometimes placed above the organic results.
• Stop PPC anytime– You can stop the campaign, or pause and re-continue at any time.
• PPA ad– You run a PPA ad so that you pay for advertising only when u get a sale or accomplish a particular task

Disadvantages of PPC

• More Expensive– PPC is very expensive. You need to pay for each visitor who visits your site. i.e. for each click on your add.
• Not durable– As soon as you stop running your ad, your visitor drops.  In order to continuously get visitors, you need to continuously pay for your visitor.
• Bidding War– For listing on the top you need to bid high for keywords. It will be very expensive if your keywords are competitive.
• Need continuous monitoring– For better result you need to monitor the performance of your add continuously.
• Need good knowledge– It can cost you more is setup incorrectly or not managed on a regular basis. So you need to have a thorough knowledge of how PPC works to reduce the cost.

Which is better or which to use? SEO or PPC?

Both SEO and PPC have advantages and disadvantages. It completely depends upon you to choose which one is to be used. It depends on a lot of factors like the type of website you are running, the competition of keywords you are targeting, the amount of money you can afford to spend, the age of domain etc.

SEO is suitable if

• You are not planning to spend a lot of money on website. If you have a limited amount of budget and want to get traffic.
• You are willing to wait for some time, or months to get traffic to site.
• You are planning to get a continuous traffic for years.
• You are planning for a long term ROI, for years in the future.
• You are planning to frequently add and update the content, on a regular basis.
• You have enough time to work on the SEO and add new content to your site.
• You have a domain which is at least 2 or more years old.

PPC is suitable if

• You can afford to spend some money in PPC as PPC is costlier. You have a considerable amount of advertising budget.
• You have a new site generating very little organic traffic and you want immediate traffic and you are not ready to wait for long.
• Your targeted keywords are highly competitive, and it could take years to generate organic traffic if SEO is done.
• You have not created SEO friendly website (like a flash website) and don’t want to spend money in redesigning it.
• You want to quickly promote your brand and get established in the industry.
• You want to target specific group of people like age, gender, a particular location etc.
• You want to use re-targeting.
• You have special offers and promotions of your product and want to use it in special occasions only.
• If you are running an ecommerce site you can run PPA ad so that you pay only when u get a sale.

Combining SEO and PPC

I personally insist that u use both SEO and PPC. Don’t stick on any one of the technology. Go for both. Do a basic SEO and at the same time promote you website using PPC also. Since SEO is free it can bring you long term traffic free of cost. And since PPC is measurable you can plan and spend the amount according to your budget. Use analytic software like Google analytics and compare the traffic generated by both of them both of them.