The Great Debate: SEO Vs PPC

Although you might already know this, it’s worth repeating that traffic is at the heart of any digital marketing efforts. Whether you are putting in the efforts yourself or hire a digital marketing Manchester agency, the success of your online presence depends to a great deal on the amount and quality of traffic your website receives. But one thing a business owner wants to know is whether SEO is better or PPC. The SEO vs PPC debate is very much like a sibling rivalry. 

There’s no single, correct answer as to which is better. It all depends on what you’re looking for. So there are cases and circumstances when SEO is better than PPC and there are situations when PPC is the clear winner. So, it is important to understand the pros and cons of each strategy to be able to make an informed decision. And if you’re looking to hire a digital marketing Manchester agency, contact Blue Whale Media right away.

Situations when SEO is the Best Bet

SEO refers to the techniques aimed at propelling your website to the first page of Google and other search engines. SEO is an important strategy for every business with an online presence. Statistics suggest that almost 80% traffic to a website will usually come from search engines. Here’s a look at situations when it is best to rely on SEO. When You Desire Consistent Results – SEO requires patience as it’s a long term strategy. You won’t rank on the top of the search engine results in a day, or even a week. Reaching the top of the SERPs takes time. But once your site hits the bull’s eye, expect consistent traffic. What’s more, if you are proactive with your SEO efforts, you can stay on top of the SERPs for a long, long time and enjoy some astounding results. When You Want to Enhance Your Credibility – Remember the last time you searched Google for something? Can you recall the position of the website that you visited from the millions of results that popped up? We bet it was any one of the websites from page 1 and invariably the first website listed in the organic results. Why? We intuitively trust a website that’s ranked on top and we believe them to be the best in their industry. And to a large extent, it does hold some truth. Only a company that believes in itself and is committed to its customers will put in the proactive efforts it takes to rank on top consistently. When You Want to Create an Authority Website – An authority site is a trusted resource for any given topic/niche. It is the recommended website when people are looking for information on that particular industry/topic. Once a website is acknowledged as an “authority site”, it will enjoy a lot of traffic just because of its URL recall. Wikipedia is the greatest and the biggest example. You can reach this position only with sustained efforts and some high quality, cleverly crafted content backed by some amazing SEO strategy.

Situations when PPC is the Best Bet

Now, let’s consider the other side of the SEO versus PPC debate. PPC, or Pay Per Click marketing is an advertising method. Essentially, you bid to display your ads in the sponsored results when someone types up a query that includes your keywords. It’s so named because you pay every time someone clicks on your ad. So here’s a look at situations when PPC is the perfect solution for your traffic woes. When You Desire Instant Results – That’s right. PPC delivers instant results. Your ads go live as soon as they are approved for placement. From thereon, the traffic will be almost instantaneous. That’s why PPC is commonly used for product launches, landing pages, seasonal products, event focused marketing and when you are looking for some immediate traffic. When You are Promoting a Time Sensitive Offer – Say you are promoting an offer that expires in 2 days. What’s the best way to announce it and reach your target audience? PPC of course, as it will deliver the traffic you desire in a matter of minutes. When You Require Highly Targeted Traffic – With PPC marketing, it’s possible to narrow your visitors based on demographic data. In fact, social media PPC programmes like Facebook’s allow you to filter who sees your ads based on gender, age, education, income levels and more.

In Conclusion

So there you go. Both PPC and SEO are wonderful marketing strategies. You just need to know which works in which situations. We hope this analysis comes handy and helps you in making an informed decision. Whether you are looking to boost your website’s SEO or are looking to leverage PPC, Blue Whale Media can help. Contact our digital marketing Manchester team today.

Please select a valid form.