Organic and paid search are each effective in their own way, and are most effective when used together. However, some clients will approach you wanting one or the other, asking which is more effective for their business. Knowing the strengths of each method will help you choose which is more appropriate for your client. Here’s a quick cheat sheet for you to use as reference:
Organic SEO
Methodology: Organic SEO boosts your visibility naturally by getting others to talk about you, mention your brand, and link back to your site. It focuses more on providing relevant information and establishing your brand as an industry leader. It takes no less than six months to see results, but the visibility you achieve is more permanent as long as you maintain online presence.
Efficiency: According to the Search Engine Journal compilation, 70-80% of users ignore paid ads and focus on organic search results. Leads that come from organic SEO have a 14.6% conversion rate. It lets you use different venues and media to communicate your brand message, providing diversity and keeping your message interesting.
Cost: Organic SEO will not cost much because you are building your clients’ visibility mostly on free platforms. You only have to pay a monthly fee for implementation, but the rest of the tools are available at your disposal for no extra charge.
Pay Per Click
Methodology: PPC is a type of push or interruption marketing, a direct selling method where you can instantly publish your brand message. Your space and your visibility are both limited, but you can share your message at once, which is ideal for crisis management and for building visibility at the start of your campaign. It is also unaffected by search engine algorithmic changes.
Efficiency: PPC has two advantages over SEO – first, it provides great visibility for competitive keywords, and second, it is easier to test and analyze consumer behavior using this method. As long as your client has the budget, the ads can go live immediately, and stay online for as long as the campaign is funded. The conversion rate for PPC is 1.7% according to SEJ.
Cost: PPC is more expensive than SEO because of the higher cost per acquisition (CPA) rate. Aside from the maintenance fee, you also need to pay for every click that your ad gets.
Keep your client’s business goals in mind when selecting which method to use. Remember that these are best used together and with other online marketing methods to get maximum results. Getting started is easy – just sign up to become our partner, and we’ll help you launch your campaign!
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