SEO vs. PPC: Which Is More Profitable for Your Business?

The question of whether search engine optimization (SEO) or pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is better is one of the biggest debates you may come across in the digital marketing universe. If you are a newcomer in online business, you must be aware of the pros and cons of both. But, most important of all, you must learn what is the best way to pump up your sales.

If your business has had an online presence for a while, you might have heard the general consensus is that PPC advertising is expensive, but you get immediate results, whereas SEO is not costly but time-consuming and only after consistent effort will you begin seeing positive results.

The fact is, this is a very generalized view and there are a few more aspects to account for when debating which strategy is best. In this blog we’ve tackled this topic from all angles to finally put a full-stop to the unending SEO vs. PPC debate.

To begin with, let’s walk through the advantages and disadvantages of SEO.

Advantages and Disadvantages of SEO

Many companies (especially startups) love SEO and search marketing. The main reason is that it is free. It’s a marketing strategy that increases the online visibility of your business. When done right, it has the power to push your website on top of the organic search results.

However, SEO takes time, effort and consistency and, if you have an established online business, you know that the time is money. Using SEO for promoting your business depends heavily on your niche and its rarity. Top-notch content is the key to any SEO strategy’s success. While paid ad campaigns bring immediate results, properly-optimized content generates traffic to your website and builds trust with your audience.

Here are the vital elements of a top-class SEO strategy:

• On-page and off-page SEO
• Technical optimization 
• Keyword generation
• Content creation
• Content analysis

When you execute the right SEO, it does wonders for your brand online. Most of all, your website will earn the reputation of being one of the most trusted and reputable resources for visitors.

Pros and Cons of an SEO Strategy

Pros of Organic Search (SEO)

• It does not need the advertising spend or dayparting (these marketing strategies are used in PPC). It works day and night for your business and functions as a consistent promotion.
• When it comes to the success of your online business, it is the best. It is more profitable than PPC in the long run.
• When SEO is done right, your website ranks higher in organic search. It provides exponential growth to your online business.
• When your website is in the top 10 of the organic search results, it reflects authenticity. Consumers know that Google ranks trustworthy and high-quality sites first. Dominating organic search helps you build a positive image among customers.
• If your website has many pages, adequately optimized content can bring about compounded results. When you optimize the website URLs correctly, it benefits your current and future content.
• You can utilize the creativity of your team in this strategy creating things such as infographics, slides, or videos.

In a nutshell, SEO gives you an edge over your competition. It helps you display the worth and character of your website.

Cons of SEO

It’s a time-consuming process. You need to invest adequate time to build a proper SEO strategy and then consistently optimize to eventually get results. While PPC brings quick results, it may take around six months to pump up sales via SEO tactics.

But, here’s the big, dramatic twist. PPC gives nothing when you don’t pay the piper, but a well-optimized content strategy and search marketing strategy continuously generates a significant return on investment (ROI) for years.

Apart from this flaw, there’s one more. This marketing tactic depends on Google algorithms that change frequently. As a result, whenever the algorithm changes, you have to modify your strategies and track them. If you do not get the required results, you have to make changes again so as to retain traffic and ranking position.

When to Choose SEO?

It is not a limited service. It is for everyone. As it takes nearly six months to show results, it’s good to start working on it as soon as possible. Line up the SEO tactics you want to employ when you plan the platform and structure of your business’s website.

Remember – the sooner you start, the sooner you’ll get results.

PPC Advantages and Disadvantages

PPC is ideal if you own an eCommerce website. It’s a great tactic to promote your product or service. Even though many would say that PPC is a costly and less efficient marketing method, it’s not always true.

To put it simply, PPC is much more than traditional advertising. It allows you to showcase your product/service right when a consumer looks for it by searching a particular keyword. Moreover, you only have to pay for this service when the consumer clicks on your ad.

Reasons Behind Success of PPC and Why Some Marketers Don’t Like It

Pros of PPC

• PPC brings immediate results. This is the biggest reason why many prefer this strategy. It just needs a proper landing page, decent call to action (CTA), catchy titles and quality content. Although it is a bit expensive at times, it can rank your website in the top three search results in just a day (which is impossible to achieve with SEO).
• PPC is easy to learn by comparison to SEO. We repeat, its easier than SEO. You have to learn the PPC tactics, simply put, knowing how to spend money. But when you run two or three ad campaigns, you know what to do next.
• You only pay when consumers click on your ad. Psychologically speaking, people do not usually click on an ad if they do not want to buy. This makes PPC buyer-oriented.
• With PPC, you do not have to worry about Google updates. It takes hardly half an hour to understand if your ad has been approved or not.
• It allows you to run the A/B test smoothly. You just run two ad campaigns and the one ith a higher click-through rate (CTR) wins.

Cons of PPC

Like every other marketing tactic, PPC has its downfalls. The thing is, some disadvantages might not really be cons for some brands. For example, if your company has a more considerable profit margin and can afford to spend on ads then PPC is a quick and easy win. But, in the bigger picture, it may not be ideal as you earn just a dollar after paying $0.98.

• It’s not as easy as it seems. When you start dealing with PPC, you also deal with many other factors, including ad groups, CTR, bids, keywords, negative keywords, CPS and so on. This process is a bit overwhelming.
• It is a money-oriented strategy. In simple words, no money means no results.
• You have to make a crazy investment if you want insane sales and ot all companies can afford such investments.
• Heard about a phenomenon called “banner blindness”? Well, this is the main reason why most of the consumers avoid advertisements. With PPC, it’s difficult to avoid this obstacle.

When to Choose PPC?

It’s simple, when you have budget, go for PPC. It will keep flourishing your business while generating organic traffic to your website.

Final Thoughts

It’s still hard to determine the definitive winner among these two marketing tactics as their results vary from brand to brand. For the majority of online companies, the combo of both has earned the best outcomes.

The integration of SEO and PPC can increase your brand value as you take up more space on the search engine results pages (SERPs). It also helps you achieve both long and short-term goals. It goes without saying that when PPC and SEO are used in conjunction work you can generate the maximum ROI.