Nonetheless, it’s important to note that free organic search traffic can account for a large number of clicks only if you’re in one of the top five spots on Google’s first page. It’s unfortunate, but looking at your position beyond that is normally worth very little. This has resulted in some marketers disregarding the entire notion of SEO. Instead, they turn to PPC advertising in order to get consistent clicks and regular conversions. However, this creates an imbalance in terms of gaining and directing traffic.
Since both SEO and PPC have their own distinct flaws and advantages, it’s only right that we embrace a strategy that combines both. In doing so, we will then be able to formulate a hybrid, multi-faceted and efficient advertising system that will surely increase your revenue by a large margin. This is why we’ve decided to put an end to the PPC vs. SEO debate by showing you the ways in which they can work together. Let’s take a look at how these two strategies can come together to form the ultimate one.
Make sure to bid for the keywords that compliment your organic listings
If you are at the top spot of search engine results then that’s a major success. Most people will simply be happy with the results and stop there. However, doing so won’t allow you to reap all the potential rewards from achieving that success – you need to build upon it and allow your brand to grow. One way to do this is to bid for the keywords you rank at the top for.
Why should you do this in the first place? Well, think of it this way. The sponsored ads stand at the top of the search page, whereas the top result is always under it. Why not use the top ranking you have to aesthetically unite both the organic result and the ad? Doing this creates a visual spectacle that shows searchers you have substantial organic and paid presence. In a review done by researchers at Notre Dame University, 67% of the people surveyed said that they trust brands who have both presences more, instead of those who have just either one.
If both your ad and organic presences are solid, you will have a chance of occupying more than one spot on the first page of the search results.
If your ad and organic presences are both solid, you will then have a chance of occupying more than one spot on the first page of search engine results. This allows you to appeal more strongly to searchers. And at the end of the day, we must admit that the time before a conversion is all about establishing a strong presence and about instilling trust in potential customers.
Use search data to improve both SEO and PPC
Eliminating any uncertainty will help you to clear a path to higher revenue numbers and a better Google AdWords score. And in order to do so, you need to have a strong grip over your in-site search function. If too many people are using the search function while visiting your site, then that means that some navigation modifications should be made.
But when harnessed, site search data can tell you a lot more than that. It’s a veritable goldmine of useful info. Examing that data will allow you to discover the exact phrases people use to reach you, your products, or your services. In turn, this helps you separate high-converting keywords from those that are underperforming. Obtaining this information will then let you do the following:
- Pump additional budget into those high-performing keywords in order to get more PPC conversions
- Target the exact same keywords in your SEO strategy in order to further solidify your top ranking in the search index
Combining these two steps will usually result in a foolproof strategy that can lead to conversions from both sides. As such, you won’t have to rely on just one method of gaining conversions. You will have the luxury of having two mutually-dependent ways of amassing clicks and revenue.
Use PPC ads to discover which words you should target in your SEO strategy
Big PPC spenders often see a lack in conversions because they aren’t using their PPC the right way. While this may seem like a paradox, there is much truth to this statement. A common mistake many of these big spenders commit is focusing the entirety of their budget on PPC, which is fine when you’re looking at it in isolation. But this may limit success if the resulting data isn’t used to boost SEO strategies.
These big spenders often have a large number of keywords research tools and apps at their disposal. But if intuition-based tactics are used to make PPC-related decisions, then that leads to dismal results. An alternative to this would be to use a data-backed (albeit slower) approach to the whole campaign.
Here’s how you can accomplish that:
- Make sure that you have a keyword map listing all the keywords that draw traffic to your website. This list should also include the top landing pages, as well.
- When you narrow down the best landing pages, find more keyword opportunities and allocate them to the corresponding pages.
- Test the new keywords BEFORE adding them to your SEO strategy using a PPC campaign. This way, you will be able to find out which ones perform well and which ones don’t.
- Subsequently, you should modify your SEO campaign and target the exact same keywords which performed well during the period of PPC testing. Such a move may end up saving a failing campaign or giving you new ideas to try out.
SEO and PPC work best as a team and there is no better way of finding out which keywords perform than combining both methods together.
