Organic traffic is considered free or earned. On the other hand, pay per click (PPC service) deals with paid advertising. Both are valuable, and when used in tandem, they can dramatically increase your online exposure and sales. One is a long-term growth solution through search engine optimization (SEO) and the other (PPC) is a great way to quickly increase leads, sales, and conversions. Knowing your own company and the difference between these two marketing strategies will help you make the best decision for your brand and its future success.
Are you considering the benefits of SEO service over PPC? This article will help you learn more about organic and paid search traffic and how they work for your business.
Organic traffic (SEO).
Google organic results in search results (search engine result pages) are all the links you see under paid ads.
The quality of the material on each individual page determines the position of your organic results. In addition, Google’s search algorithm takes into account the overall authority and search engine friendliness of your domain.
Although technically “free”, organic traffic is often considered more valuable than paid traffic. Here are some statistics to support this claim.
- 51 percent of all website traffic comes from organic search, 10 percent from paid search, 5 percent from social media, and 34 percent from all other sources.
- 39 percent of shoppers were affected by a relevant search and clicking on a regular result.
- 70% to 80% of search engine users are only interested in organic results.
- 61% of mobile device users are more likely to contact local businesses if they have a mobile-friendly site.
- The results on the first page of Google (Top 10) receive 92% of all search traffic on Google. On the second page, traffic drops by 95%.
With these statistics, SEO and organic search are game-changers. But don’t worry too much. You must understand that generating traffic and organic rankings through your search engine optimization efforts takes time. You must do content marketing that uses keywords that are relevant to your target audience.
Organic traffic is more competitive than it has ever been. If your site is not SEO optimized, it will be difficult to rank anywhere near the first page. Similarly, if your content is not top level, it will be even more difficult.
Don’t let that deter you from your SEO campaign. Any business looking for long-term growth should start investing in SEO as soon as possible. In this way, you will begin to build credibility and simplify the process in the future.
SEO pros.
- SEO has everything to do with improving the user experience, and a quality campaign will improve first impressions online.
- An important part of any SEO strategy is Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO). This means that organic SEO will drive users to your site and keep them converting when they get there.
- Most aspects of SEO and your organic ranking growth require constant care and attention, but the benefits often compound and increase over time.
- SEO is not just about the overall search result. It can help you appear in local map packs, tiles, catalogs, and more.
SEO Cons.
- Results take time, and on average, an SEO campaign starts showing results in about 6 months.
- Hiring agencies or people to do quality SEO work can be expensive.
- There are absolutely no guarantees in SEO, and anyone who promises you first page results right away is lying or using black hat techniques.
- Ranking can be quickly lost due to Google algorithm updates and unexpected site issues.
Paid traffic (PPC).
Again, paid search refers to all the sponsored links you see at the top of Google searches. You can promote your business through these links by bidding on specific AdWords ads that you think potential customers might already be looking for.
Here are a couple of statistics that support the importance of paid search.
- 75% of people say that paid search advertising makes it easier to find the information they are looking for on a website or search engine.
- Paid ads have a CTR of 11.38% on Google.
- A whopping 63 percent of respondents indicated they had clicked on a Google ad.
- PPC visitors are 50% more likely to buy something than regular visitors.
Currently, the only thing that distinguishes ads from regular content is small text in black bold that reads “AD”. Luckily for advertisers, some users don’t even realize they’re clicking on an ad. Google is constantly testing and tweaking the look and feel of these results. This further complicates the distinction between what is and what is not an advertisement.
Depending on your target AdWords system, a paid search campaign can cost you a lot of money. The trade-off is that these ads provide near-immediate leads, sales, and conversions if done right. A quality PPC campaign combined with a quality product can lead to hundreds of sales in the blink of an eye.
Pros of PPC.
- PPC advertising gives you the ability to track, customize, and report on ads in real time. In particular, you will immediately know what works and what does not.
- Consumers who see display ads are, on average, 155% more likely to search for a brand and related terms.
- PPC marketing allows for retargeting where you can reach users who have visited your site but have not completed a conversion.
PPC Cons
- When used as a long-term strategy, contextual advertising is often more expensive than SEO.
- Once you stop paying for ads, your visibility will disappear.
- Paying for PPC advertising does not guarantee results.
Add Comment