When looking for the best way to spend your time and money in digital marketing, some critical differences should be considered, including the one between SEO and PPC.
Most people approach these two using completely separate strategies. And while it is true that they are different in many ways. It is far more logical to think of them as two sides of the same coin, a coin known as search.
There are numerous ways in which SEO and AdWords work together to lead to more promising results. We’ll take a look at them after covering the basics.
What is PPC (or SEM)?
Before delving into how SEO and AdWords work together, it is important to first explain each model individually, starting with AdWords or PPC.
PPC stands for pay-per-click, while SEM stands for Search Engine Marketing. This refers to when a business sets up a Google AdWords account and starts a marketing campaign through it.
You place a budget, and the ad will run until said budget is gone. However, you have an additional charge for each click on the ad’s link. Hence, pay-per-click.
PPC does not utilise keywords the same way SEO does. The point of PPC is to increase the amount of traffic to the website contained within the ad. So, it uses the keywords to ensure that users who are looking for similar products or services as the ones featured in the ad(s) do see the ads.
In other words, PPC ads are the ones you see at the top of the results page every time you look something up on google. They are usually marked with a bolded “Ad” or “Advertisement”. Essentially speaking, businesses can use PPC to generate organic traffic.
However, the very logic upon which the PPC concept is based is a double-edged sword. Yes, you will get a significant increase in traffic due to people clicking on your ads, but the more people you reach, the more you will have to pay.
You will have to either terminate the campaign or establish a budget that automatically determines when the ad will stop.
What is SEO?
SEO is short for search engine optimisation. It basically revolves around placing keywords strategically into the content of your website. This will optimise the website for ranking on SERPs or search engine result pages.
In essence, the more Google’s algorithm likes a page on your website, the higher it will rank when users look up something using the keywords found in said web pages or articles.
So, keywords are of great importance to search engine optimisation. They can help determine how good the website will rank on a search results page. Think of it this way; it would be illogical for blog articles about blacksmiths to be ranked against those of carpenters. Neither one has anything to do with the other.
So, if someone looks up something about metalwork, they shouldn’t expect to find anything about woodwork. And this is where keywords come into play. Not only do they determine how the web content is ranked in SERPs, but they also help to distinguish between the content.
The better the keywords used in the website page or blog post, the higher the chances of ranking well on a SERP. And that will consequently bring your more traffic and more potential customers.
Benefits of Using SEO and AdWords Together
Here are some answers to how SEO and AdWords work together:
Increased Exposure
The most important benefit of combining these two together is the extra exposure that you’d get on search engine results pages. More often than not, people will reduce their PPC efforts in order to save up money the moment their ads rank high through SEO.
However, it is important to keep in mind that the top three results or so in most SERPs are PPC ads meaning that dominating search results in both a paid and organic way is key to staying up there for a while.
More Keyword Data
Running PPC and organic campaigns at the same time will give you a lot of data to analyse. From that data, you can determine which keywords work best and start optimising from there.
Leveraging PPC Data to Boost Your SEO Campaigns
This is perhaps a prime example of how SEO and AdWords work together in harmony. What works for PPC works for SEO. It’s that simple. By analysing and determining which PPC ads get the most conversions, you will get a good idea of which words to rely on when creating title tags and writing content organically.
The benefit of this is that you get to know pretty quickly what works and what doesn’t since the results will be almost immediate.
Integrating E-Commerce Feeds in AdWords Results
Google allows you to link specific product pages to pay-per-click ads. The ad will show the product’s name alongside some reviews, and once it’s clicked, it’ll take the user straight to the product page, where he can make a purchase.
Using Search Data to Inform PPC Keywords
The prime goal of PPC advertising is to find out which keywords people use to find your service or product. One way of knowing this is by adding a site search option on your website and closely monitoring it to get an idea of the most frequently used terms.
Dealing with Negative PR
Sometimes, people will say something negative about your business. It’s pretty natural. After all, you can’t really satisfy everyone. Now, you’re probably wondering how SEO and AdWords work together to fix this? Well, it’s pretty straightforward. It all boils down to visibility.
You can get more conversions if you tightly control how SEO and AdWords work together in regard to certain keywords. A good example of this is when the Gulf oil spill happened. Oil and gas giant BP paid for numerous PPC ads and linked them to the keyword “oil spill”. So, every time someone looked up “oil spill” looking for news and updates, they’d get BP’s PPC ad at the top of their SERPs.
In other words, you can make use of current events as well as opinions on companies, including your own, as tools to generate more traffic to your ads.
Social Media Visibility
This isn’t exactly a case of how SEO and AdWords work together, but it still is important to bring it up.
Social media is changing drastically each and every day. Sites like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube all serve up ads targeted at different groups of people.
Using Facebook ads, for example, you can choose to show your ad only to 23-year-olds living in Manchester who happens to be interested in motorcycles and football. The group might be small, but it’s precise and precise is exactly what you need.
The data you collect from these social media campaigns will help you to greatly improve your SEO strategy.
Test Potential Organic Keywords with PPC
If you want to test potential organic keywords, PPC ads are the way. They will help you to improve your organic keyword strategy over time. You can test the effectiveness of certain words and get immediate results which will help you to fine-tune your strategy quickly.
Using the Google Ads Tools to Boost Your SEO Efforts
Another example of how SEO and AdWords work together is using the tools of the latter to boost the former. For instance, Google Ads has a keyword tool that can help you generate a list of terms related to your businesses that are more likely to generate traffic. You can use these words in your site’s content and title tags.
Additionally, Google Ads’ tracking tools are a great way of measuring whether changes to your site are leading to more conversions or not.
Lastly, Google offers certain free tools to small businesses, the most important of which is the Search Analytics report which you can access through Google Analytics. It can accurately point out which search queries are generating the most traffic.
Confused? Let Us Help!
So, we hope that we properly answered the question of how SEO and AdWords work together. Now is the time for you to implement them both in order to help improve your marketing strategy and online presence.
That said, both SEO and PPC can be a bit complicated, and using them together is rather overwhelming. Worry not, though, as you can contact us at any time, and we will help you with your marketing campaign!
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