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Nov 28 2021

SEO vs. PPC – Which Is Better?

In order to grow your business online, you may be wondering whether you should invest your time and money into Search Engine Optimization (SEO) or Pay-Per-Click Advertising (PPC).

Both have their positives and negatives, but is one better than the other?

Let’s look at both.

Is SEO Better?

SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is the process whereby you optimize a website to appear as high in the search engine results as possible.

A massive part of this process is figuring out what the search engines want and then optimizing your web pages accordingly.

Pros of SEO:

  1. Organic traffic has staying power. Once you’re able to get your website to rank highly in the search engines, chances are good that you’ll be able to generate consistent traffic.
  2. SEO is often a less expensive option than PPC. When you compare the two traffic sources, SEO comes out the winner of the two when looking at traffic generated, as long as you’re looking at the traffic that comes once you’ve attained high rankings in the search engines.

Negatives of SEO:

  1. SEO takes time. It can take many months for your hard work to show any rewards. If you don’t have the time to wait for your website and content to rank, then SEO may not be the best option for you.
  2. You need unique and quality content. When it comes to content, people want to read the best content available. This can be a lot of work and will require research and a creative mind. If you don’t have these skills yourself, then it will benefit you to hire an expert.

Is PPC Better?

PPC, or Pay-Per-Click Advertising, is a technique that allows you to advertise in search engines, bringing immediate, targeted traffic to your website.

Pros of PPC:

  1. Quick results. Unlike SEO, where you may have to wait months to see results, it is possible to start getting substantial traffic to your website within a few hours using an effective PPC campaign.
  2. You can accurately target different demographics. When you use PPC, you will be able to target different types of people. For example, if you want to target a woman in her 30s who lives in the UK and is interested in cooking, you can target her with your ads. SEO does not give you this option.
  3. You can experiment quickly and easily. With PPC, you can set up a campaign and run A/B tests so that you can monitor what works and what doesn’t very quickly. SEO is a slower process, so it will take time to come to any conclusion regarding the success of an SEO technique.

Negatives of PPC:

  1. It can be expensive. If you are in a competitive niche, PPC can be expensive and your return on investment (ROI) may be low while you are figuring out which ads work and which don’t.
  2. Ads can become less effective. Using the same ads with every campaign will result in them becoming stale and less effective. To combat this, mix up the copy and images and refresh the ads to keep them working long-term.

Which is Better for You?

When it comes to determining whether SEO or PPC is better for your business, the answer would be that it depends.

Both are legitimate sources of traffic.

If you want quicker results, then PPC will be the better option, because SEO will take time to work.

For those with a smaller budget, SEO will be the better option, as paid ads can be expensive, especially if you don’t have experience with them.

You may want to use both SEO and PPC in tandem. When using them together, you can seriously ramp up the amount of traffic that you can get to your website!

If you are interested in learning more about SEO, Check out the SEO for Beginners course (Black Friday/Cycber Monday coupon code 2021BFSale to save 50%)!

Written by Paul · Categorized: SEO

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Lily Leung says

    November 28, 2021 at 4:55 pm

    Paul, if I had a business to promote, I would hire you to promote my website. I have some understanding of optimizing search engines by using links of high traffic sites but other than that it is beyond me. So I would use my bucks to help promote my site. I hope I am making an intelligent comment.

    Reply
    • Paul says

      November 28, 2021 at 7:59 pm

      THere not just one way to ‘do’ SEO so you are ok. Just make sure you have a plan in place! Have fun!

      Reply
  2. Larada Horner-Miller says

    November 28, 2021 at 9:48 pm

    Thank you for the comparison. I appreciate your wisdom.

    Reply
    • Paul says

      June 20, 2022 at 1:39 am

      You’re welcome, Larada! I hope our blog was a help to you.

      Reply
  3. Kebba Buckley Button says

    November 28, 2021 at 10:11 pm

    Paul, I have been chunking along with SEO for years, with the goal of building a bigger fan base. However, I think adding PPC will be very impactful when I am ready to promote my next book. Thoughts? Thanks for another excellent article!

    Reply
    • Paul says

      June 22, 2022 at 10:53 pm

      Kebba – I like the analogy of the supermarket and a garden when it comes to PPC and SEO.

      If you want vegetables for dinner tonight, you can go to the grocery store and pick up some carrots, some cucumbers, and some lettuce. You can get it immediately – you just have to pay for them before you can get home.

      On the other hand, you can go out to your garden and pick those vegetables and bring them in and eat them up. The only problem is that you would have had to start that garden a long time ago (Or plan to have them in the future if you plant today).

      PPC is the supermarket – you pay and you get results. Organic SEO is the garden – plan for it, nuture it, and let it grow and you do not have to pay at the grocery store for your traffic.

      There is a need for both of these!

      Reply

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