Home	Search	Contact
Client Login >>

The key to successful SEM - PPC vs SEO?

Andrew Allfrey, e-Prominence, considers the pros and cons of two of the main search engine strategies open to website marketers.

Research suggests that around 90% of all e-commerce purchases come as a result of an enquiry to a search engine. So what is the best way to ensure a significant presence on the main search engines?

There are broadly two schools of thought on the best way to market your presence; Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, in which you have complete control and immediate and measurable responses, and a more organic process helped along by Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). Here, clicks are free and there are branding benefits of high rankings, but it can be harder to take control.

So which is best for you? The answer is usually that they are both valuable. Each has its own benefits and, when you can afford to, you should consider implementing both search strategies.
It could be argued that over time organic listings represent the greatest potential for Return On Investment (ROI). However the fact that organic listings are becoming increasingly harder to achieve, particularly for new websites, means that search engine marketing solutions that integrate both organic and PPC listings tend to be most effective.

With the advent of the fabled Google "Sandbox", the majority of new and redesigned websites are subject to an artificial time delay of at least six months before making it onto the pages returned from a relevant keyword search. This is a result of Google's attempts to rid its index of sites designed more to manipulate the listings rather than to provide real and valuable content. As a consequence, while new sites can still (at the time of writing) quickly gain organic listings on MSN and Yahoo through website optimisation, marketers seeking to place their products or services in front of the massive Google audience need to consider establishing a brand presence through PPC advertising.

Pay-per-Click

With Pay-per-click (PPC) you have complete control over your search traffic. You select the keywords and write the listings. You control where you're listed and what the listing says. You decide what your budget is and can adjust your spend rate based on results or events.
Tracking results from a PPC campaign, you can see which adverts perform the best, which search terms have the best conversion rates, and what product pages are best for specific users. Over time, this knowledge can help you to improve and define your online business.
One of the greatest attractions of PPC is the ability to easily track clicks and costs. This allows you to understand your ROI from a specific marketing initiative. This gives you confidence to spend money and drive volume.

Recent research has shown that Pay Per Click adverts are perceived to have been paid for by fewer than 40% of consumers using search engines such as Google and Yahoo. Additionally having PPC adverts that mention a brand name on page listings actually increases brand awareness in subsequent recall tests by over 25%, whether the advert was clicked upon or not.
PPC makes sense if you want immediate benefits and like the idea of paying for performance. SEO provides branding benefits and a longer-term ROI that is compelling. But unlike PPC, SEO revenue results aren't as directly measurable and manageable.

Search Engine Optimisation

So, if PPC is so great why bother with SEO? Basically, because you will be missing out on a large number of potential clicks. How large? Recent studies have demonstrated that many users do not click on the "paid" listings; in fact 60% of search users prefer (some exclusively) organic over paid listings.
Also, once you have good positioning in the regular search results, you should continue to receive "free" traffic. Again, based on data from a number of marketers the increase in traffic due to SEO averaged 73%.

Consider SEO the same as you would word of mouth advertising or public relations. It's exposure that comes with a very high degree of credibility and trust. Traditional search listings are considered unbiased and non-commercial and traffic generated tends to have high conversion rates.

Having said this, once consumers are ready to buy online, they seem be more accepting of paid placement listings and their likelihood to click on one of these listings increases. The bottom line: SEO has a real and measurable impact on traffic, conversions and revenue increases. Given that these clicks are "free" after the initial SEO costs, and the branding benefits, the ROI for SEO is compelling.

Andrew Allfrey is commercial director at specialist search engine company e-Prominence, providing consultancy, search marketing, search optimisation and PPC advertising. For more information or to discuss your search marketing objectives call 0871 550 0046 or visit www.e-prominence.co.uk