A couple of months ago, State of Search published this infographic about the battle between search engine optimization and Pay-per-click. Which is better? Which is more effective?
Indeed, there are very different opinions on these aspects. For example, I would use both in a strategy with a budget allocated for Pay Per Click. In many cases, this budget does not exist. Therefore, there is no choice but to work only on SEO, which in the long run is the one that will pay the best in a high percentage of cases and use at most some Adwords coupon to show the results to the user, client and try to see if that strategy would work in their market niche. Although you know, time is money and costs money.
Let’s get into the matter:
The first thing we have to know is the fundamental difference that we find as soon as we start with each of these positioning models, the benefits :
SEO: The number of visitors in the early stages will be limited and slightly segmented. However, with time and a good strategy, it will be possible to gradually increase these visitors so that we increasingly have a better position on the Internet and more visits due to that positioning, work, and daily effort.
PPC: With pay per click, we will obtain results quickly, and visitors will be generated easily from minute 0. However, as a general rule, the number of visits will remain constant unless we increase the budget dedicated to these actions, and if by chance we cut that budget, visits will plummet.
In our strategy, we must consider specific statistical data about the consequences of using one method or another.
SEO: 50% of users are familiar with distinguishing between organic search outcomes and sponsored listings, a distinction commonly referred to as SEO.
PPC: 50% of users who visit a website through sponsored links are likelier to buy than those from organic traffic clicks.
If we think about various factors that make sense when performing each search in an Internet search engine, we find the following data:
SEO VS PPC:
- 85 out of every 100 searches click on a NOT sponsored result.
- Users trust results from organic search more (86%)
Observing the variations in SEO and PPC between 2007 and 2010 is curious.
SEO: work on SEO techniques increased by 20%. Businesses started to recognize the significance and advantages that this positioning offers.
PPC: was reduced by 60% during this period.
On the other hand, with PPC, it is possible to manage your budget simply and determine the Return on Investment ( ROI ) very quickly. For this reason, I always advise my clients to carry out some tests, for example, with Adwords, on their market niche in case they do not know it on the Internet, to see if they have possibilities or not, and make a small estimate to address it or not.
If we compare Trends over time between SEO and PPC in Spain, we observe a significant drop in interest in the term PPC in searches since the end of 2007 and, on the contrary, a more or less constant increase in SEO.
The term SEM is widely used here in Spain to refer to techniques such as PPC and not SEO. If we make a new comparison on this term, we observe that in 2007, there was a significant increase in search trends, falling below SEO at the end of 2010.
Therefore, in any strategy, both SEO and PPC should be considered and evaluated to what extent each should be applied and what investment is necessary to apply them. For everything better than another, you need to demonstrate it and then decide. Business sectors can be very different from each other, and they do not have to need the same dose in terms of positioning.
We will have to focus on the aspects that obtain the best profitability. We will have to measure and measure to obtain conclusions that do not shed light on where to put each euro we wish to invest. Perhaps SEO comes more “by default” in any business strategy, but we can never waste the power of Pay Per Click.
What do you think? To what extent should you use each one? Do you consider any better or more effective?
