SEO Vs PPC: Which is Better?

Posted On: March 30, 2012

SEO is an ongoing process which helps in improving a website’s search engine ranking, whereas PPC is the online ad are used to bring traffic towards a website. SEO and PPC both are important for internet marketing campaigns. There has always been a debate stuck between SEO and PPC. Which one is more effective SEO or PPC?

Both SEO and PPC deals with driving traffic to a website or blog. Many internet marketers are in quandary about which marketing strategy should be used, SEO or PPC? There is a growing divide between the online marketers who believe SEO is better and there are those who believe in PPC. Sometimes there are circumstances where one may work better than the other. SEO and PPC have same goals but they are different concepts that need various techniques and methodologies.Here is the comparison between SEO and PPC:

Price

It is biggest comparison between SEO and PPC. In PPC ad you have to pay for every click and SEO doesn’t cost “per click”. Cost of SEO depends upon your website and your needs. Cost of PPC ad depends on the keywords.

Target Customers

PPC ad is most powerful tool for attracting target customers. In PPC immediate effect can be seen but SEO takes time. Studies say that users click more on a site in the organic listing than they click on paid ads. SEO can’t be replaced but you can change PPC ads easily to test which one works better for your business.

Effect on ROI

SEO is a continuous process and it takes time to get desired results including traffic and profit. It brings steady results and ROI. Traffic through PPC ad lasts only till the time ad is running, as soon as you stop displaying ads, you will notice immediate downfall both in traffic and profit.

Results

SEO technique does not give immediate results. It takes time to optimize your website and to achieve desired results. Sometimes SEO process may take weeks to months to attain high ranking. Results of PPC ads can be seen immediately after launching your ad campaign.

Effectiveness

SEO is effective as it provides stable results. PPC ad gives unstable results. PPC ad depends upon the amount of money an advertiser can spend on it. The more you invest on PPC ad, the more effective result you will get.

In SEO, you cannot see the result immediately, whereas it is easier to analyze and modify your PPC ad campaign for instant results.

Both SEO and PPC can be used to serve different purposes. Coupling optimization with targeted PPC campaign is best for driving traffic to your site. A balanced composition of SEO and PPC will be very helpful for your website. SEO provides more credibility to the landing page and PPC provides faster results.

Anand Damani Author at Medium

Serial Entrepreneur, Business Advisor, and Philosopher of Humanism

Writes about Human Behaviour, Universal Morality, Philosophy, Psychology, and Societal Issues.

Anand aims to help complete and spread the knowledge about Universal Human Values and facilitate their practice across sex, age, culture, religion, ethnicity, etc.

Stay tuned with me