Many marketers see SEO and PPC services as two separate strategies yet they share the very same goal: drive quality traffic to your website. Combining SEO services and effective PPC management ensures increased online exposure to your target audience, leading to a boost in conversions, almost 200% according to Search Engine Watch.
The most powerful website traffic generating approaches are organic and paid search. The advantage of this approach is that organic rankings give a business credibility and paid search (PPC) provides instant top-of-page #1 listings with greater click through rates. SEO and PPC services are a winning combination.
If you have yet to try either method the time is now! Get started today by chatting with one of our digital marketing experts, to discover how leveraging SEO and PPC will benefit your business.
A study from Wordstream shows that 89.82% of people click links on the first page of search results. To put that another way, less than 10% of people who regularly use Google continue their search past the first page, dropping off page #2 visits significantly. Being on page #1 of search results is the Internet’s equivalent of placing your product on the shelf at eye-level. This stat stresses the importance of page #1 visibility for your highest value keywords (both branded and non-branded).
It may also surprise you that, in the same study, 45.5% of people couldn’t distinguish paid search listings from organic listings. If you’ve ever wondered if the paid/sponsored section of Google gets clicks, this stat may prove to you how effective PPC can be for your business.
Reason #1: Better Data, Long-Term Results
PPC offers conversion data far sooner than an SEO campaign. When SEO is done right, it consistently drives valuable traffic to your site. However, SEO takes time to see results and gather actionable data with SEO efforts.
At any given time, there are over 200 critical ranking factors Google incorporates into its algorithm (source: Backlinko). Calibrating each ranking factor in order to fine-tune your SEO strategy will take time, especially if you’re just starting. Use PPC to leverage early visits to your website if you’re just getting started with SEO. Over time, your organic performance will improve with higher keyword rankings, and your PPC budget should leverage positive ROI.
Use your PPC campaign as a means to determine whether a particular keyword is going to drive conversions or not. By testing your keywords via PPC, you learn which keywords are profitable, which ad copy is most compelling and if your site is set up for high conversion rates. This data should fuel decisions to improve the usability of your website to leverage the most conversions from your web traffic.
Approaching SEO and PPC services as two separate silos isolates critical information and often negatively impacts your campaigns’ effectiveness. Sharing data and strategy between the two campaigns can offer particular points of information that are vital for conversion opportunities. SEO and PPC strategists should work together as a cohesive unit to share key points of competitive analysis.
SEO techniques produce:
- Consistent results
- Increased value of your website
- More quality leads
- Amplified visibility
- Exposure to keywords across the buyer’s journey
PPC campaigns return:
- Speedy ROI
- Highly targeted traffic
- Cost/budget control
- Ongoing results
- Only pay for interested users
Reason #2 Organic Rankings Fluctuate, Paid Keywords Do Not
Organic rankings are volatile. You may see high-ranking keywords one day and then fall off the engines the next. With Google’s 500-600 annual algorithm updates (source: Moz), organic rankings are often hard to predict, even for SEO experts.
This is not the case with AdWords and Bing Ads. Once you have the right mix of quality score and budget, your Ad Rank (your ad position relative to other ads) is fairly consistent. Paid search campaigns require calibrating the right Ad Rank at the right price, but give you far more control over your paid rankings over your organic search rankings.
With the search landscape of Google constantly changing, it’s important to respond to shifts in real-time. For example, Google removed sidebar ads from the right-hand side of search results, which pushed organic listings further down the page with 3-4 paid ads displayed above them. Also, Google is introducing paid ads to the Maps local 3-pack of mobile results, further changing the search landscape, and creating more competition for organic search.
For more information about how Google’s algorithm updates have impacted SEO and PPC, read our AdWords update.
Reason #3 Double Your Online Visibility
Google’s search results contain a lot of information, pulling millions of listings for any one keyword. Every listing competes for a searcher’s attention, which creates lofty competition for page #1 real estate and top listings. So, while having a position on the first page is great for exposure to increase traffic, having two listings is even better. You can double your page #1 real estate when you hold and maintain an organic search ranking and place your paid ad at the top of the page.
Also consider the competitive advantage you’d hold if one of your competitors has one listing for a high-intent keyword, while you’re listed twice with an organic and paid listing. With Google’s universal search features such as Google Maps’ local 3-pack, Knowledge Graphs, and Answer Boxes, your potential real estate is even greater. Research the search landscape of your target keywords to uncover possibilities for maximum exposure.
Reason #4 Increasing Quality Traffic
Increasing your search visibility will inherently boost clicks to your website. Website clicks alone are not a clear measurement of success, but they are required for conversions. Qualified traffic from SEO and PPC services will bring tangible results to your business.
A few years ago, Google conducted a study that concluded 50% of PPC clicks are not replaced by organic clicks when ads are absent from search results. The study also shows that as organic rankings decrease, the percentage of clicks not replaced by the paid ad increases. This study implies that organic search alone cannot drive as much traffic to a website as organic search combined with paid search. 
Reason #5 Increase Probability of Conversion
With increased traffic to your site, you also increase the probability of conversions. By combining SEO and PPC services, conversion increases can exceed 200% as a result. Optimizing your landing pages to respond to PPC conversion rates will bring fruitful results by the time you rank highly on organic search for high-value keywords.
For SEO and PPC, the competition for page #1 rankings is only half of the battle for gaining conversions. Businesses that achieve positive ROI use data to leverage consumer behavior on their website. Having a high ranking will have less of an impact if the user cannot find the information they were searching for. Imagine how frustrating it would be if a user couldn’t find your phone number, leading to a lost customer. Harness your site’s potential for conversions by optimizing your site for the user experience, considering both desktop and mobile.
BONUS: 7 Tips for Winning SEO and PPC Strategies
There are several compelling reasons to combine SEO and PPC services for a solid foundation for boosting conversions. But, how do you get started on the path to success? Below are several key tips we use in-house for running effective SEO and PPC campaigns.
- Perform keyword research: Keyword research is essential for SEO and PPC. With PPC, it’s critical to find keywords that are nearest to a lead/sale, because costs can skyrocket without proper management. For SEO, you may expand your target keywords to all stages of the buyer’s journey. Discover keywords that customers use to search for your products and/or services online. This will help initiate the most effective search engine marketing campaign for your business.
- Determine an appropriate PPC budget: Depending on what stage your business or website is in, balancing PPC and SEO is necessary in order to deliver cost-effective results and positive ROI. Lower your cost per acquisition by employing the most effective marketing channels, while assessing performance frequently.
- Determine the best PPC strategy for your business: AdWords gives you many different options to customize ad delivery. Not every option is right for your business. Set a time parameter to collect data and assess performance. For example, if you’ve changed your landing page, allow 30-60 days to see if this has made an impact on your traffic and conversions.
- Monitor and optimize campaigns in real-time: PPC campaigns lose significant effectiveness when they are created and left unwatched. Maximize your PPC campaign’s effectiveness with real-time bid optimization, proactive budgeting around search volume trends and keyword/ad performance auditing.
- Plan for every stage of your business development: Digital marketing agencies that specialize in search engine marketing know how to deliver the peak ROI on PPC while also creating an effective SEO campaign. Depending on what stage your business or website is in, your digital marketing team should be able to determine the appropriate balance of SEO and PPC services in order to deliver cost-effective results and positive ROI. Lower your cost per acquisition by employing the most effective marketing channels, while assessing performance frequently.
- Test different ads and landing pages: AdWords experiments functionally allow you to A/B split test different ad copy and landing pages on your campaign. This is a powerful tactic that gives deeper insight into your campaign’s effectiveness. Also, consider your mobile landing page to ensure your mobile users can quickly navigate through your content to find what they’re searching for.
- Hire a PPC/SEO company with proven results: If you’re not seeing the ROI you need, consider hiring a digital marketing agency certified with Google Partners and accredited with Bing Ads. AIS Media specializes in SEO and PPC services, and we can show you the results we’ve achieved for our clients. With our custom SEO and PPC campaigns, we’ll see you through the steps required for business success. Our team will assess your costly keywords, create compelling ad copy, leverage your landing pages, experiment with A/B tests, and measure and report on results. And, if you don’t currently use PPC but are looking to start, our team will craft your campaign to get the best results.
Combining SEO and PPC: Performance Delivered, Real Results
AIS Media closely collaborated with New Vision Eye Center, an eye care and surgery center out of Vero Beach, FL, to develop an effective, business growth-driven SEO & PPC strategy.
We began with identifying the most relevant and highest-value keywords to use on organic and paid search. Our SEO team focused on increasing New Vision’s Google page #1 rank. Through organic search, the practice would be easily found among patients searching for cataract and glaucoma surgery services — across all devices.
We adopted a PPC campaign from New Vision’s previous agency and found it was wildly overspending, producing negative ROI. This was a clear opportunity for business growth, to balance PPC with SEO. We assessed a more appropriate budget for reaching the greater Vero Beach audience, weeding out nonperforming keywords.
Within just the first 12 weeks, the program nearly doubled Google page #1 SEO rank. We increased organic website traffic 117%, driving a 20% increase in new patient appointments. As a side benefit, we were able to help New Vision cut its PPC advertising expense by 75%.
Here’s what Carrie Adams, Director of Marketing at New Vision Eye Center, shared with us…
For more on our SEO and PPC results with New Vision Eye Center, read our full client success story.
Ready to see results from an award-winning team? Get started today by chatting with one of our digital marketing experts. We will give you a free consultation to discuss the most effective SEO and PPC services to meet your business goals.
