SEO vs PPC (Pay Per Click): Differences & How To Choose

We often hear the question: Should I choose SEO or PPC? Well, even though we run an SEO agency, the truth is that there’s no right or wrong answer. When it comes to digital marketing, every company has its own needs that change over time.

And often, what best serves your advertising initiatives and goals is to run both SEO and PPC campaigns (or SEO and Google ads, as many people call them).

So, let’s look at how engine optimization and paid ads can help your business grow.

What Is SEO?

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of enhancing various aspects of a website to increase its visibility on search engines like Google and Bing. Optimizing your website helps your pages appear for relevant searches, ideally among the top spots of SERPs (Search Engine Results Page).

SEO: The Good Stuff

In contrast to PPC, SEO offers organic, long-term exposure online and enhances brand credibility. Here are its main benefits:

Brand Awareness & Credibility

The more people see your pages when they perform a search, the more aware they become of your business. Plus, being at the first few spots of search results is a sign of credibility, especially for potential clients at the top of the funnel, i.e., the awareness or research stage.

The reason is simple: users trust organic results more than ads.

Cost-Effective Traffic

When you get website traffic from organic searches, you aren't charged for each site visit coming from SERPs. What you spend is time, effort, and an SEO budget - usually billed on a monthly basis.

Well-crafted SEO campaigns, like what we do at Atropos Digital, offer a better ROI compared to paid clicks, which are becoming increasingly expensive - especially for competitive niches or search terms.

Long-Term Sustainability

Unlike PPC, where traffic stops when you stop paying, SEO efforts can sustain your business even when marketing budgets are tight. And oftentimes, results stay with you for quite some time, even if you decide to stop investing in SEO.

Versatility

Organic search results offer various opportunities and formats to showcase your business: videos, images, ratings, maps, and popular questions are just some of them.

In more detail, Google SERP features, include:

• Simple listings
• Rich results, or rich snippets, including additional information like ratings, images, site links, prices, etc.
• Featured snippets, expanded results appearing at the very top of SERPs
• Knowledge panel, an extended side box that presents your business or includes links to your pages
• Google maps and local pack listings, showcasing your business when people are looking for a product or service near them or on the map
• Image and video results
• Top stories (news)
• People Also Ask section, where your content is quoted as an answer to popular search questions
• Google Discover, non-SERP feature showing content related to your interests, web, and app activity

Strategic Advantage

Once you have achieved some high spots and good visibility in organic searches, competitors can't simply buy their way in - giving you a strategic edge.

Increased Website Traffic

More traffic to your website means more chances to be seen, grow brand awareness, sales, and customer loyalty.

Moreover, the more visits you have, the more meaningful information you’ll be able to elicit regarding user behavior and preferences, which you can then use to create robust marketing strategies.

SEO: The Challenges

Here’s what to keep in mind if you are optimizing your website for organic searches:

It Takes Time & Effort

SEO isn't a quick fix. It takes time to develop organic visibility and then it needs effort to sustain it in the long run.

Note that it typically takes at least six months to start seeing worthwhile results from SEO, even though, ultimately, everyone is at Google’s mercy.

Follows Algorithm Changes

Search engine algorithms change pretty often. In core updates, you may even see your rankings fall or change unexpectedly.

Expert SEOs, like our team at Atropos Digital, continuously monitor Google updates and make all the necessary changes so that your pages and content retain their positioning and exposure.

Needs A Dedicated, Long-Term Budget

SEO is not cheap. Professional SEOs need tools, experience, and time to create an SEO roadmap for your site and execute a campaign that’s profitable for your business.

However, building organic traffic will be less expensive in the long term.

So, now that we’ve covered SEO let’s also see what PPC is and how it’s different from SEO.

What Is PPC?

PPC, or pay-per-click, refers to ads that appear on search engine results pages (SERPs), typically in prominent positions. With PPC, businesses bid on keywords for a chance to show their ads high in search results. You only pay when someone clicks on your ad to visit your site or call your business.

PPC: Why We Like It

PPC provides a laser-targeted way to get in front of potential customers. Ads can be targeted by search keywords, time of day, day of the week, geography, language, device, and audiences based on previous visits.

If done right and backed by a robust budget, PPC can show your pages in very prominent places.

In short, the benefits of PPC campaigns, include:

Fast Results

You can set up a PPC campaign in a few days or a few hours, and start seeing results in just weeks - making it a quick way to connect with customers ready to buy.

Targeted Reach & Dynamic Ads

You can tailor PPC ad visibility to match your target audience. Moreover, Dynamic Ads let Google test thousands of variations to find out what performs best.

Ad Control

You have more control over what type of content appears in search results. You can set your ads to include site links, pricing, bullet points, visuals, and more.

Budget Control

You decide how much to spend daily - though often, spending less than your competitors for the same target words, won’t have a significant ROI. So you need to plan your daily budget in the most optimal way to make the most out of it.

Testing

You can run PPC to quickly test new products or marketing messages and use A/B testing to discern the best ads and landing pages.

Marketing Insights

Analyzing the results you get from paid ads, you can see what works and what doesn’t and use this data for other marketing efforts, including SEO.

Stable Visibility

Unlike SEO, PPC ads are not really affected by algorithm changes, and it’s easier (though often more costly) to maintain your top search positions or steady visibility in SERPs.

Drawbacks Of PPC

Just like SEO, PPC needs expertise. Even though everyone could learn how to run their ads on their own, in competitive industries, professional marketers can help you get the results you want.

More specifically:

High Costs

PPC can be quite expensive, especially for competitive terms or when you need to get into bidding wars with other advertisers.

Ongoing Costs

Unlike SEO, PPC marketing campaigns stop as soon as you stop paying. Stopping and re-starting an ad campaign is much less effective than if you keep a campaign running non-stop.

Requires Expertise

Successful PPC requires strong skills to attain and maintain high ROI. That’s why there is considerable potential for wasted spending.

That said, let’s now bring together the differences between SEO and PPC campaigns side by side.

SEO vs. PPC - The Differences

Which Is Better SEO Or PPC?

Choosing between SEO or PPC depends on your goals and overall marketing targets.

You can consider things like your specific keywords, your competition and your target audience. You also need to think about whether you are ready to spend more time or more money.

For instance, if you run a small, local business, it’s best to work on your SEO. But if you have an e-commerce store competing with giants, you should ideally bid a lot in paid ads, while working on your SEO for informational searches and product comparisons.

Here’s what some business owners and marketers say when asked about PPC vs SEO:

I found that SEO was the better long-term investment for my business. Sure, PPC can give you a quick boost, but if you're looking for steady, organic growth without breaking the bank, SEO is the way to go.

SEO is also more effective for local searches and can grow your online presence for longer. Pay-per-click (PPC), on the other hand, is an acquisition strategy that requires you to spend ad money to get your content in front of an audience when they search for specific keywords online.

Getting clicks on your ad is totally different from getting conversion on your ads. SEO, if it works, is one time effort where as you will have to do PPC campaign continuously in order to generate sales.

SEO And PPC Strategy

In many cases, the most effective approach involves a search engine marketing (SEM) strategy where both SEO and PPC are used and complement each other.

For new websites, starting with both and then lowering paid ads as your SEO cuts in is an excellent way to give your pages an initial boost while catering to the future.

Or even you could run periodical PPC campaigns to target keywords or audiences that are not doing so well in SEO.

Evidently, every business is different. At Atropos Digital, we offer top-notch SEO services tailored to your business and your marketing goals so you can make the most of your budget and website. Book a strategy call.