Often, new website owners with a limited budget try to figure out: 'In the argument of SEO vs PPC, which should take dominance?'\u009d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before you can determine which tactic makes the most sense for your business, you need to understand what they are. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
SEO and PPC are the two sides of search engine marketing (SEM). They have one main thing in common: they help you get found by people searching for what you do on the search engines, especially Google. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But they also have some notable differences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nWhat is the Difference Between SEO and PPC?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The difference between SEO and PPC is all about where on the search engine results page (SERP) you show up and how you get there. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
- What is PPC Marketing?<\/strong><\/a> <\/strong>With PPC, you buy spots on the SERP that show up at the top of page (if you pay enough), at the bottom, or to the side. PPC results often have the word 'Ad'\u009d next to them, or show up in an image carousel with shopping details at the top of the page. <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
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Brands get those spots by paying for them. Search engine ad platforms use a pay-per-click bidding model to sell ad results. The businesses willing to spend the most, get the best placements for the keywords they bid on, but they only pay when someone actually clicks on the ad, hence the name 'pay per click.'\u009d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An SEO strategy operates differently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- What is SEO Marketing?<\/strong><\/a> With SEO, you work to earn spots in the organic results-that\u2019s the term for all the results on the page that haven\u2019t been paid for. For many search terms, that means they show up below PPC results, but not always. Sometimes organic results can claim a rich snippet<\/a>, like the answer box that shows up at the top of some SERPs.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
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SEO results can\u2019t be bought, they have to be earned. You claim organic spots by practicing a number of SEO tactics<\/a>, including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- Working to optimize your website for relevant keywords you want to target.<\/li>
- Making sure your website provides a good user experience, especially when it comes to things like site speed and mobile friendliness. <\/li>
- Working to build authority for your website by earning backlinks from other sites. <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Those are the basic differences between SEO and PPC to be aware of, but what does that mean for website owners?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SEO vs PPC in 7 Categories<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Small business owners don\u2019t have a lot of money to spend on an online marketing strategy, so what you really want to know about SEO vs PPC is how they shake out in comparison to each other in terms of things like cost and performance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here\u2019s how the two SEM tactics compare in seven main categories. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
1. Cost<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
This is a tricky category for comparison. While it may seem like there\u2019s an obvious answer, since PPC is paid advertising and SEO must be earned with work, you may assume PPC is more expensive. In reality, measuring SEO vs PPC in cost is complicated, as which costs more will really depend on how you approach each.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To truly see results with SEO, most website owners will need to hire an SEO expert<\/a> to help. A recent survey found that SEO consultants charge an average of around $500-$1,000 a month<\/a>. While technically, you can spend nothing on SEO but time, more realistically, you should expect to spend around this amount. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
One benefit of PPC<\/a> is that costs are within your control. You can set a maximum daily spend within Google Ads<\/a>, and the network will stop running your ads once you\u2019ve gotten enough clicks to reach that amount. That means you can name your budget and never go over it. But if your budget is too low, you\u2019ll run through your maximum spend too early in the day to get the results you want, and it will take longer to accumulate the data you need to build better campaigns. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to one survey<\/a>, small businesses that do PPC spend an average of $9,000-$10,000 a month. That doesn\u2019t mean you\u2019d have to spend that much, but it probably means that\u2019s the amount others have found gets the best results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Winner: SEO, usually<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
2. Control<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
SEO is all about doing your best to signal to Google the keywords you think you should rank for, and proving you\u2019re authoritative enough to gain those rankings. While you can target specific keywords, you ultimately have very little control over what terms you\u2019ll show up for, where you\u2019ll show up in the rankings, and how your website will show up on the SERP. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
For that last point, you can provide your own meta descriptions<\/a> and use schema markup in the hopes that Google will display the information you\u2019ve provided on the SERP. But it\u2019s still up to the search engine how your website shows up-if it shows up at all. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
With PPC, on the other hand, you have much more control. Paying for ads means you can decide:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- Which relevant keywords your ads show up for<\/strong> <\/li>
- Who sees your ads<\/strong>, in terms of categories like demographics, geography, and consumer behavior<\/li>
- What your ads look like<\/strong>, since you decide on what the ads says, and can include elements that increase clicks like images, or ad extensions that provide useful information such as special deals and delivery information.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Winner: PPC<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
3. Speed of results<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
SEO is a long game. Expect to spend months, or even years, practicing SEO tactics before you start to see results. And even then, your first results won\u2019t be for high-competition keywords. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
For example, a small business that sells hot sauce will see results for long-tail keywords-the SEO term for keywords that are less competitive-like 'hot sauce shop san antonio'\u009d or 'ghost pepper hot sauce'\u009d long before it has the chance to claim a broad term like 'hot sauce.'\u009d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That doesn\u2019t mean SEO isn\u2019t worth doing. It absolutely is! There are plenty of benefits to SEO<\/a>. It just requires patience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
With PPC, by contrast, you can start showing up on page one and getting new traffic the first day you launch a campaign. PPC is often a smart choice for businesses who are doing SEO, but want to start driving traffic faster while they\u2019re waiting for SEO results to pay off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Winner: PPC<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
4. Amount of work<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Both SEO and PPC require ongoing work. With PPC, you need to complete keyword and audience research to figure out the best targeting for your campaigns. Then you need to set up your campaigns, monitor them to learn what\u2019s working, and make updates to improve your results and make sure your budget goes further. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As with PPC, SEO should start with keyword and audience research, then you have a list of tactics to stay on top of:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- Optimize each page of the website for your chosen keyword by including it naturally in the title, headings, page copy and meta tags of the page.<\/li>
- Consistently create high-quality content to keep your website fresh and target more of the keywords on your list.<\/li>
- Undertake link building strategies<\/a> to get other websites to link back to yours. <\/li>
- Maintain a SEO-friendly web design<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
On the whole, doing SEO well usually requires more work than PPC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Winner: PPC<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
5. Trust<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
As you\u2019d expect, people generally trust the results that have earned top spots more than those that paid for them. 46% of people<\/a> said they consider organic results more trustworthy than PPC ones, and 65% said they were more likely to click on an organic result for product-related searches. SEO is therefore a better way to earn the trust of people searching for the kind of products you sell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That said, a sizeable portion of the population-around 57%<\/a>- don\u2019t even register the difference between the paid and organic results on the SERP. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Google\u2019s always changing how the SERP looks, so that number is subject to change, but there\u2019s a certain type of consumer that won\u2019t think any less of your PPC ad than if you earned that top organic spot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Winner: SEO<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
6. Click-through rate<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Recent data<\/a> shows a clear winner in this category, but also shows that a lot depends on the type of device people are using. The click-through rate (CTR) for organic results on desktop computers is at over 65%, as compared to a little under 4% for PPC ads. On mobile devices, organic results get around a 40% CTR, with mobile earning a little over 3% (many searches on mobile don\u2019t result in a click at all). <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Either way, organic results get more clicks, making SEO rankings more valuable for traffic once you get them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
- Maintain a SEO-friendly web design<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- Who sees your ads<\/strong>, in terms of categories like demographics, geography, and consumer behavior<\/li>
- Which relevant keywords your ads show up for<\/strong> <\/li>
- What is SEO Marketing?<\/strong><\/a> With SEO, you work to earn spots in the organic results-that\u2019s the term for all the results on the page that haven\u2019t been paid for. For many search terms, that means they show up below PPC results, but not always. Sometimes organic results can claim a rich snippet<\/a>, like the answer box that shows up at the top of some SERPs.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
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