SEO vs PPC – Which should you focus on first?

When embarking on digital marketing strategies for your business, you’re often left with a choice of where to start.

SEO and PPC strategies offer businesses a lot of different avenues towards success, but they both have their benefits and downsides – and produce results in different ways.

So, do you dive head-first into search engine optimisation to try and rank higher on search engines or jump into PPC ads to bring in traffic from paid search and Google Ads?

Well, we’re here to help you. The experts at Paramount Digital know everything there is to know about climbing organic search results and converting leads with paid search ads.

So, continue reading to find out what to start first: SEO or PPC.

What is SEO?

Search engine optimisation – SEO – is the practice of improving your ranking on search engine results pages to increase the amount of organic traffic your website receives.

The primary aim of SEO is to ensure your content – and your website – ranks on the first page of Google search results. To do this, you must incorporate relevant keywords into your content – whether that’s blog posts, on-page copy like categories or product pages, and other things like case studies.

Your SEO strategy will require in-depth keyword research. During this process, you’ll discover exactly what your target audience is searching for.

Search engine optimisation is not purely about content, though. There are other things you can do behind the scenes. Technical SEO, for example, involves improving load speed times and acquiring links from other relevant, high-authority websites that link back to you (named backlinks).

Additionally, a carefully planned internal linking strategy and website structure not only helps to improve SEO performance but also helps users find relevant content and reduces a website’s bounce rate.

To do this effectively, you must first outline an easy-to-follow website structure. Then, when creating content, use internal linking to other pages throughout the website to ensure users are attracted towards more of your content. As a result, this reduces bounce rate, keeping users on your website for longer.

What is PPC?

PPC advertising – pay-per-click advertising – is a different type of digital marketing strategy that can garner much quicker results than some SEO practices.

For this reason, paid search is favoured by a lot of businesses at the start of their digital marketing process, but it’s a tricky business and difficult to master.

When you search for something on any of the major search engines on the internet, you’ll see some results at the top of the page that have been paid for.

These are classed as ‘pay-per-click’ because the companies advertising this way will pay only when a user clicks on the ad.

A PPC campaign provides a business with a great way of reaching new customers quickly but the cost to bid on certain phrases and words can vary. Some target keywords can be quite affordable but others can creep into the hundreds per click due to increased competition.

What is the difference between PPC and SEO?

The main difference between SEO and PPC is the cost.

Many aspects of SEO can be done for free while paid search will cost a business money with each click it receives.

And, while both SEO and PPC can produce fantastic results, the latter offers much more opportunities for short-term success than the former.

So, what are the key differences between SEO and PPC strategies?

• SEO allows you to effectively gain free traffic, but PPC costs with every click.
• However, PPC can produce much faster results compared to organic search optimisation.
• While PPC costs more than SEO, marketers do have the ability to set a budget for their PPC campaigns, meaning they’ll never spend more than they intend to.
• Search engine algorithms also have little effect on PPC ads compared to organic search results, meaning you have less to tweak.
• SEO is a long-term strategy and can offer consistent results over a long period with organic listings.
• Positive organic search results from a solid SEO strategy help to create trust, credibility, and brand awareness.

Should you focus on SEO first?

You should focus on SEO over PPC first if you have a low marketing budget. 

Additionally, if you want to build your brand’s authority or if you’re aiming to maximise your long-term return on investment (ROI), search engine optimisation is more beneficial to start off with compared to PPC.
If you’d like to create content that reaches your audience at different points of the sales funnel, then – again – you should focus on SEO first.

If organic success on search engine result pages is your primary aim, you should also start with SEO.

Or, should you opt for PPC first?

However, there are several situations where using Google Ads and paid ads is more beneficial.

For instance, if you want quicker results, you should focus on PPC. If you’re aiming to sell a one-of-a-kind product online, use engaging ad copy on paid ads to send users to a landing page. While good SEO strategies can create conversions and increase sales, a quicker way to succeed in this particular situation is via paid search.

Additionally, if you’re aiming to promote a time-sensitive offer, paid ads are much the better choice. As previously mentioned, SEO is a long-term game so you’re unlikely to get the click-through rates you want for a successful campaign.

Also, if you aim to direct your target audience to a specific sale or landing page, PPC ads are best suited for this.

Choose a reliable, expert digital marketing agency

So, have you made up your mind yet? SEO vs paid search is a complicated subject but there are slight differences that can help you make a decision.

If you’re still unsure of what to do, we can help. At Paramount Digital, our expert team of marketers has years of experience running successful SEO and PPC strategies for businesses in a variety of different industries.

With the use of PPC and SEO tools, paired with our knowledge, we can produce expert digital marketing strategies for you.

Interested? Simply get in touch with Paramount Digital today by calling 01744 74 74 74 or by sending an email to marketing@paramountdigital.co.uk.