Although it may seem obvious to some, SEO and PPC can be confusing. If your business is looking to increase its internet presence, these are two great ways to do so. SEO and PPC are very different, but when used together can maximize search engine results.
Search engine optimization (SEO) is a process and gets your website to rank in organic search results. Organic results are unpaid and appear in the main section of search engine results. There are many elements that go into SEO including keyword research, updating website copy, building backlinks and more.
PPC stands for pay per click and refers to search engine or paid advertising through websites like Google, Yahoo or Bing. With PPC advertising, you pay the search engine (Google) to appear in their search results, either on the top of the search engine or on the right side. This type of advertising is called pay per click because you are in fact paying Google per click. You set up a campaign by choosing certain keywords (usually based on what you’re willing to pay) and when someone clicks your ad, Google charges you that amount.
Pay per click advertising is instant. Once you initiate a campaign and start paying Google, you start to appear in search results. SEO on the other hand takes time. Since SEO is a long-term process and takes constant monitoring and building of backlinks, results take longer to appear. Often times even after SEO has been in the swing of things, Google needs to adjust to all of the work done.
Both SEO and PPC require keyword research and data analysis. By analyzing the data results from both, the overall strategy could and should be adjusted for even better results. Depending on your want and need for internet presence, both SEO and PPC are good options and can even increase presence when working together.
