Difference Between PPC and SEO

PPC vs SEO

When on the internet, a common slogan you will come across is that traffic is king. This is a well-elaborated slogan, as when you get to tap into traffic that goes to your online site or even page, you get to make good returns. Two most commonly used methods of getting traffic moving through your site are PPC and SEO. The term PPC refers to Pay per Click while the term SEO refers to Search Engine Optimization. How well do these two methods compare for garnering traffic online?

The biggest difference between the two by far is that SEO makes use of organic traffic, which is a free source of traffic, whereas PPC uses traffic that is inorganic and as a result, the traffic must be paid for. As the name of PPC implies, the cost charged on the service is calculated per every click achieved. In some literature, PPC is also referred to as Paid Search Advertising.

The main seller of PPC is the content providers, and as it stands, the largest seller of PPC is Google, having been able to build a platform that is quite robust and has millions of unique visitors every single day. The two PPC and SEO are grouped into an online marketing term called Search Engine Marketing.

Regarding positioning in search engines, you will be placed on top of the organically searched rankings. This means that you have better visibility to your targeted clients. Your ad will appear depending on the specified ads that you target. The search engine, on the other hand, charges you only when a person clicks on your listing. Going by probabilities, there is a higher chance that a person might choose to go by the PPC sponsored results than the SEO results as PPC results are shown at the top.

The other issue is the cost. SEO is free, as all that it needs is time to get the site ranked. This is not the case when it comes to PPC. You will only be raked when you pay. The main challenge with SEO is that it requires a lot of hard work in ensuring that the content on the site is constantly being indexed to the top. The cost of PPC depends on the popularity of a given keyword. If a specific keyword is very popular, then the cost of the PPC ad campaign will be very pricey. The most beneficial aspect of PPC is that you will only pay for any click you get. Each person clicking on your link can be known to be a sure lead that has a high probability of converting. SEO, on the other hand, offers an indirect cost, that of time and hiring a person if you do not plan to be the one doing the optimization.

The traffic potential of SEO is far greater than that of PPC. SEO will rank for several keywords that you have selected to submit to search engines. PPC, on the other hand, will only show results for only a specific keyword. Organic searches rank much better and bring in much more traffic than paid traffic.

Conversion rates in SEO are also lower as opposed to PPC, as a person is not looking for your business but for a specific product or service.

The bottom line makes a good case of the hierarchy to use. When the site is young, make use of PPC and SEO should follow later.

Summary

PPC refers to Pay per Click while the term SEO refers to Search Engine Optimization.
PPC offers better positioning and thus a higher conversion rate than SEO.
The cost of PPC is higher than SEO.
Traffic garnered has SEO having more traffic than PPC.
PPC should start then SEO.

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