SEO vs PPC: The Differences You Need to Know

Digital Marketing and SEO

Did you know that Google processes over 3.5 billion searches every single day? If you have a business the goal is for people to find your virtual storefront when they are performing a search online. This is why you want to make sure that you understand the differences between SEO vs PPC. 

Keep reading to learn more about search engine optimization and pay per click. 

SEO

SEO is when a website is optimized to rank in search engines when people are looking for a product or service that you offer. The goal is to appear on the first page of the search engine because it is rare for people to look beyond the first page. 

SEMrush

The key thing to remember about SEO is that you can’t pay to appear high up on the search results. The search engines have their own algorithms that will calculate how great your website is and rank you according to their own calculations. 

This is why you want to learn more about search engine optimization management if your goal is to have long term sustainability. A major pro about SEO is that this is the more cost-effective option in the long run. 

PPC

PPC or pay per click is where you pay for clicks to your website. One of the reasons that people love going the PPC route is that you tend to see much faster results than you do with SEO. With SEO you usually have to wait months to truly see results. 

With PPC you can go to any ad platform, set a budget, and start a campaign with the click of a button. One of the major advantages of PPC is that you can target your exact customer by setting the geography, demographics, age, etc. 

This means that you only pay for the people that you want visiting your site. The problem with PPC is that this is not financially free like SEO. It actually can get very expensive, very quickly if you are in a more competitive industry. 

Another difference between PPC and SEO is that although you can scale it a lot faster, the longer you run a certain ad the less effective it becomes because people start to see your ads too often which leads to them ignoring the ads. 

Using Both

We recommend using both PPC and SEO to help get the word out about your business. A smart move would be to invest money into PPC campaigns in the beginning while you work on your SEO in the background and get it going. 

The key is to get the ball rolling and allow it to continue rolling as you slowly stop paying for ads and instead bring traffic to your site organically with SEO. 

Feeling Like an SEO vs PPC Pro?

We hope that now that you have learned more about SEO vs PPC, you can make informed decisions when it comes to your own business.

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