SEO and Pay per click or PPC are the pillars of Search Engine Marketing (SEM). The question that often baffles marketers is whether to adopt any one of these or use a mix of both to gain maximum mileage in online marketing. There is no straight answer to the question because like many other things PPC also has its share of pros and cons. How to make the best use of it depends on the marketing strategy of organizations that in turn depends on the total marketing budget and the allocation towards individual marketing modules. SEO provides the primary traffic with PPC adding to the traffic volume. Only after you set the stage for organic searches by implementing SEO that you could be ready to think about implementing PPC.
Often there are questions about how effective PPC is for online marketing. To determine the effectiveness of PPC, it always makes sense to look into the value component that it can generate. For doing it, you have to explore the issue from both sides by considering what the supporters and opponents of PPC have to say. It is true that there is lots of confusion surrounding PPC and people do waste money trying to pursue it in an amateurish manner. PPC is not much different from the advertising campaigns that support marketing but even though it is easy to use, implementing it strategically is a bit hard. It requires A/B testing and other types to multivariate testing too, but hardly any marketer does it. Focusing on CTR is important, but the real returns come from conversions.
We will first look at the advantages you get from PPC and then discuss the downsides.
Highly targeted searches with PPC
PPC or paid search is a campaign that you create for a targeted section of the audience by directing it towards certain users who are looking for specific things. If you want to focus on the group of people who want to subscribe to some particular kind of cloud service, you could create a PPC campaign for the niche audience exclusively. Refining it further, you can focus the campaign on specific geographic regions and manipulate the results to reach the audience you specifically want to target. You can have absolute control on demographics of the advertising campaign tailor-made for meeting the needs and desires of a particular group of consumers.
PPC means quantifiable search
Search engine marketing generates huge data along with an equally high number of metrics and ROI and the attraction of data is what drives marketers towards it. Marketers love data that carries tons of information that help them to understand the process and feel the pulse to gauge what is happening. Data generation keeps happening right from the bidding process and extends to line graph reports. Data reveals a story, provides direction and creates an outline of how the marketing strategy should take shape in the future. However, you have to keep in mind that Google's privacy policies might often restrict access to data.
PPC ensures high brand exposure
PPC is excellent for boosting the branding prospects of small businesses and new entrants. Newcomers face the problem of generating organic traffic immediately on launching the marketing campaign and need some time for developing traffic after going through the process of brand recognition. To uphold the brand and gain quick visibility an easy way is to fall back on paid search. Remember that the objective is to make the brand popular and generate awareness about it for which you must be ready to accept low CTR and ROI.
Now let us look at the arguments against PPC.
PPC has low ROI
PPC costs more, and the spending on SEO is much less which makes some people believe that the ROI from PPC is less even though both drive traffic. The reason is that not only does SEO traffic cost less, but it is also more authentic, and conversion rates are high, which should logically result in better ROI. However, the problem is that it is not possible to determine the investment made for organic searches and therefore in the absence of data, quantifying ROI is often vague.
The absence of PPC boosts organic traffic
A study carried out on click-through rates on branded keywords that relied on organic searches during a period when the PPC campaign was suspended revealed that organic traffic was either at the same level or increased. Since the study was around branded keywords, there was no competition, and CTR was high. However, for non-branded terms too, PPC results were not encouraging.
Ads have the least conversion
The possibilities of conversions from advertisements are the least because consumers are more interested in gathering information from ads. They collect information about location, price, and characteristics of products but are not much interested in moving towards buying after clicking on advertisements. The ads are information sources and have a minimal role in persuading consumers to make purchases. Even when they click on the click here tab on the ad, gathering information is the motive.
Having studied the above pros and cons of PPC, one can surmise that it makes good sense to take a strategic approach in PPC by taking the following steps.
Do not bid on branded keywords
Often it is a waste of money to bid on branded keywords, and you must judge the competition to decide if it is worth bidding. Some brands are so unique that the branded keywords face no competition hence you should not bid on it because it would generate CTR anyway. The same applies to very large and established brands.
Bid for branded keywords of competitors
To make your business visible to the audience that would typically remain out of bounds for you is to bid for branded keywords of your competitors. However, you should take care to avoid any legal issues arising from it by respecting AdWords Trademark Policy.
The returns from PPC are only as good as the quality of implementation for which you must have a clear understanding of how it could work for you.