SEO
SEO is the process of optimising a website in order to help it rank higher on the Google SERP (search engine results page). If you’re aiming to get that page 1, position 1 ranking… you will need to work on optimising your website and content in multiple ways. There are several different types of SEO that will help you beat the Google algorithm:
On-page SEO includes optimising your website around the most popular keywords that your target audience search for. For each page that you want to drive traffic to, it is important to have a target keyword. Once you have determined this, you can plan your content around this target phrase and start to optimise title tags, meta-descriptions and page URLs to make it easily searchable.
Off-page SEO is all about getting the search engine to believe that your website is legitimate and trustworthy. This is achieved by increasing your authority score through building backlinks to your site. A backlink is when another site links to yours. They need to be high quality as Google will actually penalise you if your backlinks are from spam websites selling cheap links!
Technical SEO is when you make sure that search engines can easily crawl and index the pages on your website. This includes an intuitive site structure, no broken links and a fast page load speed.
PPC
PPC is a type of search engine marketing whereby advertisers pay a fee each time one of their ads get clicked. Essentially, it is a way of targeting people who are already looking for what you offer through buying visits to your site. This is the opposite of SEO, where you attempt to earn those visits organically. There are several different ways you can increase the success of your PPC campaigns:
Bidding is one of the most important parts of creating your PPC campaign. When you bid on a specific keyword, you are practically entering an auction with all the other advertisers who are targeting the same keyword. If your bid is higher than theirs, it will appear higher on the paid search results.
Quality score is a metric which advertising platforms such as Google Ads and Microsoft Ads use to decide if your advert is a good match for what the user is searching for. Your quality score will be high if you have a good click-through rate (CTR) and high-quality landing page.
Ad copy is equally important in ranking high on the paid SERP. If you write a compelling, high quality advert you are more likely to receive clicks and conversions. If your copy isn’t up to scratch, you can expect to see a very low CTR.
SEO vs. PPC: How Long Does It Take?
There is a noticeable difference in the time it takes to see results between SEO and PPC.
SEO can take a really long time. To fully optimise a brand-new site and create a robust backlink profile can take years. If your website is already ranking and you just want to gain more domain authority – this is a much easier task. However, by no means is SEO a quick fix to increase visibility and traffic. It is a long-term strategy that requires ongoing support.
On the other hand, if you chose to focus your SEM (search engine marketing) efforts into PPC, you will see results almost instantly. In fact, you could create a PPC campaign in the morning and see traffic coming to your website in the afternoon if it was set up correctly. However, the hardest part can often be setting it up. It many cases, it can take several months of changing and tweaking your campaigns to see a really positive ROI (return on investment).
SEO vs. PPC: How Much Does It Cost?
There is a very common misconception that SEO is ‘free’ website traffic. Whilst you don’t have to pay when someone clicks onto your website, you have to invest time and money into backlink profiles, keyword research, content optimisation and SEO tools over a long period of time. Whilst the SEO cost can be expensive over the short-term, it absolutely pays off in the long term.
In contrast, PPC can offer smaller upfront costs with a guarantee that you will see some form of ROI. However, the second you stop paying for your PPC campaign, your traffic will go back to where it started. For this reason, PPC is less sustainable than SEO in the long-term.
SEO vs. PPC: Which Should I Focus On?
You should definitely focus on SEO if you have niche keywords that you are aiming to target, because these ‘long-tail’ keywords are much easier to rank for. SEO is also suitable if you don’t urgently need traffic right now, and you have several months to wait for your strategic work to pay off. You will also need to invest a lot of time and research into SEO or set aside a budget to partner with an experienced SEO agency who can work to research keywords, optimise your website and create a backlink profile for you.
On the other hand, you should focus on PPC if you are able to free up a consistent ad budget of over £500 per month. You also must be able to manage a Google Ad/Microsoft Ads account, or partner with an agency who can do it for you. Ideally, you will also have the capabilities to launch landing pages, as each advert will need a specific landing page in order to ensure a high-quality score and conversion rate.
Or… You can do both at the same time! As long as you have the staff/support to run both campaigns – go for it!
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Whilst investing in SEO and PPC might not feel like a priority, the investment is sure to be worthwhile if you want to ensure you are ranking high on the search results page. If you would like to discuss your requirements, please get in touch. XIST2 are an Oxford based marketing agency offering SEM services. We would be really happy to discuss what may work for you and your business. Email at [email protected] or call us on 01993 835 117.
