SEO is vital for Successful PPC Advertising

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Pay Per Click (PPC) are two important tools that can make your business successful in the digital arena. Specialists in SEO and PPC utilize keywords to help customers connect with their products and services. Thorough research and an appropriate budget are requirements to get both right. By utilizing best practices, SEO and PPC can benefit one another and take your marketing to new levels of success.

SEO is the practice of improving a website’s search engine ranking. Copywriters should create website content that contains the keywords a user would search for. The goal is to get the webpage into the top search results on Google. SEO can be a time-consuming process but it’s very effective in getting more and more valuable traffic. The main driver of SEO is website content that includes applicable keywords, links, descriptions, etc. tailored to appeal to your target audience.

PPC has the same goal. However, PPC specialists have the added benefit of an advertising budget in addition to keywords. PPC isn’t free, but that does not mean that it doesn’t require a thoughtful strategy to implement. PPC advertisers must target keywords and phrases in hopes that they’re being searched by the desired audience. Each keyword varies in price depending on its popularity — billing the advertiser each time their link is clicked. A PPC campaign will not create value without an SEO-based, web content publishing plan.

Many website owners are realizing commonalities between the two practices and are now implementing SEO and PPC as part of a larger digital marketing plan. It is becoming apparent that both diligent SEO practices as well as targeted PPC ads are necessary when constructing an online presence.

First and foremost, knowledge of SEO “best practices” is only acquired after plenty of research, time, experience, and knowledge of a website’s audience and goals. It is not recommended that someone start a PPC campaign without jumping into keyword research and SEO training first.

However, once an SEO plan has been enacted, the content, keywords, and audience response can be used when developing a PPC plan. One informs the other. So, if an SEO specialist is getting results for three of five main keywords/phrases, he or she has already narrowed down the keywords one would use in a paid campaign. In other words, keywords that are already getting organic results may not need to be boosted through advertising — the PPC specialist would focus on the keywords or phrases that aren’t getting enough attention organically.

Conversely, a PPC campaign will give structure to the content a website owner is developing. For example, a PPC advertising coordinator may pay to push sales for a certain product: The Perfect Beach Frisbee. The SEO and content development team would ensure they publish posts about “Why Every Beachgoer Needs a Regulation, Frisbee.” In this case, the SEO team’s organic content is also fueling the paid advertisement’s sales pitch.

SEO and PPC campaigns both reveal necessary data about the viewers, their searches, and their interactions with a website’s content. SEO practices might take some time to yield viewer data and return on investment. However, after publishing content and getting to know a website’s audience, a website owner can use that data for a targeted PPC campaign. The paid ads allow for the website owner to test a campaign’s effectiveness in a short, targeted campaign if they so choose.

To grow an audience online, one must both publish content based on SEO best practices and take out advertisements on search engines and social media. Whether it’s organic or paid-for, the goal is always to get viewers used to seeing a certain website or business. Once the targeted audience feels acquainted enough, they may choose to do business in some way.

“Coupled with SEO, PPC ads help your business occupy more territory in search engine results pages (SERPs). If someone skips past the ads and goes to the organic search results, they’ll see your business’s listing there, too. This creates a double exposure, said WebFX.”