SEO or PPC – Which Should I Use?

Source: Search Engine Journal

Let us first briefly recap what the acronyms stand for respectively and what they mean exactly! 

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

The method utilized to enhance a website’s technical setup, content relevance, and link popularity so that its pages become easily discoverable and more relevant to user search inquiries, resulting in higher search engine rankings. (Source: MailChimp)

Pay Per Click (PPC)

A way of advertising online where the business owners pay a charge every time someone clicks on their advertisement. Essentially, the business owners pay for targeted traffic to their business site. (Source: WordStream)

Source: The Avocado

Moving on to the main topic of discussion for this blog post – should businesses opt for SEO or PPC? Like bread and butter that complement each other, SEO and PPC are a power duo that work well hand in hand but there are still times when one should be preferred over another. Here are some scenarios:

1. Business focuses on innovative products

To attract organic traffic, you must focus on subjects people are already searching for online. However, if you are creating a company that introduces a unique and groundbreaking product, it’s probable that there is no existing search for it.

For instance, ‘ride hailing’ was barely searched up by anybody before Uber came about in 2009.

In this case, PPC should be utilized to bring about brand awareness.

2. Business is preparing for a launch or a one-time offer

It is important to keep in mind that SEO takes time and the event may have already ended by the time you start to see results.

In such a scenario, you may want to consider alternative options like PPC or leveraging influencer marketing to get the word out.

3. Business has little to no budget

When working with limited advertising funds, it makes more sense to focus on utilizing SEO and content marketing strategies to increase brand recognition and drive traffic to your website.

In a nutshell, if you want to have the best of both worlds and it is within your capacity to do so, just do it!