PPC, Not Just an SEO Afterthought
Aug 14th, 2007 by msdanielle
I believe in PPC. I believe PPC works. I believe that if a person or business can choose the right product to sell, PPC can help generate sales immediately when properly planned. I believe PPC is not just an SEO afterthought, but an integral part of many online business ventures that requires extensive planning and research.
“I want to rank now.”
A few people have mentioned to me that they want their sites to rank high for their (general) industry keyword phrases in search engine results…now. Businesses that operate in saturated markets will most likely not rank immediately for general terms via SEO tactics — but they can rank immediately in search advertising and start making sales with PPC. It’s the faster way to get the product in front of the people who are searching for it.
“I just want free traffic.”
Businesses should understand that while clicks on natural search results don’t cost anything, SEO is not free by any means. Just because a search ranking is considered “natural,” it doesn’t always get there naturally. If you know what I mean… So going the route of SEO first isn’t necessarily going to save the business money in the long run. In fact, it could cost the company in lost sales, sales which have been scooped up by competitors participating in PPC.
PPC vs. SEO in the Job Market
My thoughts on how I perceive PPC to be an SEO afterthought in the general business community was solidified when a colleague of mine did a search on Indeed.com for jobs that include the terms “PPC” and “SEO” in the job descriptions. Indeed provides a nifty little chart which shows the trends in job listings that include those two terms. Do you see what I see?
There is an exponential spike in SEO-related job listings that began around the spring of this year, and not far behind is an increase in PPC-related jobs. Surprise, surprise. 
My guess is that PPC-related jobs will follow a similar trend, but my hunch is based on my initial hypothesis that companies do see PPC as a strategy to be implemented in later phases of online business planning. However, paid search marketing should be considered in the early planning phases of any new online marketing venture where sales may be involved, and natural search rankings have not yet been achieved.
What do you guys think? Do you agree that people look to implement SEO first, then realize later on that they should be participating in PPC? Does your business or office have both PPC and SEO employed? I’m just glad to see that the industry I’m in has an increasing demand in jobs. That deserves a big ole woohoo!!
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Fascinating. Utterly fascinating. I am new to this world (although, not at all new to marketing) and am learning, learning, learning. Okay, now adding PPC to the “must explore further list.” Dawns on me, it, too, among other advantages, can make a marvelous metrics tool. Interesting stuff.
Cheers!
cool, you will now be optimizing, optimizing, optimizing!
there are so many tools to measure online metrics, and if you can find the sweet spot in each one, you’ve got gold. good luck!
Once again a great post by you! Its good to know that there is a job spike in your industry and I really do hope that I am able to say the same for my field of work. Good luck to you and I wish to see you at the top!
thanks enkay! i hope i keep learning as much as i can…and more…in PPC so i can ride the wave of success all the way to the end.
@darin - we so wrote them at the same time! that’s funny…but just goes to show that we are trying to impart the same sentiments — that businesses should consider the short-term benefits of participating in PPC while growing their long-term SEO goals. great article, darin!!
I can’t believe it … did we just write these at the same time!!!!!
http://www.darin.cc/sem/using-search-marketing-to-launch-a-new-site/
Darin
No I think it just takes people a while to catch on, SEO has been a buzzword for a long time now, many books on the subject, a lot of awareness.
I think there is less awareness of PPC and how companies can use it, and a perception that it costs more…
Got that wrong, I should have said Yes not no
no worries, jez
i still knew what you meant. but going back to what you’re saying — do you think the “buzz” and mysticism behind SEO makes it more sexy than PPC? either way, the end goal is still to make money so i think exploring all avenues is advantageous to any business.
I think that there is a perception that if you can learn SEO you can get the goodies for free, which you can never do with PPC…
The thing is to get it for free you need outstanding content, and if your that good at writing content then why not do a few novels about a boy wizzard and earn $100m instead of messing with a website…
Like you say you get nothing for free, you need money, talent or know how to cheat!!
Yay for the PPC army. I think really is in growing demand as SEO is being bombarded with more users who are optimizing. I mean how do you optimized over another person if they are using the same SEO tactics?
The goal posts are always moving, people are always optimising for different things…. nothing stands still, there will always be new opportunites arising as old methods become obsolete….
prija has a good point, and it’s something that SEOs deal with constantly — how do you find those SEO tricks that haven’t yet been exploited…because once a tactic becomes exploited it becomes a target to be taken down. this is what makes it fun
Prija has a great point.
Just look at advertising in general. Improved product placement in stores where people shop will only help sales so much. It is the TV, Magazine, newspaper, and web ads that get the word out to the consumer, and that cost money.
Also, remember that all of us are trying to improved our SEO so we can receive that PPC spending. So, by having a PPC strategy combined with a SEO strategy a company exponentially increases its coverage. Not to mention if they have a very solid SEO strategy and have identified select keywords that are on their long tail they can spend less money on that PPC campaign, but have high visitor counts because of your superior knowledge of hidden keywords.
I should of taken this post and written a post about this versus a comment. And to think I just read purebloggings.com Blog Post Inspiration Post.
hey tyson! thanks for your great feedback. i would definitely encourage you to write about this topic as well if you feel passionately about it. you’re so right too about the shifting nature of seo vs. ppc. once your keywords start ranking naturally you can reduce spend in that area of ppc. if your long tails are ranking, just pause them or remove them from your campaigns. i think they compliment each other greatly and knowing how to balance seo and ppc into an online business can help cover all your target keywords
Great post Danielle! Even though I’m not currently participating in much PPC, I can definitely see the advantages to it. Depending on the person and what their promoting, some people may do SEO first, then PPC, or vice versa.
I believe PPC is more aimed towards direct product sales and SEO are for people who are trying to profit from advertising on their website. But that’s just my opinion! I’m learning everyday and all I can about this caliber of business!
thanks richard. i definitely agree with you, if you have an e-commerce business or lead generation business, or any business where you are looking for a return on ad spend, then PPC can compliment your efforts. i think someone with this kind of business model might seek to achieve half paid traffic and half natural traffic. finding that balance will help you avoid a catastrophic drop in traffic if one or the other is severely affected by some unforeseen change.
I’m not quite sure, I can’t confirm it for sure, but I’m almos tcertain that since implimenting some PPC methods over a week ago, My Alexa rank has finally taken a turn for the better.
SEO and SMO techniques, if done in the proper manner is sure to give immense benefits to your business. For all information about SEO,SMO and Link Building is in blog.
Both SEO & PPC can work hand in hand, and compliment each other. Also the updates to Googles TM Policy, make it even more important for brand protection.